Reduced pressure drying method and device of a substrate

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9347706-B2
Application number	US-201314362049-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 23, 2013
Priority date	Mar 28, 2013
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A reduced pressure drying method and device for a substrate are presented. Firstly, a substrate is placed in a sealed space; then the surface to-be-dried of the substrate is partitioned into a predetermined number of sealed regions; thereafter, the sealed regions are subjected to pressure reduction through gas extraction; finally, the sealed regions are dried through gas insufflation, and then the substrate is taken out from the sealed space. The method can perform reduced pressure drying to various-sized substrates, ensuring uniform pressure and humidity and avoiding formation of reduced pressure drying speckles.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A reduced pressure drying method for a substrate, wherein the method comprises following steps of:
S 1 : placing the substrate in a sealed space;
S 2 : partitioning the sealed space into at least two sealed regions, on a surface of the substrate to-be-dried;
S 3 : extracting gas from the sealed regions to reduce pressure;
S 4 : blowing and drying the sealed regions, and taking out the substrate from the sealed space.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step S 3 comprises:
S 31 : selecting one of the sealed regions as a first reduced pressure region to perform gas extraction and pressure reduction; and when the pressure of the first reduced pressure region is less than a predetermined pressure value, proceeding to step S 32 ;
S 32 : if the first reduced pressure region has an adjoining sealed region, then a sealed region formed by communicating the first reduced pressure region with the adjoining sealed region of the first reduced pressure region being taken as the first reduced pressure region, proceeding to step S 33 ; otherwise, if the first reduced pressure region has no adjoining sealed region, then ending the gas extraction;
S 33 : extracting gas form the current first reduced pressure region so as to reduce pressure, and when the pressure in the current first reduced pressure region is less than the predetermined pressure value, returning to the step 332 .

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein in the step S 32 , after ending the gas extraction, the method further comprises repartitioning the first reduced pressure region into the at least two sealed regions.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the step S 4 comprises steps of:
S 41 : selecting one of the sealed regions as a first drying region to perform blow drying, when a humidity in the first drying region is less than a predetermined humidity value, proceeding to step 342 ;
S 42 : if the first drying region has an adjoining sealed region, then a sealed region formed by communicating the first drying region with the adjoining sealed region of the first drying region being taken as the first drying region, and proceeding to step S 43 ;
otherwise, if the first drying region has no adjoining sealed region, then ending the drying, and taking out the substrate from the sealed space;
S 43 : blow drying the current first drying region, and when a humidity in the current first drying region is less than the predetermined humidity value, returning to the step S 42 .

5. A reduced pressure drying device for a substrate by performing the method according to claim 1 , wherein the device comprises:
a drying container with a sealed space formed by a first baffle plate, a second baffle plate, a third baffle plate, a bottom plate, a sealing cover and a control plate, configured to accommodating a substrate to-be-dried, wherein the first baffle plate is opposite to the control plate, the sealing cover is opposite the bottom plate;
wherein the control plate is configured to control a drying process of the substrate, one or more slots are formed on a surface of the control plate, and one or more slots are formed on a surface of the first baffle plate facing the surface of the control plate,
the device further comprises one or more isolation baffle plates configured to be inserted into the one or more slots on the first baffle plate and the control plate, and the one or more fallen baffle plates partition the sealed space into at least two sealed regions on a surface of the substrate to-be-dried.

6. The device according to claim 5 , wherein one or more slots are formed on a surface of the second baffle plate.

7. The device according to claim 6 , wherein one or more slots are formed on a surface of the third baffle plate, in correspondence with the slots on the second baffle plate.

8. The device according to claim 5 , wherein the isolation baffle plate is provided with a pressure control valve communicating with both sides of the isolation baffle plate.

9. The device according to claim 5 , wherein an exhaust port is provided on the control plate.

10. The device according to claim 5 , wherein a blowing port is provided on the control plate.

11. The device according to claim 5 , wherein a pressure sensor is provided on the control plate.

12. The device according to claim 5 , wherein a humidity sensor is provided on the control plate.

13. The device according to claim 5 , wherein the control plate is provided thereon with a control panel for monitoring a vacuum-chamber-drying process.

14. The device according to claim 13 , wherein an air pump is provided within the control plate, with one end of the air pump being connected to the control panel and the other end of the air pump being connected to the exhaust port and the blowing port.

15. The device according to claim 11 , wherein in a case that at least two of the slots are formed on a surface of the control plate, the pressure sensor is provided between two adjacent slots on the control plate.

16. The device according to claim 12 , wherein in a case that at least two of the slots are formed on a surface of the control plate, the humidity sensor is provided between two adjacent slots on the control plate.

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd
• Beijing Boe Display Tech Co
• Boe Technology Group Ltd

Inventors

• Wang Song
• Wan Jiyu
• Feng He
• Wu Hongjiang

Classifications

• H10P72/0408

  for drying · CPC title

• H10P70/15

  by wet cleaning only (H10P70/52 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F26B5/04

  by evaporation or sublimation of moisture under reduced pressure, e.g. in a vacuum {(F26B11/049 and F26B17/128 take precedence)} · CPC title

• H01L21/67034

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L21/02052

  Electricity · mapped topic