Winter 1997
Fluid Heads – Beyond Rinsing and Drying
IBM introduced the fluid head several years ago as
a device to improve rinsing and drying without having
to increase the length of existing equipment. Since
then they have shown themselves to be very efficient
in both applications, especially in drying where they
have virtually replaced our traditional dryers in most
new equipment. Inevitably the question was raised as
to whether they would provide similar efficiency in
the actual processes prior to rinsing and drying. Auid
heads have been tried in rnicro-etching prior to resist
lamination, dry film developing and stripping, and,
of course, etching in the hope that they would show
equal or superior results in a shorter chamber than the
traditional spray applications used in these processes.
The reports on the results of these tests have been
somewhat contradictory with some saying the hoped
for improvements were seen and others saying there
was no improvement or that the results were worse
than spray applications. The purpose of this paper is
to report the results we have seen thus far in our tests
and the conclusions we have drawn from them.
