JP4350653B2 - Optical disc manufacturing method and optical disc manufacturing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus for an optical disc such as a DVD or a Blu-ray disc, and more particularly to a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus for forming a sputter film in a vacuum by attaching a mask to a disk substrate.

  In the manufacture of a conventional typical writable DVD optical disc, a multilayered film is formed by sputtering in a vacuum on a plastic disc substrate such as polycarbonate (see Patent Document 1). In order to prevent the film from being deposited on the inner and outer peripheral parts of the disk substrate in this sputter film forming process, a mask is attached to the inner and outer peripheral parts of the disk substrate and covered before the sputter film forming process. The mask is removed after the film forming process.

  By the way, when attaching and detaching the mask in the atmosphere outside the vacuum vessel, the film-forming product attached to the mask may be peeled off or contaminated to cause contamination in the vacuum apparatus, and the mask is exposed to the atmosphere. This shortens the life of the mask. Further, there are problems such as an increase in water and atmospheric gas generated from the mask carried into the vacuum vessel from the atmosphere.

On the other hand, Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose a method of preventing the mask from being taken out of the vacuum container by attaching and detaching the mask inside the vacuum container.
JP 2001-127135 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-106051 JP-A-8-221830

  Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose that the mask is attached to and detached from the disk substrate inside the vacuum vessel, but nothing is disclosed about how to efficiently attach and remove the mask inside the vacuum vessel. Further, in the method disclosed herein, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of Patent Documents 2 and 3, the disk substrate is carried into and out of the vacuum container with two gate valves. Although the process is continuously performed within the partitioned range (about 30 disk substrates), when the process is completed, the gate valve must be opened to release the vacuum, which is a batch process.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and includes a method and an apparatus for manufacturing an optical disk efficiently, including an operation of attaching and detaching a mask in a vacuum vessel before and after a sputter film forming step. The purpose is to provide.

  The present invention achieves the above-mentioned object, and the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that a disk substrate made of a non-magnetic material is placed one by one in the vacuum container through a load lock mechanism while maintaining a vacuum in the vacuum container. A carrying-in process for carrying in, a first carrying process for holding and carrying the disk substrates one by one by a mechanical gripping unit attached to a disk substrate arm rotatable in the vacuum vessel, and the disk substrate arm A mask attachment step of temporarily holding a mask having a magnetic material by an electromagnet attached to a mask arm that rotates integrally with the mask arm, and attaching the mask to the disk substrate, the mask attachment step, and the first transfer A film forming step of forming a sputter film on a portion of the disk substrate that is not covered with the mask after the process; and After the mask is temporarily gripped by the electromagnet, the disk substrate is gripped and transported one by one by the mechanical gripping portion after the mask removing step for removing the mask from the optical disc and the film forming step. After the second transport step, the mask removing step, and the second transport step, the optical disk is inserted through the load lock mechanism while keeping the mask in the vacuum container and maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum container. And an unloading step of unloading one sheet at a time from the vacuum container.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the optical disc manufacturing method according to the first aspect, in the mask attaching step, the film forming step, and the mask removing step, the surface of the disc substrate is attached to the disc substrate substantially horizontally. It is performed with the load on the disk substrate facing upward from below the disk substrate with a susceptor, and the mask attaching step and the mask removing step are arranged above the disk substrate. It is characterized by being executed by holding the mask with an electromagnet.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the optical disc manufacturing method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the same mask is used to perform the process from the carrying-in process to the carrying-out process many times, and then A step of taking out the used mask out of the vacuum container while maintaining the vacuum inside the vacuum container through a load lock mechanism for mask replacement arranged at a position different from the load lock mechanism; and the load lock mechanism for mask replacement And a step of inserting a new mask into the vacuum container while maintaining a vacuum in the vacuum container.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vacuum container, a plurality of film forming chambers disposed in the vacuum container and accommodating a disk substrate to form a film on the disk substrate, and a plurality of film forming chambers in the vacuum container. The disk substrates are arranged side by side in the circumferential direction and rotated intermittently to sequentially convey the disk substrates to the film forming chamber, and the disk substrate is placed in the vacuum container while keeping the vacuum container in a vacuum. A load lock mechanism that carries in the disk substrates one by one and unloads the film substrates one by one from the vacuum vessel, and a disk substrate that has been carried into the vacuum vessel through the load lock mechanism and is carried to the rotary table. A mask is attached to the disk substrate, and the disk substrate after film formation is transported from the rotary table to the load lock mechanism and the mask is formed. An in-vacuum pick-and-place mechanism for removing the disk substrate from the disk substrate, wherein the mask includes a magnetic material, and the in-vacuum pick-and-place mechanism mechanically temporarily removes the disk substrate. A mechanical gripping portion that grips the mask and an electromagnet that temporarily grips the mask with a magnetic force, and the mechanical gripping portion and the electromagnet rotate around a common rotation axis at a constant distance from each other. An optical disk manufacturing apparatus characterized by being attached to a plurality of arms.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the optical disk manufacturing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the disk substrate is configured to be held substantially horizontally with the surface to which the mask is attached facing upward, It is characterized by.

  The invention described in claim 6 is a vacuum vessel, a plurality of film forming chambers arranged in the vacuum vessel, accommodating a disk substrate and forming a film on the disk substrate, and a plurality of film forming chambers in the vacuum vessel. The disk substrates are arranged side by side in the circumferential direction and rotated intermittently to sequentially convey the disk substrates to the film forming chamber, and the disk substrate is placed in the vacuum container while maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum container. A load lock mechanism that carries in the disk substrates one by one and unloads the film substrates one by one from the vacuum vessel, and a disk substrate that has been carried into the vacuum vessel through the load lock mechanism and is carried to the rotary table. A mask is attached to the disk substrate, and the disk substrate after film formation is transported from the rotary table to the load lock mechanism and the mask is formed. An in-vacuum pick-and-place mechanism that removes the disc substrate from the disk substrate, wherein the in-vacuum pick-and-place mechanism includes first and second arms that temporarily hold the disc substrate; And a third arm for temporarily holding the mask, and the first, second and third arms are configured to be rotatable around a common axis while maintaining a certain distance from each other. An optical disc manufacturing apparatus characterized by that.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the optical disc manufacturing apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the first and second arms have a mechanical gripping portion for mechanically gripping the disc substrate. The third arm includes an electromagnet that temporarily holds the mask with a magnetic force.

  Further, the invention according to claim 8 is a vacuum vessel, a plurality of film forming chambers arranged in the vacuum vessel, accommodating a disk substrate and forming a film on the disk substrate, and a plurality of film forming chambers in the vacuum vessel. The disk substrates are arranged side by side in the circumferential direction and rotated intermittently to sequentially convey the disk substrates to the film forming chamber, and the disk substrate is placed in the vacuum container while keeping the vacuum container in a vacuum. A load lock mechanism that carries in the disk substrates one by one and unloads the film substrates one by one from the vacuum vessel, and a disk substrate that has been carried into the vacuum vessel through the load lock mechanism and is carried to the rotary table. A mask is attached to the disk substrate, and the disk substrate after film formation is transported from the rotary table to the load lock mechanism and the mask is formed. An in-vacuum transfer mechanism that removes the disk from the disk substrate, wherein the in-vacuum transfer mechanism has a lower holding transfer mechanism and a vacuum pick and place mechanism, and the lower holding transfer mechanism is The disk substrate carried into the vacuum container through the load lock mechanism and the film-formed disk substrate transported by the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism are supported at the lower part and rotated intermittently to change their positions. The vacuum pick-and-place mechanism is configured to transport the disk substrate before film transported by the lower holding and transport mechanism from above to the rotary table and attach a mask to the disk substrate. The disk substrate after film formation conveyed by the rotary table is held and transferred to the lower part. It is intended to convey from above configuration, an optical disc manufacturing apparatus according to claim.

  The invention according to claim 9 is the optical disk manufacturing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the pick-and-place mechanism in vacuum includes an electromagnet for gripping a mask and a mechanical gripper for mechanically gripping a disk substrate. It is characterized by having.

  Further, the invention according to claim 10 is a vacuum vessel, a plurality of film forming chambers arranged in the vacuum vessel for receiving a disk substrate and forming a film on the disk substrate, and a plurality of film forming chambers in the vacuum vessel. The disk substrates are arranged side by side in the circumferential direction and rotated intermittently to sequentially transfer the disk substrates to the film forming chamber, and the vacuum vessel is kept in the vacuum vessel while maintaining a vacuum. A load lock mechanism that carries in the disk substrates one by one and unloads the disk substrates one after another from the vacuum container, and at least one disk substrate that holds and rotates the disk substrate in the vacuum container A mask is attached to the disk substrate before film formation in the vacuum container and the vacuum container, and the disk is removed from the disk substrate and gripped after film formation. A vacuum pick and place mechanism having a mask arm which rotates together with the disk substrate arm while keeping the substrate arm at a predetermined angle, an optical disk manufacturing apparatus having.

  According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a carry-in step of carrying in one disk substrate of the non-magnetic material into the vacuum vessel one by one through the load lock mechanism while maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum vessel, A first transporting step of placing and transporting the disk substrates carried in the loading step one by one to a rotatable transporting mechanism in vacuum; and a disk substrate arm rotatable in the vacuum vessel Among the plurality of susceptors on the rotary table that can be rotated intermittently in the vacuum container by gripping the disk substrates transported in the first transporting process one by one by an attached mechanical gripping unit. A second transporting process for transporting the disk so as to be placed on one of the first and the mask driving mechanism disposed above the susceptor, and the electromagnet attached to the mask driving mechanism is moved to the disk A mask attaching step of attaching the mask held by the electromagnet by stopping the energization to the electromagnet after being brought close to the plate, and then raising the mask drive mechanism, and the mask A film forming process for forming a sputter film on a portion of the disk substrate not covered with the mask after the attaching process; and after the film forming process, the mask driving mechanism is lowered to place the electromagnet on the mask on the disk substrate. The mask is removed from the optical disk by energizing the electromagnet after being brought close to the mask, and then the mask driving mechanism is lifted, and after the mask removing process, the optical grip is removed by the mechanical gripping portion. The position of the transport mechanism in vacuum from the susceptor by gripping one by one A third transport step for transporting the optical disk to the position of the load lock mechanism one by one by the transport mechanism in vacuum after the third transport step, and the vacuum And an unloading step of unloading the optical disks one by one from the vacuum container through a load lock mechanism while maintaining a vacuum in the container.

  The invention according to claim 12 is the optical disk manufacturing method according to claim 11, wherein the load mask mechanism of the vacuum vessel is used after performing the loading process to the unloading process many times using the same mask. The step of taking out the used mask out of the vacuum vessel while maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum vessel through a load lock mechanism for mask exchange arranged at a different position, and through the load lock mechanism for mask exchange, And a step of inserting a new mask into the vacuum container while maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum container.

  Further, the invention described in claim 13 is a vacuum vessel, a plurality of film forming chambers arranged in the vacuum vessel for receiving a disk substrate and forming a film on the disk substrate, and a plurality of film forming chambers in the vacuum vessel. The disk substrates are arranged side by side in the circumferential direction and rotated intermittently to sequentially convey the disk substrates to the film forming chamber, and the disk substrate is placed in the vacuum container while keeping the vacuum container in a vacuum. A load lock mechanism that carries in one by one and carries out the disk substrates after film formation from the vacuum vessel one by one, and places and conveys the disk substrate carried into the vacuum vessel through the load lock mechanism. In-vacuum transport mechanism for transporting the disk substrate after film formation to the load lock mechanism, and for rotating the disk substrate transported by the vacuum transport mechanism from above A vacuum pick and place mechanism that grips the disk substrate after film formation from above and transports it from the rotary table to the vacuum transport mechanism, and is arranged on the rotary table in the vertical direction. The electromagnet which moves and has an electromagnet capable of detachably holding a mask containing a magnetic material, and closes the electromagnet on the disk substrate before film formation on the rotary table to stop energization of the electromagnet. The mask is detached from the electromagnet, the mask is attached to the disk substrate on the turntable, the electromagnet is brought close to the mask on the disk substrate after film formation on the turntable, and the electromagnet is energized. And a mask drive mechanism configured to be able to remove the mask from the disk substrate It is a concrete apparatus.

  Further, the invention described in claim 14 is the optical disc manufacturing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein a used mask is taken out of the vacuum container while keeping a vacuum in the vacuum container, or a new mask is placed in the vacuum container. A mask replacement load lock mechanism that can be inserted, and a used mask that has been detached from the electromagnet is placed and rotated to the position of the mask replacement load lock mechanism to carry the mask replacement load lock. And a mask arm that mounts the new mask inserted through the mechanism and rotates and transports the mask to the position of the mask driving mechanism.

  The invention according to claim 15 is the optical disk manufacturing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the pick-and-place mechanism in vacuum is on the disk substrate before film formation on the transport mechanism in vacuum and the rotary table. A plurality of disk substrate arms that replace the positions of these disk substrates by simultaneously gripping and rotating the disk substrate after film formation and then removing them, and the plurality of disk substrate arms and the mask arm are common It is configured to rotate while maintaining a constant angle between the axes.

  The invention according to claim 16 is the optical disc manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the in-vacuum transport mechanism is in a vacuum in which a plurality of disc substrates can be placed and rotated intermittently. A transfer table; and a film forming chamber for forming a film on a disk substrate being transferred between the load lock mechanism and the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism by the transfer table in vacuum. And

  According to the present invention, the mask can be attached and detached in the vacuum container before and after the sputter film forming step without taking the mask into the atmosphere. For this reason, a reduction in mask life due to taking out the mask and generation of water and atmospheric gas generated from the mask are suppressed. Moreover, it is possible to efficiently manufacture an optical disc including attaching and detaching a mask in a short time.

  Embodiments of an optical disc manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  1 to 4 show a first embodiment of an optical disk manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is an elevational sectional view of a main part, and is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the main part in a state corresponding to FIG. 3A to 3C are schematic plan views for explaining the operation, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged side sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 3B.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the optical disc manufacturing apparatus has a vacuum vessel 1, and a rotary table 2 having a vertical axis is disposed in the vacuum vessel 1. A plurality of susceptors 3 are arranged along the circumferential direction of the rotary table 2. Each susceptor 3 supports the disk substrate 5 on the turntable 2 from below. The rotary table 2 can be rotated intermittently by the rotary table drive motor 4.

  A load lock mechanism 50 is disposed at a position outside the rotary table 2 of the vacuum vessel 1, and thereby a new disk substrate 5 can be inserted into the vacuum vessel 1 while maintaining the vacuum inside the vacuum vessel 1. The disk after the film formation process can be taken out of the vacuum container 1. That is, the upper cover 6 of the vacuum vessel 1 has an opening 7, a load lock pusher 8 is disposed below the opening 7, and a disk receiving portion 9 is disposed at the upper end of the load lock pusher 8. The disk receiving portion 9 supports the disk substrate 5 from below, and can move up and down integrally with the load lock pusher 8. When the load lock pusher 8 is raised, the disk receiving portion 9 closes the opening 7 with the seal portion 52.

  An external transfer mechanism 10 and an atmospheric pick-and-place mechanism 11 are arranged outside the vacuum vessel 1, and one disk substrate 5 before film formation is loaded from the external transfer mechanism 10 via the atmospheric pick-and-place mechanism 11. It is conveyed into the vacuum container 1 through the dock mechanism 50. Conversely, the disk substrates 5 after film formation are transported one by one out of the vacuum container 1 through the opening 7, the atmospheric pick and place mechanism 11, and the external transport mechanism 10.

  The external transport mechanism 10 includes an external transport table 12 and an external transport drive motor 13 and can be rotated intermittently. A plurality of (for example, two) disk substrates 5 can be placed thereon. Below each disk substrate 5 of the external transport mechanism 10 is a cylinder mechanism 14 that can raise and lower the disk substrate 5.

  The atmospheric pick-and-place mechanism 11 includes an atmospheric pick-and-place arm 15 and an atmospheric pick-and-place motor 16 and can rotate intermittently every 180 degrees. The atmospheric pick-and-place arm 15 extends horizontally on both sides of the rotation axis, and a disk receiving portion 17 is disposed on each of them. The disk receiving part 17 can be moved up and down by a pick and place cylinder 18. Further, a mechanical gripping mechanism 19 that can detachably hold the disc substrate 5 from above is attached to the lower surface of the disc receiving portion 17.

  In FIG. 1, the left disc receiving portion 17 on the external transport mechanism 10 is in the raised position, and the right disc receiving portion 17 on the opening 7 is in the lowered position. A state in which the right disc receiving portion 17 is raised is indicated by a dotted line. As shown in FIG. 1, when the disc receiving portion 17 is lowered to the position of the opening 7, the opening 7 is closed and sealed by the seal portion 54 of the disc receiving portion 17.

  An intake / exhaust pipe 56 is provided between the seal portion 52 of the disc receiving portion 9 and the seal portion 54 of the disc receiving portion 17, and the space between them is evacuated, or air is supplied thereto to release the vacuum. it can.

  A vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 is disposed between the load lock mechanism 50 and the rotary table 2. The in-vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 delivers the disk substrate 5 between the disk receiving portion 9 and the susceptor 3 in the vacuum container 1 and also performs an operation of attaching and detaching the center mask 21 and the outer mask 22 to the disk substrate 5. Do. As described above, the center mask 21 and the outer mask 22 temporarily cover the disk substrate 5 so as not to form a film on the inner peripheral portion and the outer peripheral portion of the disk substrate in the sputter film forming step, For example, it is made of stainless steel that is magnetic (preferably ferromagnetic).

  As shown in the plan view of FIG. 2, the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 has three arms 23, 24, and 25 that form a fixed angle with each other, and is intermittently driven by a vacuum pick-and-place drive motor 30. The rotating shaft 36 can be rotated. In the example of FIG. 2, the first arm (disk substrate arm) 23 and the second arm (disk substrate arm) 24 form 180 degrees with each other, and the third arm (mask arm) 25 includes the first and second arms. 90 degrees with the arm. The angle formed by the first to third arms 23, 24, 25 may be other than the above, and may be 120 degrees apart from each other, for example.

  The first arm 23 and the second arm 24 are configured so that the disk substrate 5 can be mechanically gripped from above and separated after the movement. The third arm 25 has a first electromagnet 26 and a second electromagnet 27 at positions facing the center mask 21 and the outer mask 22 on the lower surface thereof. A susceptor pusher 28 for raising and lowering the susceptor 3 when the arm 23, 24 or 25 is above the susceptor 3 is disposed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the susceptor 3 on the rotary table 2 has a motor 34, and the disk holder 80 can be rotated by the motor 34. The disk substrate 5 is placed on the disk holder 80. Sputtering can be performed uniformly by rotating the disk substrate 5 by the motor 34 during the sputtering process.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, the vacuum vessel 1 has the inspection window 33 for inspecting the inside. The rotating shaft 36 is attached to the vacuum vessel 1 by a flange 37.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to (a), (b), and (c) of FIG. First, in the positional relationship shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3A, the electromagnets 26 and 27 attached to the third arm 25 are operated and the susceptor pusher 28 is raised. At this time, the disk substrate 80 on which the center mask 21 and the outer mask 22 are attached is mounted on the disk holder 80 on the susceptor 3. The susceptor 3 is raised by the susceptor pusher 28, and then the masks 21 and 22 come into contact with the electromagnets 26 and 27 and are attracted by magnetic force. Thereafter, the susceptor pusher 28 is lowered to lower the susceptor 3 together with the disk holder 80 and the disk substrate 5, and the masks 21 and 22 remain on the lower surface of the third arm 25 while being attracted to the electromagnets 26 and 27.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 is rotated 90 degrees clockwise. At this time, the first arm 23 comes above the disk substrate 5 that has been subjected to the film forming process and has been removed from the mask. Here, the first arm 23 of the in-vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 holds the disk substrate 5 that has been subjected to the film formation process and whose mask has been removed. At this time, the second arm 24 is below the opening 7, and here, the disk substrate 5 before the film forming process in the disk receiving portion 9 is mechanically held.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 rotates 180 degrees counterclockwise. Here, the “counterclockwise direction” is for avoiding winding of the cords by reversing the rotation direction. In this state, the positions of the first arm 23 and the second arm 24 are interchanged as compared with the state of FIG. At this time, the turntable 2 rotates more than the state of FIG. 3B, and the next susceptor 3 is in a position below the second arm 24. Thereafter, the disk substrate 5 that has been subjected to film formation and has been removed from the mask that has been mechanically held by the first arm 23 is released and placed on the disk receiving portion 9.

  Thereafter, the load lock pusher 8 pushes up the disc receiving portion 9 and seals it with the seal portion 52. Thereafter, air is supplied between the seal portion 52 and the seal portion 54 through the intake / exhaust pipe 56, and then the pick-and-place cylinder 18 of the atmospheric pick-and-place mechanism 11 pushes the disk receiving portion 17 downward, thereby causing a mechanical gripping mechanism. The disk substrate 5 on the disk receiving portion 9 is held by 19.

  Thereafter, by raising the pick-and-place cylinder 18, the disc receiving portion 17 rises together with the disc substrate 5 as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 1, and the disc substrate 5 is exposed to the atmosphere.

  Thereafter, the pick-and-place arm 15 in the atmosphere rotates, the disk substrate 5 after the film formation process goes to the left side of FIG. 1, and the disk substrate 5 before the film formation process comes above the load lock mechanism 50. Therefore, the disk substrate 5 before the film forming process is transported into the vacuum container 1 through the load lock mechanism 50 by the reverse procedure.

  When the pick-and-place mechanism 20 in vacuum is in the state shown in FIG. 3B, the disk substrate 5 before the film formation process held by the second arm 24 is in the state of the susceptor 3 in the state shown in FIG. From above, the mechanical grip is removed and placed on the disc holder 80 on the susceptor 3.

  Next, the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 rotates 90 degrees clockwise and returns to the position shown in FIG. Here, there is a third arm 25 on the disk substrate 5 before the film forming process placed on the susceptor 3, and the masks 21 and 22 are held by the electromagnets 26 and 27 of the third arm 25. ing. Therefore, the masks 21 and 22 are disposed on the disk substrate 5 by cutting off the currents of the electromagnets 26 and 27.

  Next, with the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 in the state shown in FIG. 3C, the rotary table 2 is further rotated, and the next susceptor 3 on which the disk substrate 5 on which film formation has been performed is placed is the third arm. Come to a position below 25. Thereafter, the above-described operation is repeated.

  As described above, a large number of disk substrates 5 can be formed by repeatedly using the masks 21 and 22 without taking them out of the vacuum container 1 while keeping the vacuum inside the vacuum container 1.

  Next, a mechanism for exchanging the masks 21 and 22 that have been used a predetermined number of times with new ones will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view taken along the line B-B in FIG. 3B and shows a state when the mask replacement operation is performed.

  This mask replacement is performed by taking out the dirty masks 21 and 22 repeatedly used in the vacuum vessel 1 and replacing them with new masks 21 and 22, for example, once a day.

  In the state shown in FIG. 4, the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 is in the position shown in FIG. 3B, and the third arm 25 is 90 degrees from the line connecting the center of the rotary table 2 and the center of the load lock mechanism 50. At a distance. As described above, the first electromagnet 26 and the second electromagnet 27 are attached to the lower surface of the third arm 25.

  A mask susceptor 41 having a mask receiving groove 40 in which the masks 21 and 22 are placed is disposed below the electromagnets 26 and 27 in this state. The mask susceptor 41 can be moved up and down by a mask exchange pusher 42. In the state shown in FIG. 4, the center mask 21 and the outer mask 22 are placed in the mask receiving groove 40.

  When the film forming process is paused, the used center mask 21 and outer mask 22 are held by the first electromagnet 26 and the second electromagnet 27, and the pick-and-place mechanism 20 in vacuum is rotated. When the center mask 21 and the outer mask 22 are located above the mask susceptor 41 at the positions 3 (b) and FIG. 4, the first electromagnet 26 and the second electromagnet 27 are turned off. Thereby, the electromagnets 26 and 27 and the masks 21 and 22 are separated, and the masks 21 and 22 are placed on the mask receiving grooves 40 as shown in FIG.

  Thereafter, the pick-and-place mechanism 20 in vacuum is rotated to move the third arm 25 to a position disengaged from the mask susceptor 41 (not shown), and the mask 21 together with the mask susceptor 41 is masked by the mask replacement pusher 42. , 22 rise, and a seal is formed between the seal portion 58 of the mask susceptor 41 and the lower surface of the upper lid 6. Thereafter, air is supplied through the intake / exhaust pipe 60, and then the mask exchange window 43 above the mask susceptor 41 is opened, and the used masks 21 and 22 are taken out of the vacuum container 1 through the mask exchange window 43.

  Next, the new masks 21 and 22 are placed on the mask susceptor 41 through the mask exchange window 43 in the reverse procedure. Then, after closing the mask exchange window 43, vacuuming is performed through the intake / exhaust pipe 60, and then the masks 21 and 22 are lowered into the vacuum container 1 together with the mask susceptor 41 by the mask exchange pusher 42.

  Next, a second embodiment of the optical disk manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. However, parts common or similar to those in the first embodiment are denoted by common reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  In this embodiment, a vacuum pick-and-place unit 20 a and a lower holding and transferring mechanism 20 b are arranged in the vacuum vessel 1 between the rotary table 2 and the load lock mechanism 50. Each of the vacuum pick-and-place unit 20a and the lower holding and transporting mechanism 20b has a vertical rotating shaft, and has two arms that project horizontally on both sides of the rotating shaft. Since the pick-and-place unit 20a in vacuum accesses the disk substrate 5 and the masks 21 and 22 from above and the lower holding / transfer mechanism 20b accesses from below, they do not interfere with each other.

  The vacuum pick-and-place unit 20 a includes an electromagnet 70 and a mechanical grip 72 on each arm 74. The masks 21 and 22 can be attached and detached by turning on and off the current of the electromagnet 70. The mechanical gripper 72 can mechanically grip and release the disk substrate 5.

  By operating the pick-and-place unit 20a in vacuum and the lower holding / transferring mechanism 20b in synchronism, the disk substrate before film formation carried into the vacuum vessel 1 through the load lock mechanism 50 has the lower holding / transferring mechanism 20b. After that, it is gripped by the mechanical gripping portion 72 of the pick-and-place unit 20 a in vacuum, and then placed on the disc holder 80 on the susceptor 3 on the rotary table 2. Further, the masks 21 and 22 held by the electromagnet 70 can be attached to the disk substrate 5 by cutting the current of the electromagnet 70 when the electromagnet 70 is on the disk substrate 5 on the disk holder 80.

  In synchronism with these operations, the masks 21 and 22 are removed from the disk substrate 5 on the disk holder 80 by the electromagnet 70, and the disk substrate 5 without the mask is taken out from the disk holder 80 by the mechanical gripper 72. Then, it is transported to the lower holding / transferring mechanism 20 b and is carried out of the vacuum container 1 through the load lock mechanism 50.

  Masks 21 and 22 are attached to the disk substrate 5 on the rotary table 2, and the masks 21 and 22 are not attached to the disk substrate 5 on the lower holding and transferring mechanism 20b. In the configuration of FIG. 5, the electromagnets 70 are arranged at two locations on the arm 74, so that the arm 74 may be intermittently rotated in one direction and the two sets of masks 21 and 22 may be used alternately. In this case, since the arm 74 is rotated in one direction, the rotation mechanism can be simplified.

  As a modification of FIG. 5, the electromagnet 70 can be arranged at one place on the arm 74 (not shown). In this case, the arm 74 is intermittently reversed and a set of masks 21 and 22 is used. Since the arm 74 is reversed, there is an advantage that there is no winding of an electric cord or the like.

  FIG. 6 shows a modified example in which the structure of the pick-and-place unit 20a in vacuum in FIG. 5 is further changed, and instead of the two arms 74 extending on both sides of the rotating shaft 36, it rotates around the rotating shaft 36. The table arm 76 is provided. In the example of FIG. 6, four sets of electromagnets 70 and a mechanical grip 72 are attached to the table arm 76, and the table arm 76 is intermittently rotated in one direction. Compared with the case where two arms are used, the rotation angle of the table arm 76 is reduced, so that higher speed operation is possible.

  Next, a third embodiment of the optical disk manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. However, parts common or similar to those in the first or second embodiment are denoted by common reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  In this embodiment, the first rotary table 2a and the second rotary table 2b are accommodated in the vacuum vessel 1, and four disk substrates 5 are simultaneously provided on each rotary table 2a, 2b every 90 degrees. The rotary tables are placed at equal intervals, and each rotary table rotates intermittently and sequentially replaces the position of the adjacent disk substrate 5. At the first position of the first turntable 2a, there is a load lock mechanism 50 for carrying the disk substrate 5 before film formation into the vacuum vessel 1 and carrying out the disk substrate 5 after film formation from the vacuum vessel 1. Has been placed.

  A first film formation chamber 60a and a fifth film formation chamber 60e are arranged at the second and fourth positions of the first turntable 2a, respectively. The third position of the first rotary table 2a and the first position of the second rotary table 2b are adjacent to each other, and a vacuum pick-and-place device 62 is disposed here. Second to fourth film formation chambers 60b, 60c, and 60d are disposed at the second to fourth positions of the second turntable 2b, respectively.

  The disk substrate 5 before film formation is transported onto the first rotary table 2a in the vacuum vessel 1 through the load lock mechanism 50, and after passing through the first film formation chamber 60a, the first pick-and-place device 62 in vacuum performs the first process. 2 is moved to the rotary table 2b. Thereafter, films are sequentially formed in the second to fourth film forming chambers 60b, 60c, and 60d. Thereafter, the vacuum pick-and-place device 62 returns the first rotary table 2a, finally the film is formed in the fifth film forming chamber 60e, and is transported out of the vacuum vessel 1 from the load lock mechanism 50 again.

  By connecting two turntables in this way, the diameter of the turntable is smaller than when using one large turntable, so the moment of inertia of the turntable is reduced and the rotation drive mechanism is simplified. Can be. Moreover, the degree of freedom of design can be increased by combining existing rotary tables.

  Here, the in-vacuum pick-and-place device 62 has, for example, substantially the same structure as the in-vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 of the first embodiment (FIGS. 1 to 3), and is configured to hold the disk substrate 5. 1 arm 23 and second arm 24, and a third arm 25 for holding the mask. Thereby, the disk substrate 5 can be transferred between the first turntable 2a and the second turntable 2b, and the mask can be attached and detached. Thereby, for example, film formation is performed without a mask in the first film formation chamber 60a and the fifth film formation chamber 60e of the first turntable 2a, and the second film formation chamber 60b of the second turntable 2b. In the third film formation chamber 60c and the fourth film formation chamber 60d, a film can be formed with a mask attached.

  Furthermore, as another example of the vacuum pick-and-place device 62, a fourth arm for holding another mask (not shown) is provided on the opposite side of the third arm 25 (not shown). If two masks are replaced, different masks can be used for the first rotary table 2a and the second rotary table 2b. Further, in this case, in order to prevent the mask used in the first turntable 2a from coming out of the vacuum vessel 1, the load lock mechanism 50 is disposed at a position away from the first turntable 2a, and the first turntable 2a is moved. What is necessary is just to arrange | position the thing similar to the pick-and-place mechanism 20 in a vacuum in 1st Embodiment (FIGS. 1-3) between the table 2a and the load lock mechanism 50 (not shown).

  Next, a fourth embodiment of the optical disk manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. However, parts common or similar to those in the first to third embodiments are denoted by common reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted. FIGS. 8A to 8C are schematic cross-sectional views of the main part for explaining the procedure during normal operation during the optical disk manufacturing process. 9 and 10 are sectional views taken along the line CC in FIG. 8B, and FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 are different in time. 11 (a) to 11 (c) and FIGS. 12 (d) and 12 (e) are schematic plan cross-sectional views of the main part for explaining the procedure during the mask exchange process. 13 is a sectional view taken along line D-D in FIG. 11B, and FIG. 14 is a side sectional view taken along line E-E in FIG.

  First, referring to FIGS. 8 to 10, a description will be given of the situation during normal operation in which the optical disk is formed. The configuration of the external transport mechanism 10, the atmospheric pick-and-place mechanism 11, the rotary table 2, and the like are the same as those in the first embodiment (see FIG. 1 and the like). In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, an in-vacuum transport mechanism 29 is disposed between the load lock mechanism 50 and the in-vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20.

  The in-vacuum transport mechanism 29 has an in-vacuum transport table 32, and the in-vacuum transport table 32 can be rotated around a vertical rotation shaft 47 by a transport table driving motor 31 in vacuum. The new substrate disk before film formation carried in from the load lock mechanism 50 is sent to the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 via the vacuum transport mechanism 29, and further to the rotary table 2 by the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20. Sent. On the contrary, the formed optical disk is sent from the rotary table 2 to the vacuum transport mechanism 29 via the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20, and further from the vacuum transport mechanism 29 to the outside of the vacuum container 1 through the load lock mechanism 50. It is carried out.

  In this embodiment, during normal operation, the masks 21 and 22 are attached and detached by being driven in the vertical direction by the mask driving mechanism 45 disposed above the susceptor 3 on the turntable 2. The mask drive mechanism 45 is driven by a mask chuck cylinder 44 disposed above it.

  Electromagnets 26 and 27 are attached to the mask chuck cylinder 44, and the masks 21 and 22 made of a magnetic material can be attached and detached by turning the electromagnets 26 and 27 on and off. The electromagnets 26 and 27 are attached to the mask chuck cylinder 44 via springs (not shown), and alignment with the center mask 21 and the outer mask 22 is facilitated, respectively. Further, in order to facilitate alignment in the horizontal direction, it is preferable to design so that the center mask 21 and the electromagnet 26 are first attracted and then the outer mask 22 and the electromagnet 27 are attracted when the mask is attracted.

  In FIG. 9, the in-vacuum transfer table 32 has circular openings 100 of approximately the same size on both sides of the rotating shaft 47, and a disk tray 38 is disposed on each of the upper portions of the openings 100. The disc tray 38 is provided with a substantially circular disc tray opening 103. Since the diameter of the disk tray opening 103 is smaller than the diameter of the substrate disk 5, the substrate disk 5 can be supported by the disk tray opening 103. The disc tray 38 is urged toward the upper surface of the conveying table 32 in vacuum by a spring 105.

  A disk receiving portion 9 is attached to the upper portion of the load lock pusher 8. The disk receiving portion 9 is substantially disk-shaped, but a step is formed in the middle, and the upper portion 101 is smaller than the lower portion 102. The diameter of the upper part 101 is smaller than the opening 100 of the conveyance table in vacuum and smaller than the disk tray opening 103. The diameter of the lower part 102 is smaller than the opening 100 of the conveyance table in vacuum and larger than the disk tray opening 103.

  FIG. 9 shows a state where, for example, the film-formed substrate disk 5 is placed on the disk tray 38. When the disk receiving portion 9 is pushed upward by the load lock pusher 8 from the state shown in FIG. 9, the upper portion 101 of the disk receiving portion 9 passes through the opening 100 of the vacuum carrying table and the disk receiving opening 103 to open the disk receiving opening. The disk substrate 5 placed in 103 parts is pushed up. Further, the lower portion 102 of the disk receiving portion 9 passes through the opening 100 of the vacuum transfer table and pushes up the disk receiving tray 38.

  In the state shown in FIG. 10, that is, when the disk substrate 5 pushed up by the disk receiving portion 9 reaches the lower surface of the disk receiving portion 17 of the atmospheric pick and place mechanism 11, the disk substrate 5 is placed on the lower surface of the disk receiving portion 17. Grasped. At this time, the seal portion 53 of the disk tray 38 contacts the lower surface of the upper lid 6 to form a seal, and further, the seal portion 52 of the lower portion 102 of the disk receiver 9 contacts the lower surface of the conveying table 32 in vacuum. To form a seal.

  Thereafter, the pick and place cylinder 18 of the 50 part of the load lock mechanism is lifted, and the disk receiving part 17 moves away from the opening 7 of the upper cover 6 of the vacuum vessel while holding the substrate disk 5 on which the film has been formed. The seal of the seal portion 54 is opened (not shown). At this time, the vacuum of the vacuum vessel 1 is maintained by the seal portions 52 and 53.

  The substrate disk 5 before film formation is transported into the vacuum container 1 through the load lock mechanism 50 while maintaining the vacuum of the vacuum container 1 in the reverse operation to the above operation, and the disk tray 38 on the transport table 32 in vacuum. Placed on the top.

  The functions of the intake / exhaust pipe 56 in the load lock mechanism 50 and the operations of the external transport mechanism 10 and the atmospheric pick-and-place mechanism 11 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  After the new disk substrate 5 before film formation is placed on the disk tray 38, the vacuum transfer table 32 is rotated 180 degrees, and then attached to the disk substrate arm 23 of the vacuum pick-and-place arm 23. In addition, it is gripped from above by the mechanical gripping mechanism 35 and is transported so as to be placed on the disk holder 80 on the susceptor 3 on the rotary table 2 by the rotation of the pick and place arm 23 in vacuum.

  Next, operations of the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 and the like during a normal film forming operation will be described with reference to FIG. During this operation, the mask arm 25 of the pick-and-place mechanism 20 in vacuum has no effect. As shown in FIG. 8 and the like, in this embodiment, the mask susceptor 41 on which the masks 21 and 22 are placed when the mask is replaced is placed near the end of the mask arm 25 and always rotates together with the mask arm 25.

  In the state of FIG. 8A, the mask susceptor 41 at the end of the mask arm 25 is above one of the disk tray openings 103 (on the right side of the drawing) of the vacuum transport mechanism 29. In this state, the mask drive mechanism 45 is lowered, the masks 21 and 22 are attracted to the electromagnets 26 and 27, and then the mask drive mechanism 45 is raised to remove the masks 21 and 22 from the disk substrate 5 on which the film has been formed.

  Thereafter, the pick-and-place mechanism 20 in vacuum rotates 90 degrees clockwise to the state shown in FIG. 8B, and the disk substrate 5 on which the film has been formed is rotated by the first arm (disk substrate arm) 23. At the same time, a new disk substrate 5 is received from the in-vacuum transfer table 32 by the second arm (disk substrate arm) 24.

  After that, the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 rotates 180 degrees counterclockwise to the state shown in FIG. 8C, and the positions of the first arm 23 and the second arm 24 are switched. In this state, the deposited disk substrate 5 is transferred from the first arm 23 to the vacuum transfer table 32, and a new disk substrate 5 is transferred from the second arm 24 to the rotary table 2. Thereafter, the in-vacuum transfer table 32 is rotated by 180 degrees, the first arm 23 holds the next new disk substrate 5 from the in-vacuum transfer table 32, and the rotary table 2 is rotated by a predetermined angle, whereby the second arm 24 holds the next film-formed disk substrate 5.

  Thereafter, the pick-and-place mechanism 20 in vacuum rotates 90 degrees clockwise and returns to the state of FIG. Further, the rotary table 2 rotates to the next position in the state of FIG. 8A, and then the mask drive mechanism 45 approaches the disk substrate 5 on the rotary table 2 to turn off the electromagnets 26 and 27, thereby turning off the disk. Masks 21 and 22 are placed on the substrate 5. Thereafter, the above operation is repeated.

  Next, with reference to FIGS. 11-14, the mask exchange operation | movement in this 4th Embodiment and the structure for it are demonstrated. In this mask exchange, as in the case of the first embodiment, the masks 21 and 22 that have been used repeatedly in the vacuum vessel 1 are taken out and replaced with new masks 21 and 22. This mask exchange is also performed while maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum vessel 1 as in the first embodiment.

  In the state of FIG. 11A, the mask susceptor 41 at the end of the mask arm 25 of the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 is moved to the disc tray opening 103 of the transport mechanism 29 in vacuum, as in the state of FIG. It is above one (right side of the figure). In this state, the mask driving mechanism 45 is lowered, the used masks 21 and 22 are gripped by the electromagnets 26 and 27 from the disk substrate 5 on the turntable 2, and then the mask driving mechanism 45 is raised.

  Next, the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 rotates 180 degrees, and the mask arm 25 comes to a position above the rotary table 2 and below the mask drive mechanism 45 as shown in FIGS. 11B and 13. . From this state, the mask chuck cylinder 44 is lowered to bring the electromagnets 26 and 27 closer to the masks 21 and 22, and the energization of the electromagnets 26 and 27 is stopped to release the masks 21 and 22 from the electromagnets 26 and 27. 22 is placed on the mask susceptor 41 on the mask arm 25. Thereafter, the mask chuck cylinder 44 is raised together with the electromagnets 26 and 27.

  Next, the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 is rotated 90 degrees clockwise and comes to the position shown in FIG. At this time, the mask exchange window 43 is above the mask susceptor 41 on the mask arm 25, and the mask exchange pusher 42 is below the mask susceptor 41 (see FIG. 14). Next, as shown in FIG. 14, the mask replacement pusher 42 is raised to push up the mask susceptor 41, and the seal portion 58 formed around the upper surface of the mask susceptor 41 is around the opening of the mask replacement window 43 of the vacuum container 1. To form a seal. Next, the mask exchange window 43 is opened and the used masks 21 and 22 are taken out.

  Thereafter, new masks 21 and 22 are placed on the mask susceptor 41, and the mask replacement window 43 is closed. The vacuum holding operation using the intake / exhaust pipe 60 at this time is the same as that of the first embodiment (see FIG. 4).

  Next, the reverse operation is performed. That is, as shown in FIG. 12 (d), the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 rotates 90 degrees counterclockwise, and at this position, new masks 21 and 22 are removed from the mask susceptor 41 by the mask drive mechanism 45. Grasped. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 12E, the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism 20 is rotated 180 degrees. Then, new masks 21 and 22 are placed on the disk substrate 5 on the turntable 2 by the mask drive mechanism 45.

  In the above-described fourth embodiment, the mask arm 25 is coaxial with the disk arms 23 and 24 and rotates while maintaining a certain angle (90 degrees in the illustrated example). 25 may rotate around an axis independent of the disk arms 23 and 24 (not shown).

  Further, as a modification of the fourth embodiment, as shown in FIG. 15, a film formation chamber 60e is additionally arranged at a position where the vacuum transfer table 32 is rotated 90 degrees, and the disk substrate is mounted by the vacuum transfer table 32. The film can be transported to this position and film formation can be performed here. Thereby, the number of film forming chambers can be increased without changing the size of the vacuum container 1 so much. However, in this case, film formation without a mask is performed in the film formation chamber 60e. The film formation in the additional film formation chamber 60e may be performed before or after the film formation in the film formation chamber along the turntable 2.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of an essential part of the first embodiment of the optical disk manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, and is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2. The typical principal part plane sectional view of the optical disk manufacturing apparatus of FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional plan view of an essential part for explaining the operation of the optical disk manufacturing apparatus of FIG. 2. FIG. 4B is an enlarged side sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. The principal part plane sectional view of 2nd Embodiment of the optical disk manufacturing apparatus based on this invention. FIG. 6 is a plan cross-sectional view of a main part of an optical disk manufacturing apparatus that is a modification of FIG. The typical plane sectional view of a 3rd embodiment of the optical disk manufacturing device concerning the present invention. The typical principal part top sectional view for demonstrating the operation | movement at the time of the normal film-forming operation | movement of 4th Embodiment of the optical disk manufacturing apparatus based on this invention. FIG. 9B is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line CC in FIG. FIG. 10 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. 8B and shows a state after the state of FIG. FIG. 9 is a schematic plan cross-sectional view of an essential part for explaining the operation of the optical disk manufacturing apparatus of FIG. FIG. 9 is a schematic plan cross-sectional view of an essential part for explaining the operation following the operation at the time of mask replacement in the optical disk manufacturing apparatus of FIG. 8. FIG. 11B is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line D-D in FIG. FIG. 11C is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line EE in FIG. The typical principal part top sectional view of the modification of 4th Embodiment of the optical disk manufacturing apparatus which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1: vacuum container, 2: rotary table, 2a: first rotary table, 2b: second rotary table, 3: susceptor, 4: rotary table drive motor, 5: disk substrate, 6: upper lid, 7: opening, 8: Load lock pusher, 9: Disc receiving section, 10: External transport mechanism, 11: Atmospheric pick and place mechanism, 12: External transport table, 13: External transport drive motor, 14: Cylinder mechanism, 15: Atmospheric pick And place arm, 16: Pick and place motor in air, 17: Disc receiving part, 18: Pick and place cylinder, 19: Mechanical gripping mechanism, 20: Pick and place mechanism in vacuum, 20a: Pick and place unit in vacuum 20a, 20b: Lower holding and transfer mechanism, 21: Center mask, 22: Outer mask, 23: First arm Disk substrate arm), 24: second arm (disk substrate arm), 25: third arm (mask arm), 26: first electromagnet, 27: second electromagnet, 28: susceptor pusher, 30: vacuum Medium pick and place drive motor, 34: motor, 36: rotating shaft, 37: flange, 38: disc tray, 40: mask receiving groove, 41: mask susceptor, 42: mask replacement pusher, 43: mask replacement window, 45 : Mask drive mechanism, 50: load lock mechanism, 52: seal part, 54: seal part, 56: intake / exhaust pipe, 58: seal part, 60: intake / exhaust pipe, 60a-60e: film formation chamber, 62: pick-and-pick in vacuum Place mechanism, 70: electromagnet, 72: mechanical gripping part, 74: arm, 76: table arm, 80: disk holder, 100: table in vacuum Opening, 101: disc receiving portion of the upper, 102: bottom of the disc receiving portion, 103: disk pan opening, 105: Spring

Claims (16)

A loading step of loading disk substrates of non-magnetic material into the vacuum vessel one by one through the load lock mechanism while maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum vessel;
A first transporting step of gripping and transporting the disk substrates one by one by a mechanical gripping unit attached to a disk substrate arm rotatable in the vacuum container;
A mask attachment step of temporarily holding a mask having a magnetic material by an electromagnet attached to a mask arm that rotates integrally with the disk substrate arm, and attaching the mask to the disk substrate;
A film forming step of forming a sputter film on a portion of the disk substrate not covered with the mask after the mask attaching step and the first transport step;
After the film forming step, a mask removing step of removing the mask from the optical disc by temporarily holding the mask with the electromagnet;
A second transporting step for gripping and transporting the disk substrates one by one by the mechanical gripping part after the film forming step;
After the mask removing process and the second transporting process, the optical disks are unloaded from the vacuum container one by one through the load lock mechanism while keeping the mask in the vacuum container and maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum container. An unloading process,
An optical disc manufacturing method characterized by comprising: In the optical disc manufacturing method according to claim 1,
In the mask attaching step, the film forming step, and the mask removing step, the disk substrate is substantially horizontal, the surface to which the mask is attached faces upward, and the load of the disk substrate is supported from below the disk substrate by a susceptor. To be executed,
The mask attaching step and the mask removing step are performed by holding the mask by the electromagnet disposed above the disk substrate;
An optical disc manufacturing method characterized by the above. In the optical disc manufacturing method according to claim 1 or 2,
After performing many times from the loading process to the unloading process using the same mask,
A step of taking out the used mask out of the vacuum container while maintaining a vacuum in the vacuum container through a mask replacement load lock mechanism disposed at a position different from the load lock mechanism of the vacuum container;
Inserting a new mask into the vacuum vessel while maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum vessel through the mask replacement load lock mechanism;
An optical disc manufacturing method characterized by comprising: A vacuum vessel;
A plurality of film forming chambers disposed in the vacuum container to receive a disk substrate and form a film on the disk substrate;
A rotating table that sequentially arranges a plurality of disk substrates in the vacuum container and arranges them in the circumferential direction and rotates the disk substrates sequentially to the film forming chamber;
A load lock mechanism that carries the disk substrates one by one into the vacuum container while keeping the vacuum container in a vacuum, and unloads the disk substrates after film formation from the vacuum container one by one;
A disk substrate carried into the vacuum vessel through the load lock mechanism is transported to the rotary table and a mask is attached to the disk substrate. Further, the disk substrate after film formation is transferred from the rotary table to the load lock mechanism. A pick-and-place mechanism in vacuum that transports and removes the mask from the disk substrate;
An optical disc manufacturing apparatus having
The mask includes a magnetic material,
The pick-and-place mechanism in vacuum has a mechanical gripping portion that mechanically grips the disk substrate temporarily, and an electromagnet that temporarily grips the mask with a magnetic force, and the mechanical gripping portion and the electromagnet Are attached to a plurality of arms that rotate around a common rotation axis at regular intervals from each other,
An optical disc manufacturing apparatus characterized by the above.   5. The optical disk manufacturing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the disk substrate is configured to be held substantially horizontally with a surface to which the mask is attached facing upward. A vacuum vessel;
A plurality of film forming chambers disposed in the vacuum container to receive a disk substrate and form a film on the disk substrate;
A rotating table that sequentially arranges a plurality of disk substrates in the vacuum container and arranges them in the circumferential direction and rotates the disk substrates sequentially to the film forming chamber;
A load lock mechanism that carries the disk substrates one by one into the vacuum container while keeping the vacuum inside the vacuum container and unloads the disk substrates after film formation one by one from the vacuum container;
A disk substrate carried into the vacuum vessel through the load lock mechanism is transported to the rotary table and a mask is attached to the disk substrate. Further, the disk substrate after film formation is transferred from the rotary table to the load lock mechanism. A pick-and-place mechanism in vacuum that transports and removes the mask from the disk substrate;
An optical disc manufacturing apparatus having
The pick-and-place mechanism in vacuum has first and second arms that temporarily hold the disk substrate and third arms that temporarily hold the mask. And the third arm is configured to be rotatable about a common axis while maintaining a constant distance from each other,
An optical disc manufacturing apparatus characterized by the above. In the optical disc manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6,
The first and second arms have a mechanical gripping portion for mechanically gripping the disk substrate;
The third arm has an electromagnet for temporarily holding the mask by a magnetic force;
An optical disc manufacturing apparatus characterized by the above. A vacuum vessel;
A plurality of film forming chambers disposed in the vacuum container to receive a disk substrate and form a film on the disk substrate;
A rotating table that sequentially arranges a plurality of disk substrates in the vacuum container and arranges them in the circumferential direction and rotates the disk substrates sequentially to the film forming chamber;
A load lock mechanism that carries the disk substrates one by one into the vacuum container while keeping the vacuum container in a vacuum, and unloads the disk substrates after film formation from the vacuum container one by one;
A disk substrate carried into the vacuum vessel through the load lock mechanism is transported to the rotary table and a mask is attached to the disk substrate. Further, the disk substrate after film formation is transferred from the rotary table to the load lock mechanism. A transfer mechanism in vacuum that transports and removes the mask from the disk substrate;
An optical disc manufacturing apparatus having
The in-vacuum transfer mechanism has a lower holding transfer mechanism and a vacuum pick-and-place mechanism,
The lower holding and transport mechanism supports the disk substrate carried into the vacuum vessel through the load lock mechanism and the film-formed disk substrate transported by the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism at the lower portion and rotates intermittently. To replace these positions with each other,
The pick-and-place mechanism in vacuum transports the disk substrate before film formation transported by the lower holding and transport mechanism from above to the rotary table, attaches a mask to the disk substrate, and is further transported by the rotary table. The disk substrate after film formation is transported from above to the lower holding and transporting mechanism,
An optical disc manufacturing apparatus characterized by the above.   9. The optical disc manufacturing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the pick-and-place mechanism in vacuum includes an electromagnet that holds a mask and a mechanical holding portion that mechanically holds a disk substrate. . A vacuum vessel;
A plurality of film forming chambers disposed in the vacuum container to receive a disk substrate and form a film on the disk substrate;
A plurality of disk substrates arranged in a circumferential direction in the vacuum container, and at least one rotary table for sequentially rotating the disk substrates and sequentially transporting the disk substrates to the film forming chamber;
A load lock mechanism that carries the disk substrates one by one into the vacuum container while keeping the vacuum container in a vacuum, and unloads the disk substrates after film formation from the vacuum container one by one;
At least one disk substrate arm that grips and rotates the disk substrate in the vacuum container, and a mask is attached to the disk substrate before film formation in the vacuum container, and the mask is removed from the disk substrate after film formation. A vacuum pick-and-place mechanism comprising a mask arm that rotates with the disk substrate arm while maintaining a predetermined angle with the disk substrate arm while removing and gripping
An optical disc manufacturing apparatus comprising: A loading step of loading disk substrates of non-magnetic material into the vacuum vessel one by one through the load lock mechanism while maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum vessel;
A first transporting step of placing and transporting the disk substrates carried in the carrying-in step one by one in a transporting mechanism in vacuum that can be rotated in the vacuum container;
The disk substrates transported in the first transporting process are gripped one by one by a mechanical gripping part attached to a disk substrate arm that is rotatable in the vacuum container, and intermittently in the vacuum container. A second transporting step of transporting so as to be placed on one of a plurality of susceptors on a rotatable rotary table;
The mask drive mechanism disposed above the susceptor is lowered to bring the electromagnet attached to the mask drive mechanism closer to the disk substrate, and then the electromagnet is held by the electromagnet by stopping energization. A mask attachment step of attaching the mask that has been attached to the disk substrate on the susceptor and then raising the mask drive mechanism;
A film forming step of forming a sputter film on a portion of the disk substrate not covered with the mask after the mask attaching step;
After the film forming step, the mask driving mechanism is lowered to bring the electromagnet close to the mask on the disk substrate and then energize the electromagnet to remove the mask from the optical disk, and then the mask driving mechanism. Removing the mask,
After the mask removing step, a third transporting step of gripping the optical discs one by one by the mechanical gripping unit and transporting from the susceptor to the position of the vacuum transport mechanism;
After the third transport step, a fourth transport step of transporting the optical discs one by one to the position of the load lock mechanism by the vacuum transport mechanism;
An unloading step of unloading the optical disks from the vacuum container one by one through a load lock mechanism while maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum container;
An optical disc manufacturing method characterized by comprising: In the optical disc manufacturing method according to claim 11,
After performing many times from the loading process to the unloading process using the same mask,
The step of taking out the used mask out of the vacuum container while maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum container through a load lock mechanism for mask replacement arranged at a position different from the load lock mechanism of the vacuum container;
Inserting a new mask into the vacuum vessel while maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum vessel through the mask replacement load lock mechanism;
An optical disc manufacturing method characterized by comprising: A vacuum vessel;
A plurality of film forming chambers disposed in the vacuum container to receive a disk substrate and form a film on the disk substrate;
A rotating table that sequentially arranges a plurality of disk substrates in the vacuum container and arranges them in the circumferential direction and rotates the disk substrates sequentially to the film forming chamber;
A load lock mechanism that carries the disk substrates one by one into the vacuum container while keeping the vacuum container in a vacuum, and unloads the disk substrates after film formation from the vacuum container one by one;
In-vacuum transport mechanism for mounting and transporting the disk substrate carried into the vacuum container through the load lock mechanism, and transporting the disk substrate after film formation to the load lock mechanism;
The disk substrate transported by the in-vacuum transport mechanism is gripped from above and transported onto the rotary table, and the disk substrate after film formation is gripped from above and transported from the rotary table to the vacuum transport mechanism. A vacuum pick-and-place mechanism,
An electromagnet which is arranged on the rotary table and moves up and down and can removably hold a mask containing a magnetic material, and brings the electromagnet closer to the disk substrate before film formation on the rotary table. The mask is detached from the electromagnet by stopping energization of the electromagnet, and the mask is attached to the disk substrate on the rotary table, and the mask on the disk substrate after film formation on the rotary table is attached. A mask drive mechanism configured to be able to remove the mask from the disk substrate by bringing the electromagnet closer and energizing the electromagnet;
An optical disc manufacturing apparatus comprising: In the optical disc manufacturing apparatus according to claim 13,
A load-lock mechanism for replacing a mask that allows a used mask to be taken out of the vacuum container or a new mask to be placed in the vacuum container while maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum container;
The used mask detached from the electromagnet is placed, rotated to the position of the mask replacement load lock mechanism and transported, and the new mask inserted through the mask replacement load lock mechanism is placed. And a mask arm that rotates and conveys to the position of the mask drive mechanism,
An optical disc manufacturing apparatus, further comprising: The optical disk manufacturing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein
The in-vacuum pick-and-place mechanism is configured such that the disk substrate before film formation on the transport mechanism in vacuum and the disk substrate after film formation on the rotary table are simultaneously gripped and rotated and then separated. Having a plurality of disk substrate arms to replace the position of the disk substrate;
The plurality of disk substrate arms and the mask arm are configured to rotate while maintaining a constant angle between each other around a common axis;
An optical disc manufacturing apparatus characterized by the above. The optical disk manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 13 to 15,
The transport mechanism in vacuum has a transport table in vacuum that can be rotated intermittently by mounting a plurality of disk substrates,
A film forming chamber for forming a film on the disk substrate being transferred between the load lock mechanism and the vacuum pick-and-place mechanism by the vacuum transfer table;
An optical disc manufacturing apparatus characterized by the above.

Images