JP2001085496A - Carrying device of plate-like member - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent generation of dust and flows by fixing a porous material with a plane part in an upper part of a main body, whereto pressure liquid is fed with its plane part up for blowing pressure liquid through a porous material, and providing a roller which drives both sides of a plate-like part. SOLUTION: When a cleaning liquid is supplied from a cleaning liquid pipe 11 and a plate-like member 1 is positioned on a porous material 10, a cleaning liquid layer is formed between the porous material 10 and the plate-like member 1, and the plate-like member 1 floats on the porous ceramics material 2 in its noncontact state. In the state, carrier rollers 4, 5 are brought into contact with both end parts of the plate-like member 1. Then, the plate-like member 1 moves horizontally by rotating driving force of the carrier rollers 4, 5, and when rotation of the carrier rollers 4, 5 is stopped, the movement of a plate-like member also stops. As a result, it is possible to raise a plate-like member in its noncontact state, to carry it by a small force and to obtain a cleaning device of a plate-like member of high producibility without generating dust or flaws.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for transporting a plate-like member used for cleaning, for example, a semiconductor wafer or a glass panel of a liquid crystal display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a plate-shaped member transfer device used in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor wafer, a glass panel of a liquid crystal display device, or the like is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No.
As shown in JP-A-8866, washing is performed by applying washing water while holding the glass panel by a transfer device.

[0003]

The plate member such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass panel of a liquid crystal display device becomes seriously defective even if extremely small dust adheres thereto. Since the apparatus transports the glass panel by a roller conveyor, if dust adheres to the surface of the roller conveyor, the dust may adhere to the surface of the glass panel.

When a glass panel or the like is transported by a roller conveyor, an end of the glass panel or the like receives an impact when moving from one roller to the next. Therefore, the conveying speed of the glass panel or the like cannot be made higher than a certain speed. This makes it difficult to increase productivity from a certain level.

In particular, the definition of a liquid crystal display device is increasing year by year, and in order to increase the definition, the glass panel must be thinned. As places become thinner glass panels, they become more vulnerable to impacts, which further reduces productivity.

Further, in the above-described conventional apparatus, a glass panel or the like can be cleaned only on one side. Therefore, in order to clean both surfaces, it is necessary to turn over the glass panel and the like. Recently, a glass panel for a liquid crystal display device having a thickness of 0.7 mm, a length of 800 mm, and a width of 1100 mm is often used.

When the thin and wide glass panel is gripped at both ends and lifted, the center panel bends to 40 m.
It hangs down by about m. Therefore, the operation of inverting such a glass panel is not easy, and a complicated apparatus is required for inversion.

Further, in recent liquid crystal panels, a circuit is formed up to the vicinity of the edge of the glass substrate, and the portion that can be gripped has become extremely small.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and does not generate dust or scratches on a plate-like member.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a highly productive plate-like member conveying device.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a plate-like member conveying apparatus according to the present invention comprises a porous material having a flat portion at an upper portion of a main body into which a pressure liquid is fed so that the flat portion faces upward. Attachment, pressure liquid was ejected through the porous material, and rollers for driving both sides of the conveyed plate member were provided.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a porous body having at least one flat portion is provided.
At the top of the main body into which the pressure liquid is sent, a porous material is attached so that the flat portion faces upward, so that the pressure liquid is ejected through the porous material, and rollers are provided for driving both sides of the plate-like member to be conveyed. This has the function of transporting the plate-like member with a roller while floating the plate-like member with the pressure liquid.

[0012]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a plate-like member conveying apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an apparatus for cleaning a plate-like member according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a plate-like member of a transferred object. Reference numerals 2 and 3 denote conveyors, and a large number of transport rollers 4,
5 are provided. Then, the conveyors 2, 3 are arranged such that the conveying rollers 4, 5 are in contact only with both end portions 6 of the plate-like member 1.
Are provided as a pair.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a levitation device, which comprises a large number of individual units 8 arranged in a staggered manner. Each individual unit 8 includes a cup-shaped main body 9, a porous material 10 attached so as to close the upper end of the opening, and a cleaning liquid pipe 11 for supplying a cleaning liquid to the inside of the main body. The porous material 10 has a flat plate shape, and is attached so that its main surface is horizontal.

The porous material 10 is made of a porous ceramic sintered body containing alumina. The sintered body has a very long life without oxidation and the diameter and distribution of pores can be adjusted by setting the sintering conditions. Porous material 10
May be a material containing silica, titania, magnesia, calcia, and yttnia.

In addition, as the porous material 10, a porous body of a synthetic resin such as polyethylene, polypropylene, olefin-based resin, and ethylene fluoride can be used. These synthetic resins are chemically stable and have high chemical resistance to acids and alkalis.

Pure water is used as the cleaning liquid according to the cleaning conditions.
Functional water such as ultrapure water, hydrogen water and ozone water, an alkali or acid solution, or an organic cleaning liquid such as ethanol can be used. The cleaning liquid is pumped from a cleaning liquid tank (not shown) to the cleaning liquid pipe 11 by a pump (not shown).

The cleaning apparatus of the present invention is configured as described above, and its operation will be described below. First, when the cleaning liquid is supplied from the cleaning liquid pipe 11, the inside of the main body 9 is filled with the cleaning liquid, and then the cleaning liquid passes through the porous material 10 and is ejected from the upper surface of the porous material 10.

At this time, if the plate-like member 1 is located on the porous member 10, a cleaning liquid layer 12 is formed between the porous member 10 and the plate-like member 1. That is, the plate-like member 1 is in a state of floating above the cleaning liquid layer 12.

Therefore, the plate-like member 1 floats on the porous ceramic material 2 in a non-contact state, and becomes in a state of extremely low friction. Also in this state, if the transport rollers 4 and 5 are in contact with both ends of the plate-shaped member 1,
The plate-shaped member 1 is moved horizontally by the rotational driving force of 5. When the rotation of the transport rollers 4 and 5 is stopped, the movement of the plate member also stops.

Since the friction of the plate member 1 is extremely small in the floating state, a sufficient conveying force can be obtained even when the plate member 1 is in light contact with the rollers 4 and 5. Since the plate-like member 1 is in a state of lightly contacting the transport rollers 4 and 5, dust is not generated by the contact.

Since the plate-like member 1 is washed by the cleaning liquid in the floating state, dust and dirt attached to the back surface of the plate-like member 1 are washed away by the cleaning liquid. Although the individual units 8 are arranged in a staggered manner, they are arranged at intervals such that the back surface of the plate-like member 1 passing over the individual units 8 is cleaned without any gap.

In the above embodiment, only the back surface of the plate member 1 is washed with the cleaning liquid. However, a cleaning liquid spray (shown in the drawing) facing the surface of the plate member 1 so that the cleaning liquid is applied to the surface of the plate member 1. If the cleaning liquid is applied from the surface of the plate-like member 1, the cleaning liquid also flows on the surface of the plate-like member 1, so that both surfaces of the plate-like member 1 are simultaneously cleaned.

In the above embodiment, the arrangement of the individual units 8 is staggered. However, as shown in FIG. 3 showing the second embodiment, the wide individual units 13 having substantially the same width as the plate-like member 1 are provided.
May be provided. In this case, the cleaning liquid can wash the front surface of the back surface of the plate-like member 1 even when the pressure of the jetting of the cleaning liquid decreases.

As shown in FIG. 4 showing the third embodiment, the individual units 8 are arranged stepwise, the individual units 8 arranged in each step are shifted from each other, and arranged in each step. The individual units 8 are overlapped with each other in the moving direction of the plate-like member 1, so that the rear surface of the plate-like member 1 is cleaned over the entire surface by the movement.

[0026]

The plate-like member cleaning apparatus of the present invention is constructed as described above, so that the plate-like member can be lifted up in a non-contact state and conveyed with a small force without generating dust and scratches. It is possible to provide a plate-like member cleaning apparatus with high productivity.

Further, the cleaning device for a plate-shaped member of the present invention can perform cleaning while transporting the plate-shaped member by using a liquid for floating the plate-shaped member as a cleaning liquid. Moreover, by applying the cleaning liquid from both sides, both sides can be washed at the same time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view showing a first embodiment of a plate-like member conveying apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the first embodiment of the plate-like member conveying apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a top view showing a second embodiment of the plate-like member conveying apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a top view showing a third embodiment of the plate-like member conveying apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Plate-shaped member 2, 3 Conveyor 4, 5 Conveyance roller 6 Both ends of plate-shaped member 7 Floating device 8 Individual unit 9 Main body 10 Porous material 11 Cleaning liquid pipe 12 Cleaning liquid layer 13 Wide individual unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) B65G 49/07 B65G 49/07 J H01L 21/304 643 H01L 21/304 643B

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A porous body having at least one flat portion is provided, and said porous material is attached to an upper portion of a main body into which the pressure liquid is fed so that said flat portion faces upward, and the pressurized liquid is ejected through said porous material. As well as
A conveying device for a plate-like member provided with rollers for driving both sides of the plate-like member to be fed. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressure liquid is a cleaning liquid. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cleaning liquid is also applied from above.