KR102406778B1 - Manufacturing system to improve clogging of nozzles and piping of etching machine for manufacturing ultra thin glass - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a manufacturing system for improving nozzle and pipe clogging, equipment operation rate, and product manufacturing yield of an etcher for producing ultra-thin glass, by removing colloids and slurries generated during the etching process, and depositing them on nozzles and pipes of the etcher Alternatively, by preventing deposition, it is possible to prevent a problem of a decrease in productivity when manufacturing ultra-thin glass, and to prevent clogging, so that a separate washing process is not performed for the nozzle unit, thereby simplifying the manufacturing process.

Description

Manufacturing system to improve clogging of nozzles and piping of etching machine for manufacturing ultra thin glass

The present invention relates to a manufacturing system for improving nozzle and pipe clogging of an etcher for manufacturing ultra-thin glass, and specifically, it is possible to improve productivity by preventing clogging of nozzles and pipes of an etcher used for manufacturing ultra-thin glass (UTG). It relates to a manufacturing method.

In recent years, thin glass is used as a cover glass film for protecting the display unit of a portable terminal device such as a smart phone.

Such thin glass is produced by cutting in a glass ledger according to the size and specification of a portable terminal device to be attached.

In general, in the process of processing ultra-thin glass, the ultra-thin glass is processed to have a thickness of 0.03 mm to 0.2 mm, and is manufactured into ultra-thin glass by processing the glass.

At this time, it is manufactured through an etching process in order to make the thickness into an ultra-thin film.

In addition, a chamfering process is performed on the edge of the cut surface created after cutting the ultra-thin glass. In the case of ultra-thin glass with a glass thickness of 0.03 mm to 0.2 mm, polishing is performed on the glass cut section of 0.25 mm or more. A small amount of hydrogen peroxide (H ₂ O ₂ ) or sulfuric acid (H ₂ SO ₄ ) is added to ammonium hydrogen fluoride (NH ₄ NF ₂ ) or hydrofluoric acid (HF) instead of polishing chamfering because cracks occur on the processed surface. A sharp cut surface can be curved through a wet etching process using an etchant.

That is, in order to manufacture the ultra-thin glass, a process of manufacturing the glass to form an ultra-thin film and a part of the chamfering process for the edge of the cut surface are also performed by a wet etching process.

However, in the conventional etching process, due to the characteristics of the etching process, a significant amount of slurry with high specific gravity is generated, and this slurry is deposited or deposited on nozzles and pipes as a very sticky gel and white colloid before and after the etching process, thereby affecting the etching process.

In addition, the gel is solidified and fixed, clogging the nozzle and the pipe, causing a problem that must be periodically disassembled and cleaned.

In order to prevent this problem, it is necessary to develop a manufacturing process used for manufacturing ultra-thin glass.

KR 10-2041441 B1

An object of the present invention relates to a manufacturing system for improving nozzle and pipe clogging of an etching machine for manufacturing ultra-thin glass.

Another object of the present invention is to remove the slurry generated during the etching process, prevent deposition or deposition in the nozzle and pipe of the etcher, thereby preventing the problem of lowering productivity in the manufacture of ultra-thin glass, and preventing clogging in the nozzle A separate washing process may not be performed.

In order to achieve the above object, a manufacturing system for improving nozzle and pipe clogging of an etcher for manufacturing ultra-thin glass according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of: 1) placing the glass in an etch chamber inside the etcher; 2) wet etching the glass located inside the etcher by spraying an etchant from the nozzle of the etcher; 3) when the wet etching process is completed, the etchant supply is stopped, high-pressure air is injected from the compressed air ejector, sucking the etchant and slurry remaining in the etch spray nozzle and the mount pipe, and transferring it to the slurry tank; and 4) injecting high-pressure dry air into a slurry suction valve and an etchant injection nozzle for sucking the etchant and slurry to remove residues located on the inner surface of the pipe and the tip of the nozzle.

In step 2), the glass is wet-etched by the etchant sprayed from the nozzle of the etcher, the etchant that etched the surface of the glass in the etching process is discharged to the liquid circulation drain, and the etchant may include a slurry.

The etchant discharged to the liquid circulation drain may be centrifuged to separate the slurry and the etchant, and the centrifuged etchant may be transferred to a circulation tank and reused in the glass etching process through a nozzle.

The centrifugal separation is to separate the slurry and the etchant by rotating at a speed of 3,000 to 6,000 rpm, and may be centrifuged by a specific gravity difference between the etchant and the glass.

In step 3), the compressed air ejector sucks air at a pressure of 5 to 7 kg/cm ³ and converts it to a vacuum state.

In step 2), the etchant is sprayed due to the operation of the etchant supply valve and the etching process is carried out. The water valve may spray the cleaning liquid in the form of a spray at a pressure of 400 to 650 kPa to clean the slurry discharge valve and the manifold tank connected to the slurry discharge valve.

An etching apparatus for manufacturing ultra-thin glass according to another embodiment of the present invention includes an etching chamber unit for manufacturing the glass into ultra-thin glass; an etchant nozzle located above the etch chamber; a liquid circulation drain part formed on one surface of the etching chamber part and formed on the opposite surface of the nozzle part to discharge the etching process and the etchant generated after the process; a centrifugal separation unit connected to the liquid circulation drain unit to separate the discharged etchant into a slurry and an etchant; an etchant circulation pipe connected to the upper end of the centrifugal separator; a slurry separation pipe unit connected to a lower end of the centrifugal separation unit; a slurry suction unit positioned above the etching chamber to remove the slurry generated in the etching process; a slurry suction pipe unit connected to the slurry suction unit to discharge the suctioned slurry; an intermediate manifold tank part connected to the slurry suction pipe part for transferring the slurry to the waste slurry tank part; a water valve part connected to the upper part of the intermediate manifold tank part and spraying a cleaning liquid for washing the intermediate manifold tank part; a compressed air ejector unit located on the side of the intermediate manifold tank unit to inject compressed air to suck in the etching solution and slurry remaining in the etching spray nozzle and the mount pipe; and a waste slurry tank part disposed in the intermediate manifold tank part to recover the waste slurry.

The centrifugal separator may be disposed in a vertical direction to the etch chamber to prevent deposition of the slurry in the liquid circulation drain portion.

The intermediate manifold tank part and the waste slurry tank part may be positioned in a vertical direction to prevent deposition of the slurry.

The lower surface of the etch chamber part is connected to the liquid circulation drain part with an inclination of 3 to 6 degrees, and it is possible to facilitate the discharge of the etchant used in the etching process.

The present invention removes the slurry generated during the etching process, prevents deposition or deposition on the nozzle and pipe of the etcher, thereby preventing the problem of lowering productivity in the manufacture of ultra-thin glass, and by preventing clogging, a separate nozzle for the nozzle unit Since the washing process is not performed, the manufacturing process can be simplified.

1 is a flowchart of a manufacturing process of ultra-thin glass according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail so that those of ordinary skill in the art can easily carry out the present invention. However, the present invention may be embodied in several different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein.

The importance of ultra-thin glass is increasing in line with the trend of weight reduction and miniaturization of IT devices. Compared to the conventional cover glass, it should be processed to have a thinner thickness, and therefore, it is important to develop an etching process for processing into an ultra-thin glass.

In order to process ultra-thin glass with high production yield, a method of processing by wet etching among various processing methods is preferred.

In other processing methods other than the wet etching process, when manufacturing ultra-thin glass, there is a problem in that the production yield is lowered or processing into ultra-thin glass is impossible. Accordingly, an ultra-thin glass is manufactured by applying a wet etching process.

In order to manufacture ultra-thin glass, if a wet etching process is used, the etching solution must be recovered and reused after use in the etching process. The used etching solution contains a large amount of slurry, and the slurry proceeds and proceeds with the etching process Afterwards, it is deposited in the etching device in the form of a sticky gel.

The slurry contains a high glass specific gravity and is deposited on the nozzles and pipes in the etching device, making it difficult to spray the etching solution, thereby lowering the production yield or, in worse cases, blocking the nozzles and pipes, making it impossible to use the etching device. will occur

In order to prevent this problem, in the conventional etching apparatus, to remove the slurry contained in the etchant after use, a filter cloth was installed, and the slurry was removed in the form of being collected by the filter cloth.

However, there was a problem in that the slurry was not completely removed by the filter cloth or was deposited prior to passing through the filter cloth in the pipe or nozzle portion where the filter cloth is located, blocking the nozzle or the pipe.

In addition, since the slurry cannot be completely removed by the filter cloth, there is a problem that the slurry collection efficiency is only 50 to 70%.

In addition, in the state of white cloid in which the glass is dissolved, the glass solution gradually aggregates when the equipment is not in operation to form particles of several to hundreds of micrometers, causing protrusions and dimple defects to occur during the glass etching process. .

Therefore, in the method of collecting the slurry by the filter cloth, it was practically insufficient to re-collect the etchant after use and apply it again to the wet etching process.

Due to the problems of the conventional etching apparatus, when manufacturing ultra-thin glass, the production yield is lowered, the etching apparatus cannot be operated continuously, and clogged nozzles or pipes have to be cleaned.

In the present invention, it is intended to provide a method for a system and an etching apparatus capable of preventing such a problem, and to improve the convenience of use by introducing some components without replacing the apparatus in a manner applicable to the conventional etching apparatus for manufacturing ultra-thin glass can be raised

Specifically, the manufacturing system for clogging the nozzle and pipe of the etcher for manufacturing ultra-thin glass of the present invention and improving the yield includes: 1) placing the glass in an etch chamber inside the etcher; 2) wet etching the glass located inside the etcher by spraying an etchant from the nozzle of the etcher; 3) when the wet etching process is completed, the etchant supply is stopped, high-pressure air is injected from the compressed air ejector, sucking the etchant and slurry remaining in the etch spray nozzle and the mount pipe, and transferring it to the slurry tank; and 4) injecting high-pressure dry air into a slurry suction valve and an etchant injection nozzle for sucking the etchant and slurry to remove residues located on the inner surface of the pipe and the tip of the nozzle.

The step of placing the glass in the etching chamber inside the etching machine may use a cassette method of semi-automatic or automated equipment or a single-wafer method in which each glass is placed in a single etching chamber.

Specifically, step 1) is a step of placing the glass for processing inside the etch chamber. The glass is placed inside the etch chamber, and movement of the glass is restricted by the etchant sprayed to prevent damage to the glass due to impact. do.

As for the method of locating the glass in the etch chamber, a conventional method of fixing the glass in the etch chamber may be variously applied, and various methods may be applied without being limited to a specific configuration.

When the glass is positioned in the etching chamber in step 1), the etchant is sprayed from the nozzle of the etcher in step 2), thereby performing a wet etching process of the glass.

The nozzles are configured in plurality to spray the etchant, and the amount of the etchant injected by the individual nozzles is 2 to 6LPM. In addition, in order to uniformly etch the glass, the position of the nozzle may be adjusted, but the position of the nozzle is not particularly limited, and may be generally applied to a wet etching process of glass.

When the wet etching process is performed in step 2), the etchant sprayed onto the glass is used for the etching process and then discharged to the liquid circulation drain.

The etchant contains a slurry, and the slurry contains a plurality of glass solutions, and when deposited in a sticky state, clogging of nozzles and pipes may occur.

In order to facilitate discharging to the liquid circulation drain, the inner lower surface of the etching chamber is connected at an inclination of 3 to 6 degrees.

When the etchant flows to the lower surface of the lower surface of the etching chamber, it is inclined to move to the liquid circulation drain.

The etchant discharged to the liquid circulation drain is centrifuged to separate the slurry and the etchant, and the centrifuged etchant is transferred to the circulation tank, and reused in the glass etching process through a nozzle.

The etchant discharged to the liquid circulation drain is rotated by a centrifugal separator to separate it into a slurry and an etchant.

The slurry and the etchant are discharged to the liquid circulation drain in a mixed form, and are moved to the centrifugal separator.

The centrifugal separator is rotated at a speed of 3,000 to 6,000 rpm to separate the slurry and the etchant, and centrifugation is performed by the specific gravity difference between the etchant and the slurry.

Specifically, the glass slurry and the white colloid have a specific gravity difference of about 2.5 times that of the etchant, and when centrifugation is performed, the colloid and the slurry are separated at the bottom. At this time, when only the etchant of the upper layer is recovered, it is possible to recover the slurry in the removed form, and the recovered etchant is transferred back to the nozzle unit to enable use in the wet etching process.

Glass-dissolved colloid and slurry can be removed at a higher level than the method of removing the slurry using the filter cloth used in the conventional wet etching apparatus. can be represented.

When the etching process is finished, in order to prevent injection of the etchant by the nozzle, the etchant supply valve connected to the nozzle is closed, and the slurry suction unit and the slurry discharge valve connected to the inside of the etch chamber are operated.

At the same time, it converts the compressed air ejector to a vacuum state, enabling vacuum suction of the residual etchant and slurry in the nozzle and pipe.

Specifically, the compressed air ejector is connected to the intermediate manifold tank, and the upper part of the intermediate manifold tank is connected to the slurry suction pipe and the slurry suction valve.

A lower portion of the intermediate manifold tank is connected to a slurry discharge valve and a waste slurry tank portion.

Previously, when the etching process is finished, in order to prevent the injection of the etchant, the etchant supply valve is closed, and the slurry suction unit and the slurry discharge valve connected to the interior of the etch chamber are operated.

At this time, in order to remove the residual etchant and slurry inside the etching chamber through the slurry suction unit, the intermediate manifold tank and the slurry suction pipe are maintained in a vacuum state through a compressed air ejector, and the slurry suction pipe is in a vacuum state. Due to this, it is possible to suck the residual etchant and slurry in the nozzle and the pipe.

The compressed air ejector sucks air at a pressure of 5 to 7 kg/cm ³ and maintains it in a vacuum state.

After the etching process is finished, the remaining etchant and slurry are present in a form that can be easily sucked by a vacuum state, so that they can be easily removed through the above process, and can be removed without a separate washing process.

In addition, the present invention enables a separate cleaning process to be performed even during the etching process, not after the etching process is finished.

Specifically, in step 2), the etchant is sprayed due to the operation of the etchant supply valve and the etching process is performed. The water valve may spray the cleaning liquid in the form of a spray at a pressure of 400 to 650 kPa to clean the slurry discharge valve and the manifold tank connected to the slurry discharge valve.

Considering that the slurry discharge valve and the intermediate manifold tank to which the sucked slurry is transported are left unused during the etching process, the cleaning solution is sprayed at a high pressure by the water valve to form a sticky slurry can be easily removed.

An etching apparatus for manufacturing ultra-thin glass according to another embodiment of the present invention includes an etching chamber unit 100 for manufacturing the glass into ultra-thin glass; an etchant nozzle unit 200 positioned above the etch chamber; a liquid circulation drain unit 300 formed on one surface of the etch chamber part and formed on the opposite surface of the nozzle part to discharge the etching process and the etchant generated after the process; a centrifugal separator 400 that is connected to the liquid circulation drain and separates the discharged etchant into a slurry and an etchant; an etchant circulation pipe 410 connected to the upper end of the centrifugal separator; a slurry separation pipe unit 420 connected to the lower end of the centrifugal separation unit; a slurry suction unit 500 positioned above the etch chamber unit 100 to remove the slurry generated in the etching process; a slurry suction pipe unit 510 connected to the slurry suction unit 500 to discharge the suctioned slurry; an intermediate manifold tank unit 600 connected to the slurry suction pipe unit 510 for transferring the slurry to the waste slurry tank unit 900; a water valve 700 connected to the upper portion of the intermediate manifold tank 600 to spray a cleaning solution for cleaning the intermediate manifold tank 600; a compressed air ejector 800 located on the side of the intermediate manifold tank 600 to suck in the etchant and slurry remaining in the etch spray nozzle and the mount pipe by injecting compressed air; and a waste slurry tank unit 900 positioned in the intermediate manifold tank unit 600 to recover the waste slurry.

The centrifugal separator 400 is positioned in the vertical direction to the etch chamber part 100 to prevent deposition of the slurry in the liquid circulation drain part 300 , and the intermediate manifold tank part 600 and the waste slurry tank The portion 900 may be positioned in a vertical direction to prevent deposition of the slurry.

The lower surface of the etching chamber part 100 may be connected to the liquid circulation drain part 300 at an inclination of 3 to 6 degrees to facilitate the discharge of the etchant used in the etching process.

The etchant of the present invention may specifically include ammonium difluoride, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, water and additives.

The additive is a surfactant used to improve etching performance, and the surfactant increases the uniformity of etching by reducing surface tension, and facilitates separation from the slurry in the etchant, thereby facilitating separation by a centrifugal separation process can do it

The surfactant may be a compound represented by the following Chemical Formula 1:

[Formula 1]

here,

R ₁ is 4, 8, 12-tripropylpentadecane (4, 8, 12-triproplypentadecane)

A is triethanolamine.

Specifically, the etchant of the present invention may include 0.5 to 0.9% by weight of ammonium difluoride, 3 to 7% by weight of sulfuric acid, 1 to 3% by weight of nitric acid, 80 to 90% by weight of water, and 0.01 to 0.1% by weight of additives. .

When included as an etchant within the above range, it is possible to manufacture a glass having a uniform thickness.

Preparation of etchant

An etchant of the present invention was prepared by mixing 0.9 wt% of ammonium difluoride, 6 wt% of sulfuric acid, 3 wt% of nitric acid, 90 wt% of water and 0.1 wt% of an additive.

The additive is a surfactant represented by the following formula (1):

[Formula 1]

here,

R ₁ is 4, 8, 12-tripropylpentadecane (4, 8, 12-triproplypentadecane)

A is triethanolamine.

Experimental example

Wet processing of glass

After cutting the 0.1mm long glass in the form of a cover glass, it was placed in the etching chamber. 10 pieces of cut glass were placed at intervals of 5 mm, and then the etching solution was sprayed to perform a wet etching process, and after washing 3 to 5 times with purified water, the thickness of the processed glass was measured.

The manufacturing target is 0.025mm in thickness of the glass after processing, and was confirmed through a conventional method of measuring the thickness of the glass.

As a comparative example, the etching process was performed using an etchant that did not contain a surfactant in the etchant.

A wet etching process was performed under the same conditions and the thickness of the processed glass was checked.

As a result of measuring the thickness of the glass subjected to the etching process using the etchant of the present invention, it was confirmed that a uniform thickness was shown as 0.025 mm, but in the case of the etchant of the comparative example, it was confirmed that a part with a thickness other than 0.025 mm was confirmed in some glasses. It was confirmed that one etching process did not proceed.

In addition, as a result of checking the components of the etchant separated by centrifugation in the etchant of the present invention, it was confirmed that the slurry was not included, enabling reuse of the separated etchant.

On the other hand, in the case of the etchant of Comparative Example, it was confirmed that a small amount of the slurry was included, and thus, it was confirmed that the slurry removal efficiency was partially decreased by centrifugation.

Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements by those skilled in the art using the basic concept of the present invention as defined in the following claims are also provided. is within the scope of the

100: etch chamber unit
200: etchant nozzle unit
300: liquid circulation drain part
400: centrifugal separation unit
410: etchant circulation piping
420: slurry separation piping
500: slurry suction unit
510: slurry suction piping
600: intermediate manifold tank part
700: sheath valve unit
800: compressed air ejector unit
900: waste slurry tank unit

Claims (10)

1) placing the glass in an etch chamber inside the etcher;
2) wet etching the glass located inside the etcher by spraying an etchant from the nozzle of the etcher;
3) when the wet etching process is completed, the etchant supply is stopped, and high-pressure air is injected from the compressed air ejector to suck the etchant and slurry remaining in the etch spray nozzle and the mount pipe and transfer it to the slurry tank; and
4) Injecting high-pressure dry air into a slurry suction valve and an etchant injection nozzle for sucking the etchant and slurry to remove residues located on the inner surface of the pipe and the end of the nozzle, and the nozzle and pipe of an etcher for manufacturing ultra-thin glass Manufacturing system to improve clogging.
According to claim 1,
In step 2), the glass is wet-etched by the etchant sprayed from the nozzle of the etcher,
The etchant that etched the surface of the glass in the etching process is discharged to the liquid circulation drain,
The etchant is a manufacturing system for improving nozzle and pipe clogging of an etcher for manufacturing ultra-thin glass containing a slurry.
3. The method of claim 2,
The etchant discharged to the liquid circulation drain is centrifuged to separate the slurry and the etchant,
The centrifuged etchant is transferred to the circulation tank, and is reused in the glass etching process through the nozzle.
4. The method of claim 3,
The centrifugation is to separate the slurry and the etchant by rotating at a speed of 3,000 to 6,000 rpm,
A manufacturing system for improving nozzle and pipe clogging of an etcher for ultra-thin glass manufacturing that is centrifuged by the specific gravity difference between the etchant and the slurry.
According to claim 1,
In step 3), the compressed air ejector sucks air at a pressure of 5 to 7 kg/cm ³ and converts it to a vacuum state.
According to claim 1,
In step 2), the etching process is performed by spraying the etching solution due to the operation of the etching solution supply valve,
When the etchant starts to be sprayed, the slurry intake valve of the etcher is closed, the water valve and the slurry discharge valve are operated,
The water valve sprays the cleaning liquid at a pressure of 400 to 650 kPa in the form of a spray to clean the slurry discharge valve and the manifold tank connected to the slurry discharge valve. system.
an etching chamber unit for manufacturing the glass into ultra-thin glass;
an etchant nozzle located above the etch chamber;
a liquid circulation drain part formed on one surface of the etching chamber part and formed on the opposite surface of the nozzle part to discharge the etching process and the etchant generated after the process;
a centrifugal separation unit connected to the liquid circulation drain unit to separate the discharged etchant into a slurry and an etchant;
an etchant circulation pipe connected to an upper end of the centrifugal separator;
a slurry separation pipe unit connected to a lower end of the centrifugal separation unit;
a slurry suction unit positioned above the etching chamber to remove the slurry generated in the etching process;
a slurry suction pipe unit connected to the slurry suction unit to discharge the suctioned slurry;
an intermediate manifold tank part connected to the slurry suction pipe part for transferring the slurry to the waste slurry tank part;
a water valve connected to the upper portion of the intermediate manifold tank to spray a cleaning solution for cleaning the intermediate manifold tank;
a compressed air ejector unit located on the side of the intermediate manifold tank unit to suck in the etching solution and slurry remaining in the etching spray nozzle and the mount pipe by injecting compressed air; and
An etching apparatus for manufacturing ultra-thin glass including a waste slurry tank part positioned in the intermediate manifold tank part to recover the waste slurry.
8. The method of claim 7,
The centrifugal separator is positioned in a vertical direction in the etching chamber to prevent the deposition of the slurry in the liquid circulation drain part.
8. The method of claim 7,
The intermediate manifold tank part and the waste slurry tank part are positioned in a vertical direction to prevent the deposition of the slurry.
8. The method of claim 7,
The lower surface of the etching chamber part is connected to the liquid circulation drain part at an inclination of 3 to 6 degrees,
An etching device for manufacturing ultra-thin glass that facilitates the discharge of the etching solution used in the etching process.

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