JP5697386B2 - Substrate processing apparatus and fluid knife - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a fluid knife for processing a substrate with a fluid ejected from a fluid knife .

  For example, in a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device or a semiconductor device, a resist is applied to a substrate such as a glass substrate or a semiconductor wafer which is a processing target of these devices, and this substrate is developed and then etched. A circuit pattern is precisely formed on the surface. When the circuit pattern is formed on the substrate, a cleaning process for removing organic substances such as a resist film and a resist residue adhering to the surface of the substrate with a cleaning liquid and a drying process for drying the cleaned substrate are performed.

  In the cleaning process and the drying process, the substrate is cleaned by a fluid knife provided in the processing tank of the substrate processing apparatus. Specifically, in the cleaning process, the surface of the substrate is uniformly wetted in advance by a fluid knife that mixes and jets a liquid such as a chemical solution or a cleaning solution and a gas. Thereafter, the substrate is washed by a shower or the like.

  As described above, a technique for obtaining a high cleaning effect by uniformly wetting the substrate before the substrate cleaning is known.

  Further, if the cleaning liquid remains on the cleaned substrate, it may cause dirt such as a watermark. Therefore, a drying process is performed in which the gas is ejected from a fluid knife (air knife) that ejects gas onto the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate cleaned with the cleaning liquid, and the cleaning liquid remaining on the substrate is removed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). .

  In the drying process, the substrate is transported horizontally into the processing tank of the processing apparatus, gas is jetted onto the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate by a pair of upper and lower fluid knives, and the cleaning liquid adhering to the substrate is removed by the gas.

  The fluid knife for processing these substrates is configured to extend in the processing tank and eject a fluid such as liquid or gas from a slit portion provided along the longitudinal direction thereof. Such a fluid knife may cause impurities such as a chemical liquid or a cleaning liquid to adhere to the slit portion due to the spraying of the chemical liquid to be ejected or the scattering of the cleaning liquid upon removal.

  In the fluid knife to which the impurities are attached, there is a possibility that impurities are mixed in the fluid to be ejected during processing, which may contaminate the substrate. For this reason, the slit part of a fluid knife is regularly cleaned with a cleaning jig.

  Specifically, the cleaning operator inserts a thin plate-shaped cleaning jig into the slit portion, and removes impurities adhering to the slit portion by moving while maintaining the inserted state along the longitudinal direction of the slit portion. doing.

JP-A-10-212473

  The substrate processing apparatus described above has the following problems. That is, the substrate processing apparatus has a fluid knife in a processing tank, and further, a substrate transport roller and other components used for processing the substrate are disposed around the fluid knife.

  For this reason, the working space for cleaning the fluid knife is limited by the components around the fluid knife. In addition, in the fluid knife that processes the upper surface of the substrate that is transported on the transport roller, the length of the fluid knife increases as the substrate to be processed becomes larger.

  However, when the fluid knife is lengthened, the work space is further limited, so that the workability is further deteriorated. In addition, the working posture (posture) of the cleaning worker becomes unstable. Furthermore, the cleaning of the fluid knife is performed by the cleaning operator by inserting a thin plate-shaped cleaning jig into the slit portion and moving the cleaning jig along the longitudinal direction of the slit portion. The insertion depth of the jig is different, and it is difficult to clean the slit portion with a uniform depth. For this reason, an impurity may remain partially.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus and a fluid knife having a fluid knife that can easily perform cleaning of a slit portion that ejects a fluid to a uniform depth.

  In order to solve the problems and achieve the object, a substrate processing apparatus configured as follows is provided.

As one aspect of the present invention,
A processing apparatus that performs processing by injecting a fluid onto the surface of a substrate that is transported by a transport apparatus in a processing tank,
Disposed opposite to the surface of the substrate that will be conveyed to the processing bath, are arranged so as to face the upper fluid knife and the upper fluid knife having a slit portion for injecting the fluid into the upper surface of the substrate A lower fluid knife having a slit portion for ejecting the fluid on the lower surface of the substrate;
A guide rail extending along the longitudinal direction of the slit portion on one outer surface of one of the upper and lower fluid knives ,
A cleaning member having a cleaning body formed such that a tip thereof can be inserted into the slit portion of the upper fluid knife and the lower fluid knife, and movable along the guide rail;
An apparatus for processing a substrate is provided.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a substrate processing apparatus and a fluid knife capable of easily cleaning a slit portion for ejecting fluid of a fluid knife at a uniform depth.

Explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the processing apparatus of the board | substrate which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. The front view which abbreviate | omits and shows the structure of the fluid knife used for the processing apparatus. The side view which shows typically the principal part structure of the fluid knife. The side view which shows typically the principal part structure of the fluid knife. The side view which shows typically the principal part structure of the fluid knife used for the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on the modification of this invention.

Hereinafter, a processing apparatus 1 for a substrate 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory view schematically showing a configuration of a processing apparatus 1 for a substrate 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention from above, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a side view schematically showing an example of the use of the cleaning member 37 used in the fluid knife 5, and FIG. 4 is a schematic example of the use of the cleaning member 37 of the fluid knife 5. FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the processing apparatus 1 for a substrate 100 is used for a cleaning process that is one of the processing processes for the substrate 100, a drying process for the substrate 100, or the like. The processing apparatus 1 is formed so as to transport the substrate 100 and to eject a fluid such as a liquid or a gas on the substrate 100. More specifically, the processing apparatus 1 includes a processing tank 3, a transfer device 4, and a fluid knife 5.

  The processing tank 3 is formed in a box shape, and is formed so that a transfer device 4 and a fluid knife 5 can be disposed therein. The treatment tank 3 has a carry-in port 10 on one end surface in a predetermined direction and a carry-out port 11 on the other end surface. The predetermined direction is the direction in which the substrate 100 is transported, and is indicated by an arrow in FIG. The carry-in port 10 and the carry-out port 11 are formed in a shape that allows the substrate 100 to be carried into and out of the processing tank 3.

  The conveyance device 4 includes a plurality of conveyance rollers 13 arranged at regular intervals along a predetermined direction indicated by an arrow in FIG. 1, and drive means 14 that drives the conveyance rollers 13. The transport device 4 is formed so that the substrate 100 on the transport roller 13 can be transported by the rotation of the transport roller 13 driven by the driving means 14.

  The plurality of transport rollers 13 are provided in the processing tank 3 so that at least one of them does not face the fluid knife 5. The plurality of transport rollers 13 include a continuous roller shaft 16 that continues in a direction intersecting a predetermined direction (hereinafter, “left-right direction”), a pair of divided roller shafts 17 and 18 that are partially divided in the left-right direction, It is constituted by one of the dividing roller shafts 17 and 18 provided in one of the directions.

  In addition, the transport roller 13 includes one or more contact rollers 19 that are in contact with the substrate 100 and are capable of transporting the substrate 100 by rotation thereof, in part of the roller shafts 16, 17, and 18.

For example, in the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the conveying roller 13, toward the outlet port 11 from the transportable inlet 10, a continuous roller shaft 16, one of the cutting roller shaft 17, a plurality of pairs of cutting roller shaft 17 and, Two dividing roller shafts 18 are sequentially arranged.

  The continuous roller shaft 16 is provided on the primary side of the fluid knife 5, specifically, between the fluid knife 5 and the carry-in port 10. The dividing roller shafts 17 and 18 are, for example, disposed in a range where the fluid knife 5 is provided and not opposed to the fluid knife 5.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the conveying roller 13 interferes with the fluid ejected from the fluid knife 5 by arranging a pair or one of the dividing roller shafts 17 and 18 at a portion overlapping the fluid knife 5. Arranged not to. For this reason, the arrangement of the transport rollers 13 is not limited to the arrangement shown in FIG. 1, and is appropriately set depending on the arrangement of the fluid knife 5 and the like.

  The drive means 14 connects a drive source 21 whose rotational shaft is rotationally driven, a first pulley 22 provided on one end side of the continuous roller shaft 16, a rotational shaft 21 a of the drive source 21 and the first pulley 22. And a first belt 23.

  The driving means 14 includes a second pulley 24 provided on one end side of the continuous roller shaft 16 and an end side of the dividing roller shaft 17, and a second belt 25 connecting the second pulley 24. I have.

  The driving means 14 includes a third pulley 26 provided on the other end side of the continuous roller shaft 16 and an end side of the dividing roller shaft 18, and a third belt 27 connecting the third pulley 26. Yes.

  That is, the drive unit 14 transmits the rotation of the drive source 21 to the continuous roller shaft 16 via the first belt 23 and the first pulley 22. Further, the driving means 14 rotates the continuous roller shaft 16 through the second and third belts 25 and 27 from the second and third pulleys 24 and 26 provided at both ends of the continuous roller shaft 16, and the second. , And transmitted to second and third pulleys 24 and 26 provided on the dividing roller shafts 17 and 18 of the third belts 25 and 27, respectively.

  As described above, the driving unit 14 is configured to be able to rotate the transport roller 13 by transmitting the rotation of the driving source 21 to the second and third pulleys 24 and 26.

  For example, when the processing apparatus 1 is used in the cleaning process, the fluid knife 5 is formed so as to be able to eject a fluid in which a chemical solution and a gas are mixed. Moreover, when the processing apparatus 1 is used for a drying process, what was formed so that gas could be injected is used for the fluid knife 5. FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the fluid knife 5 is fixed to the processing tank 3 such that the longitudinal direction thereof is inclined at a predetermined angle, for example, 45 degrees with respect to the predetermined direction. As shown in FIG. 4, the fluid knife 5 includes an upper fluid knife 30 and a lower fluid knife 31.

  The fluid knife 5 is disposed so as not to face the transport roller 13, so that the upper fluid knife 30 and the lower fluid knife 31 face each other and can be opposed to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 100 to be transported. Yes.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the upper fluid knife 30 includes a knife body 35, a guide rail 36, and a cleaning member 37. The knife body 35 is formed by joining a pair of rectangular plate-like members 38 and 39. Between these plate-like members 38 and 39, there are formed an introduction portion 40 into which a compressed fluid is supplied and a slit portion 41 which is continuous with the introduction portion 40 and ejects fluid. The slit portion 41 is provided along the extending direction of the upper fluid knife 30 and is formed to have a length capable of ejecting fluid onto the substrate 100.

  The guide rail 36 is an outer surface of one of the knife bodies 35, specifically, an outer surface of a plate-like member 38 located on the carry-in entrance 10 side in a predetermined direction, and a fixed portion 43 fixed to both ends thereof. , And a rail portion 44 provided between the fixed portions 43.

  For example, the rail portion 44 is formed in the shape of a circular cylindrical rod having a circular cross section. By providing the rail portion 44 between the fixed portions 43, the rail portion 44 extends along the extending direction of the slit portion 41 of the knife body 35.

  The cleaning member 37 is detachably provided on the rail portion 44. Specifically, the cleaning member 37 includes a main body portion 46 that can move along the rail portion 44, a cleaning body 47 provided on the main body portion 46, and a fixing portion 48 that fixes the cleaning body 47 to the main body portion 46. And.

  For example, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the main body portion 46 is formed such that one end thereof is curved in a semicircular shape and can be placed on the rail portion 44. Further, the main body portion 46 is formed on the other end side so as to be able to pinch and fix the cleaning body 47 together with the fixing portion 48.

  The cleaning body 47 is fixed by the main body portion 46 and the fixing portion 48 by, for example, fastening members such as bolts and nuts (not shown).

  The cleaning body 47 is a thin plate made of, for example, SUS material and having a plate thickness of about 0.1 to 0.15 mm. In addition, the cleaning body 47 should just be the thickness in which the plate | board thickness can be inserted in the slit part 41. FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the cleaning body 47 includes bent portions 49 that are provided at two locations and are plastically deformed in parallel with the extending direction of the rail portion 44. The cleaning body 47 is formed so that an end portion thereof is close to the slit portion 41 when the main body portion 46 is placed on the rail portion 44 by bending of the bending portion 49.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the lower fluid knife 31 includes a knife body 51. The knife body 51 is formed by joining a pair of rectangular plate-like members 52 and 53. Between these plate-like members 52 and 53, an introduction portion 54 into which a compressed fluid is supplied and a slit portion 55 that is continuous with the introduction portion 54 and ejects fluid are formed. The slit portion 55 is provided along the extending direction of the lower fluid knife 31 and is formed on the lower surface of the substrate 100 so as to be able to eject fluid.

  The processing apparatus 1 configured as described above processes the substrate 100 transported into the processing apparatus 1 with the fluid knife 5 in the cleaning process and the drying process of the substrate 100. Specifically, when the processing apparatus 1 is used for a cleaning process, the fluid knife 5 injects a fluid in which a chemical solution and a gas are mixed onto the upper surface and the lower surface of the substrate 100 transported by the transport device 4, and the substrate Wet 100 surfaces with chemicals.

  Moreover, when using the processing apparatus 1 for a drying process, the fluid knife 5 injects air (gas) to the upper surface 100a and the lower surface 100b of the board | substrate 100 conveyed by the conveying apparatus 4, and the fluid adhering at the washing | cleaning process is used. Blow away.

  When the processing apparatus 1 is used for such processing of the substrate 100, impurities such as a chemical liquid sprayed from the fluid knife 5 and a cleaning liquid blown off from the substrate 100 adhere to the slit portion 41 from which the fluid is sprayed. . The adhered impurities are cleaned by the cleaning member 37. Next, cleaning of the fluid knife 5 of the processing apparatus 1 will be described.

  When cleaning the fluid knife 5, first, the cleaning member 37 is attached to the guide rail 36. Specifically, when cleaning the upper fluid knife 30, as shown in FIG. 3, the cleaning member 37 is hooked on the rail 44 of the upper fluid knife 30 with the curved end of the main body 46. Is placed on the guide rail 36. Moreover, the cleaning member 37 is arrange | positioned at the one end side of the guide rail 36, for example.

  Next, the slit 41 of the upper fluid knife 30 is inserted at the tip of the cleaning body 47 of the cleaning member 37. In a state where the cleaning body 47 is inserted into the slit portion 41, the cleaning member 37 is moved along the guide rail 36. Thereby, the cleaning body 47 can move the tip of the cleaning body 47 along the extending direction of the slit portion 41 and remove impurities attached to the slit portion 41.

  In this manner, the cleaning member 37 is reciprocated along the rail portion 44 until the adhered impurities can be removed, and the inside of the slit portion 41 is cleaned by the cleaning body 47.

  Next, when cleaning the lower fluid knife 31, as shown in FIG. 4, with the cleaning member 37 attached to the guide rail 36 of the upper fluid knife 30, the tip of the cleaning body 47 is moved to the lower fluid knife 31. It is made to insert in the slit part 55 of 31. In this state, by moving the cleaning member 37 along the guide rail 36, the tip of the cleaning body 47 moves in the slit portion 55, and impurities attached to the slit portion 55 can be removed.

  According to the processing apparatus 1 configured in this manner, the slit portions 41 and 55 can be cleaned by the cleaning body 47 of the cleaning member 37 guided and moved by the guide rail 36, and thus inserted into the slit portions 41 and 55. The length of the tip of the cleaning body 47 is substantially the same at each position. Thereby, the slit parts 41 and 55 of the fluid knife 5 can be cleaned uniformly.

  Further, the processing apparatus 1 has a configuration in which the transport device 4 and the fluid knife 5 are provided in the processing tank 3, and the fluid knife 5 is configured to be provided in the left-right direction of the transport device 4. The working space for is limited. However, the processing apparatus 1 only needs to move the cleaning member 37 along the guide rail 36 in a state where the cleaning body 47 is inserted into the slit portions 41 and 55 in cleaning the slit portions 41 and 55.

  For this reason, the cleaning work of the slit portions 41 and 55 does not require an operator to take an unreasonable posture even if the processing apparatus 1 has a narrow work space, and the slit portions 41 and 55 can be reliably cleaned. It becomes possible. Thus, the processing apparatus 1 improves the workability of cleaning the slit portions 41 and 55 of the fluid knife 5.

  In particular, such a cleaning member 37 is effective for the fluid knife 5 having a long length, such as used for a large substrate 100. For example, when cleaning such a long fluid knife 5, the cleaning member 37 is first moved from one of the left and right sides of the transport device 4 to the middle of the fluid knife 5.

  Next, if the operator moves the cleaning member 37 from the middle of the fluid knife 5 from the left and right sides of the transport device 4, the cleaning can be performed uniformly along the slit portions 41 and 55 of the fluid knife 5. Become. Thus, even if the fluid knife 5 has a long length, it is possible to provide the processing device 1 that can easily clean the slit portions 41 and 55 of the fluid knife 5 without increasing the burden on the operator.

  In addition, the cleaning body 47 is provided with a bent portion 49 so that the tip of the cleaning body 47 is guided (adjacent) to the slit portion 41, so that the cleaning portion 37 is moved along the rail portion 44. In order to maintain the insertion state of the cleaning body 47 in the case, it is not necessary to hold down the cleaning member 37 at all times.

  That is, since the cleaning body 47 is guided by the bent portion 49 so as to be close to the slit portion 41, the cleaning body 47 can be easily inserted into the slit portion 41 and can be prevented from being detached from the slit portion 41. It becomes possible. Thereby, it becomes possible to improve workability | operativity of an operator. Moreover, the slit part 41 as described above can be cleaned at a uniform depth, and the cleaning can be performed more reliably.

  As described above, according to the processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the slit portions 41 and 55 that can be moved by being guided by the rail portion 44 extending along the slit portions 41 and 55 of the fluid knife 5. By providing the cleaning member 37 for cleaning the slit portions 41 and 55, the slit portions 41 and 55 can be easily and uniformly cleaned.

  Further, according to the processing apparatus 1, by using the cleaning member 37 and the guide rail 36, workability is improved even with the large fluid knife 5 used for the large-sized substrate 100 and the processing apparatus 1 with a small work space. To reduce the burden on the operator.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the example described above, the cleaning body 47 is configured to include the bent portion 49, but is not limited thereto. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a cleaning body 47 </ b> A having a configuration that does not include the bent portion 49 may be used. Thus, by setting it as the cleaning body 47A which does not have the bending part 49, it does not have the effect of the guidance of the front-end | tip to the slit part 41 mentioned above.

  However, when the cleaning member 37 is mounted on the rail portion 44, the cleaning body 47 does not come close to the slit portion 41. Therefore, even if the fluid knife 5 is used with the cleaning member 37 mounted on the rail portion 44, the slit portion It is possible to prevent the cleaning body 47 from interfering with the fluid ejected from 41. For this reason, the cleaning member 37 can be always mounted.

  Moreover, although the guide rail 36 demonstrated the structure provided in the side surface of the upper fluid knife 30 in the example mentioned above, it is not limited to this. For example, not only the upper fluid knife 30 but also the lower fluid knife 31 may be provided. In addition, the guide rail 36 may be provided not on the side surface of the fluid knife 5 but in a fixing portion that fixes the fluid knife 5 on the processing tank 3, for example, and is provided along the fluid knife 5 on the transport device 4. There may be.

  That is, the guide rail 36 is provided along the slit portion 41 so that the cleaning body 47 can be uniformly inserted into the slit portions 41 and 55 of the fluid knife 5 when the cleaning member 37 is guided and moved. Just do it.

  Furthermore, in the example mentioned above, although the fluid knife 5 was set as the structure which has the upper fluid knife 30 and the lower fluid knife 31, it is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the fluid knife 5 may have a configuration having only the upper fluid knife 30, or may have a configuration having only the lower fluid knife 31 although not shown. In addition, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Processing apparatus, 3 ... Processing tank, 4 ... Conveying device, 5 ... Fluid knife, 10 ... Carrying in port, 11 ... Carrying out port, 13 ... Conveying roller, 14 ... Driving means, 16 ... Continuous roller shaft, 17, 18 ... Dividing roller shaft, 19 ... contact roller, 21 ... drive source, 21a ... rotating shaft, 22 ... first pulley, 23 ... first belt, 24 ... second pulley, 25 ... second belt, 26 ... third pulley, 27 3rd belt, 30 ... Upper fluid knife, 31 ... Lower fluid knife, 35 ... Knife body, 36 ... Guide rail, 37 ... Cleaning member, 38, 39 ... Plate member, 40 ... Introduction part, 41 ... Slit part, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 43 ... Fixed part, 44 ... Rail part, 46 ... Main body part, 47 ... Cleaning body, 47A ... Cleaning body, 48 ... Fixed part, 49 ... Bending part, 51 ... Knife main body, 52, 53 ... Plate-shaped member, 54 ... Introduction part, 55 ... slit part, 100 ... substrate.

Claims (3)

A processing apparatus that performs processing by injecting a fluid onto the surface of a substrate that is transported by a transport apparatus in a processing tank,
Disposed opposite to the surface of the substrate that will be conveyed to the processing bath, are arranged so as to face the upper fluid knife and the upper fluid knife having a slit portion for injecting the fluid into the upper surface of the substrate A lower fluid knife having a slit portion for ejecting the fluid on the lower surface of the substrate;
A guide rail extending along the longitudinal direction of the slit portion on one outer surface of one of the upper and lower fluid knives ,
A cleaning member having a cleaning body formed such that a tip thereof can be inserted into the slit portion of the upper fluid knife and the lower fluid knife, and movable along the guide rail;
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: The guide rail is provided on one outer surface of the upper fluid knife;
2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning body has a bent portion whose tip is brought close to the slit portion of the upper fluid knife . A fluid knife that performs processing by injecting fluid onto the surface of a substrate transported by a transport device,
The fluid knife has an upper fluid knife having a slit portion for ejecting the fluid on the upper surface of the substrate and a slit portion for ejecting the fluid on the lower surface of the substrate. A lower fluid knife,
A guide rail extending along the longitudinal direction of the slit portion on one outer surface of one of the upper and lower fluid knives,
A fluid having a cleaning body whose tip is formed to be insertable into the slit portion of the upper fluid knife and the lower fluid knife, and a cleaning member formed to be movable along the guide rail. knife.

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