JP2009218505A - Unload chamber, and method for operating the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an unload chamber capable of reducing positional deviations of a plurality of substrates loaded on a conveying tray, and to provide a method for operating the unload chamber. <P>SOLUTION: The unload chamber 3 capable of carrying the conveying tray T on which a plurality of substrates W are loaded in a two-dimensional array in a pressure-reduced state and capable of increasing pressure in the inside of the chamber, includes a gas blowoff device 15 for increasing pressure from the pressure-reduced state. The gas blowoff device 15 includes a plurality of gas blowoff ports 18 arranged two-dimensionally so as to be respectively opposed to the plurality of substrates W. Thereby, a virtual holding mechanism can be formed by an air current of gas blowoff from the gas blowoff ports 18 and the conveying tray T, and the positional deviations of respective substrates W can be reduced. By reducing positional deviations, stability in facilities when taking out the substrates W in a downstream process can be also improved. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an unload chamber capable of increasing pressure from a reduced pressure state and an operating method thereof.

  Conventionally, as an apparatus for performing processing such as film formation on an object to be processed such as a substrate, an apparatus main body that performs predetermined processing on the substrate in a reduced pressure state, and after the substrate is transported from the apparatus main body, the pressure is reduced to the atmospheric pressure 2. Description of the Related Art A vacuum apparatus including an unload chamber that can be boosted to a state is known. In such an unload chamber in a vacuum apparatus, a plurality of substrates are arranged and mounted on a transport tray and collectively transported from the apparatus body, and after the decompression area of the apparatus body and the decompression area of the unload chamber are separated, A gas such as nitrogen is introduced into the chamber from a gas supply device installed in the unload chamber, and the inside of the chamber is opened from a reduced pressure state to an atmospheric pressure state.

When opening the unload chamber to the atmospheric pressure state, it is necessary to prevent the particles in the chamber from being rolled up and to shorten the takt time for increasing the pressure from the reduced pressure state to the atmospheric pressure state. A baffle plate is provided between the blowout nozzle and the substrate, or a gas supply device made of a porous body having a predetermined length is provided in the chamber (for example, Patent Document 1), and a predetermined introduction speed (flow velocity) is provided. The gas was introduced into the chamber at the following low speed.
JP-A-6-267898

  However, in the conventional gas supply device in the unload chamber described above, the unload chamber is arranged to be mounted on a support mechanism provided at a predetermined position on the transport tray, although the unload chamber is being pressurized from a reduced pressure state to an atmospheric pressure state at a low speed. In some cases, an airflow in a direction to be moved from the mounting position may be applied to the substrate that has been placed, and the positional displacement of the substrate may occur due to such an airflow. In particular, in a lightweight substrate such as a thin silicon substrate, such a positional shift is likely to occur, and as a result, the substrate is lost and the product yield is reduced.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an unload chamber and an operation method thereof that can reduce positional deviation of a plurality of objects to be processed mounted on a transport tray.

  An unload chamber according to the present invention is an unload chamber that can carry in a pressure-reduced state of a transport tray on which a plurality of objects to be processed are two-dimensionally arranged and loaded, and increase the pressure in the chamber. A gas blowing device is provided. The gas blowing device has a plurality of gas blowing ports arranged two-dimensionally so as to face the plurality of objects to be processed.

  Further, the operation method of the unload chamber according to the present invention is such that a transport tray on which a plurality of objects to be processed are arranged and mounted in a two-dimensional state is carried in a reduced pressure state, and the pressure in the chamber is increased by blowing out gas by a gas blowing device. The gas blowing device has a plurality of gas blowing ports arranged two-dimensionally so as to face each of the plurality of objects to be processed. The unload chamber operating method is characterized in that gas is simultaneously blown out from a plurality of gas blowing ports to a plurality of objects to be processed.

  In the unload chamber and the operation method thereof, each of the plurality of objects to be processed has a plurality of gas outlets arranged in a two-dimensional manner so as to face each of the plurality of objects to be processed. The gas is blown out toward Each of the plurality of objects to be processed is pressed against a transfer tray or the like by the blowing of gas from the plurality of gas outlets toward each of the plurality of objects to be processed. As a result, a virtual holding mechanism is formed by the gas airflow and the transport tray, and the positional shift of each object to be processed accompanying the gas blowing can be reduced. Moreover, with such a holding mechanism, the holding performance of the object to be processed does not deteriorate even when the gas is blown at a high flow rate, that is, at a high speed, and the takt time can be shortened by increasing the flow velocity. You can also. Furthermore, since the holding performance of the object to be processed is high, the support mechanism for the object to be processed provided on the transport tray is unnecessary, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Note that, by reducing the positional deviation as described above, stability in equipment such as picking up a substrate in a downstream process is also improved.

  Moreover, it is preferable that a porous body is provided at the gas outlet. By providing a porous body at the gas outlet, it is possible to reduce the flow rate of the gas, reduce the rolling-up of particles in the chamber, and reduce the adhesion of particles to the substrate.

  Moreover, it is preferable that a plurality of gas outlets are assigned to each of the plurality of objects to be processed. By assigning a plurality of gas outlets to one object to be processed, each object to be processed can be held in a more balanced manner with a gas air flow and a transfer tray at more locations. Misalignment can be further reduced. Furthermore, by blowing the gas to the object to be processed in a well-balanced manner, the load on the object to be processed due to the blowing of gas can be dispersed.

  Moreover, it is preferable to provide an opening and closing member for opening and closing the gas outlet. In a gas blowing device formed in a single pattern in which a plurality of gas blowing ports are arranged, various arrangements are mounted by allowing some gas blowing ports to be freely closed by an opening / closing member as necessary. For example, it is possible to correspond to various objects to be processed by a gas blowing device formed in one pattern.

  Further, in the vacuum apparatus having the unload chamber, an apparatus main body that performs a predetermined process on a plurality of objects to be processed in a reduced pressure state and transports the plurality of objects to be processed to the unload chamber. Further, it is preferable that the apparatus main body and the unload chamber are connected in an airtight state to form a common internal region and the internal region is separable. Thereby, it is possible to reduce the positional shift of each object to be processed due to the blowing of gas in the unload chamber, to prevent the defect of the object to be processed due to the position shift, and to improve the product yield.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the position shift of the some to-be-processed object mounted in the conveyance tray can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the description of the drawings, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a partial configuration of a vacuum apparatus having an unload chamber according to the present embodiment. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG.

[First Embodiment]
As shown in FIG. 1, the vacuum apparatus 1 includes a vacuum apparatus body 2 that performs a film formation process on a plurality of substrates W,. An unload chamber 3 capable of increasing the pressure from a reduced pressure state to an atmospheric pressure state after the plurality of substrates W,. In the vacuum apparatus body 2, in a reduced pressure state, for example, a film forming process such as an ITO film (indium tin oxide film) by an ion plating method is collectively performed on a plurality of substrates W mounted on the transport tray T. Done.

  Between the vacuum device main body 2 and the unload chamber 3, a first gate 5 having a transfer path 4 formed therein is provided. The first gate 5 unloads the vacuum device main body 2 from the unload chamber 3. The chamber 3 is connected in an airtight state. The first gate 5 includes an opening / closing door 6 movable in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the transport path 4, and an opening / closing door 6 and an inner wall of the first gate 5 when the opening / closing door 6 is in a closed state. And a seal portion 7 for sealing between the two. In accordance with the movement of the opening / closing door 6, the internal region formed by the vacuum device main body 2 and the unload chamber 3 is separated or integrated.

  The unload chamber 3 is a pressure adjustment chamber capable of increasing the pressure of the internal region from the reduced pressure state to the atmospheric pressure state and reducing the pressure from the atmospheric pressure state to the reduced pressure state, and has openings at both ends. The first gate 5 described above is connected to one opening side of the unload chamber 3, and the second gate 8 is connected to the other opening side, so that the opening / closing door 9 of the second gate 8 moves. Accordingly, the unload chamber 3 and the region formed outside are separated or integrated. The configuration of the second gate 8 is the same as that of the first gate 5.

  Such an unload chamber 3 includes a side wall 10 connected to the first gate 5 and the second gate 8, a top wall 11 and a bottom wall 12 that form an inner region together with the side wall 10, and a plurality of substrates W. ,... Are arranged through the bottom wall 12 to depressurize the inner region of the chamber, and a roller portion 13 composed of a plurality of rollers capable of moving in a horizontal direction. The exhaust section 14 and a gas blowing device 15 installed through the top wall 11 to increase the pressure inside the chamber.

  The gas blowing device 15 is supplied with a gas such as nitrogen, air, and dry air from an external gas supply source (not shown), and supplies the gas into the chamber through the top wall 11. The gas supplied from the supply unit 16 is divided into a bottom wall having an area substantially equal to the surface area of the transport tray T, and a side wall to which one end is connected to the bottom wall and the other end is connected to the inner surface of the top wall 11. The gas diffusion part 17 diffused in the defined area | region and the several gas blower outlets 18 ... which blow off the gas diffused in the gas diffusion part 17 substantially equally are provided.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the gas outlets 18 have, for example, 4 rows and 5 columns so as to correspond to a plurality of substrates W,... Are attached to the bottom wall of the gas diffusion part 17, and each opening part of the gas outlet 18 faces the corresponding substrate W. Each aperture is provided with a porous body 18a made of ceramic, a metal sintered body, etc., which reduces the flow rate of a gas such as nitrogen and reduces the lifting of particles in the chamber. Yes. In addition, such a gas outlet 18 prevents each gas from being blown out of the corresponding substrate W so that the outermost edge of the gas flow is within the corresponding substrate W. It is arranged at a position close to.

  Next, a method for operating the unload chamber 3 will be described.

  First, after a predetermined film forming process is performed on the plurality of substrates W,... Arrayed and mounted on the transfer tray T in the vacuum apparatus main body 2, the open / close door 6 of the gate 5 is lowered. The transfer tray 4 is opened and the transfer tray T on which a plurality of substrates W,... Having been subjected to film formation is arranged and mounted in the horizontal direction from the vacuum apparatus body 2 to the unload chamber 3 by driving the roller unit 13 or the like. Transport. After that, when the transport tray T is transported to a predetermined position where each substrate W faces each gas outlet 18, the driving of the roller unit 13 is stopped, the open / close door 6 of the gate 5 is raised, and the transport path 4 is closed, and the internal regions of the vacuum apparatus main body 2 and the unload chamber 3 are separated.

  Subsequently, a gas such as nitrogen is supplied from an external gas supply source (not shown) to the internal region of the gas diffusion unit 17 through the supply unit 16 of the gas blowing device 15 and supplied to this internal region. Diffused nitrogen or other gas throughout the interior region. Then, the diffused gas is blown simultaneously and equally to the plurality of substrates W from the plurality of gas outlets 18 attached to the gas diffusion portion 17. By continuing such gas blowing, the internal region of the unload chamber 3 is gradually increased in pressure from the reduced pressure state to the atmospheric pressure state. When the pressure in the chamber is increased to atmospheric pressure, the supply of gas to the gas blowing device 15 is stopped, the second gate 8 is opened, and the roller unit 13 is driven again, so that a plurality of substrates W,. The transport tray T mounted in an array is discharged to the outside.

  When the transport tray T on which the plurality of substrates W,... Are mounted is completely discharged to the outside, the second gate 8 is closed again to separate the outside from the interior area of the chamber, and then the exhaust section. 14 is driven to evacuate the inner region of the chamber, and the inside of the chamber is maintained in a predetermined reduced pressure state. Then, the series of operations described above are repeated as necessary.

  As described above in detail, in the unload chamber 3 according to the present embodiment, the plurality of gas outlets 18,... Arranged in a two-dimensional manner so as to face the plurality of substrates W,. And a gas such as nitrogen is blown out toward the plurality of substrates W,... From the plurality of gas blowing ports 18,. Each of the plurality of substrates W,... Is pressed against the transport tray T by the gas blowing from the plurality of gas outlets 18,. ing. As a result, a virtual holding mechanism is formed by the gas airflow and the transport tray T, and the positional deviation of each substrate W,. Moreover, with such a holding mechanism, the holding performance of the substrate is not lowered (rather improved) even if the gas is blown at a high flow rate, that is, at a high speed, and the tact time is shortened by increasing the flow velocity. Can also be planned. Furthermore, since the substrate holding performance is high, the substrate support mechanism provided on the transport tray is not required, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Note that, by reducing the positional deviation as described above, the stability in equipment such as picking up the substrate W in the downstream process is also improved.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, instead of the gas blowing device 15 of the first embodiment in which one gas blowing port is arranged to face one substrate, a plurality of gas blowing ports face one substrate. A gas blowing device is provided.

  The gas blowing device 20 used in this embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the gas blowing device 20 includes, for example, a configuration in which four gas blowing ports 21 are provided at equal intervals in the row direction and one in which two gas blowing ports 21 are provided at equal intervals. Are arranged in a staggered manner. In this gas blowing device 20, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, five gas blowing ports 21 face the four corners and the center of one substrate W1, and four substrates W1,. Five gas outlets 21 are assigned to each of the above.

  Here, an open / close member made of a cylindrical pin having elasticity is inserted into a gas outlet 21b provided in a central portion of the gas outlet 20 of the gas outlet 20 that is not opposed to the substrate W1. Nitrogen and other gases cannot be blown out. For this reason, the gas blowing device 20 blows out gas such as nitrogen only from the gas blowing port 21 facing the substrate W1. The gas outlet 21 is provided with a porous body 21a, and other configurations are the same as in the first embodiment.

  As described above in detail, in the gas blowing device 20 of the unload chamber according to the present embodiment, the five gas blowing ports 21 are assigned to each substrate W1 in a well-balanced manner. Thereby, each board | substrate W1 can be hold | maintained by gas flow, such as nitrogen, and the conveyance tray T in many places with sufficient balance, and the position shift of each board | substrate W1 can be reduced further. Furthermore, by blowing gas to the substrate in a well-balanced manner, the load on the substrate due to the blowing of gas can be dispersed.

  The gas blowing device 20 includes an opening / closing member such as a cylindrical pin for closing the gas blowing port 21. Thereby, in the gas blowing device 20 formed in one pattern in which the plurality of gas blowing ports 21 are arranged, a part of the gas blowing ports 21b is closed as necessary, so that on the transport tray. For example, a gas blow-out device formed in one pattern can be used for various objects to be processed in various mounting positions.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the porous bodies 18a and 21a are provided in the gas outlets 18 and 21, but a gas outlet that does not have the porous bodies 18a and 21a may be used as long as particle lifting can be reduced. . In the second embodiment, a cylindrical pin is used as the opening / closing member. However, an openable / closable door may be provided at each gas outlet to open / close the door.

  In this embodiment, the unload chamber 3 connected to the vacuum apparatus main body 2 that performs film formation has been described. However, the unload chamber 3 is connected to a device that performs a predetermined process (including inspection) on a workpiece under reduced pressure. The unload chamber is not particularly limited to the unload chamber for the film forming apparatus. The substrate used in this embodiment includes a glass substrate and a silicon wafer substrate, but the object to be processed is not limited to these, and a predetermined process is performed by a vacuum apparatus including an inspection apparatus. Any material can be used.

It is sectional drawing which showed typically the partial structure of the vacuum apparatus which has an unload chamber which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is the II-II sectional view taken on the line in FIG. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the board | substrate and gas blowing outlet in 1st Embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the gas blowing apparatus in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the board | substrate and gas blowing outlet in 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vacuum apparatus, 2 ... Vacuum apparatus main body (apparatus main body), 3 ... Unload chamber, 15, 20 ... Gas blowing apparatus, 18, 21 ... Gas blowing outlet, 18a, 21a ... Porous body, T ... Transfer tray, W: Substrate (object to be processed).

Claims (6)

In an unload chamber that can carry in a decompressed state a transport tray on which a plurality of objects to be processed are two-dimensionally arranged and mounted, and pressurize the inside of the chamber.
A gas blowing device for increasing the pressure from the reduced pressure state;
The gas blow-out device has a plurality of gas blow-out ports arranged two-dimensionally so as to face the plurality of objects to be processed, respectively.   The unload chamber according to claim 1, wherein a porous body is provided in the gas outlet.   The unload chamber according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the gas outlets are assigned to each of the plurality of objects to be processed.   The unload chamber according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising an opening and closing member for opening and closing the gas outlet. In the vacuum apparatus which has an unload chamber as described in any one of Claims 1-4,
An apparatus main body for performing a predetermined process on the plurality of objects to be processed in a reduced pressure state and transporting the plurality of objects to be processed to the unload chamber;
A vacuum apparatus, wherein the apparatus main body and the unload chamber are connected in an airtight state to form a common internal region and the internal region is separable. An operation method of an unload chamber in which a plurality of objects to be processed are loaded in a two-dimensional array is loaded in a decompressed state, and the pressure in the chamber is increased by blowing out gas by a gas blowing device,
The gas blowing device has a plurality of gas blowing ports arranged two-dimensionally so as to face the plurality of objects to be processed,
A method for operating an unload chamber, wherein gas is simultaneously blown out from the plurality of gas blowing ports to each of the plurality of objects to be processed.

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