JPH03199839A - Clean room - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce an operation cost by dividing a work area into a first work area and a second work area where dust is hardly generated and providing air circulation means for circulating air between the first and the second work areas. CONSTITUTION:Divided rooms 2, 3, 4 as a first work area are provided inside the outer walls 1A of a clean room 1, and interroom space parts 5, 6 as second work areas are provided among the divided room 2 in the central part of the clean room and the right and left divided rooms 3, 4. An air current descending through the divided rooms 2, 3, 4 according to the action of air cleaning units 9 passes through a grating floor 17 to flow into the space parts 5, 6, 5A, 6A in the vicinity of the divided rooms, and the air current ascending through the space parts is again cleaned by the air cleaning units 9 to descend through the divided rooms, thus repeating the air circulation. That is, the air cleaning units 9 are provided only for the divided rooms 2, 3, 4 where dust is greatly generated by workers entering the rooms and work of every kind, and the air cleaning units 9 are not provided for the space parts 5, 6, 5A, 6A where dust is hardly generated. Therefore, it is possible to save electric power as a whole for the number of air cleaning units that may be necessary to be installed at the space parts 5, 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a clean room that is installed to, for example, manufacture semiconductor integrated circuits.

[Conventional technology] Conventionally, this type of clean room has been published in, for example, separate volume Microdevice No. 2, ultra-clean technology (1)
The one described in Chapter 6 (see especially page 168) of Nikkei BP (published on October 2, 1963) is known. According to this, the clean room is designed to perform optimal air conditioning control according to the quality requirements of the product being worked on, and in this case, the air conditioning control device takes in outside air and performs controls such as removing dust from it. and a circulating air system that maintains the cleanliness of the air indoors (particularly in work areas where workers directly process products).

In this case, the circulating air system includes an air circulation means that has a blower drive source that consumes a large amount of power to circulate the air in the room, as well as a cleaning means that maintains the cleanliness of the air in the work area at a certain level. Therefore, for example, a filter unit with a fan is installed on the ceiling of the work area.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the configuration of the prior art, the air purifying means and the air circulation means have an action range that covers the entire working area, and for example, areas that are cut off from the outside air are also affected. For example, it is necessary to supply more power than necessary for the purification means to the air circulation blower drive source, which consumes a particularly large amount of power, or it is necessary to perform so-called thinning operation in which unnecessary blower drive sources are stopped. Sometimes it happens. In other words, this situation is a major constraint on reducing operating costs, since the operating power of the air conditioning control device accounts for a large proportion of the operating costs of the entire clean room.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made to solve the problem of high operating costs of clean rooms in the above-mentioned prior art. In a clean room that has a work area where predetermined work is performed using equipment and is configured to circulate the air in the room,
The work area is divided into a first work area and a second work area that generates less dust than the first work area, and at least the first work area and the second work area are separated. The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that an air circulation means is provided for circulating air between the first work area and the ceiling side in order to set the airflow according to the amount of dust generation in the room. 2. The clean room according to claim 1, wherein the clean room has an air flow from the evacuation area toward the evacuation area, and the second work area has an air flow from the evacuation area toward the ceiling side.

[Function] In the configuration of the invention of claim 1, one of the two divided work areas is used as a first work area that generates a lot of dust, for example, a maintenance line where workers perform predetermined work using various devices. The other area can be used as a second work area with less dust generation, for example, a transfer line area where only products are transferred under a predetermined atmosphere. As a result, the air purifying means and the air circulation means (having an air blowing drive source for air circulation) only for the first work area (
For example, by providing a fan-equipped filter unit), installation of air purifying means and air circulation means can be omitted in the second work area, and power consumption can be reduced accordingly.

In the structure of the invention of claim 2, by changing the direction of the airflow for the two work areas, one work area, that is, the work area where the airflow is directed from the evacuation toward the ceiling side, has an airflow in the opposite direction. It is possible to reduce the degree of dust accumulation compared to the case where the work area is used, for example, as a product conveyance line, and it is possible to reduce the amount of dust adhering to the product.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

The figure shows an example of a clean room 1 according to the present invention, and the clean room 1 is used, for example, as an environmental space for manufacturing processing of semiconductor integrated circuits and the like. Inside the outer wall IA of the clean room 1, compartments 2, 3.4 are formed as first work areas at the center and on the left and right sides, respectively. The depth is longer than the width of the frontage, and the left and right compartments 3.4 are approximately half the size of the central compartment 2. Between the central compartment 2 and the left and right compartments 3.4, there is an inter-chamber space 5.6 as a second work area, and between the left and right compartments 34 and the outer wall IA, there is an air return space. 5A and 6A are formed. Incidentally, a grating floor 7 is installed on the floor of the clean room 1 through which rising and descending airflow can pass, and the above-mentioned compartment 2
．． 34 is installed on the grating floor 7.

In the central compartment 2 and left and right compartments 3.4, various processing devices 8 for, for example, semiconductor wafers are arranged side by side, so that workers can perform various operations on the grating floor 7. That is, the inside of each compartment 2.3.4 constitutes a so-called maintenance line. Here, each compartment 2, 3
．． A predetermined number of high-efficiency air cleaning units 9 corresponding to the volume of the room space are provided on the ceiling side of the room 4 as air cleaning means. This high-efficiency air purifying unit 9 is equipped with a blower fan 9A as an air circulation means, and can send the air taken in from the ceiling side of the compartment 2.3.4 to the evacuation via the dust removal filter 9B. In addition to the action, an air circulation action can also be performed.

On the other hand, transport tunnels 1011 for transporting wafers under an inert gas atmosphere are provided in the inter-chamber spaces 5.6, respectively.
It is connected to the processing equipment in 3.4 at appropriate points, and for example, wafers are exchanged between the inter-chamber space 5.6 and the compartments 2 and 3.4 at the connection points. There is. Therefore, the space 5.6 constitutes a so-called transport line area.

In addition, the airflow descending due to the action of the high-efficiency air cleaning unit 9 is transferred to the nearby inter-room spaces 5 and 6 and the return air space 5A,
6A. That is, a descending air current flows in the compartments 2 and 3.4, and an ascending air current flows in each of the spaces 56.5A and 6A.

In addition, in the figure, the code|symbol 12 has shown the wiring duct, and the white arrow has shown the flow of airflow.

Since the clean room 1 of this embodiment is configured as described above, the airflow that descends inside the compartments 2 and 3.4 due to the action of the high efficiency air cleaning unit 9 is directed to the grating floor 1
7 and flows into the nearby spaces 5.6.5A and 6A, the rising airflow is again cleaned by the high-efficiency air cleaning unit 9 and descends, repeating the cycle. In other words, the air cleaning unit 9 is installed only in the compartments 2.3.4 that generate a large amount of dust due to the entry of workers and various types of work, and the air cleaning unit 9 is installed only in the compartments 2.3.4 where dust generation is high due to the entry of workers and various types of work. A cleaning unit unit 9 is not provided. Therefore, the overall power saving can be achieved according to the number of air cleaning units to be arranged in the space 5.6.

Further, since an upward air current flows in the inter-room space 5.6, there is little chance of dust adhering to the product, for example, regardless of whether the transport tunnel 10.11 is in an open state or not.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the invention of claim 1, there is provided a work area in which a predetermined work is performed using various devices installed indoors, and the air in the room is circulated. In the configured clean room, the work area is divided into a first work area and a second work area which generates less dust than the first work area.
The work area is divided into two work areas, and an air circulation means for circulating air between at least the first work area and the second work area is provided, so that the entire work area can be covered as before. Compared to the case where a number of air circulation means and air purification means are installed, the air purification means is installed only in the first work area where dust generation is high (for example, the area where workers enter), and the The configuration of the present invention in which air circulation means and air purification means are not installed in the work area No. 2 (for example, the m-transmission duct that is isolated from the outside air) is much better in terms of power saving. For example, if the volume ratio between the first work area and the second work area is 3.2, the power consumption cost will also be three-fifths of that of the conventional configuration. Therefore, it can contribute to reducing the operating cost of a clean room, and furthermore, it becomes more realistic to achieve complete automation in clean room operation.

Further, according to the invention of claim 2, only the air flow in the second work area can be made into an upward airflow, which reduces dust adhesion to the installed objects (for example, product conveyance line equipment) compared to the case where the airflow is made into a downward airflow. can dramatically reduce the chances of

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of a clean room according to the present invention. (Explanation of symbols) 1...Clean room, 2, 3.4... Separate room (1st
(work area), 5.6... Inter-room space (second work area), 9... Air cleaning unit (air cleaning means, air circulation means) 5A, 6A... Recirculating air space (air circulation means).

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a clean room that has a work area in which predetermined work is performed using various devices installed in the room and is configured to circulate the air in the room, the work area is divided into a first work area and air circulation for circulating air between at least the first work area and the second work area while dividing the work area into a second work area that generates less dust than the first work area; A clean room characterized by the provision of means. (2) The first work area has an air flow from the ceiling side to the floor side, and the second work area has an air flow from the floor side to the ceiling side. The clean room according to claim 1.