JP2000230670A - Integrated fluid control device with heater - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the wasteful radiation and stably heat a unit by connecting various fluid control apparatuses in the passage direction through passage blocks, thereby constituting one circulation line unit, and installing a heater within a recessed groove provided in the passage direction of each passage block. SOLUTION: Passage blocks 25, 26,... are arranged on a base plate 40 in the passage direction to constitute a circulation line unit A, and as a fluid control apparatus, for example, two shut-off valves and a mass flow controller 18 are loaded on the passage blocks 25, 26.... Recessed grooves are continuously provided on both sides of arranged holes in the center on the passage blocks 25, 26..., and heaters 60 are mounted within the recessed grooves. The passage blocks 25, 26... are mounted on a base plate 40 by fastening screws inserted to screw holes 41 provided on the base plate 40, and heat insulating slits 42 are longitudinally formed in the positions on both sides of the passage blocks on the base plate 40.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fluid control device for controlling, for example, various process gases used in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and includes an on-off valve, a filter, a regulator, a pressure gauge, a mass flow controller, a three-way valve, and the like. An integrated type or module type in which various fluid control devices such as a shutoff valve are integrally connected to form a unit, and these units are connected together to form a unit (hereinafter, the integrated type and the module are used in the same meaning in the present invention) However, the present invention also relates to a fluid control device referred to as “module” also refers to an entire piping configuration.) In particular, the present invention relates to an integrated fluid control device with a heater having a heater function of heating a unit of the fluid control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in a piping system of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, various control devices have been integrated into a unit to form an integrated fluid control apparatus. For example, there is an integrated fluid control device 1 as shown in FIG.

In this example, process gases a, b, and c are
Process gases a ', b', and c 'are supplied to the reaction furnace through the distribution line units A, B, and C, respectively, from the respective outlets 10a to 10c as the process gases. This is an integrated fluid control device that supplies to each of the units A, B and C via a road block to perform a purging process on each of the distribution lines.

Here, the distribution line unit B shown in FIG.
For example, from the inlet side, an inlet joint 12B, a manual open / close valve 13B, a filter 14B, a regulator 15B, a pressure gauge 16B, a pneumatic shutoff valve 17B, a mass flow controller 18B, a pneumatic shutoff valve 19B, and an outflow joint 20B are provided. ing. The horizontal flow path block 22B connects the outflow flow path of the manual opening / closing valve 13B and the inflow flow path of the filter 14B (the outflow / inflow flow path on the device side is not shown; the same applies hereinafter), and the outflow flow path of the filter 14B. And regulator 15
The horizontal flow path block 23B connects the inflow flow paths of B.
Hereinafter, similarly, the regulator 15B and the pressure gauge 16B are defined by the horizontal flow path block 24B, the pressure gauge 16B and the pneumatic shutoff valve 17B.
Means the horizontal flow path block 25B, the pneumatic shutoff valve 17B and the mass flow controller 18B are connected in a horizontal line in the flow direction by the horizontal flow path block 26B, and the mass flow controller 18B and the pneumatic shutoff valve 19B are connected by the horizontal flow path block 27B. . Similarly, the outflow / inflow channels of the other distribution line units A, C, and D are connected in the flow direction via the horizontal flow channel blocks 22 to 27.

On the other hand, the outflow channel of the pneumatic shutoff valve 17D of the purge gas flow line unit D, the inflow channel of the pneumatic shutoff valve 17C of the flow line unit C, and the inflow channel of the pneumatic shutoff valve 17B of the flow line unit B. And distribution line unit A
A vertical flow path block 29 (29B) is provided to communicate with the inflow flow path of the pneumatic shutoff valve 17A, and the units are connected to form a module.

[0006] As described above, the on-off valve,
Various fluid control devices such as filters, regulators, pressure gauges, pneumatic shut-off valves, mass flow controllers, pneumatic three-way valves, and pneumatic shut-off valves are first connected in the horizontal direction (left and right on the paper) to distribute one fluid. Line units A, B, C,
D, and another purge line is connected to this unit in the vertical direction (vertical direction in the drawing) to form one integrated fluid control device 1. Here, the horizontal flow path block connects the flow paths of various fluid control devices in the flow direction, that is, the horizontal direction, and the vertical flow path block connects the flow paths between these units in the vertical direction. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the flow of the present embodiment.

As a gas to be supplied to a reaction furnace of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, BCl ₃ or SiH _{2 which is} easily liquefied at room temperature is used.
Raw materials such as Cl ₂ may be gasified and sent. In the case of these raw materials having a low vapor pressure, for example, 4
It is necessary to heat the apparatus to about 0 to 80 ° C. and to keep the apparatus at a constant temperature.

Conventionally, means for heating the control device include:
As disclosed in JP-A-64-67243 and JP-A-2-261529, a nichrome wire heater is wound around a main body of a control device such as a mass flow controller, or a planar tape heater is attached. In this case, a heating means is attached to the control device, and the control device is directly heated by these heaters.

[0009]

However, if a heater such as a nichrome wire or a tape-shaped heater is mounted for each block of various fluid control devices as in the above-described example, it takes time and effort. There is a problem that the wire is disconnected due to twisting or twisting. On the other hand, if the tape heaters are adhered in a line on the side surface in the longitudinal direction (the left-right direction on the paper) of the horizontal flow path block of the distribution line unit, a difference occurs in the temperature distribution depending on the portion in the longitudinal direction of the unit. That is,
A difference in temperature rise occurs between the channel block portion and the space portion without the channel block, and the entire unit cannot be heated to a constant temperature. Specifically, since the heat capacity of the flow path block portion is large, it takes time to raise the temperature. On the other hand, the temperature of the space suddenly rises. Therefore, when the temperature of the flow path block reaches the set temperature, the space is excessively heated, which causes a problem such as disconnection. In addition, the above-mentioned variation in the temperature distribution is also involved, but since the heater is merely attached to the outer surface of the flow path block, wasteful heat is dissipated and thermal efficiency is poor. Furthermore, in some miniaturized integrated units, the dimensional pitch between units may be standardized. In such a case, if the heater is attached to the side surface, the thickness may be increased by the thickness of the heater, and the standard pitch may not be maintained.

The present invention solves the above problem by improving the installation structure of the heater and using a heater having a unique function. It is an object of the present invention to provide an integrated fluid control device with a heater that can heat a whole unit to a constant temperature with good thermal efficiency for a unit that needs to be heated even if it is a distribution line unit.

[0011]

The integrated fluid control apparatus with a heater according to the present invention forms one flow line unit by connecting various fluid control devices in the flow direction through a flow path block. A groove is provided in the flow direction of each flow path block of the line unit, and a heater is mounted in the groove.

In the integrated fluid control apparatus with a heater according to the present invention, various fluid control devices are connected in the direction of the flow path via the flow path block to form one flow line unit. A self-temperature control type heater is mounted on the lower surface.

The integrated fluid control device with a heater according to the present invention comprises:
A plurality of units of the distribution line unit are arranged in parallel, and a unit requiring heating among the plurality of units is provided with a groove in the flow direction of each distribution block of the distribution line unit. It is also possible to mount a heater inside.

In the present invention, the heater is preferably a self-temperature control type heater. This heater has a continuous resistance heating element between two buses, and it is preferable that the resistance heating element is of a self-temperature control type in which the resistance increases with temperature. It is preferable that a heat insulating slit is provided in the base plate on which the distribution line unit is mounted. When a large fluid control device such as a mass flow controller has a large space between flow path blocks below the device, it is preferable to provide a dummy block below the device and attach a heater to the dummy block.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An integrated fluid control device according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing one distribution line unit of the integrated fluid control device of the present invention, which includes some fluid control devices. FIG. 2 is a plan view of a flow path block of the integrated fluid control device of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory perspective view of a self-temperature control type heater used in the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a temperature characteristic diagram of the heater. FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the integrated fluid control device of the present invention with a hood.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a general integrated fluid control device,
FIG. 7 is a side view showing a cross-section of a horizontal flow path block in one of the distribution unit lines, and FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the integrated fluid control device. In these drawings, common parts and components between the general integrated fluid control device and the integrated fluid control device of the present invention are denoted by the same reference numerals.

In the integrated fluid control device according to the present invention, 40
Is a base plate, on which the flow path blocks are mounted side by side in the flow direction. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing one distribution line unit. Here, two shutoff valves and a mass flow controller 18 are used as fluid control devices, and five flow path blocks 25, 26, and 27 are provided. Illustrated at the top. The holes on both sides of the flow path block are screw holes for mounting a fluid control device. The holes aligned in the center are the inlet and outlet of the flow channel attached to the flow channel block. Concave grooves are provided continuously on both sides of the holes arranged in the center on the flow path block, and the heater 60 is mounted in these concave grooves. Channel block 25,
The lower surfaces 26 and 27 are attached to the base plate 40 with screws through screw holes 41 formed in the base plate 40. On both sides of the flow path block, heat insulating slits 42 are provided in the base plate 40 in the length direction.

As described above, the flow path blocks are arranged on the base plate 40 in the direction of the flow path, and the fluid control devices and the flow path blocks 25, 26, 27 are provided so as to straddle the flow path block. The heater 60 is provided in the recessed groove to form one circulation line unit A, (B, C). When the present invention is applied to the general integrated fluid control device shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, FIG. 2 shows a plan view of a flow path block portion.

Here, the process gases a, b, and c are supplied to the reaction furnace from the respective outlets 10a to 10c as process gases a ', b', and c 'via the flow line units A, B, and C, respectively. On the other hand, the purge gas d is supplied from the distribution line unit D to each of the units A, B, and C via the vertical flow path block, and the purge processing of each distribution line is performed.

In the distribution line unit A, 21A, 22A,..., 28A are arranged as flow path blocks, and in the distribution line unit B, 21B, 22B,. However, the C distribution line unit has 21C, 22C,.
... 28C, and 21D, 22D,..., 25D are arranged in the distribution line unit D as flow path blocks. In order to supply the purge gas d from the distribution line unit D to the distribution line units A to C, vertical flow path blocks 29D, 29C, 29B, 29A are provided. The holes at both ends of each of the horizontal flow path block and the vertical flow path block are screw holes for mounting a fluid control device, and the holes at the center are the entrance and the exit of the flow path.

In the flow channel blocks of the flow line units A to C, grooves are provided on both sides of an inlet and an outlet of the flow channel in the flow direction, and a heater 60 is provided therein. Since the distribution line unit of D is a line for supplying the purge gas d, no heater is provided. Further, since the mass flow controller 18 is attached between the flow path blocks 26A-C and 27A-C, a dummy block 30A having a large heat capacity is provided below the mass flow controller.
To C are provided. The dummy blocks 30A to 30C are also provided with a groove in the flow path direction, and the heater 60
Is embedded.

The flow path blocks 21A to 28A and 21B to 2
8B, 21C to 28C are made of stainless steel, for example, S
It is made of US316 material or the like, and the portion other than the flow passage and the screw hole is bulky, so that it has a large weight and a large heat capacity.

The heater 60 used here is preferably of a self-temperature control type. As shown in the explanatory perspective view of FIG. 3, the self-temperature control type heater has two bus bars 61 arranged substantially in parallel, between which a continuous planar resistance heating element 62 is attached. Planar resistance heating element 6
The outer periphery of 2 is covered with a heat-resistant insulator 63, and its outer periphery is further covered with a stainless steel braid 64 for protection. The heat-resistant insulator 63 is preferably made of a material that can withstand high temperatures, such as a fluororesin.

The temperature characteristic of the resistance of the sheet-like resistance heating element 62 rises rapidly with temperature as shown in FIG. That is, the resistance heating element has a property that the calorific value (watt) rapidly decreases with temperature. With such a temperature characteristic, when this heater is used in the present invention, when a temperature is applied between the two buses of the heater when the temperature of the flow path block is low,
Since the resistance is small, a large amount of current flows to generate a large amount of heat, and the temperature of the block in which the heater is embedded rises. As the temperature rises, the resistance increases rapidly, the flowing current decreases, and the calorific value decreases. The temperature at which the amount of heat radiation and the amount of heat generation are balanced is determined by the applied voltage, the resistance heating element of the heater, and the situation around the heater.

When this heater is applied to the present invention, the temperature of the heater in that portion rises faster than the other portions in the portion where there is no block between the flow path blocks, but after the rise, the resistance increases. No abnormal temperature rise. Also, when embedded in the grooves provided in some of the flow path blocks, the heater resistance of the portion of the flow path block at the block where the temperature has risen quickly increases, and the heater resistance of the block where the temperature rises slowly is However, since the resistance becomes higher than the heater resistance of the portion, a larger amount of current flows to the heater portion located at a lower temperature, thereby working to make the overall temperature uniform.

When this heater is used in the integrated fluid control device of the present invention, the temperature of the unit is controlled by adjusting the applied voltage because the flow path block and the resistance heating element of the heater are made in advance. be able to.

As the sheet resistance heating element of the heater, a material obtained by kneading carbon powder with a fluororesin polymer is suitable. The fluororesin polymer is dispersed in and binds to the carbon powder. Fluororesin polymer has a small volume at low temperatures, but expands and increases in volume at high temperatures. For this reason, at low temperatures, the contact area between the carbon powders is large,
Although the resistance is small, when the temperature becomes high, the contact area between the carbon powders becomes small and the resistance becomes large.

In FIG. 1, the base plate 40 is provided with heat insulating slits 42 on both sides of the flow path block of the distribution line unit. The heat generated by the heater 60 heats the flow path block and the fluid control device mounted thereon, and also heats the base plate 40 thereunder. Since only the portion of the distribution line unit need be heated, the base plate 40 is provided with a heat-insulating slit so that heat is not transmitted to the distribution line unit which does not need to be transmitted through the base plate 40.

In the integrated fluid control apparatus of the present invention, the temperature of the entire integrated fluid control apparatus is kept constant by covering the flow path blocks and the fluid control devices mounted side by side on the base plate 40 with the hood 50 as shown in FIG. The temperature of the integrated fluid control device can be kept at 40 ° C. ± 1 ° C. even when the room temperature is around 24 ° C.

[0030]

As described above in detail, in the integrated fluid control apparatus of the present invention, since the groove is provided in the flow path block having a large heat capacity and the heater is embedded therein, the heater portion enters the block, so that the size is reduced. In an integrated unit, there is no need to change the pitch between line units. In addition, stable heating can be performed without wasteful heat radiation.

Further, since the self-temperature control type heater is embedded, the whole unit can be heated to a constant temperature.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of one flow line unit of an integrated fluid control device according to the present invention, including some fluid control devices.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a portion of a flow path block of the integrated fluid control device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory perspective view of a self-temperature control type heater used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a temperature characteristic diagram of a heater.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the integrated fluid control device of the present invention with a hood.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a general integrated fluid control device.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a cross-section of a horizontal flow path block in one distribution unit line of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the integrated fluid control device.

[Description of Signs] A, B, C, D Distribution line units a, b, c, a ', b', c 'Process gas d Purge gas 1 Integrated fluid control device 10 Outlet 12 Inflow joint 13 Manual on-off valve 14 Filter 15 Regulator 16 Pressure gauge 17, 19 Pneumatic shutoff valve 18 Mass flow controller 20 Outflow joint 21, 22, 23,... 28 (Horizontal) flow path block 29 (Vertical) flow path block 30 Dummy block 40 Base plate 41 Screw hole 42 Insulation slit 50 Hood 60 Heater 61 Bus bar 62 Resistance heating element 63 Insulator 64 Braid

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Makoto Tanaka 2nd Daifuku Kuwana-shi, Mie Hitachi Metals Co., Ltd. Kuwana Plant (72) Inventor Kazuo Matsui 2nd Daifuku Kuwana-shi Mie Prefecture Hitachi Metals Kuwana Plant F-term (reference) 3H051 BB10 CC17 FF15 3H066 BA36 4G068 AA02 AB02 AC05 AD50 AF13

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. One flow line unit is formed by connecting various fluid control devices in the flow direction via a flow path block, and a groove is formed in the flow direction of each flow path block of this flow line unit. An integrated fluid control device with a heater, wherein the heater is mounted in the groove. 2. The integrated fluid control device with a heater according to claim 1, wherein the heater is a self-temperature control type heater. 3. A single flow line unit is formed by connecting various fluid control devices in the flow direction via a flow path block, and a self-temperature control type heater is mounted on the side or lower surface of the flow line unit. An integrated fluid control device with a heater, characterized in that: 4. A plurality of distribution line units arranged in parallel, and among the plurality of distribution line units that need to be heated, grooves are formed in the flow direction of each flow path block of the distribution line unit. The integrated fluid control device with a heater according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a heater is mounted in the groove. 5. The integrated fluid control device with a heater according to claim 1, wherein a heat insulating slit is provided in a base plate on which the distribution line unit is mounted.