JPH05234974A - Device and method for cleaning substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To prevent foreign matter from being attached by static electricity after drying the object to be cleaned. [Construction] An object to be cleaned 2 is loaded in a loader section a, ultrasonically cleaned with water in a cleaning tank 4, and subsequently an IPA tank 6
Then, the water adhering to the surface of the object to be cleaned 2 is replaced with isopropyl alcohol, and steam cleaning and drying are performed in the IPA steam tank 8. The unloader section e for discharging the article to be cleaned 2 after drying is provided with a static electricity removing section 10 for blowing the ionized gas to the article to be cleaned 2 being moved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning apparatus and a cleaning method used for cleaning various substrates such as a thermal head substrate and a large substrate for a liquid crystal display device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An apparatus for cleaning a large substrate such as a substrate for a thermal head is designed such that it is washed with a detergent and pure water, further washed with pure water, then replaced with isopropyl alcohol to dry the water, or heated with pure water. Various drying methods such as drying by using or drying by blowing dry air are adopted.

[0003]

In the conventional cleaning apparatus, static electricity is generated on the substrate during the cleaning, so that there is a problem that the foreign matter is attracted by the static electricity after drying. Especially in brush scrubbing in which the item to be cleaned is rubbed with a nylon brush using ultrapure water, if the item to be cleaned is an insulator such as a substrate for a thermal head or a substrate for a liquid crystal display device, an insulator By rubbing the doshi, the object to be cleaned is likely to be charged with static electricity. When the object to be cleaned is charged, foreign matters such as dust are attracted to the object to be cleaned, meaning that cleaning is no longer necessary and the manufacturing yield of the thermal head or the liquid crystal display device using the object to be cleaned as a substrate is reduced. ..

Therefore, according to the present invention, after cleaning the object to be cleaned, the static electricity is removed during or after the drying to prevent foreign substances from re-adhering, and the manufacturing yield of the apparatus using the object to be cleaned as a substrate is reduced. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device and a cleaning method capable of preventing the above.

[0005]

In the substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention, a loader unit for mounting an object to be cleaned on the cleaning apparatus, a cleaning unit for cleaning the mounted object to be cleaned, and a cleaned object to be cleaned are dried. In a substrate cleaning apparatus having a drying unit and an unloader unit for removing a dried object to be cleaned from a cleaning apparatus, a static electricity removing unit for spraying an ionized gas to the object to be cleaned is provided in the drying unit or the unloader unit, Alternatively, the ionized gas in the drying section may be blown onto the object to be cleaned at high pressure from a nozzle to simultaneously dry and remove static electricity. In the substrate cleaning method of the present invention, when the object to be cleaned is mounted on the cleaning device to be cleaned and the cleaned object is dried, the ionized gas is blown from the nozzle at high pressure to the object to be cleaned. Simultaneously remove static electricity.

[0006]

By charging the object to be cleaned with an ionized gas during or after drying the object to be cleaned, the object to be cleaned is removed from the charge.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment, (A) is an overall layout view, and (B) is a perspective view showing an unloader section provided with a static electricity removing section. In the loader section a, the object to be cleaned 2 such as the thermal head substrate held in the cassette 3 is carried in and attached to this cleaning device. The object to be cleaned 2 moves in the direction of the arrow in cassette units and moves to the washing section b.
In the water washing section b, an ultrasonic transducer is provided in the washing tank 4, and the object to be washed 2 is ultrasonically washed with water. Following the cleaning tank 4, an IPA tank 6 containing isopropyl alcohol (IPA) is arranged.
By immersing the article to be cleaned 2 in water, the water adhering to the surface of the article to be cleaned 2 washed with water is replaced with isopropyl alcohol. An IPA steam tank 8 is arranged following the IPA tank 6, and steam cleaning and drying are performed in the IPA steam tank 8 by utilizing the temperature difference between the object to be cleaned 2 and the IPA steam.
Following the IPA vapor tank 8, an unloader section e for discharging the article to be cleaned 2 after drying is provided.

[0008] The unloader section e has an object 2 to be cleaned which is moving.
A static electricity removing unit 10 for spraying a gas such as ionized nitrogen is provided. The static electricity removing unit 10 is provided with a pipe so as to straddle the moving object 2 to be cleaned, and the pipe is provided with a large number of holes for blowing out the ionized gas sent from the ionizer 12 to the object to be cleaned. ..
As the ionizer 12, for example, a commercially available one such as a meter for removing the charge can be used.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the object to be cleaned is loaded into the cleaning device at the loader section a while being put in the cassette,
In the cleaning device, ultrasonic cleaning is performed in the cleaning tank 4, water is replaced with isopropyl alcohol in the IPA tank 6, steam cleaning and drying are performed in the IPA steam tank 8, and then the unloader section e is sent. The ionized gas is blown from the static electricity removing portion 10 while the object to be cleaned is moved by the unloader portion e, so that the charged static electricity is removed.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment, in which the present invention is applied to a scrubbing type cleaning apparatus.
(A) is a schematic plan view, (B) is a partial perspective view showing a cleaning unit, and (C) is a schematic perspective view showing a drying unit. The large-sized substrates 22 are mounted one by one on the cleaning device by the loader 20 and sent to the cleaning unit g. In the cleaning unit g, as shown in (B), the nylon brush 24 rotates to supply the detergent and pure water or pure water from the center of the brush while supplying the cleaning target 2
2 is conveyed between the brushes. Cleaning part g
Then, the brush 24 near the loader 20 is supplied with detergent and pure water, and the brush 24 away from the loader 20 is supplied with pure water only for cleaning.

A drying section h is arranged following the cleaning section g. As shown in (C), the drying section h is provided with a pair of air nozzles 26 for blowing the ionized dry gas onto the article to be cleaned 22 passing therethrough, and between the pair of air nozzles 26. By moving the object to be cleaned 22, drying and removal of static electricity are performed. The dry gas blown out from the air nozzle 26 is a gas such as nitrogen ionized by the ionizer 12. The object 22 to be cleaned that has been dried and removed of static electricity in the drying section h is taken out of the cleaning device by the unloader 28.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the objects to be cleaned 22 are sent to the cleaning section g one by one by the loader 20 to perform scrub cleaning. In the scrub cleaning, when the object to be cleaned 22 is an insulating substrate such as a substrate for a thermal head or a substrate for a liquid crystal display device, the insulators are rubbed against each other to cause a 200 to 2
The static electricity of 000V is generated and electrification occurs. The ionized dry gas is blown at a high pressure while the cleaned and charged object 22 to be cleaned passes through the drying section h provided with an air nozzle, so that the object 22 to be cleaned is simultaneously dried and static electricity is removed. In both of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a static electricity eliminator is provided in the drying section or unloader section of a conventionally used substrate cleaning apparatus, and a simple modification is required. Almost no need to change.

[0013]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION Since static electricity has been removed from the object to be cleaned that has been cleaned by the cleaning device of the present invention or by the cleaning method of the present invention, it is possible to prevent foreign matter from being electrostatically attracted to the object to be cleaned after cleaning. Therefore, it is possible to improve the manufacturing yield of a device such as a thermal head which uses the object to be cleaned as a substrate.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention, (A)
Is an overall layout diagram, and (B) is a perspective view showing an unloader unit provided with a static electricity removing unit.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention, (A)
Is an overall layout diagram, (B) is a partial perspective view showing a cleaning unit,
(C) is a schematic perspective view showing a drying unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2,22 Object to be cleaned 4 Cleaning tank 6 IPA tank 8 IPA vapor tank 10 Static electricity removing unit 12 Ionizer 20 Loader 24 Brush of cleaning unit 26 Air nozzle

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A loader unit for mounting a cleaning target on a cleaning device, a cleaning unit for cleaning the mounted cleaning target, a drying unit for drying the cleaned cleaning target, and a cleaning device for the dried cleaning target. A substrate cleaning apparatus provided with an unloader section to be removed from the substrate cleaning apparatus, wherein the drying section or the unloader section is provided with a static electricity removing section for spraying ionized gas to the object to be cleaned. 2. A loader unit for mounting the cleaning target on the cleaning device, a cleaning unit for cleaning the mounted cleaning target, a drying unit for drying the cleaned cleaning target, and a cleaning device for the dried cleaning target. In the substrate cleaning apparatus having an unloader section to be removed from the substrate cleaning apparatus, the drying section sprays ionized gas from a nozzle at high pressure onto an object to be cleaned to simultaneously perform drying and static electricity removal. .. 3. An object to be cleaned is mounted on a cleaning device for cleaning,
A method for cleaning a substrate, characterized in that, when the cleaned object is dried, an ionized gas is blown from a nozzle at a high pressure to the object to be cleaned in a drying section to perform drying and static electricity removal at the same time. Cleaning method.