This application claims the benefit of Taiwanese application serial No.108217182, filed on Dec. 25, 2019, and the benefit of Taiwanese application serial No.108217183, filed on Dec. 25, 2019, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The invention relates in general to an air curtain apparatus and an airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus, and particularly relates to an air curtain apparatus for a semiconductor cleaning apparatus and an airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus for a semiconductor cleaning apparatus, and more especially relates to an air curtain apparatus and an airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus for a gate valve or an opening between the wafer cassette and the processing environment.
During a series of semiconductor processes, a highly clean environment is necessary to ensure the wafers will not be damaged by the particles in the air, moisture, other chemical contaminates and static electricity and ensure the yield rate thereof. However, it costs a lot to provide a clean, dry and/or de-electrostatic environment during a series of semiconductor processes. Therefore, an air curtain apparatus is usually introduced to reduce the cost.
However, the dry and clean airflow and/or the de-electrostatic ionized airflow toward the target through the air-spraying heads 15 of the conventional air curtain apparatus 100 or through the air-spraying slit 24 of the conventional air curtain apparatus 200 is not 100% substantially vertically toward to the target, therefore part of the dry and clean airflow and/or the de-electrostatic ionized airflow will be interference by adjacent dry and clean airflow and/or the de-electrostatic ionized airflow and result in ineffective airflow or de-electrostatic ionized airflow, thereby more dry and clean airflow and/or the de-electrostatic ionized airflow is needed to achieve an idea dry, clean and/or de-electrostatic environment for semiconductor process and results in higher cost.
Accordingly, an air curtain apparatus and an airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus for providing a clean, dry and de-electrostatic environment during semiconductor process with lower cost is highly expected by the semiconductor industry.
An aspect of this invention is to provide an air curtain apparatus for spraying a dry and clean airflow and/or a de-electrostatic ionized airflow toward a target, comprising: an article with a first surface, a second surface, a third surface and a fourth surface adjacent to each other, and a first side surface and a second side surface on opposite end terminals of the article, wherein the first surface faces to the target, the first surface faces to the third surface, the second surface faces to the fourth surface, and the first side surface is adjacent to edges of the first surface, the second surface, the third surface and the fourth surface, and the second side surface is adjacent to another edges of the first surface, the second surface, the third surface and the fourth surface; an air inlet, formed on the first side surface or the second side surface of the article; a plurality of air-spraying heads formed on the first surface of the article; and an accelerator, comprising: a first conductive thin film, floatingly formed on the second surface adjacent to the first surface, wherein a first distance d1 that the first conductive thin film protruding out of the first surface is greater than a second distance d2 that the air-spraying heads protruding out of the first surface; and a second conductive thin film, floatingly formed on the fourth surface adjacent to the first surface, wherein a first distance d1 that the second conductive thin film protruding out of the first surface is greater than a second distance d2 that the air-spraying heads protruding out of the first surface; wherein, the first conductive thin film and the second conductive thin film protruding out of the first surface form a funnel structure owing to the gravity, which contributes to the dry and clean airflow and/or the de-electrostatic ionized airflow sprayed by the air-spraying heads be accelerated by the funnel structure and flowed vertically toward to the target.
The air curtain apparatus as mentioned above, wherein the first conductive thin film and the second conductive thin film are flexible conductive plastic thin films or flexible metallic thin films.
Another aspect of this invention is to provide another air curtain apparatus for spraying a dry and clean airflow and/or a de-electrostatic ionized airflow toward a target, comprising: an article with a first surface, a second surface, a third surface and a fourth surface adjacent to each other, and a first side surface and a second side surface on opposite end terminals of the article, wherein the first surface faces to the target, the first surface faces to the third surface, the second surface faces to the fourth surface, and the first side surface is adjacent to edges of the first surface, the second surface, the third surface and the fourth surface, and the second side surface is adjacent to another edges of the first surface, the second surface, the third surface and the fourth surface; an air inlet, formed on the first side surface or the second side surface of the article; an air-spraying slit formed on the first surface of the article; and an accelerator, comprising: a first conductive thin film, floatingly formed on the second surface adjacent to the first surface, wherein a first distance d1 that the first conductive thin film protruding out of the first surface is greater than a second distance d2 that the air-spraying slit protruding out of the first surface; and a second conductive thin film, floatingly formed on the fourth surface adjacent to the first surface, wherein a first distance d1 that the second conductive thin film protruding out of the first surface is greater than a second distance d2 that the air-spraying slit protruding out of the first surface; wherein, the first conductive thin film and the second conductive thin film protruding out of the first surface form a funnel structure owing to the gravity, which contributes to the dry and clean airflow and/or the de-electrostatic ionized airflow sprayed by the air-spraying slit be accelerated by the funnel structure and flowed vertically toward to the target.
The another air curtain as mentioned above, wherein the first conductive thin film and the second conductive thin film are flexible conductive plastic thin films or flexible metallic thin films.
The another air curtain as mentioned above, wherein the flexible conductive plastic thin films are made of polyimide.
The another air curtain as mentioned above, wherein the flexible metallic thin films are made of aluminum foil, tin foil or copper foil.
Another aspect of this invention is to provide an airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus, comprising: a base part, upwardly extending along with a first direction D1; a terminal part; and a connecting part for connecting the base part and the terminal part, extending along with a second direction D2, and an acute angle a is formed between the first direction D1 and the second direction D2; wherein when the airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus is placed adjacent to a semiconductor equipment or a semiconductor processing room, a first gap g1 between the terminal part of the airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus and the semiconductor equipment or the semiconductor processing room is greater than a second gap g2 between the base part of the airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus and the semiconductor equipment or the semiconductor processing room, and an airflow with a first velocity of V1 sprayed by the air curtain apparatus will be accelerated by the airflow accelerator to generate an airflow with a second velocity of V2 when passing from the first gap g1 between the terminal part of the airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus and the semiconductor equipment or the semiconductor processing room 50 through the second gap g2 between the terminal part of the airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus and the semiconductor equipment or the semiconductor processing room.
The airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus as mentioned above, wherein the airflow accelerator is made of a conductive plastic material or a metallic material.
The airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus as mentioned above, wherein the conductive plastic material is polyimide.
The airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus as mentioned above, wherein the metallic material is aluminum, tin or copper.
The airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus as mentioned above, further comprises a first side part adjacent to the base part, the connecting part and the terminal part.
The airflow accelerator for an air curtain apparatus as mentioned above, further comprises a second side part adjacent to the base part, the connecting part and the terminal part, wherein the first side part and the second side part are opposite to each other.
The above and other aspects of the invention will become better understood with regard to the following detailed description of the preferred but non-limiting embodiment(s). These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the presently preferred embodiments. The detailed description is merely illustrative of the invention and does not limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof. As would be obvious to one skilled in the art, many variations and modifications of the invention may be affected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.
The detailed description provided below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of the present examples and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present example may be constructed or utilized. The description sets forth the functions of the example and the sequence of steps for constructing and operating the example. However, the same or equivalent functions and sequences may be accomplished by different examples.
In the following description, numerous specific details are described in detail in order to enable the reader to fully understand the following examples. However, embodiments of the present invention may be practiced in case no such specific details. In other cases, in order to simplify the drawings the structure of the apparatus known only schematically depicted in figures.
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The air curtain apparatus 300 as mentioned above, wherein the first conductive thin film 36A and the second conductive thin film 36B are flexible conductive plastic thin films for example but not limited to polyimide thin film or flexible metallic thin films for example but not limited to aluminum foil, tin foil or copper foil. According to other embodiments of this invention, other flexible conductive plastic thin films or other flexible metallic thin films are also applicable.
Comparing to the conventional air curtain apparatus, the dry and clean airflow and/or de-electrostatic ionized airflow sprayed by the air-spraying heads 35 can be further accelerated by the funnel structure (no labeled) and flowed vertically toward to the target (not shown), thereby less dry and clean airflow and/or a de-electrostatic ionized airflow are needed by the air curtain apparatus 300 of the embodiment 2 of this invention to achieve an idea dry and clean and/or de-electrostatic state, and the cost for cleaning or removing static electricity can be highly reduced.
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The air curtain apparatus 400 as mentioned above, wherein the first conductive thin film 46A and the second conductive thin film 46B are flexible conductive plastic thin films for example but not limited to polyimide thin film or flexible metallic thin films for example but not limited to aluminum foil, tin foil or copper foil. According to other embodiments of this invention, other flexible conductive plastic thin films or other flexible metallic thin films are also applicable.
Comparing to the conventional air curtain apparatus, the dry and clean airflow and/or de-electrostatic ionized airflow sprayed by the air-spraying slit 44 can be further accelerated by the funnel structure (no labeled) and flowed vertically toward to the target (not shown), thereby less dry and clean airflow and/or a de-electrostatic ionized airflow are needed by the air curtain apparatus 400 of the embodiment 2 of this invention to achieve an idea dry and clean and/or de-electrostatic state, and the cost for cleaning or removing static electricity can be highly reduced.
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Comparing to the conventional air curtain apparatus 100 shown in
Moreover, the airflow accelerator 40 for an air curtain apparatus as shown in
Furthermore, another airflow accelerator 40′ for an air curtain apparatus as shown in
Although particular embodiments have been shown and described, it should be understood that the above discussion is not intended to limit the present invention to these embodiments. Persons skilled in the art will understand that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as literally and equivalently covered by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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108217182 | Dec 2019 | TW | national |
108217183 | Dec 2019 | TW | national |