半導體製程設備用真空泵之閥門機構設計

Abstract

真空閥門在所有真空零組件中，佔有極重要的地位，真空閥門的性能與品質直接影響到真空系統的真空度和流量控制。雖然在傳統產業中，真空閥門的應用相當地廣泛，且流量控制和配管技術也相當地成熟，然而，在半導體製程設備中，對於真空閥門的設計要求相較使用於傳統產業者要嚴苛許多。半導體製程中所使用的材料大多具有高度的毒性、腐蝕性、可燃性和爆炸性，因此，真空閥門在半導體製程如此嚴苛的環境中，仍必須擁有真空零組件潔淨度、耐久度、密閉性及置換性的嚴格設計要求，確實是一大挑戰。 本文的目標是透過專利資料的整理與分析，並依據工程設計法的流程，針對半導體製程設備用之真空泵的閥門機構，從各種閥門的文獻和專利之蒐集與分析、閥門的機構、作動裝置與功能分類以及設計、需求的確定到閥門的概念設計評估等一系列問題進行探討，本研究並設計出一新型的真空閘閥，期能突破外國專利的箝制。

Vacuum valves play an important role on the vacuum components. The quality of vacuum valves influences the vacuum and the flow control of a vacuum system. However, in conventional industries, vacuum valves have been applied to many aspects.The technologies for the flow control and the piping placement reach maturity. However, the design requirements of vacuum valves used in semiconductor industries are stricter than those of used in conventional industries. The materials used in semiconductor process mostly are poisonous, corrosive, inflammable and explosive. Therefore, it is really a challenge to design vacuum valves used in semiconductor industries, which meet with the severe operational conditions such as cleanness, durability, hermetic seal and replacement. The aim of this study is to design a new-type of vacuum valves for vacuum pumps used in semiconductor equipments according to the following steps: (1) collecting references by searching and analyzing patents, (2) defining the functions of sub-system in vacuum valves, (3) verifying design requirements, and (4) making conceptual design.