JPS6019429B2 - Drain dryer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a draining and drying apparatus used for draining and drying thin-walled objects such as silicon wafers, liquid crystal glasses, photomask glasses, lenses, and other thin objects.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, conventional drain dryers are used to drain and dry silicon wafers, liquid crystal glasses, photomask glasses, lenses, etc. after washing them with water. A table-like rotor 3 is provided inside the rotor 2, and a plurality of carrier holders 4 are fixed to the rotor 3.

Silicon wafers and the like to be drained and dried are stored in a basket-shaped carrier, and then set in the carrier holder 4 described above. In this state, immediately turn off the power and rotate the rotor 3 for 500 to 150 rpm. p. When the device is rotated at a high speed of m, water droplets adhering to the silicon wafer etc. are blown away by centrifugal force and water is removed. In addition, the drying gas sucked in using the negative pressure generated in the center by the rotation of the carrier holder 4 dries the surface of the silicon wafer or the like. However, in the conventional draining device configured as described above, the surface of a silicon wafer or the like that rotates at high speed together with the rotor is frictionally charged due to friction with gas, and static electricity is generated.

Until now, no special measures have been taken to deal with this frictional electrification.
Due to the above-mentioned frictional electrification, silicon wafers and the like may be damaged by electrostatic discharge, or dust may be attached to the silicon wafers, resulting in poor product quality and poor product quality. This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and has a simple structure that allows drying gas to be applied uniformly to all silicon wafers, etc., thereby making it possible to obtain a uniform dry state. Another object of the present invention is to provide a water drying device that can reliably remove static electricity generated on the surface of a silicon wafer or the like.

Corresponding to this object, the draining/drying device of the present invention is characterized in that an electric static eliminator is disposed to eliminate static from the drained drying body supported by the rotor.

The details of this invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings showing embodiments.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, reference numeral 11 denotes a draining and drying device, and the draining and drying device 11 is equipped with a grave body 12.

A table-like rotor 13 is located within the body 12, and a carrier support 14 is attached to the rotor 13. When draining and drying the wafers, a wafer carrier I5 containing a large number of wafers (not shown) is fixedly supported on the carrier support 14. A plurality of anti-reflection vanes 16 are disposed outside the rotor 13 and carrier support 14. A lid 17 that can be opened and closed is provided at the upper end of the body 12, and an intake hole 18 is formed in the lid 17 substantially coaxially with the center of rotation of the rotor 13.
8 is covered with mesh. A rectifier 19 is attached to the back surface of the lid 17 so as to be substantially concentric with the intake hole 18 . The rectifying device 19 includes a plurality of rectifying plates 2 arranged in the same shape.
1a. It consists of 21b... Current plate 21a, 2
1b... each consists of a cylindrical portion 22 and a flange portion 23 extending in the radial direction from the lower end of the cylindrical portion 22. Current plate 2
The cylindrical parts 22 of 1a, 21b... have different diameters from the cylindrical parts of adjacent current plates, and the adjacent current plates 21a, 21b...
・ are located in the same 0 shape so that the cylindrical parts partially overlap,
A gap between adjacent current plates constitutes a ventilation passage 24. The rectifier plate 21 is located substantially coaxially with the center of rotation of the rotor 13, and its size and position are determined so that the drying gas is evenly discharged to the outside of the rectifier 19. As shown in FIGS. 3, 5, and 6, a static eliminator layer 25 is attached to the draining/drying device 11.

The static eliminator 25 is equipped with a high voltage electrode and a ground electrode, and removes electricity by applying a high voltage to the high voltage electrode. It causes a discharge and generates positive or negative ions. This high voltage electrode 26 is attached to the flange portion 23 of the rectifier plates 21a, 21b, . . . . That is, the current plates 21a, 21b...
The collar part 23 is made up of two ring plates 2 located at a predetermined interval.
A protective insulator 28 is located between the ring plates 27a and 27b, and high voltage electrodes 26 are embedded radially within the protective insulator 28 with their discharge ends protruding. A high-voltage electric wire 29 is connected to the base end of the high-voltage electrode 26 . Further, the ground electrode 31 is provided on the outside of the tips of the ring plates 27a and 27b. In the drain drying device 11 configured as described above, a silicon wafer or the like to be processed is stored in the wafer carrier 15, and then set on the carrier support 14, and then the lid 17 is closed.
Turn on the power and rotate the rotor 13. As the rotor 13 rotates, water droplets adhering to the silicon wafer, etc., are blown to the outside of the rotor 13 by centrifugal force and drained. The water droplets blown to the outside of the rotor 13 are guided by the antireflection vanes 16 and sent out to the exhaust port 32 to exit the body 12, so that the water droplets are not reflected toward the silicon wafer. As the rotor 13 rotates, the water is drained as described above, and at the same time, the rotor 1
The rotation center side of the rotor 13 becomes negative pressure, and clean air or drying gas such as N2 gas flows from the outside of the body 12 through the intake hole 18 of the lid 17 to the rotation center side of the rotor 13 and is supported by the carrier support 14. It hits the rotating silicon wafer and dries the silicon wafer after draining water.

In this case, a rectifier 1 is placed on the rotation center side of the 0-tar 13.
9 is located, and the drying gas flowing here is indicated by arrow 33.
As shown by a, 33b, 33c, the current plate 21 distributes,
Since the distribution of the flow rate and flow velocity of the drying gas in the rotational direction is made uniform, all silicon wafers are dried in a uniform state. On the other hand, the surface of a silicon wafer becomes electrically charged when it comes into contact with the drying gas, but the high-voltage electrode 2
When a high voltage is applied to the ground electrode 3 as shown by the arrow 34,
1, a corona discharge occurs, which generates positive or negative ions in the dry gas.

These ions are carried by the dry gas stream and reach the silicon wafer, where they neutralize and eliminate electrostatic charges of opposite polarity on the silicon wafer. Therefore, even when the silicon wafer is taken out from the rotor after drying, electrostatic damage will not occur, and there is no risk of dust or the like adhering to the silicon wafer. As described above, according to the present invention, drying gas can be uniformly applied to all silicon wafers etc. with a simple structure,
Therefore, it is possible to obtain a draining drying device that can obtain a uniform drying state and can also prevent a decrease in product quality and deterioration of product quality due to the generation of static electricity.

Note that the above description has mainly been made regarding an example in which the object to be processed is a silicon wafer and the present invention is applied to a silicon wafer draining/drying device. It can be applied as is to glass, photomask glass, lenses, and other thin bodies.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a vertical cross-sectional explanatory diagram showing a conventional draining and drying device;
The drawings are a cross-sectional view of the roller section in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional explanatory view showing an embodiment of the water drying device of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the W-N section in FIG. FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the current plate, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the portion marked with - in FIG. 11... Draining and drying device, 12... Plumb body, 13...
Rotor, 14... Car IJ carrier support, 15...
Wafer carrier, 16... anti-reflection blade, 17
... Lid, 18 ... Intake hole, 19 ... Rectifier, 2
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Rectifier plate, 25... Static eliminator layer, 26... High voltage electrode, 31... Ground electrode. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A draining and drying device characterized in that an electric static eliminator is disposed to eliminate static electricity from a drained and dried object supported by a rotor. 2. The draining and drying device according to claim 1, wherein a high voltage electrode of an electric static eliminator is disposed approximately concentrically with the ventilation path for drying airflow reaching the drained drying body. .