Cleaning apparatus and cleaning method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10710126-B2
Application number	US-201715576542-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2017
Priority date	Jun 1, 2016
Publication date	Jul 14, 2020
Grant date	Jul 14, 2020

Abstract

A cleaning apparatus and a cleaning method are provided. The cleaning apparatus is used for removing a residue on a substrate, and includes: a deformable device arranged on the substrate; and an excitation device configured to generate an excitation source for the deformable device, so as to enable the deformable device to be deformed under the effect of the excitation source, thereby to drive the substrate to vibrate and enable the residue to fall off from the substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cleaning apparatus for removing a residue on a substrate, comprising:
a deformable device on the substrate; and
an excitation device configured to generate an excitation source for the deformable device, to enable the deformable device to be deformed under an effect of the excitation source and to drive the substrate to vibrate and remove the residue from the substrate;
wherein the deformable device is an expandable film having an expansion coefficient varying with temperature, the excitation source is configured to change the temperature of the expandable film, and the expandable film is capable of being expanded in the case of being heated and contracted in the case of being cooled under the effect of the excitation source, to drive the substrate to vibrate and remove the residue from the substrate.

2. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the expandable film is at least partially made of plastic fiber.

3. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the plastic fiber is polyhexamethylene adipamide fiber.

4. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a suction disc is on a surface of the expandable film, and the expandable film is adsorbed onto the substrate through the suction disc.

5. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the excitation source is a gas, and the excitation device comprises a temperature controller configured to supply gases at different temperatures to heat and cool the substrate provided with the expandable film recurrently.

6. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an electrostatic device opposite to the substrate and configured to ionize the substrate and the residue, to enable the substrate and the residue to carry charges having an identical polarity.

7. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising:
a cleaning cavity, the temperature controller and the substrate provided with the deformable device are within the cleaning cavity; and a gas cycling device arranged on a wall of the cleaning cavity and configured to discharge the gases at different temperatures supplied by the temperature controller, to enable the gas to flow into and out of the cleaning cavity.

8. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 7 , further comprising a discharge slot within the cleaning cavity and configured to discharge the residue fallen off from the substrate.

9. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein two side edge portions of the expandable film are fixed to two side edge portions of the substrate respectively and made of the plastic fiber.

10. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the expandable film is fixed to the substrate through glue.

11. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the suction disc is at a peripheral region of the expandable film.

12. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 7 , further comprising at least two electrostatic devices opposite to each other, and each electrostatic device is arranged opposite to the substrate and configured to ionize the substrate and the residue, to enable the substrate and the residue to carry charges having an identical polarity.

13. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the temperature controller is on a wall of the cleaning cavity opposite to the gas cycling device.

14. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the electrostatic devices are arranged on two walls of the cleaning cavity perpendicular to the wall on which the gas cycling device is arranged.

15. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 7 , further comprising a bracket within the cleaning cavity and between the temperature controller and the gas cycling device, wherein the bracket comprises a plurality of support plates arranged in a vertical direction, and each support plate is configured to support the substrate provided the expandable film and arranged perpendicular to the wall of the cleaning cavity on which the gas cycling device is arranged.

16. A cleaning method for removing a residue on a substrate, wherein a deformable device is on the substrate and capable of being deformed under an effect of an excitation source, and the cleaning method comprises:
generating the excitation source for the deformation device, to enable the deformable device to be deformed under the effect of the excitation source and to drive the substrate to vibrate and remove the residue from the substrate;
wherein the deformable device is an expandable film having an expansion coefficient varying with temperature, and the generating the excitation source for the deformable device comprises:
heating and cooling the substrate provided with the expandable film recurrently, to enable the expandable film to be expanded in the case of being heated and contracted in the case of being cooled, to drive the substrate to vibrate and remove the residue from the substrate.

17. The cleaning method according to claim 16 , wherein the excitation source is a gas, and an excitation device comprises a temperature controller configured to supply gases at different temperatures to heat and cool the substrate provided with the expandable film recurrently, to blow away the residue from the substrate.

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd
• Hefei Boe Optoelectronics Tech

Inventors

• Jing Yangkun
• Liu Fei
• Xu Zhiwei
• Che Xiaopan
• Chen Chuanhui

Classifications

• G02F1/1316

  Methods for cleaning the liquid crystal cells, or components thereof, during manufacture: Materials therefor · CPC title

• G02F1/1303 Primary

  Apparatus specially adapted to the manufacture of LCDs · CPC title

• B08B7/0071

  by heating (B08B7/0035 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B08B7/02 Primary

  by distortion, beating, or vibration of the surface to be cleaned {(B08B7/0007 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• G02F1/133723

  Polyimide, polyamide-imide · CPC title