JPH04252878A - Electronic parts manufacturing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide such an electronic parts manufacturing system that receives no restriction of the pipe diameter, layout, etc., of a discharge piping system in a vacuum pump and requires no separate compressor even at a time when exhausted gas is further pressurized. CONSTITUTION:An inlet port 8a of a vacuum pump P is connected to a reaction chamber or electronic parts manufacturing chamber 21, and the vacuum pump is turned to a positive displacement pump with a single or multistage internal compressor. With this constitution, discharge pressure of the vacuum pump can be set to such that is more than the atmospheric pressure.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic component manufacturing apparatus comprising a chamber in which electronic components such as semiconductors and liquid crystal displays are manufactured, and a vacuum pump for evacuating the chamber to a reduced pressure state.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art The above-described apparatus for manufacturing electronic components such as semiconductors and liquid crystal displays is generally constructed as shown in FIG. That is, in the figure, 20 indicates a gas supply system, the reaction chamber 21 is depressurized by a vacuum pump 22, and the discharged gas is appropriately discharged through an exhaust gas collection pipe 23. The vacuum pump 22 is designed under the condition that the pump discharge pressure does not exceed atmospheric pressure (760 torr).

0003

As mentioned above, conventional vacuum pumps have various problems because their operating pressure range is limited to atmospheric pressure or lower. For example, if the discharge pressure significantly exceeds atmospheric pressure, the pump may become inoperable or malfunction. For this reason, it was necessary to increase the diameter of the discharge side pipes 23 and 24 and to limit their length so that the discharge pressure of the pump did not exceed atmospheric pressure. For example 100
If the vacuum pump has an evacuation speed of about 0 to 10,000 l/min, the aforementioned discharge side piping diameter (inner diameter) is 40 to 5.
The length of the pipe was around 0 mm, and the length of the pipe was about 5 m. On the other hand, electronic component manufacturing is generally performed in a clean room, and manufacturing equipment is also often installed in the clean room.

[0004] Since clean rooms are expensive, it is very important that the manufacturing equipment be compact and easy to layout. However, when attaching a vacuum evacuation pump to the manufacturing equipment, in order to effectively obtain a high pumping speed, the manufacturing equipment and the suction port of the vacuum evacuation pump should be installed as close as possible and connected using the thickest piping possible. It is desirable that the piping on the discharge side of the pump be thick so that the pressure on the discharge side does not exceed atmospheric pressure. For this reason, it is very difficult to install and layout the manufacturing equipment, and the installation period is also long and the cost is high.

In addition, if it is necessary to further pressurize the gas exhausted by the vacuum pump and forcefully send it to the reaction chamber 26, a separate compressor 25 is installed downstream of the vacuum pump as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. It is necessary to set up and increase the pressure, making the gas exhaust and pressure feeding equipment complicated.

Therefore, the present invention provides an electronic component manufacturing apparatus that is not limited by the pipe diameter, layout, etc. of the discharge piping system of a vacuum pump, and does not require a separate compressor even when further pressurizing the exhausted gas. It is intended to.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a chamber in which electronic components such as semiconductors and liquid crystal displays are manufactured, a suction port in the chamber, and a discharge pipe having a discharge port. and a vacuum pump connected to a vacuum pump, in which the chamber is reduced in pressure when the vacuum pump is driven, the vacuum pump is a positive displacement pump with single-stage or multi-stage internal compression, and its discharge pressure is is configured to operate above atmospheric pressure. In the present invention, the vacuum pump is composed of a single-stage or multi-stage screw pump.

[0008]

[Operation] As described above, the suction port of the vacuum pump is connected to the chamber where electronic parts are manufactured, such as the reaction chamber, so that when the pump is started, the gas in the chamber is sucked and then discharged. Discharged into piping. The chamber is therefore under reduced pressure. At this time, since the vacuum pump is a positive displacement pump with single-stage or multi-stage internal compression, it operates even when the discharge pressure is above atmospheric pressure, and the chamber is maintained at a reduced pressure state regardless of the discharge piping diameter, length, etc. be done.

[0009]

[Embodiment] An example in which the present invention is implemented using a single-stage screw vacuum pump will be described below.

In FIG. 1, a male rotor and a female rotor (not shown) are rotatably supported by bearings 5a and 5b, respectively, in a space formed by a main casing 1 and a discharge casing 2 of a screw pump P. shaft seal 6a,
6b seals off the lubricating oil of the bearings 5a and 5b. One of the rotors, for example, is rotated at high speed by a driver L attached to the shaft end of the male rotor, and the female rotor is rotated by a timing gear 10 while maintaining a small gap from the male rotor.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the rotor 7 is driven by a drive unit L via a speed increasing gear 11.

Therefore, the gas sucked in from the suction port 8a passes through the suction port 8b, is sucked into the tooth space formed by the main casing 1 and both rotors, undergoes a compression process, and then passes through the discharge port 9b to the discharge port 9a. It is discharged from. In addition,
In the figure, numeral 3 is a gear cover, and 4 is a cover.

According to this embodiment, the operating range is wide so that the suction pressure can rise from vacuum pressure to the discharge pressure above atmospheric pressure, for example 1500 Torr or above, so the discharge side piping size of the pump P can be set to a small diameter size of about 10A. It is possible to create a layout with a relatively long piping length. Furthermore, when it is necessary to pressurize the gas and send it under pressure to another reaction chamber 26, the conventional series arrangement of a vacuum pump and a compressor (FIGS. 8 and 9) can be replaced with the present embodiment as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Only one pump may be used.

For pumps with internal compression, the power required for compression work varies with pump suction and discharge pressures. That is, the higher the suction pressure, the greater the pump power becomes, and even if the suction pressure is the same, the higher the discharge pressure is, the greater the pump power becomes.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, when the pressure inside the reaction chamber is high immediately after the start of evacuation from the reaction chamber, the pump suction pressure may be high and the pump power may become excessive. In this case, as shown in Fig. 5, a throttling mechanism 32 is added in the middle of the piping on the pump suction side, and due to the piping resistance of the throttling mechanism,
It can also be implemented to reduce the pump suction pressure to prevent overloading. Further, instead of the throttle mechanism, an inverter power source may be used for the pump drive motor, and the pump rotation speed may be lowered to the extent that pump overload does not occur. Furthermore, if the gas in the reaction chamber 21 is at a high temperature, a gas cooler 30 combined with a throttling mechanism as shown in FIG. 6 may be provided. Note that 31 indicates an on-off gate valve.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the vacuum pump is a positive displacement pump with internal compression, the pump suction pressure can vary from a vacuum pressure of about 10 Torr or less to a discharge pressure of about 1000 Torr, which is higher than atmospheric pressure. Therefore, the piping size on the discharge side of the pump can be reduced to about 1/3 of the normal size. Specifically, the piping diameter only needs to be around 10 mm, so simple jigs and tools can be used. Piping layout has become possible, installation and piping work have become extremely easy, and manufacturing equipment has become more compact. Naturally, the installation period can be significantly shortened, and costs can also be reduced. Furthermore, since the exhaust gas can be pressurized without the need for a pressure pump as in the past, the entire device becomes simple and inexpensive.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a vacuum pump of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing essential parts of another embodiment of the vacuum pump of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing main parts of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing other main parts of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional example.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing another conventional example.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

P...Pump 8a... Suction port 9a...Discharge port 21, 26... reaction chamber 24...Discharge piping

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum pump comprising a chamber in which electronic components such as semiconductors and liquid crystal displays are manufactured, and a vacuum pump having a suction port connected to the chamber and a discharge port connected to a discharge pipe, and driving the vacuum pump. In the apparatus in which the chamber is then brought into a reduced pressure state, the vacuum pump is a positive displacement pump having single-stage or multi-stage internal compression, and the electronic component manufacturing apparatus is characterized in that the vacuum pump operates even at a discharge pressure equal to or higher than atmospheric pressure. . 2. An electronic component manufacturing apparatus, wherein the vacuum pump according to claim 1 is a single-stage or multi-stage screw pump.