JPS61168736A - clean room - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a clean room for creating a clean working environment necessary for semiconductor manufacturing, etc., and particularly to a clean room in which particulates generated in the clean room also remain inside the room. Relating to lean rooms, it is suitable for rapid removal outside the room without any problems.

[Background of the invention]

As a method for keeping dust generated in a clean room away from products, for example, as shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 58-129125, the average velocity of the clean air in the working area is kept higher than the average velocity of the clean air in the passage, It is known that the airflow is distributed so that dust generated in the passage does not spread to the working part. but.

In this method, no consideration was given to a means for removing dust generated in the working part from the working part.

First, FIG. 1 shows a full-scale down-flow clean room, which is a typical example of a clean room conventionally used in semiconductor manufacturing processes. 1 is a building, 2 is a clean room interior, 3 is a high-performance filter, 4 is a lighting lamp, 5 is a rectifier grid, 6 is a vertical hole plate, 7 is a side wall, 8 is an air conditioning supply duct, 9
10 is the air conditioning return duct, 10 is the exposure, etching, diffusion,
Work equipment for metallization, etc. 11 is a work section in which work equipment is installed. As shown by arrows in the figure, clean air processed by the high-performance filter 3 is blown out into the room 2 from the entire surface of the ceiling, and the room air is exhausted through the floor. This results in
The entire room is maintained at a nearly uniform level of cleanliness, allowing all processes to be carried out in this clean atmosphere.

However, since equipment costs and maintenance costs are high for full-scale down-flow clean rooms, clean rooms called clean tunnel systems have recently come into use. FIG. 2 is a sectional view perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of a clean tunnel type clean room. A gate-shaped frame is assembled with the pillars 12 and cross beams 13, and a top plate 14 and side plates 1 on both sides are attached to this.
5 is stretched to form a tunnel-like cover, and the clean room is surrounded by this tunnel-like cover and a floor 16 on which it is installed, and includes a work section 11 where work equipment 1o is installed and a passage section 17 through which workers pass. The ceiling of the working section 11, which is provided continuously in the longitudinal direction of the tunnel-like cover, houses a blower 18, 19, blowing chambers 20, 21, high-performance filters 22, 23, and a lighting lamp 4, which are air purifying elements. , a rectifying grid 5 is installed at the clean air outlet at the bottom thereof. Further, a lighting lamp 4 is housed in the ceiling space of the passage section 17, and a rectifying grid 5 is installed at the clean air outlet at the bottom thereof.

By operating the blowers 18 and 19, external air passes through the pre-filter 24 and is sucked in from the air suction port 25.0 The air sent from the work section blower 18 to the blow chamber 20 is purified by the high performance filter 22 for the work section. After that, the air blows out from the ceiling of the working area to the indoor working area 11, and
The air sent from the passage blower 19 to the air blowing chamber 21 is purified by the passage high-performance filter 23 and then blown out from the passage ceiling to the indoor passage 17. The rectifier grid 5 rectifies the clean air flow. It is provided for the purpose of scattering the light.

The clean air flow blown from the ceiling surface flows through the room as shown by the arrows in the figure, and is discharged to the outside conservation area 27 from side exhaust ports 26 provided at the lower part of the side panels 15 on both sides. Since the indoor pressure is kept higher than the pressure in conservation area 27, conservation area 2
Contaminated air from 7 does not flow into the room.

Figure 3 shows the appearance of a clean room with a large number of modular clean tunnels connected together.

However, a common drawback of clean rooms using these methods is that high-performance filters installed on the ceiling3,22.2
3 and between the high-performance filter 3°22.23 and the side wall 7 or side plate 15, there is a ceiling portion from which clean air is not blown out. Air stagnates in this part, and if...

When a worker generates dust in a clean room, the dust enters the area where the air is stagnant, and after a certain period of time, due to gravity settling or disturbance, the dust flows into the work area 11 and adheres to the product, causing defective products. cause it to occur. Therefore, it is necessary to realize an airflow that is difficult to cause turbulence in the flow of clean air, which is a means of keeping a clean room clean, and that even if turbulence occurs due to external disturbances, the airflow quickly returns to a steady state. In order to obtain such an airflow, it is necessary to remove the portions of the conventional clean room where air stagnates.

[Purpose of the invention]

Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to quickly return the airflow in the clean room to a steady state even if a worker disturbs the airflow and generates dust in the work area, so that the dust is quickly removed from the work area without accumulating. The goal is to provide a clean room that achieves the same airflow as possible.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention has a working section in which work equipment is installed and a passage section through which workers pass, in a room surrounded by a side wall, a ceiling containing an air purifying element, and a floor surface on which these are installed, and an air purifying element. In a clean room that purifies the room by blowing clean air out from the ceiling through the ceiling, a flow rectifier is installed at the clean air outlet in the ceiling that contains an air purification element to rectify the clean air. By creating an airflow that does not cause stagnation and at the same time creating a turbulent flow of clean air within the clean room, dust generated in the work area is quickly removed from the work area, creating a clean room that maintains a high level of cleanliness. It was designed to do so.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. Fourth
The figure shows an example in which the present invention is implemented in the one-sided down-flow clean room shown in FIG. 1.

The rectifying fluid 28 of the present invention is attached to the rectifying grid 5 at a position corresponding to between the high-performance filters 3, which are air purifying elements. Fifth
The figure is a detailed view of the clean air blowing section including the flow regulator 28 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, between the high-performance filters 3, two flow regulators 28 of the present invention are arranged facing each other, and between the high-performance filters 3 and the side wall 7, one flow regulator 28 is installed as shown in the figure. do. At this time, the width of the rectifying fluid 28 of the present invention on the rectifying grid 5 is approximately the same as the spacing between the high-performance filters 3, and the same as the spacing between the high-performance filter 3 and the side wall 7. If the rectifying fluid 28 is arranged in this way,
The flow regulator 28 has the same function as a diffuser in a fluid machine, and can smoothly and uniformly spread the clean air blown out from the high-performance filter 3 throughout the clean room without creating a thin layer.

If the flow straightener 28 of the present invention is used, the flow of clean air blown out from the straightener grid 5 will be as shown by the arrows in FIGS. It can be eliminated. Therefore, the dust generated indoors can be quickly moved away from the work equipment 10 or the product along with the airflow without being trapped inside the room. Furthermore, since there is no part of the room where air stagnates, even if the airflow is disturbed due to the movement of a worker, it can quickly return to a steady airflow state, and an airflow that is less likely to be disturbed can be realized.

FIG. 5 can also be considered as an example in which the present invention is implemented in the clean tunnel type clean room shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. That is, if you take a cross section in the longitudinal direction in FIG.
Alternatively, the high-performance filters 23 in the passage section 17 have a part without blowouts between the respective filters, and here the rectifying fluid of the present invention is applied in the same way as when implemented in the all-down flow one-type clean room shown in FIG. This is because 28 can be applied.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment. In this embodiment, the rectifier 28 according to the present invention is constructed with a curved line, and as in the previous embodiment, between the high-performance filters 3 or between the high-performance filters 3 and the side wall 7. Applied. In this embodiment, the clean air that has exited the rectifier grid 5 first flows downward along the rectifier 28 1 and then spreads uniformly in the horizontal direction, and then passes through the adjacent high-performance filter 3
It merges with the flow of clean air from above, creating a uniform downward airflow over the entire surface.

FIG. 7 shows yet another embodiment. In this embodiment as well, the rectifier 28 according to the present invention is constructed with a curved line, but unlike the embodiment shown in FIG. The lateral diffusion is almost completed in the first half of the regulating fluid 28, and a uniform downward airflow can be realized when leaving the regulating fluid 28.

FIG. 8 shows yet another embodiment. In this embodiment, a flow regulator 28 according to the present invention is directly attached to the clean air outlet of the high-performance filter 3, and the airflow blown from the high-performance filter 3 is immediately directed downward. It's flowing smoothly.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the turbulence that occurs in conventional clean rooms when the air blown out from high-performance filters gets caught in the non-blown parts between high-performance filters is no longer generated, so airflow without stagnation can be obtained in the clean room. This has the effect of quickly removing dust generated in the working area from the working area and maintaining a high level of cleanliness in the room.

Furthermore, the present invention is particularly effective in cleaning ultra-clean environments such as clean rooms for manufacturing ultra-LSIs, where ultrafine particles such as 0.1 μm particles that cannot be expected to settle due to gravity are removed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a conventional all-down flow type clean room, Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a clean tunnel type clean room, and Fig. 3 is an external perspective view of a clean tunnel type clean room. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an example of the present invention implemented in the clean room of FIG. 1, FIG. 51i2J is a detailed sectional view of the blow-off part of FIG. FIG. 8 is a detailed cross-sectional view showing an example in which the present invention is implemented directly in a blow-out portion of a high-performance filter. 3... High performance filter, 5... Rectifier grid, 6...
Law hole plate, 7... Side wall, 10... Work equipment, 11
...Working department. 14...Top plate, 15...Side plate, 16...Floor, 17
...Aisle section, 18.19...Blower, 20.21.
...Blow chamber, 22.23...High performance filter,
24... Pre-filter, 26... Side exhaust port, 28
...Fluid regulation.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A working section where work equipment is installed and a passageway section through which workers pass, in a room surrounded by a side wall, a ceiling containing an air purifying element, and a floor surface on which these are installed. In a clean room that purifies the room by blowing clean air from the ceiling through the air purification element, a rectifying fluid for rectifying the clean air is provided in a clean air blowing part of the ceiling in which the air purification element is built. A clean room with the following features: 2. The clean room according to claim 1, wherein the flow regulator is installed at a clean air outlet between the air purification elements. 3. The clean room according to claim 1, wherein the flow regulator is installed in a clean air outlet between the ceiling containing the air purification element and the side wall.