Wafer spin-drying equipment with barrel wall self-cleaning function and self-cleaning method

Abstract

The invention relates to wafer spin-drying equipment with a barrel wall self-cleaning function and a self-cleaning method. The wafer spin-drying equipment comprises an outer barrel, an inner rotating barrel, a power input shaft and a center spraying rod which are arranged with a vertical rotating shaft as the center. The mode of spraying the cleaning medium replaces the mode of soaking the cleaning medium, consumption of the cleaning medium is reduced, the outer cylinder nozzle plate is arranged so that the cleaning medium can directly reach the outer wall of the inner rotating cylinder through spraying, and more thorough, effective, direct and efficient self-cleaning operation can be achieved; and the center spray rod is arranged in the center of the inner rotary drum, so that the sprayed cleaning medium effectively realizes self-cleaning of the equipment, and secondary pollution of a working chamber of the equipment is avoided.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of wafer drying equipment. The wafer drying equipment is a vertical drying equipment with a rotating axis in a vertical state, and specifically relates to a wafer drying equipment with self-cleaning barrel wall and a self-cleaning method. Background Art

[0002] At present, the core functional components of the known vertical inner and outer cylinder rotating structure wafer cleaning equipment are mainly composed of an outer cylinder, an inner rotating cylinder, a rotating power input shaft, a fluid circuit, etc.;

[0003] When the equipment cleans wafers, the wafers need to be placed in the inner drum, and then the inner drum is driven to rotate by rotating the power input shaft, and the inner drum drives the wafers to rotate together; thereby, the rotating centrifugal force also acts on the wafer, causing the wafer to have a movement tendency away from the axis direction of the rotation center; the workpiece body is blocked by the inner drum, and the stain particles in the workpiece are carried away from the workpiece by the cleaning medium, and enter the chamber between the inner drum and the outer drum through the inner drum pores on the side wall of the inner drum, and continue to be discharged from the chamber through the outer drum discharge channel, thereby realizing the operation of cleaning the wafers; wafer drying equipment is different from drying equipment in other fields, and its tolerance for particles is generally at the micron or nanometer level. For example, a certain process requires that there are less than 20 particles with a diameter of 0.2 microns on the surface.

[0004] After the above equipment has been working for a long time, the inner wall and outer wall of the inner drum will have contaminated cleaning medium and stain particles, especially near the inner drum pores on the outer wall of the inner drum; since the stain particles leave the inner drum chamber through the inner drum pores, and the outer wall of the inner drum has less chance to be dissolved and washed by the cleaning medium, this phenomenon is particularly serious; at this time, in order to ensure the cleanliness of the equipment itself and not cause secondary pollution to the new workpiece, the self-cleaning function of the equipment becomes a necessary requirement;

[0005] At present, there are several types of equipment self-cleaning measures generally used in the market: one is to achieve the purpose of self-cleaning of the inner drum and the outer drum by soaking the inner drum in the cleaning medium and dissolving the stain particles; the other is to achieve self-cleaning of the inner drum or the outer drum by impacting or vibrating the wall of the inner drum or transmitting vibration to the wall of the inner drum and the outer drum through the cleaning medium; finally, there are measures that combine the above two measures to achieve self-cleaning of the inner drum and the outer drum.

[0006] However, these measures have their limitations, such as:

[0007] Self-cleaning by soaking and dissolving cannot guarantee the removal of stubborn stains, and consumes a large amount of cleaning medium, resulting in increased costs. In particular, the most used cleaning medium in the wafer manufacturing process is high-purity deionized water, which is a very expensive consumable for wafer fabs. The high cost for wafer fabs will cause unnecessary waste.

[0008] At the same time, when the cleaning medium soaks the inner and outer walls of the inner drum together, the dirt particles on the outer wall of the inner drum will be peeled off and flow into the inner drum through the cleaning medium, and remain on the inner wall of the inner drum after the self-cleaning is completed, forming secondary pollution;

[0009] Self-cleaning measures that transmit vibrations by impacting or vibrating the inner drum or by cleaning media are generally implemented under the premise of immersion in the cleaning medium, and the limitations of the immersion measures themselves have been described above. In addition, if the impact force is directly applied to the inner drum, it is not allowed in some high-demand application scenarios, especially the corresponding equipment in the wafer process has very high requirements for the cleanliness of the chamber. Some high-frequency vibrations will tear the welds on the inner drum and produce fine particles;

[0010] In summary, existing self-cleaning measures have their limitations: either they are not completely effective in cleaning stubborn stains; or they require immersion in cleaning media, which consumes a large amount of cleaning media; or they are not applicable to some industrial scenarios with strict cleanliness requirements. Therefore, it is necessary to design a wafer spin-drying equipment and self-cleaning method with self-cleaning barrel wall to solve the above problems. Summary of the invention

[0011] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides a wafer spin-drying device and a self-cleaning method with self-cleaning barrel wall, so as to solve the problems mentioned in the above background technology that the inner and outer barrels of the wafer cleaning equipment on the existing market are not cleaned thoroughly and require a lot of cost.

[0012] To achieve the above object, the technical solution of the present invention is as follows:

[0013] The wafer drying equipment with self-cleaning barrel wall includes: an outer barrel, an inner rotating barrel, a power input shaft and a central spraying rod arranged around a vertical rotating shaft;

[0014] The outer cylinder is used to receive the dirt thrown off the wafer. The side wall of the outer cylinder is provided with at least one window. The window is provided with an outer cylinder nozzle plate. The outer cylinder nozzle plate is provided with a plurality of first liquid spraying ports. The first liquid spraying ports are connected with a first liquid spraying circuit.

[0015] The inner drum is used to receive the wafers. The bottom of the inner drum is connected to the power input shaft. The bottom of the inner drum is provided with a plurality of discharge ports, and the side wall of the inner drum is provided with a plurality of filter holes.

[0016] A power input shaft is used to drive the inner drum to rotate, and the power input shaft passes through the outer drum and is connected to the inner drum;

[0017] The central spray rod is used for cleaning the stains on the inner wall of the inner drum. The central spray rod penetrates the power input shaft and is arranged in the inner drum. The central spray rod is provided with a plurality of second liquid spray ports, which are connected with the second liquid spray circuit.

[0018] In some embodiments, a plurality of first liquid spraying ports are arranged on the outer cylinder nozzle plate, and at least one circuit mounting plate is provided on the outer cylinder nozzle plate, and the circuit mounting plate is respectively connected to the first liquid spraying ports and the first liquid spraying circuit.

[0019] In some embodiments, at least one circuit mounting plate is disposed on the outer cylinder nozzle plate, and each circuit mounting plate is connected to a liquid spraying circuit.

[0020] In some embodiments, the circuit mounting plate includes a main board and a plurality of support plates arranged on the sides of the main board, the main board is connected to the first liquid spraying circuit, and the support plates are connected to the first liquid spraying port.

[0021] In some embodiments, the support plates of the relatively disposed loop mounting plates are interlaced.

[0022] In some embodiments, fluid grooves are provided on the main plate and the support plate, and the fluid grooves are respectively connected to the first liquid spraying port and the first liquid spraying circuit.

[0023] In some embodiments, at least one group of passages is provided in the central spray bar, each group of passages is connected to a plurality of second liquid spraying ports on the side wall of the central spray bar from top to bottom, and each group of passages is connected to the second liquid spraying circuit.

[0024] In some embodiments, a sewage outlet is further provided on the side wall of the outer cylinder, and the sewage outlet extends in a direction away from the outer cylinder.

[0025] A self-cleaning method for wafer drying equipment, using a wafer drying equipment with a barrel wall self-cleaning function, comprising:

[0026] S1: The driving power input shaft drives the inner drum to rotate slowly around the rotation axis;

[0027] S2: The cleaning medium enters the first liquid spraying circuit, and the cleaning medium is sprayed from the first liquid spraying port on the nozzle plate of the outer drum to the outer wall of the inner drum, thereby cleaning the impurities on the outer wall of the inner drum;

[0028] S3: The first liquid spraying port stops spraying;

[0029] S4: The cleaning medium enters the second liquid spraying circuit at the central spraying rod, and the cleaning medium is sprayed from the second liquid spraying port toward the inner wall of the inner drum to clean the impurities on the inner wall of the inner drum;

[0030] S5: The second liquid spraying port stops spraying;

[0031] S6: The inner drum continues to rotate slowly, and the steps in S2-S5 are repeated until the inner and outer drums are cleaned.

[0032] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0033] The present invention replaces the soaking method of the cleaning medium with the spraying method of the cleaning medium, thereby saving the consumption of the cleaning medium. The outer cylinder nozzle plate is provided so that the cleaning medium can directly reach the outer wall of the inner rotating cylinder through the spraying, thereby realizing a more thorough, effective, direct and efficient self-cleaning operation. By arranging a central spray bar at the center of the inner rotating cylinder, the sprayed cleaning medium can effectively realize the self-cleaning of the equipment, thereby avoiding the generation of secondary pollution of its working chamber.

[0034] The present invention connects different fluid circuits through multiple groups of nozzles on the outer drum nozzle plate, so that the device can use multiple different and mutually interfering cleaning media to clean the dirt particles on the outer wall of the inner drum;

[0035] The present invention connects different fluid circuits through multiple groups of nozzles on a central nozzle rod, so that the device can use a variety of different and mutually interfering cleaning media to clean the stain particles on the inner wall of the inner drum. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0037] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of a wafer drying device with self-cleaning barrel wall according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0038] Figure 2 This is an exploded view of a wafer drying device with self-cleaning barrel wall according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0039] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a circuit installation plate according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0040] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of setting two circuit mounting plates according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0041] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a main board and a support board according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0042] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a second fluid circuit of the present invention;

[0043] Figure 7A schematic diagram of a central spray boom according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0044] Figure 8 A cross-sectional view of a central spray boom according to an embodiment of the present invention; DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0045] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0046] The present invention provides the following embodiments:

[0047] The wafer drying device with self-cleaning barrel wall comprises: an outer barrel 1, an inner drum 2, a power input shaft 3 and a central spray rod 4 arranged with a vertical rotating shaft as the center. The outer barrel 1 is used to receive the dirt thrown off the wafer. The side wall of the outer barrel 1 is provided with at least one window 11, and an outer barrel nozzle plate 5 is installed on the window 11. The outer barrel nozzle plate 5 is provided with a plurality of first liquid spraying ports 51, and the first liquid spraying ports 51 are connected with the first liquid spraying circuit 10; the cleaning liquid is sprayed from the first liquid spraying ports 51 to the outer wall of the inner drum 2 to clean the outer wall of the inner drum 2; the side wall of the outer barrel 1 is also provided with a sewage outlet 6, and the sewage outlet 6 extends in a direction away from the outer barrel 1, and the washed away stains are discharged from the sewage outlet.

[0048] The central spray rod 4 is used to clean the stains on the inner wall of the inner drum 2. The central spray rod 4 vertically penetrates the power input shaft 3 and is arranged in the inner drum 2. The central spray rod 4 arranged in the inner drum 2 is provided with a plurality of second liquid spraying ports 42, and the second liquid spraying ports 42 are connected with the second liquid spraying circuit 20. The inner drum 2 is used to receive the wafers. The bottom of the inner drum 2 is connected to the power input shaft 3. The bottom surface of the inner drum 2 is provided with a plurality of discharge ports 21. The side wall of the inner drum 2 is provided with a plurality of filter holes 22. The cleaning liquid sprayed from the central spray rod 4 is sprayed onto the inner wall of the inner drum 2, and the washed stains are discharged from the discharge ports 21 and the filter holes 22.

[0049] The power input shaft 3 is used to drive the inner drum 2. The power input shaft 3 passes through the outer drum 1 and is connected to the inner drum 2. The power input shaft 3 can be connected to an existing power source device such as a motor to drive its rotation.

[0050] In the above technical solution, the inner drum 2 is driven to rotate by the power input shaft 3, and the cleaning medium is transported by the first and second liquid spraying circuits, so that the inner drum 2 can be sprayed and cleaned from the inside and outside of the inner drum 2 respectively, which can effectively improve the cleaning effect and reduce the loss of the cleaning medium. In addition, the cleaning medium and the dirt particles carried by it flow out of the working chamber through the outer drum discharge port 6, which can prevent the dirt particles from being retained in the drum body.

[0051] Furthermore, a plurality of first liquid spraying ports 51 are arranged on the outer cylinder nozzle plate 5, and at least one circuit mounting plate 7 is provided on the outer cylinder nozzle plate 5, and the circuit mounting plate 7 is respectively connected with the first liquid spraying ports 51 and the first liquid spraying circuit 10. The cleaning medium transported by the first liquid spraying circuit 10 flows into the first liquid spraying ports 51 through the circuit mounting plate 7, and the cleaning medium can be distributed to different first liquid spraying ports 51 through the circuit mounting plate 7 for spraying.

[0052] like Figure 5 and Figure 6 As shown, as an improvement, at least one circuit mounting plate 7 is provided on the outer cylinder nozzle plate 5, and each circuit mounting plate 7 is connected to a first liquid spraying circuit 10. In this embodiment, two circuit mounting plates 7 are provided, and two first liquid spraying circuits 10 are provided correspondingly. Different first liquid spraying circuits 10 can transport different cleaning media, thereby avoiding mutual interference between different cleaning media.

[0053] Furthermore, the circuit mounting plate 7 includes a main board 71 and a plurality of support plates 72 arranged on the side of the main board 71. The main board 71 is connected to the first liquid spraying circuit 10, and the support plate 72 is connected to the first liquid spraying port 51, so that the fluid is guided to the support plate 71 through the main board 71, and is transported to the first liquid spraying ports 51 at different positions through the support plate 71, so that the cleaning medium can be quickly guided. The nozzle plate 5 is provided with a plurality of groups of first liquid spraying ports 51 arranged in parallel, and each support plate 72 covers a group of first liquid spraying ports 51. The support plates 72 of the relatively arranged circuit mounting plates 7 are staggered, so that the installation space can be saved, so that two circuit mounting plates 7 can be installed on one nozzle plate 5, and the plurality of first liquid spraying ports 51 on the nozzle plate 5 are fully utilized. At the same time, the first liquid spraying ports corresponding to different circuit mounting plates 7 can be evenly arranged, so as to improve the spraying effect. The main board 71 and the support plate 72 are both provided with fluid grooves, and the fluid grooves are respectively connected to the first liquid spraying port 51 and the first liquid spraying circuit 10, that is, through the through grooves provided inside the main board and the support plate, the fluid can flow.

[0054] Furthermore, at least one group of passages 41 is provided in the central spray bar 4, each group of passages 41 is connected to a plurality of second liquid spraying ports 42 on the side wall of the central spray bar from top to bottom, and each group of passages 41 is connected to the second liquid spraying circuit 20. The second liquid spraying circuit 20 transports the cleaning medium into the passage 41 and sprays it out through the second liquid spraying ports 42 on the side wall of the spray bar. In this embodiment, two parallel passages 41 are provided, which are connected to two different second liquid spraying circuits 20, so that different cleaning media can be output. A sewage outlet is also provided on the side wall of the outer cylinder, and the sewage outlet extends away from the outer cylinder.

[0055] A self-cleaning method for wafer spin-drying equipment comprises: S1: driving a power input shaft to drive an inner drum to rotate slowly around a rotation axis; S2: a cleaning medium enters a first liquid spray circuit, and the cleaning medium is sprayed from a first liquid spray port on an outer drum nozzle plate toward an outer wall of the inner drum, so that impurities on the outer wall of the inner drum are cleaned; S3: the first liquid spray port stops spraying; S4: a cleaning medium enters a second liquid spray circuit at a central spray rod, and the cleaning medium is sprayed from a second liquid spray port toward an inner wall of the inner drum, so that impurities on the inner wall of the inner drum are cleaned; S5: the second liquid spray port stops spraying; S6: the inner drum continues to rotate slowly, and the steps in S2-S5 are repeated until the inner and outer drums are cleaned.

[0056] The above self-cleaning method is adopted to ensure that the inner chamber of the inner drum is free of secondary pollution by successively spraying the cleaning medium. The inner wall of the inner drum or other parts or workpieces in the inner drum chamber are self-cleaned and cleaned. During the entire self-cleaning working cycle, the cleaning medium and the dirt particles it carries flow out of the working chamber through the sewage outlet of the outer drum. It does not require a large amount of cleaning medium to be soaked, reducing the consumption of expensive cleaning medium.

[0057] The above description of the disclosed embodiments enables one skilled in the art to implement or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be apparent to one skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention will not be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but rather to the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. Wafer drying equipment with self-cleaning barrel wall, characterized in that: include: An outer cylinder, an inner rotating cylinder, a power input shaft and a central spraying rod are arranged around a vertical rotating shaft; The outer cylinder is used to receive the dirt thrown off the wafer. The side wall of the outer cylinder is provided with at least one window. The window is provided with an outer cylinder nozzle plate. The outer cylinder nozzle plate is provided with a plurality of first liquid spraying ports. The first liquid spraying ports are connected with a first liquid spraying circuit. The inner drum is used to receive the wafers. The bottom of the inner drum is connected to the power input shaft. The bottom of the inner drum is provided with a plurality of discharge ports, and the side wall of the inner drum is provided with a plurality of filter holes. A power input shaft is used to drive the inner drum to rotate, and the power input shaft passes through the outer drum and is connected to the inner drum; The central spray rod is used for cleaning the stains on the inner wall of the inner drum. The central spray rod penetrates the power input shaft and is arranged in the inner drum. The central spray rod is provided with a plurality of second liquid spray ports, which are connected with the second liquid spray circuit.

2. The wafer drying equipment with self-cleaning barrel wall according to claim 1 is characterized in that: A plurality of first liquid spraying ports are arranged on the outer cylinder nozzle plate, and at least one circuit mounting plate is arranged on the outer cylinder nozzle plate, and the circuit mounting plate is respectively connected with the first liquid spraying ports and the first liquid spraying circuit.

3. The wafer drying equipment with self-cleaning barrel wall according to claim 1 is characterized in that: At least one circuit mounting plate is arranged on the nozzle plate of the outer cylinder, and each circuit mounting plate is connected with a liquid spraying circuit.

4. The wafer drying equipment with self-cleaning barrel wall according to claim 2 or 3 is characterized in that: The circuit installation plate comprises a main board and a plurality of support plates arranged on the side of the main board. The main board is communicated with the first liquid spraying circuit, and the support plates are communicated with the first liquid spraying port.

5. The wafer drying equipment with self-cleaning barrel wall according to claim 4 is characterized in that: The support plates of the relatively arranged loop installation plates are staggered and inserted.

6. The wafer drying equipment with self-cleaning barrel wall according to claim 5 is characterized in that: The main plate and the support plate are both provided with fluid grooves, which are respectively connected with the first liquid spraying port and the first liquid spraying circuit.

7. The wafer drying equipment with self-cleaning barrel wall according to claim 1 is characterized in that: At least one group of passages is arranged in the central spray bar, each group of passages is connected with a plurality of second liquid spraying ports from top to bottom on the outer circle of the central spray bar, and each group of passages is connected with the second liquid spraying circuit.

8. The wafer drying device with self-cleaning barrel wall according to claim 7 is characterized in that: A sewage outlet is also provided on the side wall of the outer cylinder, and the sewage outlet extends in a direction away from the outer cylinder.

9. A self-cleaning method for a wafer drying device, characterized in that: The wafer drying device with self-cleaning barrel wall according to any one of claims 1 to 9 comprises: S1: The driving power input shaft drives the inner drum to rotate slowly around the rotation axis; S2: The cleaning medium enters the first liquid spraying circuit, and the cleaning medium is sprayed from the first liquid spraying port on the nozzle plate of the outer drum to the outer wall of the inner drum, thereby cleaning the impurities on the outer wall of the inner drum; S3: The first liquid spraying port stops spraying; S4: The cleaning medium enters the second liquid spraying circuit at the central spraying rod, and the cleaning medium is sprayed from the second liquid spraying port toward the inner wall of the inner drum to clean the impurities on the inner wall of the inner drum; S5: The second liquid spraying port stops spraying; S6: The inner drum continues to rotate slowly, and the steps in S2-S5 are repeated until the inner and outer drums are cleaned.

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