Cleanroom Chemical Supply System Introduction
1. Overview
In cleanrooms for the electronics industry, chemical systems mainly include acid-base chemicals, solvent chemicals, and polishing chemicals. In cleanrooms for the pharmaceutical industry, commonly used chemicals include acids and bases, solvents, and chemicals used as raw materials. The electronics industry cleanrooms that use the most chemicals are primarily integrated circuit wafer manufacturing plants and flat panel display manufacturing plants. In earlier generations of manufacturing plants, due to the smaller quantities of chemicals used, most factories used manual handling to transport chemicals directly to the production equipment and pour them into chemical tanks; however, today's wafer or panel manufacturing plants use a larger variety and quantity of chemicals, so they mostly have centralized storage and distribution rooms that supply the required chemicals to the production process equipment through pipelines (including valve boxes, etc.). These chemicals are used in various processes for product manufacturing, such as etching, photolithography, doping, and cleaning of wafers or flat panel displays. After use, chemicals usually need to be recycled and reused or returned to the manufacturer or relevant processing plant for recycling and reuse. This not only represents the reuse of "resources" but also reduces environmental pollution from emissions. Therefore, cleanrooms usually have both chemical supply systems and chemical recycling systems. The following sections describe the chemical supply system and the chemical recycling system.
2. Chemical Supply System and Equipment
The chemical supply system typically consists of a supply source, a mixing or dilution unit, a supply unit, and monitoring devices. The chemical supply source, also known as the chemical replenishment unit, usually refers to chemical drums (tanks) or chemical tank trucks. The choice of supply source depends on the quantity of chemicals required for the product manufacturing process; for small quantities of chemicals, drum packaging is often used, while for larger quantities, fixed tanks or tank trucks are commonly used. In recent years, integrated circuit chip manufacturing plants and TFT-LCD liquid crystal display device manufacturing plants have used a large variety and quantity of chemicals. Although there are differences in both the types and quantities of chemicals used, their chemical supply systems are fundamentally similar. The following diagram shows the basic chemical supply system in these types of enterprises. The chemical supply system in a cleanroom typically consists of a chemical supply cabinet (or box), a chemical delivery pipeline system, and a chemical monitoring system. The chemical supply cabinet usually contains daily storage tanks, valves, and piping. The chemical delivery system primarily consists of pipelines and distribution valve boxes. Currently, with the rapid development of my country's microelectronics manufacturing industry, many types of chemical systems have been built and put into operation in cleanrooms for integrated circuit wafer manufacturing and flat panel display device manufacturing, meeting the requirements of various enterprises for the quality and quantity of chemicals used in their product manufacturing processes.
The valve manifold box (VMB) in the chemical supply system is a valve operation box that allows the chemical supply pipeline to simultaneously supply two or more production equipment units. Depending on the layout requirements of the chemical supply pipelines in the electronic industry production plant, branch valve boxes can also be installed in the supply system to supply chemicals to two or more valve manifold boxes. The purpose of the valve manifold box is to ensure stable and safe operation, protect personnel and related facilities from harm, and meet the requirements of each production equipment's chemical usage points in terms of type and quantity, ensuring that chemical liquids do not leak during transportation. Therefore, the number of branch pipes in the valve manifold box should be determined according to the product manufacturing process requirements, and expansion joints should be reserved. Each branch pipe should be equipped with a shut-off valve (manual or automatic) and a drain valve. A drain valve for leakage or maintenance should be installed at the bottom of the valve manifold box. The valve manifold box should have a vent port connected to the corresponding exhaust treatment device. Since the valve manifold box door needs to be opened frequently for operation and maintenance, an easily opened spring latch should be installed on the door. Considering safety and the need for nitrogen purging, the valve manifold box should be able to withstand a pressure of 0.01 MPa.
Suzhou Pharma Machinery Co.,Ltd.
2026/03/11
Gino
