KR101258350B1 - Substrate processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a technique of connecting a plurality of processing chambers for processing a substrate to a vacuum transfer chamber, the technique of suppressing an increase in the size of the apparatus and suppressing an increase in the installation area.
Around the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 hold | maintained in a vacuum atmosphere, the some process chamber 30 by which a vacuum process is performed with respect to a board | substrate is provided. The processing chamber 30 is configured to open and close the upper opening of the container body 31 with the lid 32. The cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is provided to move along the outer periphery of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 while passing through the opening / closing position of each cover 32 of the plurality of processing chambers 30. The lid 32 is provided on the lid 32, and the lid 32 is lifted from the processing chamber 30 by raising the lid holding mechanism 7 provided in the lid opening and closing mechanism 6 at the opening and closing position. Lift up.

Description

[0001] SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS [0002]

The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus in which a plurality of processing chambers for processing a substrate are connected to a vacuum transfer chamber.

For example, in the manufacturing process of a flat panel display (FPD), a plurality of processing chambers are provided around the vacuum transfer chamber, and a substrate such as a glass substrate is transferred between the vacuum transfer chamber and the processing chamber by a transfer arm provided in the transfer chamber. Substrate processing apparatus is known. As a process performed in the said process chamber with respect to the board | substrate which is a to-be-processed object, processes, such as etching, ashing, and film-forming, are mentioned.

The processing chamber includes, for example, a container body in which a substrate is disposed and an upper portion thereof is opened, and a lid capable of opening and closing the opening of the container body, and the lid is separated from the container body at the time of maintenance in the processing chamber or maintenance of the lid. I can do it. The cover is provided with a gas shower head for supplying a processing gas, and there is a replacement of parts of the gas shower head as one of maintenance work of the cover.

Patent Literature 1 proposes an opening and closing operation of the lid. In this structure, after a cover is raised from a container main body by the cover opening / closing mechanism provided for every process chamber, a cover is moved to a position away from a container main body. Then, the cover is lowered and then reversed. In this method, the area required for the opening and closing operation of the lid can be reduced by sliding the lid in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the substrate to the processing chamber.

However, since the FPD substrate is large, the process chamber is also a large cylindrical container having a size of one side in a planar shape, for example, 3 m and 3.5 m, respectively. Therefore, in a configuration in which a mechanism and a space for opening and closing a cover and a space are required for each processing chamber, as the processing chamber increases, it becomes difficult to secure a space for reversing the cover, and if the space is to be secured, the apparatus may be further enlarged. In addition, since the cover opening / closing mechanism is provided for each processing chamber, an increase in the processing chamber may cause a rise in manufacturing cost of the apparatus.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-67218 (see FIGS. 1 and 19)

This invention is made | formed in view of such a situation, The board | substrate processing apparatus which connected the several process chamber for processing a board | substrate to a vacuum conveyance chamber WHEREIN: The technique which suppresses enlargement of an apparatus and suppresses increase of an installation area is provided. To provide.

To this end, the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention includes a vacuum transfer chamber in which a substrate transfer mechanism is provided and maintained in a vacuum atmosphere,

A preliminary vacuum chamber connected to a side surface of the vacuum transfer chamber,

A plurality of processing chambers for processing the substrate, which are connected to the preliminary vacuum chamber at intervals in the circumferential direction and are arranged in the circumferential direction with respect to the side surface of the vacuum transfer chamber, and are each formed by providing a cover on the container body. and,

A guide member provided to extend along the circumferential direction of the vacuum transfer chamber,

A movable body guided along the guide member,

A lid holding mechanism which is installed in the movable body so as to pass through the upper side of the processing chamber by the movement of the movable body, and holds and lifts the lid in order to attach and detach the lid from the container body;

And a driving part for moving the movable body along the guide member.

In addition, the lid is provided with a holding portion including a locking portion extending in the horizontal direction and having a space formed downward, and the lid holding mechanism moves in a space below the locking portion while moving along the guide member. The holding | maintenance part which raises a cover by entering and then raising and pulling up the said latching part from below may be provided.

Moreover, the said guide member is comprised so that it may be provided in the said vacuum conveyance chamber, or may be provided with the inner guide member provided between the said vacuum conveyance chamber and a process chamber, and the outer guide member provided in the process chamber on the opposite side to a vacuum conveyance chamber, Also good.

The vacuum conveyance chamber is formed in a polygonal planar shape, and the preliminary vacuum chamber and the processing chamber are connected to other side surfaces of the vacuum conveyance chamber except for the side surface for securing a maintenance area on the outer side thereof. Also good. At this time, in the maintenance area, a cover reversing mechanism for holding and inverting the cover transmitted from the cover holding mechanism may be provided. The vacuum transfer chamber may have six side surfaces, and the preliminary vacuum chamber and four processing chambers may be connected to the side surfaces.

According to the present invention, a lid holding mechanism for holding and removing (opening and closing) a lid is common to a plurality of processing chambers arranged along the periphery of the vacuum transfer chamber. And since this cover holding mechanism is comprised so that the upper area | region of a process chamber can move along the row | line | column of a process chamber, the space of the lateral direction of a vacuum processing chamber is unnecessary when attaching and detaching a cover. For this reason, the enlargement of an apparatus can be suppressed and the increase of footprint can be suppressed.

1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.
2 is a transverse plan view showing the interior of the substrate processing apparatus.
3 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a processing chamber provided in the substrate processing apparatus.
4 is a plan view showing a part of the substrate processing apparatus.
5 is a side view illustrating a part of the substrate processing apparatus.
6 is a side view illustrating a part of the substrate processing apparatus.
7 is a side view for explaining the operation of the substrate processing apparatus.
8 is a side view for explaining the operation of the substrate processing apparatus.
9 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus.
10 is a side view showing another embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus.
It is a side view which shows still another embodiment of the said substrate processing apparatus.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, one Embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus of this invention is described about the case where a FPD board | substrate is processed. As a process to perform, the etching process is given, for example. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overview of the substrate processing apparatus 1, and FIG. 2 is a transverse plan view showing the inside thereof. 1A and 1B in the figure are carrier arranging portions for disposing carriers C1 and C2 in which a plurality of FPD substrates (hereinafter referred to as "substrates") S are housed from the outside. These carrier arranging parts 1A and 1B are comprised so that the carriers C1 and C2 may be raised and lowered by the elevating mechanism 11, for example, and the unprocessed board | substrate S1 is accommodated in one carrier C1, The processed substrate S2 is accommodated in the carrier C2.

Moreover, the load lock chamber 12 which becomes a preliminary vacuum chamber, and the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 are provided in the carrier mounting part 1A, 1B. Moreover, the board | substrate conveying means 21 for conveying the board | substrate S between the two carriers C1 and C2 and the load lock chamber 12 between the carrier mounting parts 1A and 1B is the support stand 14 Installed on the This board | substrate conveying means 21 is equipped with the two arms 22 provided up and down, for example, and the base 23 which supports them so that they can move forward and backward. The load lock chamber 12 is configured such that the atmosphere is switched between a vacuum atmosphere and an atmospheric pressure atmosphere, and as shown in FIG. 2, a buffer rack 15 for supporting the substrate S is disposed therein. It is. 16 in the figure indicates the positioner.

The vacuum conveyance chamber 13 has a planar shape having a polygonal shape, for example, a regular hexagonal shape, and is connected to the load lock chamber 12 at intervals in the circumferential direction and is arranged in the circumferential direction with respect to the side surface thereof. The processing chamber 30 is arrange | positioned. In this example, four processing chambers 30 are hermetically connected to side surfaces corresponding to four sides in the vacuum transfer chamber 13, respectively.

The load lock chamber 12 is hermetically connected to a side surface corresponding to one of the remaining two sides of the vacuum transfer chamber 13, and a maintenance region M is secured to an outer side of the side surface corresponding to the other side. The cover reversal mechanism 4 is provided in this maintenance area M. As shown in FIG. In this example, the load lock chamber 12 and the cover reversal mechanism 4 are provided to face each other.

The vacuum conveyance chamber 13 is comprised so that it may be maintained in a vacuum atmosphere, and as shown in FIG. 2, the substrate conveyance mechanism 25 is arrange | positioned inside. And the board | substrate S is conveyed by the board | substrate conveyance mechanism 25 between the said load lock chamber 12 and four process chambers 30. As shown in FIG.

Moreover, these openings communicate between the load lock chamber 12 and the vacuum transfer chamber 13, between the vacuum transfer chamber 13 and the processing chamber 30, and the load lock chamber 12 and the outside atmosphere. The gate valve GV comprised between the airtight seal | sticker and being able to open and close is interposed, respectively.

Next, the process chamber 30 will be described briefly with reference to FIG. 3. The processing chamber 30 is, for example, formed in a quadrangular shape with a planar shape, and includes a container body 31 having a ceiling opening, and a lid 32 provided to open and close the ceiling opening of the container body 31. . The said lid | cover 32 is comprised so that attachment and detachment with respect to the container main body 31 are carried out by the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 mentioned later. The substrate S is, for example, a square substrate having a size of about 2.2 m on one side and about 2.5 m on the other side, and the processing chamber 30 is set to a size of about 3 m on one side of the horizontal cross section and about 3.5 m on the other side. have.

In the inside of the container main body 31, the mounting table 33 for arranging the board | substrate S is arrange | positioned on the bottom surface through the insulating member 33a. The container main body 31 is connected to a vacuum exhaust means, for example, a vacuum pump 34 via an exhaust path 34a. On the other hand, the gas supply part 35 which is the shower head which forms an upper electrode is supported by the support part 36a which protrudes inside the cover 32 so that the upper side in the process chamber 30 may face the mounting table 33. Is installed. In the figure, 36b is an insulating member, 35a is a gas discharge hole, 37a is a gas supply pipe, 37 is a gas supply system, 38a is a feed rod, 38b is a matching device, and 38 is a high frequency power source.

In such a processing chamber 30, by applying high frequency power from the high frequency power supply 38 to the gas supply unit 35, plasma of the processing gas is formed in the space above the substrate S, and thus the substrate S The etching process is performed. 3, the matching unit 38b, the high frequency power supply 38, the gas supply system 37, etc. are abbreviate | omitted for convenience of illustration.

Here, the processing operation of the substrate S will be briefly described. First, the board | substrate conveying means 21 loads the board | substrate S1 into the load lock chamber 12 from the one carrier C1 which accommodated the unprocessed board | substrate S1. In the load lock chamber 12, the board | substrate S1 is hold | maintained by the buffer rack 15, after the arm 22 of the board | substrate conveying means 21 retreats, the inside of the load lock chamber 12 is exhausted, and the inside Is reduced to a predetermined degree of vacuum. After completion of the vacuum state, the positioner 16 aligns the substrate S1.

Thereafter, the gate valve GV between the load lock chamber 12 and the vacuum transfer chamber 13 is opened to receive the substrate S1 by the substrate transfer mechanism 25, and then the gate valve GV is opened. To close. Subsequently, the gate valve GV between the vacuum transfer chamber 13 and the predetermined processing chamber 30 is opened, and the substrate S1 is brought into the processing chamber 30 by the substrate transfer mechanism 25. After that, the gate valve GV is closed.

In the processing chamber 30, as described above, the plasma is formed in the space on the substrate S1, so that the etching process is performed on the substrate S1. After completion of the etching treatment, the substrate S2 is processed by the substrate transfer mechanism 25, and transferred to the load lock chamber 12, and then the substrate S2 is transferred to the transfer means 21. Thereby, it is conveyed to the carrier C2 for the processed board | substrate. Thereby, the process in one board | substrate is complete | finished, and the above process is performed with respect to all the board | substrates S1 mounted in the carrier C1 for unprocessed board | substrates.

Next, further description is continued about the processing chamber 30. At the center of the upper surface of the lid 32, as shown in Figs. 1 to 5, a held portion 5 is provided. It is a side view seen from the A-A line side in FIG. The held portion 5 includes a pair of hooked members 51 and 51 disposed to face each other. Each vertical portion of these hooked members 51 and 51 is parallel to one side of the vacuum transfer chamber 13 to which the processing chamber 30 is connected, and the center portion of the lid 32 in a direction orthogonal to the one side. Are spaced from each other symmetrically with respect to. Each horizontal portion of the hooked members 51 and 51 extends opposite to each other, and constitutes a latching portion 50 held by the lid holding mechanism 7 described later. In this example, the four processing chambers 30 are configured in the same shape, and the holding portions 5 having the same shape are formed at the same positions on the upper surface of the lid 32 of each processing chamber 30. .

In addition, in the substrate processing apparatus, the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 for opening and closing the lid 32 in combination with the held portion 5 is provided to move along the outer circumference of the vacuum transfer chamber 13. . This cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is equipped with the door frame-shaped moving body 61. As shown in FIG. And the said substrate processing apparatus is equipped with the guide member provided so that it may extend along the circumferential direction of the said vacuum conveyance chamber 13, and the said moving body 61 is comprised so that it may move, guiding along this guide member. In this example, the inner guide rail 62 as an inner guide member is provided on the upper surface of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13, and it faces outward so that it may oppose the said inner guide rail 62 at regular intervals with each process chamber 30 interposed. An outer guide rail 63 as a guide member is provided. Here, as shown in FIG. 5, the process chamber 30 and the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 are supported by the support stand 30a, 13a, respectively, and the outer guide rail 63 is of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 here. It is supported by the strut 63a provided at intervals around it.

In this example, since the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 has a regular hexagonal planar shape, the inner guide rails 62 and the outer guide rails 63 each have a load lock chamber with respect to the center of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13. Except for the area facing 12), they are installed concentrically. In this way, the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 is moved in the same positional relationship with respect to the processing chamber 30 provided in four side surfaces in the vacuum conveyance chamber 13.

The said inner guide rail 62 is provided in the outer periphery area | region in the upper surface of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13, and is maintained in the upper surface of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 in the inner region of the inner guide rail 62. The dragon opening 17 is formed. This opening part 17 has a cover and is normally closed in order to hold the inside of the vacuum transfer chamber 13 in a vacuum. At the time of maintenance, the opening part 17 is comprised larger than the said board | substrate conveyance mechanism 25 so that the board | substrate conveyance mechanism 25 in the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 can be taken out through the said opening part 17. FIG.

The movable body 61 is configured such that one end side thereof is guided along the inner guide rail 62, and the other end side thereof is guided along the outer guide rail 63. In this example, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 5, the movable body 61 is horizontally extended from the vacuum transfer chamber 13 to the outside toward the outside and a vacuum from the horizontal member 64. The inner leg 65 extending downward toward the inner guide rail 62 provided in the transfer chamber 13 and the lower side toward the outer guide rail 63 provided outside the processing chamber 30 from the horizontal member 64. The outer leg part 66 extended to the side is provided.

On the lower end side of the inner leg 65, a plurality of wheels 67A are provided along the moving direction of the lid opening / closing mechanism 6, and these wheels 67A are configured to be driven by the inner moving motor 68A. It is. Moreover, the some wheel 67B is provided in the lower end side of the said outer leg part 66 along the said moving direction, and these wheels 67B are comprised so that it may be driven by the outer movement motor 68B. As shown in Fig. 6, in this example, two wheels are provided as the wheel 67A and the wheel 67B. As for these inner side movement motor 68A and the outer side movement motor 68B, as the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 passes the opening / closing position of each cover 32 in each process chamber 30, the vacuum conveyance room 13 The drive is controlled to move along the outer periphery. In this example, the wheels 67A and 67B and the moving motors 68A and 68B constitute a drive unit for moving the movable body 61 along the guide member.

In addition, the substrate processing apparatus 1 is provided in the movable body 61 so as to pass the upper side of the processing chamber 30 by the movement of the movable body 61, and covers the container body 31 with respect to the container main body 31. In order to attach and detach the 32, the lid holding mechanism 7 which holds and raises the lid 32 is provided. The lid holding mechanism 7 enters a space below the locking portion 50 while moving along the inner and outer guide rails 62 and 63, and then lifts up to lock the locking portion 50. The holding | maintenance part 70 which raises the cover 32 by pulling up from the downward side is provided. This holding part 70 includes a pair of hooked members 71 and 71 disposed to face each other. Each of the vertical portions of the hooked members 71 and 71 is the hooked member 51 of the held portion 5 at the opening and closing position where the holding portion 70 enters the space below the locking portion 50. And 51, and are disposed so as to be located outside of the hook members 51 and 51. Moreover, each horizontal part 70a of the claw members 71 and 71 is comprised so that it may mutually extend inside.

These hook members 71 and 71 are provided so that they can be lifted and lowered by the jack mechanisms 72 and 72 as the lifting mechanism. These jack mechanisms 72 are provided with the lifting shaft 73 in which the thread was formed, and the screw part main body 74 in which the screw thread screwed to this lifting shaft 73 was formed in the inner surface, and the lower end of the lifting shaft 73 The upper ends of the hooked members 71 and 71 are connected to each other. In the figure, 75 is a lift motor, 76 is a speed reducer, and the two screw part main bodies 74 are connected to the lift motor 75 through a common reducer 76 by a coupling 77. In the drawings, reference numeral 78 denotes a support for the screw main body 74, the lifting motor 75, and the reduction gear 76. In such a jack mechanism 72, when the screw part main body 74 is rotated by the lifting motor 75 via the speed reducer 76 and the coupling 77, the lifting shaft in the inside of the screw part main body 74 along the rotational direction. 73 moves up and down along a guide mechanism not shown. In FIG. 5, 78a and 64a are opening portions formed in the support 78 and the horizontal member 64, respectively.

In this way, the lid holding mechanism 7 is lowered when the horizontal opening part 70a is located below the locking part 50 of the to-be-held part 5, when the lid opening-closing mechanism 6 is in the said opening-closing position. By lifting up the position and the said latching part 50 from the downward side, it can be comprised so that lifting up and down is possible between the raise positions which raise the cover 32. FIG.

Moreover, in the lid opening / closing mechanism 6, when the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 is moved along the circumference | surroundings of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 in the state which set the lid holding mechanism 7 to the said lowered position, the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 ) Moves without interfering with the held portion 5 of the processing chamber 30, and at the opening / closing position in each processing chamber 30, the lid is disposed below the locking portion 50 of the held portion 5. The horizontal portion 70a of the holding mechanism 7 is positioned.

As a result, when the lid holding mechanism 7 is raised at the opening and closing position in each processing chamber 30, the locking portion 50 is lifted by the lid holding mechanism 7 to open the lid 32. On the other hand, the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 moves so that the lid | cover 32 may pass over the other process chamber 30 in the state which hold | maintained the lid | cover 32 in the said rising position. For this reason, the said rising position is set to the height which the lifted lid 32 can move, without interfering with the to-be-held part 5 of the other process chamber 30, etc.

The lid 32 held by the lid holding mechanism 7 is transmitted to the container body 31 to block the opening of the container body 31 by lowering the lid holding mechanism 7 at the opening and closing position. Then, the lid opening and closing mechanism 6 resumes movement after further lowering the lid holding mechanism 7 from its delivery position to the lowered position.

In addition, as long as the process chamber 30 is a structure interposed between the inner guide rail 62 and the outer guide rail 63, the process chamber 30 may be configured differently. In this case, when the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 is moved in the circumferential direction of the vacuum transfer chamber 13, when the lid holding mechanism 7 is in the lowered position, the lid holding mechanism 7 is formed in each processing chamber 30. The cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is positioned at the opening / closing position in each processing chamber 30 so as not to interfere with the holding portion 5 of the holding portion 5, and the holding portion 5 is raised when the lid holding mechanism 7 is raised. ), The holding part 5 and the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 of each processing chamber 30 are comprised so that () may be lifted. In such a configuration, when the lid holding mechanism 7 is disposed at the lowered position, the lid opening and closing mechanism 6 is moved to the vacuum transfer chamber 13 without interfering with the held portions 5 of all the processing chambers 30. It can move along an outer periphery, and the cover 32 of all the processing chambers 30 can be opened and closed by the cover opening / closing mechanism 6.

The lid reversal mechanism 4 is configured to hold and invert the lid 32 transferred from the lid holding mechanism 7, for example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 8, and the lid 32 is held. And a rotation drive section 42 for rotating the frame 41 along the horizontal rotation axis. This rotation drive part 42 is provided with the drive motor 43, the speed reducer 44, and the bearing 45, These are supported by the support stand 46. As shown in FIG. The frame 41 is such that the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 holding the lid 32 moves to the lid placement position so as to hold the lid 32 around the lid 32 when the lid 32 is lowered from this position. Consists of.

In addition, in embodiment mentioned above, the upper position of the lid reversal mechanism 4 is set as the standby position of the lid opening / closing mechanism 6. In this example, since the cover reversal mechanism 4 is provided at a position facing the load lock chamber 12 with the vacuum transfer chamber 13 interposed therebetween, the load lock chamber 12 and the cover reversal mechanism 4 are provided. In between, two process chambers 30 are provided on both sides of the lid reversal mechanism 4, respectively. Therefore, for convenience of explanation, the direction from the lid inversion mechanism 4 toward the load lock chamber 12 will be described as the traveling direction of the lid opening / closing mechanism 6.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, as shown to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the position sensor which detects the stop position for stopping the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 in the opening-closing position for every processing chamber 30 is provided. In this example, the position sensor is made of an optical sensor, for example, a light emitting portion is provided on the outer surface of the processing chamber 30, and a light receiving portion is provided at a position corresponding to the light emitting portion on the outer side of the outer guide rail 63. .

For example, in the optical sensor, a first optical sensor 81 and a second optical sensor 82 are prepared for each processing chamber 30. When the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is located at the opening / closing position, the first optical sensor 81 is the first optical sensor at one end side (front side) of the moving body 61 in the advancing direction of the lid opening / closing mechanism 6. It is provided in the position which interrupts the optical axis L of 81. As shown in FIG. Moreover, the 2nd optical sensor 82 is provided in front of the 1st optical sensor 81 in the advancing direction of the cover opening / closing mechanism 6. In the figure, 81A and 82A are light emitting sections, and 81B and 82B are light receiving sections. The detection signals from these photosensors 81 and 82 are output to the control part 100 mentioned later, and the control part 100 based on the said detection signal, the moving motors 67B and 68B of the cover opening / closing mechanism 6. ) Is configured to output a deceleration command or a stop command.

In the substrate processing apparatus, a control unit 100 made of, for example, a computer is provided. This control part 100 is equipped with the data processing part which consists of a program, a memory, and a CPU, and transmits a control signal to the said process room 30, a conveyance system, the cover opening / closing mechanism 6, etc. from the control part 100 to the said program, previously By advancing the predetermined step, a command (each step) is issued so that a process for the substrate S, for example, an etching process, an opening / closing operation of the lid 32, or an inversion operation of the lid 32 is performed. This program is stored in a storage unit such as a computer storage medium such as a flexible disk, a compact disk, a hard disk, or an MO (magnet) disk and installed in the control unit 100.

Moreover, the control part 100 uses the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 to open the process chamber 30 which wants to open the cover 32 from the standby position above the cover reversing mechanism 4 based on the instruction | command from an operator. To move the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 holding the lid 32 to the standby position, or to arrange the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 to the lid reversing mechanism 4, or the like. Output to 67B, 68B and the lifting motor 65. As shown in FIG.

Here, in the control part 100, when the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is stopped in the opening / closing position of each cover 32 in the process chamber 30 by the encoder of the said moving motors 67B and 68B, The rough stop positions of the moving motors 68A and 68B are understood. In this embodiment, the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 is opened at the opening and closing position based on the detection values of the optical sensors 81 and 82 described above. It is made to stop with high precision.

For example, the optical sensors 81 and 82 have neither the optical axis of the first optical sensor 81 nor the optical axis of the second optical sensor 82 blocked when the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 is in the standby position. The signal is in an ON state, and this ON state signal is output to the control unit 100. When the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 moves from the standby position to the processing chamber 30 to open and close the lid 32, first, the optical axis of the second optical sensor 82 is blocked by the one end side of the movable body 61. Since it is turned off, the OFF signal is output from the second optical sensor 82 to the controller 100. The control part 100 outputs a deceleration instruction to the movement motors 68A and 68B of the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 based on the OFF signal, and the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 moves slowly at a lower speed from here.

When the optical axis of the first optical sensor 81 is blocked by the one end side of the moving body 61 and is turned off, the OFF signal is output from the first optical sensor 81 to the controller 100. Based on this OFF signal, the control part 100 outputs a stop command to the moving motors 68A and 68B of the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 to stop the cover opening / closing mechanism 6. As a result, the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 stops accurately at the opening / closing position in each processing chamber 30.

In such a substrate processing apparatus 1, the etching process mentioned above with respect to the board | substrate S was normally performed in the state which made the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 stand by at the standby position above the lid reversal mechanism 4 at normal time. All. And when opening the cover 32 at the time of maintenance of the cover 32 and the processing chamber 30, the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is applied from a standby position in the state which located the cover holding mechanism 7 in the lowered position. It moves toward the process chamber 30 which becomes. At this time, when there is another processing chamber 30 between the standby position and the processing chamber 30 as the target, the horizontal portion 70a of the lid holding mechanism 7 is the holding portion of the processing chamber 30. It passes below the locking part 50 of (5).

And the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is stopped in the opening-closing position of the processing chamber 30 which becomes the said object by the method mentioned above (refer FIG. 7 (a)). In this opening / closing position, as described above, the horizontal portion 70a of the lid holding mechanism 7 in the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 is the portion of the held portion 5 in the processing chamber 30 to be the target. It is located below the locking part 50. Next, as shown in FIG. 7B, by raising the lid holding mechanism 7, the locking portion 50 is pulled up by the horizontal portion 70a, and the processing chamber 30 is provided. Lift the cover 32 off.

In this way, in the state which hold | maintained the cover 32 by the cover opening / closing mechanism 6, the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 moves toward the said cover reversing mechanism 4. As shown in FIG. Subsequently, as shown to Fig.8 (a), it stops in the cover arrangement position of the upper side of the said lid | cover inversion mechanism 4, and descends from there, and transmits the lid | cover 32 to the frame 41. FIG. Then, the lid holding mechanism 7 is further lowered to the lowered position, so that the horizontal portion 70a of the lid holding mechanism 7 is positioned at the latched portion 50 of the held portion 5 in the lid 32. After being located below, the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 is moved to a position which does not interfere with the inversion operation of the lid 32. On the other hand, in the lid reversal mechanism 4, as shown in FIG. 8B, the frame 41 is rotated by the rotation drive unit 42 while the lid 32 is held by the frame 41. ) Is rotated around the horizontal axis to reverse the lid 32. The gas supply part 35 etc. are attached to the back surface of the cover 32, and the cover 32 is inverted and maintenance is performed with the gas supply part 35 facing up.

Moreover, the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 can also be moved toward the target processing chamber 30 from a standby position in the state which located the cover holding mechanism 7 in the raised position. In this case, the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is moved to the opening / closing position after the cover holding mechanism 7 is lowered to the lowered position immediately before the opening / closing position of the target processing chamber 30.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is provided to move along the outer periphery of the vacuum transfer chamber 13, and the cover holding mechanism 7 provided in the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 allows a plurality of processing chambers ( The cover 32 of 30 is respectively lifted up. And since this cover holding mechanism 7 is comprised so that the upper area | region of the process chamber 30 can move along the row | line | column of the process chamber 30, when the lid | cover 32 is attached and detached, the horizontal direction of the process chamber 30 is carried out. Space becomes unnecessary. For this reason, enlargement of an apparatus can be suppressed and increase of an installation area can be suppressed.

Moreover, since the cover 32 of all the processing chambers 30 can be attached or detached by the common cover opening / closing mechanism 6, compared with the structure which provides the opening / closing mechanism of the cover 32 for every processing chamber 30, The size 30 can be reduced, the size of the apparatus can be suppressed, and the increase in the installation area can be suppressed.

In addition, since the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is provided above the process chamber 30, the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 can be miniaturized compared with the structure which provides the cover opening / closing mechanism around the process chamber 30. FIG. Moreover, since what is necessary is just to provide the common cover opening / closing mechanism 6 with respect to the some process chamber 30, it is advantageous also from the viewpoint of manufacturing cost. In addition, since it is not necessary to secure the maintenance area of the cover 32 for each processing chamber 30, a common maintenance area should be secured for the plurality of processing chambers 30, so that the size of the apparatus can be suppressed from this viewpoint. .

Moreover, when the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is comprised in a door frame shape, the one end side moves along the inner guide rail 62, and the other end side moves along the outer guide rail 63. As shown in FIG. For this reason, since the load is distributed, the lid 32 lifted by the lid holding mechanism 7 can be moved in a stable state. As mentioned above, since the process chamber 30 is considerably large and the lid | cover 32 is also about 10000 kg in weight, it is a merit to move to the state which disperse | distributed the load.

In addition, the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is provided separately from the processing chamber 30, and the inner and outer guide rails 62 and 63 are also adapted to the configuration of the processing chamber 30 and the vacuum conveyance chamber 13. You can install it later. Therefore, since it can install in combination with an existing substrate processing apparatus, its use value is high.

In addition, the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is provided to be movable along the outer periphery of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13, and is normally located in the waiting area | region separate from the process chamber 30. As shown in FIG. For this reason, even if the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is provided, no obstacles exist in the vicinity of the gate valve GV between the processing chamber 30 and the vacuum transfer chamber 13, so that maintenance is not disturbed. Moreover, by providing the inner guide rail 62 near the outer periphery of the vacuum transfer chamber 13, the space where the above-mentioned opening part 17 is formed in the ceiling part of the vacuum transfer chamber 13 can be ensured. For this reason, when necessary, the board | substrate conveyance mechanism 25 of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 can be taken out through the said opening part 17, and there exists an advantage that maintenance can be performed.

In this example, although the inner guide rail 62 is directly installed on the upper plate of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13, the inner guide rail 62 is provided on the support plate, and this support plate is installed in the vacuum conveyance chamber 13. It may be provided on the top plate of the). In such a configuration, there is an advantage that the inner guide rail 62 can be manufactured in a separate region and later installed in the vacuum transfer chamber 13. Moreover, you may provide the support | pillar which supports the inner guide rail 62 on the upper plate of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13, and may provide the inner guide rail 62 on this.

Then, another embodiment of this invention is described using FIGS. 9-11. This embodiment differs from the above-described embodiment in that the inner guide rail 91 as the inner guide member is provided between the processing chamber 30 and the vacuum transfer chamber 13, and the inner guide rail 91 and the outer side thereof. The guide rail 92 is installed in the entire circumference of the vacuum transfer chamber 13. By installing the inner guide rail 91 and the outer guide rail 92 around the entire circumference of the vacuum transfer chamber 13, for example, the upper portion of the load lock chamber 12 is the same as the holding portion 5 of the processing chamber 30. By setting it as the cover provided with the holding | maintenance part, the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 can also open and close the cover of the load lock chamber 12. FIG.

The said inner guide rail 91 is provided concentrically with respect to the center of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 in the upper side of the gate valve GV between the process chamber 30 and the vacuum conveyance chamber 13. And the inner guide rail 91 is comprised by the support | pillar 93 provided in the area | region in which the gate valve GV does not exist. In addition, the outer guide rail 92 is supported on the opposite side to the vacuum transfer chamber 13 in the processing chamber 30 by the support 94 in a concentric circle with respect to the center of the vacuum transfer chamber 13. Is installed.

The example shown in FIG. 10 is a structure which provided the inner guide rail 91 and the outer guide rail 92 in the position lower than the upper surface of the process chamber 30, The example shown in FIG. 11 is the inner guide rail 91. FIG. ) And the outer guide rail 92 are provided at a position higher than the upper surface of the processing chamber 30. About other structure, it is the same as that of embodiment mentioned above.

Also in these examples, since the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 moves along the outer periphery of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 on the inner guide rail 91 and the outer guide rail 92, it is an apparatus similar to the above-mentioned embodiment. The increase in size can be suppressed and the increase in the installation area can be suppressed. Moreover, by providing the inner guide rail 91 above the gate valve GV, it can install in the whole periphery of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13. For this reason, since the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 can move around the vacuum conveyance chamber 13, movement control becomes easy.

Moreover, since the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 is comprised in the door frame shape like the above-mentioned embodiment, the cover 32 can be moved to the stable state in the state which disperse | distributed load, and the inner guide rail 91, The outer guide rail 92 and the cover opening / closing mechanism 6 can be provided later with respect to the existing substrate processing apparatus. Moreover, since the inner guide rail 91 is provided outside the vacuum conveyance chamber 13, the opening part 17 mentioned above can be formed in the ceiling part of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13, and maintenance becomes convenient.

As mentioned above, you may comprise so that the inner guide rail may be provided in the ceiling part of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 in the state supported by the support | pillar provided around the vacuum conveyance chamber 13. In addition, when the weight of the lid 32 is light, for example, because the processing chamber 30 is small, the lid opening / closing mechanism 6 is not limited to a door frame shape, and the vacuum transfer chamber 13 side or the vacuum transfer chamber is used. You may comprise so that it may extend so that it may extend to the process chamber 30 from either one of the opposite sides to 13, and to support only one side. In this case, the guide member is provided in either the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 side or the opposite side to the vacuum conveyance chamber 13.

Moreover, you may provide the some cover opening / closing mechanism 6 so that it may move along a common guide member. In addition, the planar shape of the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 is not limited to the regular polygonal shape, and is not limited to the case where several process chambers also comprise the same shape mutually. In addition, the number of the process chambers 30 connected to the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 may be as many as two or more, and it is not necessary to necessarily provide the cover reversal mechanism 4 of the cover 32. Moreover, even when providing the cover reversal mechanism 4, the arrangement | positioning of the processing chamber 30 and the cover reversal mechanism 4 around the vacuum conveyance chamber 13 can be selected suitably. Moreover, the drive part for moving a movable body along a guide member may be only the slider which moves along a guide member by a motor. Moreover, also about the lifting mechanism which raises and lowers the lid holding mechanism 7, the movable body is provided in the upper end of the hook-type members 71 and 71, and the lifting shaft with a screw thread rotates with respect to this movable body, and the said movable body The sieve may be configured to elevate along the elevating shaft.

In addition, as long as the holding part 5 provided in the cover 32 is a structure which the lid holding mechanism 7 raises and lowers the holding part 5, the shape is not limited, The side surface of the cover 32 is not limited. It may be installed in. In addition, it is not necessary to provide the holding part 5 to the cover 32, and a magnet may be provided in the lower end of the cover holding mechanism 7, and it may make it lift | suck and hold | cover a lift by this magnet.

S: FPD board | substrate, 13: conveyance chamber, 30: processing chamber, 31: container main body, 32: cover, 4: cover inversion mechanism, 5: holding part, 50: locking part, 6: cover opening / closing mechanism, 62, 91: Inner guide rail, 63, 92: outer guide rail, 67A, 67B: wheel, 68A, 68B: moving motor, 7: cover holder, 70: horizontal part

Claims (6)

A vacuum transfer chamber in which a substrate transfer mechanism is provided and maintained in a vacuum atmosphere;
A preliminary vacuum chamber connected to a side surface of the vacuum transfer chamber,
A plurality of processing chambers for processing a substrate, which are connected to the preliminary vacuum chamber at intervals in the circumferential direction and are arranged in the circumferential direction with respect to a side surface of the vacuum conveying chamber, and are each provided with a cover on the container body; ,
A guide member provided to extend along the circumferential direction of the vacuum transfer chamber,
A movable body guided along the guide member,
A lid holding mechanism which is installed in the movable body so as to pass through the upper side of the processing chamber by the movement of the movable body, and holds and lifts the lid in order to attach and detach the lid with respect to the container body;
Drive unit for moving the movable body along the guide member
Substrate processing apparatus comprising a. The said cover is provided with the to-be-held part extended in the horizontal direction and including the latched part which provided the space below, and the said cover holding mechanism moves below the said latched part, moving along the said guide member. The holding | maintenance part which raises a cover by entering into the space of the side, and raising it after that, and lifting up the said latching part from the lower side is provided, The substrate processing apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. The said guide member is provided in the said vacuum conveyance chamber, or the inner guide member provided between the said vacuum conveyance chamber and a process chamber, and the said process chamber is provided in the opposite side to a vacuum conveyance chamber. A substrate processing apparatus comprising an outer guide member. The said vacuum conveyance chamber is formed in polygonal plane shape, The said preliminary | backup vacuum conveyance chamber is a preliminary | surface, respectively in the other side except the side surface for ensuring a maintenance area in the outer side of the said vacuum conveyance chamber. A substrate processing apparatus, wherein a vacuum chamber and a processing chamber are connected. 5. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a cover inversion mechanism for holding and inverting the cover transmitted from the cover holding mechanism is provided in the maintenance region. 5. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 4, wherein the vacuum transfer chamber has six side surfaces, and one of the preliminary vacuum chambers and four processing chambers is connected to these side surfaces.

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