US-20260124577-A1 - OZONE REDUCTION DEVICE

US20260124577A1US 20260124577 A1US20260124577 A1US 20260124577A1US-20260124577-A1

Abstract

Disclosed is an ozone reduction device used to reduce an ozone provided by an ozone source into an oxygen. The ozone reduction device comprises a gas inlet duct, a gas delivery tube, a heating element and a gas outlet duct. The gas inlet duct is communicated to the ozone source. The gas delivery tube introduces the ozone provided by the ozone source through the gas inlet duct, and the gas delivery tube transports the ozone along a spiral delivery path. The heating element is used to provide a thermal energy to heat the ozone transported by the gas delivery tube, so that the ozone is heated by the thermal energy and reduced to an oxygen when flowing along the spiral delivery path. The gas outlet duct is communicated to the gas delivery tube and used to discharge the oxygen obtained by reducing the ozone.

Inventors

Shin-Hua Tseng
Yu-Jung LIN

Assignees

Finesse Technology Co., Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20241203
Priority Date: 20241104

Claims (12)

1 . An ozone reduction device for reducing an ozone provided by an ozone source into an oxygen, comprising: a gas inlet duct communicated to the ozone source; a gas delivery tube used for introducing the ozone provided by the ozone source through the gas inlet duct, the gas delivery tube transporting the ozone along a spiral delivery path; a heating element used for providing a thermal energy to heat the ozone transported by the gas delivery tube, so that the ozone being heated by the thermal energy and reduced to the oxygen when flowing along the spiral delivery path; and a gas outlet duct communicated to the gas delivery tube and used to discharge the oxygen obtained by reducing the ozone.
2 . The ozone reduction device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the gas delivery tube is a spiral tube, and the gas delivery tube is spirally provided on the heating element.
3 . The ozone reduction device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the gas delivery tube is a spiral quartz tube, and the spiral quartz tube is sleeved on an exterior of the heating element.
4 . The ozone reduction device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the heating element directly heats only the ozone in the gas delivery tube, simultaneously heats the gas delivery tube and the ozone in the gas delivery tube, and/or indirectly heats the ozone in the gas delivery tube by heating the gas delivery tube.
5 . The ozone reduction device as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a heat insulation element, the heat insulation element coating one or more than one of the gas delivery tube, the heating element, the gas inlet duct and/or the gas outlet duct, thereby maintaining a heating temperature of the ozone.
6 . The ozone reduction device as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the heat insulation element is a ceramic fiber thermal insulation foam.
7 . The ozone reduction device as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a thermometer for measuring a heating temperature of the thermal energy provided by the heating element for the ozone in the gas delivery tube.
8 . The ozone reduction device as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising a temperature control element for controlling the heating element to provide the thermal energy according to the heating temperature measured by the thermometer, thereby heating the ozone to a preset temperature.
9 . The ozone reduction device as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a gas inlet end adapter and a gas outlet end adapter, the gas inlet end adapter being connected between the gas inlet duct and the gas delivery tube, and the gas outlet end adapter being connected between the gas delivery tube and the gas outlet duct.
10 . The ozone reduction device as claimed in claim 9 , wherein structures of the gas inlet end adapter and/or the gas outlet end adapter are Teflon coated with stainless steel.
11 . The ozone reduction device as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a cooling device, the cooling device being provided on the gas outlet duct or between the gas delivery tube and the gas outlet duct for lowering a temperature of the oxygen discharged from the gas delivery tube.
12 . The ozone reduction device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the heating element is a ceramic heating tube.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority from Taiwan Patent Application No. 113211954, filed on Nov. 4, 2024, each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entireties. BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 1. Field of Disclosure The disclosure relates to the technical field of ozone treatment, more particularly to an ozone reduction device capable of rapidly reducing ozone to oxygen by heating. 2. Related Art Ozone can effectively clean the surfaces of semiconductor wafers, such as photoresist residues. In addition to cleaning, ozone has also been found to be capable of growing an oxide layer that can be used as a passivation layer or an interface layer for semiconductor devices. Because ozone has extremely poor stability and can be decomposed into oxygen at room temperature, ozone cannot be stored. Ozone is generally produced on-site using an ozone generator and used immediately. However, ozone is a gas that is harmful to the human body and the environment. Although ozone can be decomposed into oxygen in the natural environment, this natural decomposition is very slow, so the ozone exhaust gas requires further treatment before it can be discharged. Although there is currently ozone reduction technology that can decompose ozone into oxygen, the half-life of ozone is about 3 days at 20 degrees Celsius, and the half-life will decrease as the temperature increases. When the temperature reaches 250 degrees Celsius, the half-life is approximately 1.5 seconds. Most of the tail gas ozone decomposition devices of conventional ozone generators use thermal decomposition. Generally, ozone reduction technology comprises two steps: the first step is to install a heating element in the ozone reduction chamber; the second step is to introduce ozone into the ozone reduction chamber, so that the heating element heats the ozone and reduces it to oxygen. However, the conventional ozone reduction chamber is in a straight cylindrical shape, so the time for ozone gas to pass through the straight cylindrical ozone reduction chamber is quite short. Furthermore, in order to completely reduce ozone to oxygen, conventional technology must provide a very high temperature (approximately 420 degrees Celsius) to achieve this effect. Furthermore, in conventional ozone reduction technology, ozone is in direct contact with the heating element, which will lead to corrosion of the heating element. SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE In view of the above problem, an object of the disclosure is to provide an ozone reduction device capable of solving the above-mentioned problem of conventional ozone reduction technology. In order to achieve the above object, the disclosure discloses an ozone reduction device for reducing an ozone provided by an ozone source into an oxygen, comprising: a gas inlet duct communicated to the ozone source; a gas delivery tube used for introducing the ozone provided by the ozone source through the gas inlet duct, the gas delivery tube transports the ozone along a spiral delivery path; a heating element used for providing a thermal energy to heat the ozone transported by the gas delivery tube, so that the ozone is heated by the thermal energy and reduced to the oxygen during a flowing process along the spiral delivery path; and a gas outlet duct communicated to the gas delivery tube and used to discharge the oxygen obtained by reducing the ozone. Preferably, the gas delivery tube is a spiral tube, and the gas delivery tube is spirally provided on the heating element. Preferably, the gas delivery tube is a spiral quartz tube, and the spiral quartz tube is sleeved on an exterior of the heating element. Preferably, the heating element directly heats only the ozone in the gas delivery tube, simultaneously heats the gas delivery tube and the ozone in the gas delivery tube, and/or indirectly heats the ozone in the gas delivery tube by heating the gas delivery tube. Preferably, the ozone reduction device of the disclosure further comprises a heat insulation element, the heat insulation element coating one or more than one of the gas delivery tube, the heating element, the gas inlet duct and/or the gas outlet duct, thereby maintaining a heating temperature of the ozone. Preferably, the heat insulation element is a ceramic fiber thermal insulation foam. Preferably, the ozone reduction device of the disclosure further comprises a thermometer for measuring a heating temperature of the thermal energy provided by the heating element for the ozone in the gas delivery tube. Preferably, the ozone reduction device of the disclosure further comprises a temperature control element for controlling the heating element to provide the thermal energy according to the heating temperature measured by the thermometer, thereby heating the ozone to a preset temperature. Preferably, the ozone reduction device of the disclosure further comprises a gas inlet end adapter and a gas outlet end adapter, the gas inlet end ada