CN100381883C - Static electricity eliminating device and machine table thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

An electrostatic eliminating device and a machine thereof, especially applied to a mechanism which has no conductive capability for both a conveying object and a conveying mechanism and is easy to generate electrostatic accumulation, such as a substrate conveying mechanism in a liquid crystal display panel manufacturing factory. The static electricity eliminating device comprises a conductive shaft rod, a conductive elastic component, a mercury joint, a lead and a grounding end, wherein the conductive shaft rod is connected with the conductive elastic component, the mercury joint, the lead and the grounding end to form a conductive path which is grounded, and when static electricity is generated due to friction between the conductive shaft rod and a transmission object, the static electricity can be transmitted to the grounding end through the conductive path so as to eliminate the static electricity.

Description

Static elimination device and its machine

technical field

The present invention relates to a static electricity (Electro Static Damage, ESD) elimination device and its machine, especially applied to the mechanism that neither the conveying object nor the conveying mechanism has the ability to conduct electricity but is prone to static electricity accumulation, such as in the liquid crystal display panel manufacturing factory substrate transfer mechanism.

Background technique

At present, in the manufacturing process of flat-panel displays, rollers are often used to transfer the substrates to be processed. In order to avoid dirt adhesion or scratches caused by excessive contact area, rings made of rubber or plastic materials are generally added as buffer materials. , and use its friction with the substrate to be processed to achieve the purpose of transmission. Also, ionizers, soft X-rays and other static eliminators used in transmission mechanisms at room temperature or temperatures lower than 600 degrees Celsius cannot perform the function of eliminating static electricity in working environments with temperatures higher than 600 degrees Celsius. Therefore, when the processing temperature is higher than the maximum heat-resistant temperature of the ring made of rubber or plastic material and the roller made of general metal (such as iron), the roller made of high-temperature resistant material should be used instead.

At present, the commonly used high-temperature-resistant material roller is a quartz roller, but because the substrate to be processed is mostly a glass substrate, it and the quartz roller are both insulating materials, which often cause static electricity to be difficult to dissipate in mechanisms that achieve the purpose of transmission by friction It is easy to accumulate, and when the static electricity accumulates to a certain extent, it will cause damage to the product.

Taking the current low-temperature polysilicon liquid crystal display (LTPS LCD) manufacturing process as an example, the Rapid Thermal Annealing Process (RTP) is currently the most commonly used technology in the high-temperature annealing process. The main structure of a typical rapid high-temperature annealing machine 1 is shown in Figure 1. In the figure, 10 is a pre-heat zone (Pre-heat Zones), which uses infrared halogen lamps (Infraredhalogen lamps) to gradually heat the glass substrate 42 from room temperature to a specific preheat temperature. 20 is a thermal process area (Thermal Process), which uses a xenon lamp (Xenon Arc Lamp) to rapidly heat the polysilicon layer (silicon film layer) deposited on the glass substrate 42 from the preheating temperature to the set process temperature . 30 is the post-process heating zone (Post-process heating Zones), also known as the cooling zone, which uses infrared halogen lamps (Infrared halogen lamps) to ease the glass substrate 42 from a high temperature state to a low temperature, so as to avoid damage to the glass substrate due to rapid cooling. 42 fragments. The conveying system (Conveyor System) 50 utilizes the motor to drive the roller 40 (quartzroller) through the gear belt, and utilizes the rotation of the roller 40 to convey the glass substrate 42 through the above-mentioned heating zones. Figure 2 shows a schematic top view of the rapid heating chamber (RTP Chamber) 10, the roller 40 is fixed between the two side walls 41 (Side Chamber Wall), and the glass substrate 42 is placed above the roller 40 and advances along the direction of the arrow .

3 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a traditional roller 40, which is composed of a quartz roller 400 and two stainless steel support sleeves 402, because the glass substrate 42 is continuously rubbed against the quartz roller 400 to achieve the purpose of transmission. However, when the glass substrate 42 rubs against the quartz roller 400, static electricity will be generated on the surfaces of the glass substrate 42 and the quartz roller 400, and both the glass substrate 42 and the quartz roller 400 are insulating materials, causing static electricity to be difficult to dissipate and easy to accumulate. Especially the static electricity accumulated on the surface of the quartz rollers that transfer products in the cooling zone and heating chamber, when the static electricity accumulates to a certain extent, it will cause damage to the product, such as the circled places in Figure 4A and Figure 4B, which are displayed on the product wires (or contacts) will produce scorch marks due to electrostatic damage, which further leads to leakage.

Contents of the invention

In view of this, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide a static eliminator, which is suitable for transmission devices that are prone to static electricity, especially machines or devices that perform processing in high-temperature environments, such as low-temperature polysilicon tempering machines.

The static eliminator of the present invention comprises: a conductive shaft; two conductive supports, each of which has a sleeve and is arranged on both ends of the conductive shaft, and the other end is arranged on the corresponding side of the tempering machine On the side wall, an accommodating space is formed between the end of the conductive shaft and the corresponding sleeve; two conductive elastic components are arranged in the corresponding accommodating space, and the two ends of the conductive elastic components are parallel In contact with the conductive shaft and the sleeve; a conductive rotary joint includes a joint body and a connecting piece, wherein the joint body is arranged at one end of the conductive support and can rotate relative to the connecting piece, and the connecting piece is It is fixed in a wall surface of the tempering machine platform; a wire is arranged on a specific position of the connecting piece to be coupled to the grounding terminal.

Next, the present invention provides a machine for performing a heating process on the polysilicon layer of the glass substrate, which includes: two side walls; At least one glass substrate, each of the rollers includes: a conductive shaft; two conductive supports, each of which has a sleeve and is arranged at both ends of the conductive shaft, and the end of the conductive shaft is connected to the corresponding An accommodating space is formed between the sleeves; two conductive elastic components are arranged in the corresponding accommodating spaces, and the two ends of the conductive elastic components are in contact with the conductive shaft and the sleeve; a conductive rotary joint , including a joint body and a connecting piece, wherein the joint body is arranged at one end of the conductive support and can rotate relative to the connecting piece, and the connecting piece is fixed on a wall surface of the tempering machine table; A wire coupled to the ground terminal is provided at a specific position of the connecting member; and a conveying system is used to drive the plurality of conductive shafts to rotate to convey the at least one glass substrate.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 shows the main structure of a typical low temperature polysilicon tempering machine;

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing the top view of the rapid heating chamber (RTP Chamber):

Fig. 3 is a schematic view showing the structure of a conventional roller;

Figure 4A and Figure 4B show the scorch marks on the product due to electrostatic damage.

Fig. 5 is a schematic plan view showing a roller of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a schematic plan view showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 7 is a schematic plan view showing another preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 8 shows that the static elimination device of the present invention is set on a low-temperature polysilicon tempering machine;

9A and 9B are graphs showing an experimental data.

Symbol Description:

Preheating zone～10; thermal process zone～20; post-process heating zone～30; conveyor system～50; rollers～40; glass substrate～42; quartz rollers～400; stainless steel support sleeve～402; rapid high temperature annealing Machine ~ 1; Static elimination device ~ 2; Roller ~ 3; Low temperature polysilicon tempering machine ~ 4; Conductive shaft ~ 30; Conductive support ~ 32; Conductive elastic component ~ 34; Conductive rotary joint ~ 36; Set Barrel ~ 320; side wall ~ 41; O-ring ~ 324; connector body ~ 360; connector ~ 362; ground terminal ~ GND.

Detailed ways

In order to make the above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, a preferred embodiment is specifically cited below, and in conjunction with the attached drawings, the detailed description is as follows:

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the application of the present invention to a roller, which is suitable for being arranged in a conveying device of a machine (not shown).

The conductive shaft 30 is a shaft made of stainless steel or silicon carbide, wherein the silicon carbide can withstand high temperature and is suitable for use in the heating chamber (heater chamber) of a tempering machine, or can be made of other high temperature resistant conductive materials. For example, molybdenum silicide, graphite, metal carbide and other conductive materials that can withstand above 600 °C.

With the conductive roller 30 of this embodiment, when the glass substrate is being conveyed, the static electricity generated by friction between the glass substrate and the roller can be transmitted and dispersed on the roller body, so that particles and static electricity generated by friction can be reduced. Improve product yield.

Fig. 6 is a schematic plan view showing a preferred embodiment of the static eliminator of the present invention, which is suitable for a conveying system of a machine in a high-temperature processing environment, such as a low-temperature polysilicon tempering machine, and the static eliminator 2 includes multiple A roller 3 is used to carry at least one glass substrate (not shown in the figure). The roller 3 includes a conductive shaft 30 , a conductive support 32 , a conductive elastic component 34 and a conductive rotary joint 36 .

The conductive shaft 30 is a shaft made of stainless steel or silicon carbide, wherein the silicon carbide can withstand high temperature and is suitable for use in the heater chamber of the tempering machine, and can also be made of other high temperature resistant conductive materials , such as molybdenum silicide, graphite, metal carbide and other conductive materials that can withstand high temperatures (above 600°C). The shaft rod made of stainless steel can only be used in the transfer area outside the heating chamber because it is not resistant to high temperature.

Conductive supports 32 are provided at both ends of the conductive shaft 30, each conductive support 32 has a sleeve 320 disposed at both ends of the conductive shaft 30, and the other end of the conductive support 32 is provided on the corresponding side wall of the machine. 41, an accommodating space 322 is formed between the end of the conductive shaft 30 and the sleeve 320, and two O-rings 324 are provided in each sleeve 320 to fix the conductive shaft 30, and the stainless steel sleeve 320 is provided with a conductive elastic component 34, such as a metal spring, which abuts and contacts between the bottom of the stainless steel sleeve 320 and the conductive shaft 30, wherein the conductive elastic component 34 can also be a metal shrapnel or other conductive elastic components.

The conductive rotary joint 36 is, for example, a mercury joint, including a joint body 360 and a connecting piece 362, wherein the joint body 360 is arranged on one end of the conductive support 32 and can rotate relative to the connecting piece 362, and the connecting piece 362 is fixedly arranged on the In the side wall 41 , a wire 38 is further provided on the connecting member 362 to be coupled to the ground terminal GND.

Therefore, the conductive elastic component 34, the mercury joint 36, the wire 38 and the grounding terminal connected by the conductive shaft 3 can form a conductive path to the ground. When static electricity is generated due to friction with the glass substrate during the transmission process, the static electricity will pass through The above-mentioned conductive path is transmitted to the ground terminal GND to eliminate the occurrence of ESD damage.

Fig. 7 shows another preferred embodiment of the roller in Fig. 6. Most of the components of the roller 3' such as the conductive support 32, the conductive elastic component 34 and the conductive rotary joint 36 are the same as those in Fig. 6 and will not be repeated here. , the main difference is that the conductive shaft 30' has a concave-convex outer surface to reduce particles and static electricity generated by friction.

Please refer to Fig. 6 and Fig. 8, Fig. 8 shows that the static elimination device 2 of the present invention is arranged on the low-temperature polysilicon tempering machine platform 4, and it is that a plurality of rollers 3 are arranged between the two side walls, and the rollers 3 can be The motor in the transmission mechanism 50 drives the belt to drive the roller 3 to rotate so as to transmit the glass substrate 42 through the above-mentioned preheating zone 10, thermal process zone 20, and post-process heating zone 30. When static electricity is generated due to friction, the static electricity That is, the conductive shaft 30 , the conductive elastic component 34 , the conductive support 32 , the conductive rotary joint 36 , and the wire 38 are transmitted to the ground terminal GND to eliminate static electricity.

Fig. 9 A and Fig. 9 B are to show a graph of experimental data, and its horizontal axis represents the different positions in the heating chamber, and vertical axis represents the electrostatic voltage measured, wherein characteristic curve A is representative when carrying out with traditional quartz roller Measured static voltage value; characteristic curve B represents the static voltage value after implementing with the static elimination device of the present invention, as can be seen from the experimental data diagram, the voltage value of the static elimination device of the present invention is relatively stable, and the static elimination efficiency is better. This can be proved.

Although the present invention has been disclosed above with preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Anyone skilled in the art can make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, this The scope of protection of the invention should be defined by the appended claims.

Claims (9)

1. a static eraser comprises at least:

One conduction axostylus axostyle;

Two conductive support are in order to support this conduction axostylus axostyle; And

One earth terminal is electrically connected to this conduction axostylus axostyle;

Wherein said conductive support all has a sleeve, formation one accommodation space between end and this sleeve of this conduction axostylus axostyle.

2. static eraser according to claim 1, wherein further comprise a conduction swivel adapter head, this conduction swivel adapter head comprises a joint body and a connection piece that is connected with this joint body, wherein this joint body is arranged at an end of this conductive support, and can be with respect to this web member rotation, wherein this web member is electrically connected to this earth terminal.

3. static eraser according to claim 1, wherein the material of this conduction axostylus axostyle is to be selected from following group: silit, molybdenum silicon, graphite, metal carbide, stainless steel, with above-mentioned composition.

4. static eraser according to claim 2, wherein this conduction swivel adapter head is the mercury joint.

5. static eraser according to claim 1, wherein this conductive support is a stainless steel.

6. static eraser according to claim 1 comprises more that wherein an electrically conductive elastic assembly places this accommodation space, and this electrically conductive elastic assembly connects this conduction axostylus axostyle and this sleeve.

7. static eraser according to claim 6, wherein this electrically conductive elastic assembly is a metal spring.

8. static eraser according to claim 1, wherein this conduction axostylus axostyle further has non-isodiametric concavo-convex outside surface.

9. a board in order to substrate is carried out a heating processing, is characterized by: have the static eraser of putting down in writing as claim 1.

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