JPH09246228A - Draining device of substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To blow off treatment liquid attaching to a substrate completely by permitting a device to be short and compact, minimizing increase of a use amount of gas and a manufacturing cost and making an adjustment operation easy. SOLUTION: A draining tank 2 is provided with a carrier roller 6 forming a carrier surface P which tilts at an angle ω to one side toward a carrier traveling direction, an air knife 11 provided up and down the carrier surface P and a spot jet means 21 at the downstream side in a carrier traveling direction of the air knife 11. The air knife 11 tilts to a width direction of the carrier surface P by an angle θ1 so that a lower end is in clined closer to the downstream side in a carrier traveling direction than an upper end. A spot jet means 21 has a slit-like jet port 21a facing the carrier surface P and tilts to a width direction of the carrier surface P by an angle θ2 so that a lower end thereof is inclined closer to the downstream side in a carrier direction than an upper end.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is directed to, for example, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display, a semiconductor wafer substrate, etc., and drains a substrate by injecting a gas toward the surface of the substrate to which a treatment liquid is attached. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the case of manufacturing a liquid crystal display, for example, a so-called wet surface treatment is performed in which various treatment liquids are sequentially supplied onto the surface of a plate-shaped glass substrate. In this wet surface treatment, after cleaning the surface of the glass substrate, a chemical treatment such as development, etching, and film removal is performed, and a washing treatment with pure water is performed for each chemical treatment. The treatment liquid used for water washing adheres to the surface of the substrate on the substrate subjected to the water washing treatment, but the attached liquid needs to be removed in each water washing treatment step. Conventionally, as a liquid draining device used for that purpose, as shown in FIG. 9, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, a transport mechanism including support rollers 51, ... The air knife 52 having the slit-shaped ejection port 52a extending in the width direction is formed so that one end of the ejection port 52a is displaced to the downstream side in the transport direction from the other end with respect to a direction orthogonal to the transport direction in plan view.
The gas is jetted from the jet port 52a of the air knife 52 toward the surface of the substrate 53 conveyed in a horizontal state, and the jetting jet pushes the processing liquid adhering to the substrate 53 to the corner 53a and blows it away. Such a method is known (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-302779).

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the above prior art,
When the rear portion of the substrate 53 has not yet come out of the area of the wet surface treatment of the previous step, the treatment liquid flows along the surface of the substrate 53 and flows into the front portion. Therefore, if gas is blown from the air knife 52 in this state, The treatment liquid bounces off and hinders drainage. Therefore, a neutral zone N having a length substantially corresponding to the entire length of the substrate 53 is provided on the upstream side of the air knife 52 in the transporting direction, and the substrate 53 is simply transported in this neutral zone N, and past this. The gas from the air knife 52 was blown after the substrate 53 completely entered the liquid draining device. Therefore, there is a problem that the total length of the liquid draining device becomes long.

Further, the processing liquid pushed to the corner portion 53a of the substrate 53 adheres to the front and back surfaces of the substrate forming the corner portion 53a and the substrate end surface, but the end surface portion of the substrate receives the force of the jet flow of the air knife. Since it is difficult, it may not be able to be completely blown off by a jet flow, and at that time, the treatment liquid that remains in the form of water droplets may cause stains on the substrate surface and cause substrate contamination, or dry solids that remain on the substrate surface. Problems such as things causing particles will occur. As a countermeasure for this, an air knife 52 is additionally installed on the downstream side of the air knife 52 in the conveying direction to have a two-stage structure. However, this additional space requires a large size device. And the amount of gas used will double and the manufacturing cost will increase. Moreover, it is difficult to uniformly adjust the flow rate of the jet flow and the like over the entire length of the jet ports 52a, 52a of both air knives 52, 52. Further, in recent years, the substrates to be processed have been increased in size, and the air knife itself has also been increased in size, which is an increasingly disadvantageous condition. There is also a problem that even if the air knife is held in two stages, the water droplets at the corners of the substrate cannot be removed sufficiently.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the processing liquid is tilted in the width direction so that the processing liquid flowing into the surface of the substrate is not accumulated and is treated by an air knife. By effectively blowing away the gas, and by applying a gas spot flow to the treatment liquid remaining at the corners, the device can be stored in a short and compact form, minimizing the increase in gas usage and manufacturing costs and facilitating adjustment work. Another object of the present invention is to provide a substrate drainer capable of completely blowing off the processing liquid adhering to the substrate.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In a substrate drainer configured to inject a gas from a slit-shaped ejection port of an air knife toward the surface of a substrate to be transported, the transport surface is set to be inclined to one side in the transport direction, and The air knife is provided so as to be inclined with respect to the width direction of the transport surface so that the lower end of the jet port is displaced to the downstream side in the transport direction from the upper end, and the gas is directed toward the corner of the substrate on the downstream side of the lower end of the jet port. It is characterized in that a spot injection means for injecting the spot flow is provided.

According to the present invention, since the transfer surface is inclined to one side in the transfer direction, the processing liquid flowing from the previous step flows down to the side of the substrate and does not collect on the substrate surface. Therefore, the neutral zone is not necessary and the load on the drainage of the air knife is reduced. Then, most of the processing liquid on the substrate is drained by the jet flow ejected from the ejection port of the air knife, and the processing liquid adhering to the end surface of the substrate is pushed to the corners. Then, the treatment liquid remaining at the corners is completely blown off by the spot flow of the gas jetted from the spot jetting means. In that case, compared to the two-stage air knife, the device is compact, the amount of gas used is small, the manufacturing cost is low, and the flow rate adjustment of the spot injection means is easy.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the jet port of the spot jetting means is formed in a slit shape, and the spot jetting means forms a slit on the conveying surface in substantially the same direction as the air knife. It is characterized in that it is provided so as to be inclined with respect to the width direction. According to this invention, the jet flow from the spot jetting means becomes a uniform flow having a certain width, so that the treatment liquid remaining at the corners is surely blown off.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the invention, the air knife is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the conveying surface so that the jet flow from the jet port is directed to the upstream side in the conveying direction rather than directly below. It is characterized in that it is provided so as to be inclined. According to this aspect of the invention, since the jet flow jetted from the jet port of the air knife is directed to the upstream side in the transport direction, the processing liquid adhering to the substrate is surely swept to the corner portion.

A fourth aspect of the invention is characterized in that, in the first to third aspects of the invention, the air knife and the spot injection means are provided in pairs, one above and one below the conveying surface. . According to the present invention, the processing liquid attached to both the upper surface and the lower surface of the substrate is completely blown off.

[0011]

1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an embodiment of a liquid draining device 1 for a substrate B according to the present invention. In the figure, 2 is a box-shaped liquid draining tank, a substrate receiving port 3 is opened in a side plate of the liquid draining tank 2, and the inside of the liquid draining tank 2 is adjacent via the substrate receiving port 3. It communicates with the inside of the water washing device 4. The substrate B is placed inside the draining tank 2.
The transport mechanism 5 is provided.

The transport mechanism 5 comprises transport rollers 6, ..., Which are rotatably supported in parallel in the transport direction, and a drive mechanism 7 which rotates these transport rollers 6 ,. The substrate B thus received is received by the substrate receiving port 3, and is transported along a transport surface P virtually set on the transport rollers 6, ... And sent to the next step. And
As shown in FIG. 3, the rotation axes of the transport rollers 6, ... Are inclined with respect to the horizontal axis by an angle ω, whereby the transport mechanism 5 moves the transport surface P to one side in the transport direction. It is set to be inclined by an angle ω. This angle ω
Is set to about 4 to 6 degrees in this embodiment.
This is because if the slope is too gentle, the treatment liquid will not flow down easily and the liquid drainage is poor, and if the slope is too tight, the treatment liquid will flow too much and partial stains may occur after direct water washing. Is. However, the present invention is not limited to the above angles. In addition, 8 is a drain pan.

Reference numerals 11 and 12 denote air knives provided above and below the carrying surface P, and extend substantially in the width direction of the carrying surface P.
In addition, the slit-shaped injection ports 11a and 12 facing the transport surface P
a. As shown in FIG. 2, these air knives 11 and 12 are inclined by an angle θ1 with respect to the width direction of the conveyance surface P so that the lower ends of the ejection ports 11a and 12a are displaced toward the downstream side in the conveyance direction from the upper ends. It is provided. The angle θ1 is preferably about 45 degrees, but is set to about 7 degrees for the purpose of ensuring workability in mounting peripheral members such as the transport roller 6, but the angle θ1 is not limited to this. The air knives 11 and 12 are connected to a clean air source 14 via an air conduit 13 so that the high pressure air supplied from the clean air source 14 is jetted from the jet ports 11a and 12a toward the transport surface P. I have to. Reference numeral 15 is a control valve provided in the air pipeline 13 for adjusting the flow rate. The gas supplied from the clean air source 14 is not limited to clean air, and an inert gas such as N ₂ gas may be used.

Spot ejecting means 21 and 22 are provided on the downstream side of the lower ends of the air knife jetting openings 11a and 12a, which are offset toward the downstream side in the conveying direction. The spot jetting means 21 and 22 have a structure similar to that of the air knives 11 and 12, and are almost the same as the conveying surface P.
It has slit-shaped injection ports 21a, 22a extending in the width direction of and facing the transport surface P. As shown in FIG.
These spot ejecting means 21, 22 are
The lower ends of the a and 22a are inclined with respect to the width direction of the conveying surface P by an angle θ2 so that the lower ends of the a and 22a are shifted toward the downstream side in the conveying direction. This angle θ2 is about 1 in this embodiment.
Although it is set to about 0 degrees, it is not limited to this. The spot injection means 21 and 22 are the above-mentioned air pipelines 1.
3, which is connected to the clean air source 14 via high pressure air supplied from the clean air source 14.
A spot flow is ejected from a and 22a toward the transport surface P.

As shown in FIG. 4, the air knife 1 is used.
1 and 12 and the spot injection means 21 and 22 are angle φ in a side view so that the jets from the injection ports 11a, 12a and 21a, 22a may be directed to the upstream side in the transport direction rather than directly below.
It is provided with an inclination of 1 and φ2 respectively. The angles φ1 and φ2 are set equal to about 30 degrees in the present embodiment, but they are not limited to this and may not be the same. The respective angles φ1 and φ2 are set to desired angles in consideration of the type of processing liquid, the injection liquid pressure, the injection air pressure, the transport speed, and the like.

In the above embodiment, when the substrate B is carried in from the water washing device 4 as shown in FIG. 2, when the rear part of the substrate B is not yet out of the water washing device 4, the processing liquid L such as pure water is added to the substrate B. However, since the transport surface P is inclined to one side in the transport direction, the processing liquid L supplied to the substrate flows to the side of the substrate B and does not collect on the substrate surface. Therefore, the load on the liquid cutting of the air knives 11 and 12 is reduced, so that the neutral zone becomes unnecessary and the total length of the device can be shortened accordingly. When the substrate B is transported further downstream, the air knives 11 and 12 have the ejection ports 11a and 12a.
Most of the processing liquid L on the substrate B is removed by the jet flow ejected from the substrate B, and the processing liquid L on the end face portion is pushed to the corner portion b (state in FIG. 5). Next, the treatment liquid L remaining in the form of water droplets on the corner b is completely blown off by the spot flow of air jetted from the jetting ports 21a and 22a of the spot jetting means 21 and 22 (state of FIG. 6). The stain of the residual liquid is not formed on B. In that case, as compared with the case where the air knife is set in two stages, the apparatus is compact because only the spot injection means 21 and 22 smaller than the air knives 11 and 12 are provided, and the gas flow because of the spot flow. Is small in amount, the manufacturing cost is low, and the flow rate adjustment of the spot spraying means 21 and 22 is easy.

Further, since the jetting ports 21a, 22a of the spot jetting means 21, 22 are formed in a slit shape and are inclined in the same direction as the air knives 11, 12 by an angle θ2, the spot jetting means 21, 22 are formed. The jet from the above becomes a uniform flow having a certain width, and the processing liquid L remaining on the corner portion b of the substrate B can be surely blown off.

Further, since the air knives 11 and 12 are inclined so that the jet flows from the jet ports 11a and 12a are directed to the upstream side in the transport direction rather than immediately below, the air knives 11 and 12 are
The jets ejected from the 12 ejection ports 11a and 12a are directed to the upstream side in the transport direction, and the processing liquid L adhering to the substrate B can be surely pushed to the corner portion b of the substrate B.

Further, since the air knives 11 and 12 and the spot spraying means 21 and 22 are provided in pairs on the upper and lower sides of the transfer surface P, respectively, the processing liquid L attached to both the upper surface and the lower surface of the substrate B is It can be completely blown away at once.

In the above embodiment, the spot injection means 21,
22 has a structure similar to that of the air knives 11 and 12 having the slit-shaped injection ports 21a and 22a,
As shown in FIG. 7, the spot injection means 21 'may be configured by a capillary tube whose opening 21'a faces the transport surface P. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the spot injection unit 21 ″ may be configured by arranging a plurality of pipes whose openings 21 ″ a face the transport surface P in parallel.

In the above embodiment, the air knives 11 and 12 are used.
And air was supplied to the spot injection means 21 and 22,
The present invention can be applied to the case where another gas is supplied. Further, in the embodiment, the spot injection means 21, 2
Although 2 is tilted by an angle φ2 in a side view, the spot jetting means 21, 22 blow the treatment liquid L remaining at the corner portion b by the spot flow. Alternatively, it may be provided vertically.

In the above embodiment, the case where the treatment liquid on the surface of the substrate which has been subjected to the washing treatment with the washing device is removed has been described. However, not the washing device but the draining device after the chemical treatment such as development, etching and peeling is performed. Can also be used as

[0023]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the processing liquid flowing from the previous process flows down to the side of the substrate,
The neutral zone is no longer required and the device can be shortened. Further, with the processing liquid flowing down, the processing liquid adhering to the substrate is pushed to the corners by the jet flow of the air knife, and the spot flow of the spot injection means is jetted to the corners. While making the device more compact, reducing the amount of gas used, reducing the manufacturing cost, and facilitating the flow adjustment work,
You can completely blow off the processing liquid adhering to the substrate,
It is possible to surely prevent the stain of the residual liquid from appearing on the substrate.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the treatment liquid remaining at the corners can be reliably blown off by a uniform jet having a certain width.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the jet flow of the air knife is directed to the upstream side in the transport direction, the processing liquid adhering to the substrate can be surely pushed to the corners, and the spot flow causes the residual liquid. The treatment liquid can be surely blown off.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the processing liquid adhered to both the upper surface and the lower surface of the substrate can be completely blown off.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an essential part of the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the transport mechanism of the above embodiment as viewed in the transport direction.

FIG. 4 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow X in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 when a substrate passes near an air knife.

FIG. 6 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 when the substrate passes near the spot ejection unit.

FIG. 7 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 showing another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 showing still another embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a view for explaining a conventional example, which corresponds to FIG. 2.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Draining device B Substrate b Corner 5 Transport mechanism P Transport surface 11 Air knife 11a Jet port 12 Air knife 12a Jet port 21 Spot jet means 21a Jet port 22 Spot jet means 22a Jet port

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A substrate draining device in which gas is jetted from a slit-shaped jet port of an air knife toward the surface of a substrate to be transported, in which the transport surface is inclined to one side in the transport direction. In addition to setting, the air knife is provided so as to be inclined with respect to the width direction of the transport surface so that the lower end of the jet port is shifted to the downstream side in the transport direction from the upper end, and the corner of the substrate is provided on the downstream side of the lower end of the jet port. A device for draining a substrate, characterized in that spot ejecting means for ejecting a gas spot flow toward the portion is provided. 2. The injection port of the spot ejecting means is formed in a slit shape, and the spot ejecting means is provided so as to be inclined with respect to the width direction of the conveying surface in substantially the same direction as the air knife. 1. The substrate drainer according to 1. 3. The air knife is provided so as to be inclined with respect to a direction perpendicular to the transport surface so that the jet flow from the jet port is directed to the upstream side in the transport direction rather than directly below.
The substrate drainer described. 4. The apparatus for draining a substrate according to claim 1, wherein the air knife and the spot ejecting means are provided in pairs one above and one below the carrying surface.