Porous Support Roller for Uniform Substrate Wetting
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for treating substrates, such as silicon wafers, lack flexibility and efficiency in uniformly wetting both sides of substrates during horizontal transport, often requiring separate steps and equipment for different liquids and limited to treating films or single-sided surfaces.
Innovation Solution
A device with rotatably supported support rollers featuring a hollow cylinder made of porous rigid material delivers treating liquid through its interior to the external surface, allowing uniform treatment of substrates by wetting from below and enabling easy variation of liquids across multiple rollers for simultaneous treatment of multiple substrates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If substrates are treated using traditional liquid baths with transport rollers, then substrates can be wetted from below, but the method lacks flexibility in uniformly wetting both sides of substrates and requires separate steps for different liquids
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple treatment functions into a single device by integrating multiple porous support rollers, each capable of delivering different treating liquids. This merging eliminates the need for separate transport means and liquid baths, allowing simultaneous treatment of multiple substrates with different liquids while reducing overall system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
Each porous support roller is designed to be multi-functional, capable of both transporting substrates and delivering treating liquids through its porous structure. The rollers can be configured with different liquids, enabling a single device to perform multiple treatment operations that previously required separate specialized equipment
2Productivity
If treating liquid is delivered through the interior of the hollow cylinder of the support roller, then uniform treatment of substrates is achieved with reduced liquid consumption, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The support roller is constructed with a hollow cylinder containing porous rigid material that allows treating liquid to be delivered through its interior and distributed uniformly across the external surface. This porous structure enables controlled liquid flow and uniform substrate treatment while maintaining structural integrity, achieving high productivity with reduced liquid consumption
Solution Approach 2:
The hollow cylinder structure nests the porous material within the roller, creating an integrated design where the treating liquid delivery system is contained within the support structure itself. This nesting eliminates the need for separate liquid delivery mechanisms, reducing overall device complexity while maintaining the uniform treatment capability
3Productivity
If multiple support rollers are used to treat several substrates simultaneously, then throughput is increased, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The device is segmented into multiple independent porous support rollers, each capable of treating substrates simultaneously. This segmentation allows parallel processing of multiple substrates with different treating liquids, significantly increasing throughput while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
Each porous support roller is self-contained with its own liquid delivery capability through the hollow cylinder structure. The rollers serve themselves by delivering treating liquids through their porous walls without requiring external complex delivery systems, enabling scalable parallel processing with minimal additional complexity
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables flexible and uniform treatment of substrates with reduced liquid consumption, increased throughput, and the ability to use different treating liquids on separate rollers, improving the robustness and reliability of the process while eliminating the need for separate transport means and liquid baths.
Implementation Method 1
the support roller has a hollow cylinder having a porous rigid material which the substrate to be treated rests on during operation
Implementation Method 2
delivering treating liquid via the interior of the hollow cylinder through the porous rigid material to the external surface of the hollow cylinder
Data Source
AI summary
A device for treating substrates by a treating liquid has at least one rotatably supported support roller which a substrate to be treated rests on during operation. The support roller has a hollow cylinder having a porous rigid material which the substrate to be treated rests on during operation. The device is configured to deliver, during operation, treating liquid via the interior of the hollow cylinder of the at least one support roller through the porous rigid material to the external surface of the hollow cylinder in order to treat at least one surface of the substrate by the treating liquid. The device is configured to treat several substrates in the form of plate-shaped separate wafers arranged one behind the other and/or next to one another in the device, by the treating liquid and to transport the substrates in a transport plane during the treatment.