JPH05277452A - Apparatus for washing square substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To inexpensively constitute the whole of the title apparatus in a small size and to well wash the end surface of a square substrate without applying unreasonable force to the substrate. CONSTITUTION:A substrate holding means 1 placing and holding a square substrate W in a horizontal posture and the washing jig 12 coming into contact with the end surface of the square substrate W in a slidable manner to wash the same and driven around its axis in a vertical direction in a rotatable manner are provided. First and second support members 11b are provided so as to be shakable around the vertical axes thereof displaced from the driving rotary axis of the washing jig 12 to support the washing jig 12 and linearly moved along the outer peripheral end surface of the square substrate W and the washing jig 12 is energized so as to be pressed to the end surface of the square substrate W by a tensile spring 32. The washing jig 12 is slid with the square substrate W behind the shaking axes of the first and second support members 11b in its moving direction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a square substrate such as a glass substrate for a photomask or a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, and a photoresist, a polyimide resin, a color filter material or the like attached to the end face thereof. In order to wash and remove the coating liquid, a substrate holding means for placing and holding a square substrate and a cleaning tool capable of driving and rotating around a vertical axis for slidingly cleaning the end face of the square substrate are provided. The present invention relates to a rectangular substrate cleaning device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a square substrate cleaning apparatus as described above, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-29474, for example. According to the rectangular substrate cleaning apparatus of this conventional example, the rectangular substrate is in a so-called upright state, that is, the first substrate conveys the rectangular substrate in the vertical direction with the surface direction being the vertical direction, and Each of the second transport paths, which are orthogonal to the transport direction of the first transport path and transport in a direction parallel to the surface direction of the rectangular substrate, are arranged so as to extend along both sides of the respective transport paths, and the facing end faces are arranged. A cylindrical brush for cleaning is provided, and the end faces of the four sides are cleaned as the rectangular substrate is transported.

[0003]

However, in the conventional rectangular substrate cleaning apparatus, since the rectangular substrate is transported to clean the end surface of the rectangular substrate, the apparatus configuration for transportation is large. Therefore, there is a drawback that the apparatus becomes large and the apparatus becomes large in size.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and makes it possible to make the entire apparatus small and inexpensive, and to clean the end face satisfactorily without applying excessive force to the rectangular substrate. The purpose is to

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention carries out a sliding contact cleaning of a substrate holding means for placing and holding a rectangular substrate in a horizontal posture and an end face of the rectangular substrate. In a rectangular substrate cleaning apparatus equipped with a cleaning tool that can be driven and rotated about a vertical axis, a cleaning tool is supported around a vertical axis that is deviated from the driving rotation axis of the cleaning tool. A swingable support member, a moving means for linearly moving the support member in a direction along the outer peripheral end surface of the rectangular substrate, and a biasing means for biasing the cleaning tool to press the end surface of the rectangular substrate. In addition, the cleaning tool is provided with a tracing mechanism for slidingly contacting the rectangular substrate on the rear side of the swing axis of the support member in the moving direction of the support member.

[0006]

According to the structure of the rectangular substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the cleaning tool is linearly moved along the end surface of the rectangular substrate by the moving means, and the cleaning tool is shaken by the support member. Even if an excessive force is likely to be applied from the cleaning tool to the rectangular substrate while sliding on the end face of the rectangular substrate on the rear side of the moving axis in the moving direction and pressing with the biasing means. The end face of the rectangular substrate can be cleaned in a state in which the supporting member swings against the biasing force of the biasing means and an unreasonable force is not applied to the rectangular substrate.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view showing an embodiment of a rectangular substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an essential part,
In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate holding means capable of moving up and down, which mounts a rectangular substrate W in a horizontal position and holds it by vacuum suction, and the substrate mounting plate 1a in the vertical direction. It is composed of a first electric motor 1b which is driven and rotated around a first axis P1.

A support base 2 provided below the lateral side of the rectangular substrate W.
Is provided with a movable table 5 via a pair of guides 3 and 3 and an air cylinder 4 so as to be movable in a direction toward and away from the first axis P1, and the movable table 5 is provided with one guide 6. A support base 9 is provided so as to be linearly movable in a direction along the outer peripheral end surface of the rectangular substrate W via a belt 8 driven by a second electric motor 7 capable of rotating in the normal and reverse directions.

As shown in the sectional view of the main part of FIG. 3, a hollow cylindrical support 10 is erected on the support base 9, and the support 10 is provided.
The first support member 11a is rotatably fitted around the second vertical axis (swing axis) P2 in the vertical direction, and
The second support member 11b is integrally connected to the upper end of the support member 11a so as to project in the horizontal direction, and the second support member 11b has a vertical end that is offset from the second axis P2 at the tip end side of the second support member 11b. A drive shaft 13 of the cleaning tool 12 is provided so as to be rotatable around a third axis (rotating axis) P3 in the direction. The configuration including the first support member 11a and the second support member 11b corresponds to the "support member" in the claims, and this support member together with the support base 9 serves as the outer peripheral end surface of the rectangular substrate W. A configuration including the guide 6 and the belt 8 driven by the first electric motor 7 for linearly moving in the direction along the arrow corresponds to the "moving means" in the claims.

A rotary shaft 14 is rotatably provided in the first supporting member 11a, and transmission pulleys 15a and 15b are integrally attached to the upper and lower sides of the rotation shaft 14, respectively, and are movable with a lower transmission pulley 15b. A driving pulley 17 driven and rotated by a third electric motor 16 provided on the table 5.
And the driven pulley 18 via the first tension pulleys 19 and 19 for applying tension.
The transmission belt 20 is wound around, while the upper transmission pulley 15a and the transmission pulley 21 integrally rotatably attached to the drive shaft 13 are extended through a second tension pulley 22 for applying tension. The second transmission belt 23 is wound, and the cleaning tool 12 is driven to rotate (rotate) by the power transmission of the second electric motor 16.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cleaning tool 12 has a large-diameter brim portion 25 integrally rotatably provided on a rotating body 24 integrally rotatably attached to a drive shaft 13, and the brim portion 25 is provided.
The slide contact portion 26 for the back surface of the substrate is provided on the upper surface of the rotary body 2 at a position close to the slide contact portion 26 for the back surface of the substrate of the brim portion 25.
4 is provided with a sliding contact portion 27 for the substrate end surface on the outer surface. Substrate back surface sliding contact portion 26 and substrate end surface sliding contact portion 2
7 Felt is attached to each surface,
The solvent is allowed to soak into it and slidably contact the end surface and the back surface of the rectangular substrate W to remove the adhering matter.

On the lower end side of the first supporting member 11a, as shown in FIG.
And, as shown in the enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of FIG. 4, the arm member 28 is integrally attached and the first support pin 29 is attached to the arm member 28, while,
Support bracket 30 integrally attached to the support base 9
Second support pins 31 are attached to the two positions of the first support pin 29 and the second support pins 31 and 31, and tension springs 32 as biasing means are attached to the cleaning tool 12 to the third position. The substrate end surface sliding contact portion 27 does not slidably contact the end surface of the rectangular substrate W when linearly moving along the end surface of the rectangular substrate W while rotating about the rotation axis P3. In the state, as shown in the schematic plan view of FIG. 5, the sliding contact portion 27 for the substrate end surface is moved while the second support member 11b is in the posture orthogonal to the moving direction by the urging force of the tension springs 32, 32. As the rectangular substrate W is slidably contacted with the end surface of the rectangular substrate W, the second support member 11b is rotated by the rotation of the first support member 11a as shown by a two-dot chain line in the schematic plan view of FIG. Swing to the side,
One of the pulling springs 32 is attached to the sliding contact portion 27 for the substrate end face.
While pressing the end face of the rectangular substrate W by the urging force of the rectangular substrate W, the substrate end face sliding contact portion 27 is located on the rear side of the swing axis (second axis) P2 in the moving direction of the second support member 11b. A tracing mechanism is configured so as to be in sliding contact with the end surface of the rectangular substrate W. When moving in the opposite direction, the second support member 11
Sliding contact is made while swinging in the direction opposite to that shown in FIG.

In the figure, numeral 33 indicates an adhering matter collecting container provided below the moving area of the cleaning tool 12, and numeral 34 indicates the cleaning tool 1.
2 shows a cleaning container for cleaning 2 to allow a solvent to infiltrate newly.

With the above structure, the rectangular substrate W is carried in and held by the substrate holding means 1 in a predetermined posture, and then the cleaning tool 1 is used.
The cleaning tool 12 is linearly moved back and forth along the edge 2 of the rectangular substrate W to clean and remove the deposits on the edge of the rectangular substrate W and the back surface close to the edge.

After that, the substrate holding means 1 is rotated by 90 °, and the air cylinder 4 is operated to adjust the relative distance between the cleaning tool 12 and the end surface of the rectangular substrate W. Rinse and remove the deposits on the other end face and the back face close to it. By repeating these operations, the adhered substances on the end faces of all four sides of the rectangular substrate W and the back face close thereto are cleaned and removed.

In the above-described embodiment, the cleaning tool 12 is configured to be movable in the direction of moving closer to the first axis P1 for rotating the rectangular substrate W, and the rectangular substrate W having a different size or the rectangular rectangular substrate is used. Although it is configured to be able to cope well with W, and even when the holding position by the substrate holding means 1 is deviated, for example, a square rectangular substrate W which is always a fixed size.
If the target is the
The cleaning tool 12 may not be moved in the direction approaching or approaching the axis P1 of.

In the above embodiment, the cleaning tool 12 has been shown to be in sliding contact with the end surface of the rectangular substrate W and the back surface close thereto, but the present invention is not limited to the cleaning tool 12 that is in sliding contact with the end surface of the rectangular substrate W. Good.

Further, the cleaning tool 12 is not limited to the one in which the felt is attached as described above, but may be one in which hair made of nylon, mohair or the like is planted.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the rectangular substrate cleaning apparatus is specially configured separately from the spin coating apparatus for coating the coating solution such as photoresist, and the cleaning processing is performed on the square substrate after the spin coating processing is completed. While doing, it is configured so that the following rectangular substrate can be spin-coated and throughput can be improved, but as the present invention, it is incorporated in a spin-coating device,
The substrate holding means of the spin coating device may also be used as the substrate holding means 1 of the rectangular substrate cleaning device.

The present invention can be applied not only to the rectangular rectangular substrate W but also to a rectangular substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning a square rectangular substrate.

[0022]

As described above, according to the rectangular substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the end surface of the rectangular substrate is cleaned by linearly moving the cleaning tool with respect to the end surface of the rectangular substrate. As compared with the case where the end surface is cleaned by moving the rectangular substrate side, the entire apparatus can be made smaller and less expensive.

Further, for example, when the back surface of the rectangular substrate is held by vacuum suction, if an unreasonable force is applied to the end surface of the rectangular substrate, a positional shift is caused, and the back surface of the rectangular substrate is Although there is a risk of damage, according to the present invention, it is possible to avoid applying an unreasonable force to the square substrate due to the biasing means and the mechanism, so that the square substrate is not damaged. The end face of the can now be cleaned well.

Since the rectangular substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention cleans and removes the coating liquid adhering to the end surface of the rectangular substrate,
It is used by being incorporated into a spin coater, adjacent to the spin coater, or by forming a series of processing lines without being adjacent to the spin coater. Since the cleaning treatment can be performed in a state where the mold substrate is laid down, that is, in a state where the surface direction of the square substrate is horizontal, it is easy to combine with the spin coater.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view showing an embodiment of a rectangular substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view of a main part.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Substrate holding means 11a ... 1st support member 11b ... 2nd support member 12 ... Cleaning tool 32 ... Tensile spring P2 as a biasing means P2 ... 2nd shaft core P3 ... 3rd shaft core W ... Square type substrate

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A corner provided with a substrate holding means for mounting and holding a rectangular substrate in a horizontal posture, and a cleaning tool capable of being driven and rotated around a vertical axis for slidingly cleaning an end face of the rectangular substrate. In a pattern substrate cleaning apparatus, a support member that supports the cleaning tool and can swing around a vertical axis that is deviated from the drive rotation axis of the cleaning tool, and along a peripheral end surface of the rectangular substrate. In a moving direction of the supporting member, and moving means for linearly moving the supporting member in a direction, and urging means for urging the cleaning tool to press the end face of the rectangular substrate. A rectangular substrate cleaning apparatus comprising: a tracing mechanism that slides into contact with the rectangular substrate behind a swing axis of the support member.