JP2003146399A - Method for purging connection part of material-tank in liquid-material delivery system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for purging a connection part of a material tank in a liquid-material delivery system, for performing a purge in a connection part of a material tank in a short time, and surely checking the effect of the purge. SOLUTION: In the liquid material delivery system, an evacuation line 14 is connected to an inactive gas conduction pipe 2 or a liquid-material outflow pipe 3. A gas flow-path 11 from an opening/closing valve 4 of the pipe 2 to an opening/closing valve 8 of an inactive-gas-conduction pipe 6, and a liquid flow-path 12 from an opening/closing valve 5 of the pipe 3 to an opening/closing valve 9 of a liquid-material outflow pipe 7 are evacuate with a vacuum pump 17. A pressure-check line 22 provided with an opening/closing valve 23 and a pressure sensor 24 is connected to either one of the inactive-gas-conduction pipe 6 or the liquid-material outflow pipe 7. After evacuation of the liquid flow-path, the valve 23 of the one 22 is opened and the pressure in the flow path 11, 12 is checked with the sensor 24.

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a method for purging a material tank connection portion of an apparatus for supplying a liquid material used in semiconductor manufacturing or the like. 2. Description of the Related Art The above-mentioned liquid material supply device introduces an inert gas into a tank containing a liquid material (hereinafter referred to as a material tank) through an inert gas introduction pipe, and the liquid pushed out by this introduction is introduced. The material is configured to be led out by a liquid material lead-out pipe, but the material tank is
The inert gas inlet pipe and the liquid material outlet pipe are usually configured to be freely connectable and separable, and when the liquid material in the material tank falls below a certain amount by use, the pipe is replaced with a new material tank. In the case where the material tank used so far is separated from the inert gas introduction pipe and the liquid material discharge pipe, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 2, purging in the gas flow path and the liquid flow path is performed. In this way, the inert gas IG and the liquid material are prevented from remaining in the flow path. That is, in FIG. 2, 1 is a liquid material L
M is a material tank containing M. 2 and 3 are material tanks 1
The inert gas introduction section 2 is attached to the upper lid 1a so as to communicate with the inside of the material tank 1, and the liquid material introduction section 3 It penetrates through the upper lid 1a and is inserted to the vicinity of the bottom plate 1b in the material tank 1. The on-off valve 4 and the on-off valve 4,
5 are provided, and connection portions 2a and 3a for detachable connection with an inert gas introduction pipe 6 and a liquid material discharge pipe 7 described later are provided at the tip. Reference numerals 6 and 7 denote an inert gas inlet pipe and a liquid material outlet pipe, respectively, which are detachably connected to the inert gas inlet 2 and the liquid material outlet 3, respectively. The upstream side of the inert gas introduction pipe 6 is an inert gas supply source (not shown).
At the downstream end of the connection portion 2 of the inert gas introduction portion 2.
A connection portion 6a corresponding to a is formed, and an on-off valve 8 is provided. At the upstream end of the liquid material outlet pipe, a connection portion 7a corresponding to the connection portion 3a of the liquid material outlet portion 3 is provided.
Are formed, and on-off valves 9 and 10 are provided in series, and the downstream side of the on-off valve 10 is connected to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus (not shown). The connection portions 2a and 6
Each of a and 3a and 7a is configured to be easily connected / disconnected. [0005] For convenience of explanation, the connection portions 2a and 6a and the connection portions 3a and 7a allow the inert gas introduction portion 2 and the inert gas introduction tube 6, and the liquid material lead-out portion 3 and the liquid material lead-out tube 7 to be formed. On-off valve 4 when each is connected
The flow path from the valve to the on-off valve 8 and the flow path from the on-off valve 5 to the on-off valve 9 are referred to as a gas-side connection flow path 11 and a liquid-side connection flow path 12, respectively. It is referred to as a material tank connection portion 13. Reference numeral 14 denotes an evacuation line for evacuation of the material tank connecting portion 13.
The on-off valve 16 and the vacuum pump 17 are connected in series at a point 15 on the upstream side of the on-off valve 9, and the downstream side of the vacuum pump 17 is open to the atmosphere. And
Reference numeral 18 denotes a connection flow path that connects the gas-side connection flow path 11 and the liquid-side connection flow path 12 to each other. Both ends are connected to the gas-side connection flow path 11 and the liquid-side connection flow path 12 at points 19 and 20, respectively. And an on-off valve 21. In the liquid material supply device having the above structure,
When replacing the material tank 1, the material tank connection part 1
3 needs to be purged, but conventionally,
While closing the on-off valves 4, 5, 8, and 9, the on-off valves 16,
21, the vacuum pump 17 is operated to operate the vacuum pump 17 to purge the material tank connection portion 13,
The operation of closing the valves 5, 9, 16 and opening the on-off valves 8, 21 to introduce the inert gas IG into the material tank connecting portion 13 through the inert gas introduction pipe 6 and pressurizing the gas is pressurized. By repeatedly performing the evacuation operation and the gas pressurization operation a predetermined number of times, it has been determined that the material tank connection portion 13 has been purged. However, depending on the type of the liquid material LM, its purity, and the use environment such as the environmental temperature at that time, the vacuuming operation and the gas pressurizing operation for the material tank connecting portion 13 are not performed. Although it is necessary to change the number of times, in the conventional method of performing each of the above operations only a specific number of times, the material tank connecting portion 13 may not always be reliably purged. The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned matters, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to purge a connection portion of a material tank in a short time and to surely confirm the purging effect. An object of the present invention is to provide a purging method (hereinafter, simply referred to as a purging method) at a material tank connection portion of a liquid material supply device. In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an on-off valve and an on-off valve for a material tank containing a liquid material are provided at the inert gas inlet and the liquid material outlet respectively. And an inert gas inlet pipe and a liquid material outlet pipe each having a slidable valve. The inert gas inlet pipe and the liquid material outlet pipe are connected via an on-off valve. Connecting a vacuum line provided with an on-off valve and a vacuum pump to a pipe or a liquid material outlet pipe, a gas flow path portion from the on-off valve of the inert gas introduction section to the on-off valve of the inert gas introduction pipe, and the liquid material In the liquid material supply device, the liquid flow path portion from the opening / closing valve of the outlet section to the opening / closing valve of the liquid material outlet pipe is evacuated and purged by the vacuum pump. A pressure check line equipped with an on-off valve and a pressure sensor is connected to either the inert gas introduction pipe or the liquid material outlet pipe, and the inert gas inlet and the on-off valve of the liquid material outlet and the inert gas inlet pipe and After the flow path is evacuated by the vacuum pump with the on-off valves of the liquid material outlet pipes closed, the on-off valve of the pressure check line is opened, and the pressure in the flow path is checked by the pressure sensor. Like that. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration for carrying out the purging method of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 2 denote the same parts, and a description thereof will be omitted. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 22 denotes a pressure confirmation line for confirming the state of the pressure in the material tank connection portion 13;
Is connected to a connection point 20 between
And the pressure sensor 24 are provided in series. Next, a purging method using the above configuration will be described. (1) The on-off valves 4, 5, 8, and 9 are closed, and the on-off valves 16, 21, and 23 are opened. The vacuum pump 17 is operated to evacuate and purge the material tank connection portion 13, thereby performing a pressure sensor. 24 is set to 0 Pa. (2) The on-off valve 16 is closed. In this state, the on-off valves 4, 5, 8, 9, 16 are closed and the on-off valves 21,
23 is open. Then, in this state, the indication value of the pressure sensor 24 is checked, and if the pressure rise exceeds 0 Pa, it is determined that the inert gas IG and the liquid material LM remain in the material tank connection portion 13. Judge,
Purging is performed as in (1) above, and the pressure sensor 24
Check the indicated value of. Here, if the indicated value remains 0 Pa and there is no pressure increase, it can be determined that a predetermined purge is being performed, so that the material tank 1 is connected to the gas-side connection flow path 11 at the connection portions 2a and 6a and 3a and 7a. And the liquid side connection flow path 12. As described above, in the above-mentioned purging method, the purge effect can be confirmed as a numerical value, so that it is not necessary to repeatedly perform operations such as vacuuming more than necessary, Irrespective of this, the purge effect can be grasped quantitatively and reliably. Therefore, the purge in the material tank connection portion 13 can be performed in a short time and reliably. In the above-described embodiment, the evacuation line 14 and the pressure confirmation line 22 are connected to the liquid-side connection channel 12, but these are connected to the gas-side connection channel 1.
1 may be connected to the material tank connection part 1
3 only needs to be connected. And the evacuation line 1
4 and the pressure confirmation line 22
3 may be detachably connected. The connection flow path 18 connecting the gas-side connection flow path 11 and the liquid-side connection flow path 12 may be configured to be separable therefrom. As described above, according to the present invention, the material tank connection can be purged in a short time, and the purge effect can be surely confirmed. The purge effect can be quantitatively confirmed irrespective of the above, and it is possible to easily cope with various liquid materials.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an example of a configuration for performing a purging method at a material tank connection portion of a liquid material supply device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration for performing a purging method at a material tank connection portion of a conventional liquid material supply device. [Description of Signs] 1 ... Material tank, 2 ... Inert gas inlet, 3 ... Liquid material outlet, 4,5,8,9,10,16,21,23 ... Open / close valve, 6 ... Inert gas inlet Pipe, 7 ... Liquid material outlet pipe, 1
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... gas flow path part, 12 ... liquid flow path part, 14 ... evacuation line, 17 ... vacuum pump, 22 ... pressure confirmation line
24: pressure sensor, LM: liquid material, IG: inert gas.

   ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page    (72) Inventor Shingo Minami             11-5 Kamitobako Tatemachi, Minami-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto             In the formula company ESTEC F term (reference) 3E083 AA20 AE15                 3J071 AA02 BB05 BB14 CC01 CC07                       DD27 EE24 FF11

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. An inert gas introduction pipe and a liquid material deriving unit each having an on-off valve at an inert gas introduction unit and a liquid material deriving unit respectively having an on-off valve of a material tank containing a liquid material. The pipes are detachably connected, the inert gas introduction pipe and the liquid material outlet pipe are connected via an on-off valve, and the inert gas introduction pipe or the liquid material outlet pipe is further connected to an on-off valve and a vacuum pump. Connecting a vacuum line provided with a gas passage section from the opening / closing valve of the inert gas introduction section to the opening / closing valve of the inert gas introduction pipe and opening / closing of the liquid material introduction pipe from the opening / closing valve of the liquid material introduction section. In a liquid material supply device in which a liquid flow path portion leading to a valve is evacuated and purged by the vacuum pump, the liquid material supply device is opened to either the inert gas introduction pipe or the liquid material discharge pipe. Connect the pressure check line with a valve and pressure sensor,
After evacuating the flow path portion by the vacuum pump in a state in which the on-off valves of the inert gas inlet and the liquid material outlet and the on-off valves of the inert gas inlet and the liquid material outlet are closed, A method for purging a material tank connection part of a liquid material supply device, wherein an on-off valve of a pressure confirmation line is opened, and the pressure in the flow path part is confirmed by the pressure sensor.