JPH055940Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] "Industrial application field" This invention is a bubbling cleaning device used for cleaning wafers and various other semiconductor components,
A bubbler used in a bubbling vaporizer that vaporizes a predetermined liquid raw material by bubbling in order to obtain vaporized gas when manufacturing porous synthetic quartz glass, etc., and other devices for manufacturing various semiconductors, optical fibers, and other optical system components. Regarding pipes.

``Prior Art'' Traditionally, bubbler tubes have been used to introduce ozone and other bubbling gases into a cleaning tank filled with processing liquids such as sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and nitric acid in order to clean wafers and other semiconductor components. A bubbling cleaning device is known that performs bubbling cleaning while ejecting a large number of microbubbles from the bubbler tube.

Further, a bubbler pipe is disposed in a bubbler tank filled with silicon tetrachloride or other liquid raw material, and the liquid raw material is vaporized while bubbling carrier gas from the bubbler pipe in the bubbler tank, and the vaporized gas is reacted with the carrier gas. Bubbling vaporizers are also known.

The bubbler tube used in this type of device generally has a nozzle shape at the tip end of the bubbling gas supply passage, or a hollow spherical body with a large number of holes perforated at the tip side, and the nozzle portion or the hollow spherical body However, in such a bubbler tube, the diameter of the nozzle and the small hole cannot be reduced to the micron unit, and in the case of a nozzle, Since there is a limit to the number of holes that can be formed even in the case of one hole or a hollow spherical body, it is important to miniaturize the air bubbles ejected from the nozzle etc. and to generate the air bubbles evenly over a wide range. This is difficult, and as a result, the cleaning effect and vaporization efficiency cannot be improved.

In order to overcome this drawback, a bubbler tube has been proposed in which a real spherical sintered body 2' is connected to the distal end side of the bubbling gas supply passage 1, as shown in FIG. 4, for example.

"Problems to be solved by the invention" However, in such a real spherical sintered body 2' whose entire cross section is sintered, the sintered body 2' is 'Since the ventilation distance to the surface differs greatly, the inlet side 2
The ventilation resistance of the gas passing through the sintered body 2' becomes geometrically larger as it goes deeper than a', and the micro-bubble generation site is located near the end of the passage on the inlet side 2a'. As a result, the amount of microbubbles generated is limited, making it impossible to obtain desirable cleaning effects and vaporization efficiency.

In addition, the sintered body is often formed using quartz glass, which has good chemical stability, in order to avoid impurities from being dissolved and mixed into the cleaning liquid or liquid raw materials during the bubbling. Its softening point is much higher than that of heat-resistant glass, so when a real spherical sintered quartz glass body filled with glass powder is manufactured as described above, the heating temperature of the inside and surface sides will be lower. It is difficult to produce a sintered body that is bonded with uniform bonding force over the entire cross-section due to the non-uniformity of the There is a risk that these particles may fly out and adhere to the wafer being cleaned, causing various product defects.

In view of the drawbacks of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide a bubbler tube that can uniformly eject microbubbles from the tip side of a bubbling gas supply passage.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a bubbler tube in which a glass sintered body is formed at the tip side of a bubbling gas supply passage, and the sintered body can be formed with uniform bonding force. .

"Means for Solving the Problems" In order to achieve this technical problem, the present invention has a large number of small holes 3a on the tip side of the bubbling gas supply passage 1, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, for example. In this case, the sealing portion 3 is generally formed of a hollow sphere or a cylindrical body with a sealed tip, and has a large number of small holes on its circumferential surface. It is preferable to drill holes 3a.

The surface of the sealing part 3 is coated with a sintered body 2 so as to cover at least the small hole 3a.The sintered body 2 is made of a heat-resistant glass material, Teflon (registered trademark of DuPont), quartz glass material, etc. Although it may be formed of any material, it is preferably formed of quartz glass from the viewpoint of thermal and chemical stability.

Further, the sintered body 2 may be formed so as to cover only the small hole 3a, but it is preferable that the entire surface of the hollow sealing part 3 be covered with a thin wall.

"Operation" According to this technical means, since the sintered body 2 is simply covered with the hollow sealing part 3 having a large number of small holes 3a, the hollow sealing part 3 is more easily covered than the gas supply passage 1. The bubbling gas introduced into the cavity 4 in the cavity 3 is guided throughout the sintered body 2 through a large number of small holes 3a, and the sintered body 2 is coated on the surface of the hollow sealing part 3. Therefore, it can naturally be formed into a thin wall, and as a result, the ventilation resistance of the bubbling gas when ventilating the sintered body 2 is greatly reduced and equalized, and as a result, a large amount of fine bubbles are ejected evenly from the entire area of the sintered body 2. , cleaning and vaporization efficiency can be significantly improved.

Moreover, by expanding the hollow sealing part 3,
The internal cavity 4 functions as a buffer tank, further improving the above effect.

Furthermore, since the sintered body 2 according to the present technical means is thin as described above, even when sintering and heating it at a high temperature like quartz glass, the heating temperature on the inside and surface side is equalized. It becomes possible to sinter with a uniform degree of bonding, and there is no fear that quartz glass powder with a weak bonding degree will fly out into the cleaning liquid or liquid raw material during bubbling.

Furthermore, since the support is configured to be attached to the surface of the hollow sealing part 3 that functions as a support,
It is easy to manufacture with a predetermined thickness and precision, and manufacturing costs can be reduced.

Note that the small holes 3a do not necessarily have to be formed over the entire sealing part 3, and may be formed only on the upper side where bubbling is required.

Embodiments Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail by way of example with reference to the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative positions, etc. of the components described in this example are as follows, unless otherwise specified.
This is not intended to limit the scope of this invention, but is merely an illustrative example.

1 to 3 show a bubbler tube made of quartz glass according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, the overall structure will be schematically explained with reference to FIG. The lower end of the pipe 11 is bent at a right angle and extended horizontally,
The free end side of the horizontally extending portion 12 is sealed, and each of the five branch pipes 13 is successively connected to both sides of the horizontally extending portion 12 with a slight upward slope.

A hollow sealing portion 3 bulged in the shape of a hollow sphere is formed on the distal end side of the branch pipe 13, and
A large number of small holes 3a are bored on the circumferential surface of the hollow sealing portion 3, and the outer surface thereof is covered with a sintered body 2 made of quartz glass.

Note that the small holes 3a do not necessarily need to be provided on the entire circumferential surface of the hollow sealing portion 3, and may be provided only on the upper half side where bubbling gas is required.

Next, a method for manufacturing the branch pipe 13 will be explained.

The branch pipe 13 is made by, for example, thermally softening a quartz glass tube of approximately 10 mm with a sealed tip by heating it with a burner, and then expanding only the tip into a hollow spherical shape of approximately 15 mm. During this time, the hollow sealing portion 3 is formed by drilling a large number of small holes 3a of approximately 1 mm in diameter.

Next, a predetermined layer thickness of quartz glass powder whose particle size has been adjusted is adhered to the outer surface of the hollow sealing portion 3, and then heated in an electric furnace to be sintered and solidified.

The sintered body 2 thus formed has a film thickness of, for example, about 3 to 5 mm, and by adjusting the particle size of the quartz glass powder, the diameter of each pore of the sintered body 2 is approximately 20 to 150 μm. It is set so that

According to this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
Horizontal extension part 12 and branch pipe 1 from gas introduction pipe 11
The bubbling gas supplied into the hollow sealing part 3 through the sealing part 3 is once buffered in the hollow part 4 of the sealing part 3, and then is vented into the sintered body 2 through the large number of small holes 3a. The bubbling gas made into microbubbles is uniformly ejected from the entire area, and the effects of the present invention described above are smoothly achieved.

According to the present invention, the thickness of the sintered body 2 can be appropriately adjusted so that the lower side of the sintered body 2 is thickened so that microbubbles are generated only from the upper side. Depending on the internal pressure of the liquid, it is also possible to make the lower side thinner than the upper side so that microbubbles are generated evenly throughout.

"Effects of the Invention" As described above, according to the present invention, microbubbles are ejected uniformly from the tip side of the bubbling gas supply passage, the cleaning effect and vaporization efficiency can be greatly improved, and the microbubbles are ejected. Since the sintered body is formed with uniform bonding strength, there is no fear of quartz glass powder or other impurities flying out, and various device defects caused by the adhesion of these impurities can be completely prevented.

It has various effects such as

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 show a bubbler device using a bubbler tube according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view thereof, FIG. The figure is a sectional view of a main part showing its effect.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main part showing the effect of the prior art. 1...Bubbling gas supply passage, 2...Sintered body, 3a...Small hole, 3...Hollow sealing part.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] 1) A hollow sealing part with a large number of small holes is provided on the tip side of the bubbling gas supply passage, and
A bubbler tube characterized in that the surface of the sealing portion is coated with a sintered body so as to hide at least the small hole. 2) The bubbler tube according to claim 1, wherein the sintered body is a sintered body made of quartz glass. 3) The bubbler tube according to claim 1, wherein the hollow sealing portion is bulged and a thin sintered body is formed on the surface thereof.