Radiant energy – Supported for nonsignalling objects of irradiation – With source support
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-28
2004-01-27
Lee, John R. (Department: 2881)
Radiant energy
Supported for nonsignalling objects of irradiation
With source support
C250S453110, C250S454110, C250S50400H, C422S022000, C430S329000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06683312
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for fabricating a liquid crystal display, and more particularly to an ultraviolet cleaning apparatus wherein a substrate is pre-heated prior to a conveyance of the substrate into the cleaning apparatus to thereby shorten the process time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, since a liquid crystal display (LCD) has advantages of small size, thin thickness and low power consumption, it has been used for notebook personal computers, office automation equipment and audio/video equipment, etc.
A process of fabricating such a LCD will be briefly described below. First, an upper plate having color filters and a black matrix of a light-shielding layer formed on a transparent substrate and a lower plate having a thin film transistor array and a driving circuit formed on the transparent substrate are manufactured. Next, the upper plate and the lower plate are cleaned with ultraviolet rays to eliminate the remaining material. The cleaned upper and lower plates are adhered to each other. After the adhesion of the lower plate and the upper plate, a liquid crystal is injected to complete the LCD.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, a conventional ultraviolet (UV) cleaning apparatus includes UV lamps
2
for irradiating a UV ray, a UV lamp house
4
for housing the UV lamps
2
, a cooling water supply line
6
for receiving a cooling water from a cooling water supply (not shown) so as to keep the UV lamp house
4
at less than a desired temperature, a nitrogen-injecting hole
8
supplied with nitrogen so as to uniformly maintain the pressure between the UV lamp house
4
and a chamber
18
, and a quartz window
10
for passing only a specific wavelength of the UV ray. The UV lamps
2
irradiate UV rays so as to remove the remaining material on the substrate. The cooling water supply line
6
receives cooling water from the cooling water supply (not shown) so as to prevent the UV lamp house
4
from rising beyond a desired temperature upon irradiation with the UV rays. The nitrogen-injecting hole
8
receives nitrogen from a nitrogen supply (not shown) so as to prevent the quartz window
10
from being damaged due to a pressure difference between the UV lamp house
4
and the chamber
18
.
A process of cleaning the substrate
14
will be described below. First, the substrate
14
is conveyed from a cassette (not shown), via a conveyor, into the chamber
18
. When the substrate
14
has been conveyed into the chamber
18
, UV rays from the UV lamps
2
irradiate onto the quartz window
10
. At this time, nitrogen is fed from the nitrogen supply (not shown) to the nitrogen-injecting hole
8
. The nitrogen fed to the nitrogen-injecting hole
8
prevents the quartz window
10
from being damaged due to a pressure difference between the UV lamp house
4
and the chamber
18
and improves the transmissivity of the UV rays. The quartz window
10
passes only a specific wavelength band of about 172 nm in UV rays irradiated from the UV lamps
2
to remove the remaining substances from the substrate
14
.
However, the conventional UV cleaning apparatus has the drawback in that, since it requires a considerable time to remove the substances of the substrate, a deterioration in productivity is caused.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an ultraviolet cleaning apparatus wherein a substrate is pre-heated prior to the conveyance of the substrate into the cleaning apparatus, whereby the processing time is effectively shortened.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a substrate cleaning method wherein a substrate is pre-heated to activate substances of the substrate and improve productivity. Also, in this process, for example, the deposition of an organic and/or an inorganic material on the substrate can be done effectively.
In order to achieve these and other objects of the present invention, an ultraviolet cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a pre-heater for heating the substrate; and an ultraviolet cleaner for irradiating ultraviolet rays onto the substrate to remove the remaining substances on the substrate.
An ultraviolet cleaning apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention includes an ultraviolet lamp house for housing ultraviolet lamps; a quartz window for selectively passing ultraviolet rays from the ultraviolet lamps; a chamber for conveying the substrate; and a pre-heater for heating the substrate so as to activate substances on the substrate.
An ultraviolet cleaning apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention includes an ultraviolet lamp house for housing ultraviolet lamps; a quartz window for selectively passing ultraviolet rays from the ultraviolet lamps; a chamber for conveying the substrate; and a heater for heating the substrate so as to remove substances from the substrate.
A substrate cleaning method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: pre-heating the substrate using a pre-heater so as to activate substances on the substrate; conveying the substrate into a chamber; and irradiating the substrate with ultraviolet rays from ultraviolet lamps so as to remove the substances on the substrate.
A substrate cleaning method according to another embodiment of the present invention includes: conveying the substrate into a chamber; heating the substrate using a heater so as to activate substances on the substrate; and irradiating the substrate with ultraviolet rays from ultraviolet lamps so as to remove the substances on the substrate.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5083030 (1992-01-01), Stavov
patent: 5459322 (1995-10-01), Warkentin
patent: 5547642 (1996-08-01), Seiwa et al.
patent: 6143477 (2000-11-01), Rhieu
Lee John R.
LG.Philips LCD Co. , Ltd.
Vanore David A.
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