Substrate processing apparatus

Substrate processing device

The present invention relates to a substrate processing device suitable for manufacturing display devices, such as liquid crystal displays.

When manufacturing display devices such as liquid crystal displays or plasma displays, it is necessary to process on a plate-like material, which then forms the substrate of the device. This material is collectively referred to as "substrate" in this specification. In the manufacture of liquid crystal displays, for example, a processing procedure of arranging a transparent electrode on the front surface of a glass substrate is required.

The substrate processing device used for this process contains a chamber so that a substrate can be processed in a desired environment. The chamber usually contains a pumping system to pump it to a vacuum pressure, or a gas injection system to pump a desired gas into it. The substrate processing device usually contains a plurality of chambers to allow different processes to be continuously performed, or to allow the pressure to be gradually reduced from the environment.

Traditional substrate processing equipment is divided into two types. One is called the straight line type, the other is called the ring group tool type.

Fig. 6 schematically shows an in-line type as an example of a conventional substrate processing apparatus. The in-line device contains a large number of chambers 11, 2, 3, 12, etc., arranged in a row. A conveying device is also provided to send a substrate through the chambers 11, 2, 3, 12, etc. A gate valve 10 is provided at the junction of the chambers 11, 2, 3, and 12.

The substrate 9 is placed on a tray, and the tray is sent to the chambers 11, 2, 3, and 12 in order by the conveying system. One of the chambers is a load lock chamber 11, and when the substrate 9 is fed, the chamber will be open to the outside environment. Another chamber is an unloading positioning chamber, when the substrate 9 is sent out At times, it will also be open to the external environment. One of the remaining chambers is a processing chamber 2, that is, a chamber for processing. The buffer chamber 3 is provided between the processing chamber 2 and the loading chamber 11 and between the processing chamber 2 and the unloading chamber 12. The buffer chamber 3 is set up because the loading chamber 11 and the unloading chamber 12 will have a considerable pressure difference with the processing chamber 2. The buffer chamber 3 can relax the pressure difference by maintaining the intermediate pressure of the pressure difference.

As shown in FIG. 6, the conveying system uses rollers 41 to convey the tray 91 on which the substrate 9 is placed. The conveying rollers 41 are arranged at both ends of a rotating rod, and the rotating rod is arranged horizontally and perpendicular to the conveying direction. The conveying system is composed of a plurality of rotating rods and a pair of rollers 41, which are arranged along the conveying direction. As shown in Fig. 6, the base material 9 is conveyed and processed in a horizontal form.

On the other hand, Fig. 7 schematically shows a ring-group tool type device as another example of a conventional substrate processing device. The design type of the ring assembly tool device is that a loading lock chamber 11 and a plurality of processing chambers 2 are arranged around a transfer chamber 5, and the transfer chamber 5 contains a transfer robot 42. The example shown in Figure 7 has two load lock chambers 11. The gate valve 10 is arranged between the transfer chamber 5 and each loading chamber 11 and between the transfer chamber 5 and each processing chamber 2.

The transfer robot 42 removes a substrate 9 from a loading and locking chamber 11 and sends it into each processing chamber 2 in sequence. After all the processing procedures are completed, the transfer robot 42 will return the substrate 9 to the one or the other loading chamber 11. Although the chamber 11 shown in Figure 7 also has the function of unloading the positioning chamber, the name "loading lock chamber" is still used.

The transfer robot 42 includes a multi-toggle arm whose top end can place the substrate 9. The robot 42 can transfer the substrate 9 by the telescopic, rotating, and up-and-down movements of the arm. The substrate 9 also maintains a horizontal form during the transfer process and the manufacturing process of the processing chamber 2.

The increase in the size of the substrate is the main trend in the above-mentioned substrate processing equipment. For example, not only computer monitors, other liquid crystal displays and plasma displays, etc., are all considered to be practical wall-mounted TV monitors in the near future. The display area of the TV monitor on the wall is larger than that of the computer monitor. Therefore, the substrate will also be enlarged. Moreover, the current general trend is to produce a larger number of products on one substrate to improve productivity or reduce manufacturing costs. This will also lead to the enlargement of these substrates.

Since these substrates have a tendency to increase in the background, the conventional substrate processing apparatus will face the following problems. First, in the linear in-line and ring tool type devices, a substrate is kept in a horizontal form during transportation (or conveying) and processing. Therefore, when the substrate is enlarged, the horizontal area occupied by each chamber will inevitably increase accordingly. As a result, the overall footprint of the device must also be enlarged.

In the in-line device shown in Figure 6, when the chambers 11, 2, 3, 12, etc. are enlarged, the linear length of the device will inevitably increase. In the manufacture of home wall TV displays, it is considered that it is necessary to process a substrate of about 1×1.2 meters in size. The in-line device used to process substrates of this size will have a linear length of more than ten meters.

In the ring group tool device shown in Figure 7, the enlargement of the substrate will directly increase the floor space of each chamber, resulting in the entire device occupying the floor. Product increase. The most serious problem in the ring group device is the enlargement of the transfer chamber 5. It can be understood from Figure 7 that although the rotation axis of the robot 42 is located in the center of the chamber 5, the base material 9 is rotated away from the center of the chamber 5 because the base material 9 is placed flat The top of the arm. Therefore, the radius of the horizontal circular space required for the rotation of the substrate, hereinafter referred to as the "required space radius", is greater than twice the side length of the substrate. Therefore, when the substrate 9 is enlarged, the required space radius will double the transfer chamber 5. For example, when processing the aforementioned 1×1.2 meter size substrate, the required space radius will easily exceed 2 meters.

The transfer chamber 5 usually needs to be pumped by a pumping system. When the chamber 5 is enlarged, there will be a problem that it takes longer to pump to a required pressure, and a high-performance pumping system 1 requires a higher cost. Furthermore, basically, the transfer chamber 5 is not necessary for the processing of the substrate. It is not an excellent design to make the unnecessary component occupy most of the space in the device.

The second problem caused by magnifying the substrate is that the substrate will bend. In a display device such as a liquid crystal display, making a device thinner is like making the display area larger, which is a major market demand. According to this demand, the substrates will not tend to be thicker, but will tend to be thinner, although they will be enlarged. For example, the thickness of the aforementioned substrate with a size of 1 x 1.2 meters is only about 0.7 mm.

When the thin substrates are transported (or conveyed) and processed horizontally, the substrates may be bent due to the increase in weight. In an in-line device, for example, the substrate 9 is not in contact with the conveying roller 41. Will easily bend downwards. In the ring tool type device, the substrate 9 will bend on the side that is not in contact with the robot arm.

When processing on a curved substrate, the substrate may lose uniformity, which may cause a performance defect, such as display unevenness. In addition, since inconsistent stress is formed in the substrate 9, the possibility of the substrate cracking will increase, which will reduce the reliability of the product.

For the ring group device, the actual situation will even become impossible to transfer the enlarged substrate 9 by the robot 42. Because the size and stiffness of the robotic arm must be fully increased. In addition, it must perform the expansion, rotation, and up-and-down movements of the enlarged-sized arm with higher accuracy. However, it is very difficult to make such an enlarged action mechanism with sufficient accuracy. Therefore, it is believed that this multi-toggle arm robot will reach its practical limit in the near future.

The third problem caused by the magnification of the substrate is related to the maintenance of the device. The chambers that make up a device can be opened for maintenance. For example, when a conveying (or conveying) error occurs in a chamber, after stopping the operation of the device, the inside of the chamber can be inspected and repaired. If it is found that the substrate is not correctly placed on the conveying roller or the robot arm, the substrate can be returned to the correct position, and then the operation of the device can be restored.

Each of these chambers has a door for these maintenance. Usually, the top plate of the chamber is provided with a hinge so that it can be used as a door for inspection of the substrate. After the top plate is opened, it can be checked by visual observation whether any foreign substances are present on the front surface of the substrate.

However, when a chamber is enlarged due to the enlargement of the substrate, the door will also be enlarged. Big. If a substrate is enlarged to the aforementioned size, the size of the door can easily exceed 1×1 meter. When the door is enlarged to this size, it will be less likely to be opened manually. Therefore, it will be necessary to set up a large-scale organization, such as a heavy equipment.

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems. In order to achieve this objective, the present invention provides a substrate processing device, which includes: a substrate holder can hold the substrate at a holding angle of 45 degrees to 90 degrees; a conveying system can transport the substrate by moving the substrate holder Substrate; a processing chamber which can process the substrate; a loading lock chamber, the substrate will temporarily stay in the transport process between the external environment and the processing chamber; an intermediate chamber is provided in the Between the processing chamber and the loading lock chamber. The holding angle is the angle formed by the substrate and the horizontal plane. The conveying system conveys the substrate between the load lock chamber and the intermediate chamber, and between the intermediate chamber and the processing chamber. The conveying device conveys the substrate along a first direction, the first direction being a direction from the loading lock chamber to the intermediate chamber, or the direction from the intermediate chamber to the processing chamber. Moreover, the conveying system can also convey the substrate in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction.

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of the device of the first embodiment; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the substrate holder and the conveying system in the first embodiment; Fig. 3 is a front view of the conveying system in the intermediate chamber 7 Schematic diagram; Figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the device of the first embodiment; Figure 5 is a schematic plan view of the device of the second embodiment; Fig. 6 shows a linear in-line device as an example of a conventional substrate processing device; Fig. 7 shows a ring group tool device as another example of a conventional substrate processing device.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention are described below. Although the present invention can be applied to an apparatus for performing any kind of processing, the apparatus described below is, for example, a device for sputtering. The apparatus of the first embodiment is explained with reference to Fig. 1. Figure 1 is a schematic plan view of the device of the first embodiment.

As shown in Figure 1, the device contains a processing chamber 2, an intermediate chamber 7, two loading lock chambers 11, and a delivery system (not shown in Figure 1), which can be moved and held The substrate holder (not shown in Figure 1) holding the substrate is used to transport the substrate. The processing chamber 2 is airtightly connected to one side of the intermediate chamber 7, and each loading chamber 11 is airtightly connected to the other side of the intermediate chamber 7 in parallel. A gate valve 10 is provided at each connection.

The chambers 11, 2, and 7 are all airtight vacuum chambers, which are pumped by a pumping system (not shown in the first figure). Outside the loading chamber 11 is a loading station where an unprocessed substrate will be loaded on the substrate holder, and a processed substrate will be unloaded by the substrate holder.

The first important feature of the device of this embodiment is that the substrate holder will hold the substrate to form a vertical or nearly vertical. In other words, the front surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder will be at an angle of 45 to 90 degrees with the horizontal. This angle is hereinafter referred to as the "holding angle". The substrate will maintain this holding angle to be conveyed by the conveying system and processed.

The substrate holder and the conveying system are illustrated in detail in Fig. 2. NS Figure 2 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the substrate holder and the conveying system in the first embodiment. The substrate holding member 92 shown in Figure 2 mainly includes a horizontal middle plate 921, a pair of receiving plates 922 and 923 fixed on the middle plate 921 facing upwards, and a supporting plate 924 fixed downwards On the bottom surface of the middle plate 921. The bearing plates 922 and 923 are bent at the bottom edge. The supporting plates 922 and 923 are fixed on the intermediate plate 92 at the curved bottom edge. The upward parts of the supporting plates 922 and 923, hereinafter referred to as the "main parts", are opposed to each other and inclined to each other. The angle of the main parts of the supporting plates 922 and 923 relative to the horizontal plane, that is, the angle shown by θ, is 45 to 90 degrees. This angle θ is equivalent to the holding angle.

The main parts of the supporting plates 922 and 923 have a rectangular opening 925. The substrate 9 to be processed in the apparatus of this embodiment is assumed to be rectangular. The openings 925 of the supporting plates 922 and 923 are slightly smaller than the base material 9. Each base material 9 is supported by the supporting plates 922 and 923, and is in contact with the main part, that is, attached to the main part. Each opening 925 will be closed by each attached substrate 9.

The supporting plate 924 is vertically extended from the center of the bottom surface of the middle plate 921. Viewed from the side, the supporting plate 924 and the middle plate 921 form a "T" shape together. The direction of the top edge of the supporting plate 924 fixed on the middle plate 921 is parallel to the edge of the middle plate 921. The top and bottom edges of the substrate 9 to be held are also parallel to the edges of the middle plate 921.

In this embodiment, the conveying system uses a rack and pinion mechanism to convey the substrate 9. Specifically, a rack 43 is provided on both sides of the supporting plate 924. The racks 43 will run along the edge corresponding to the edge of the middle plate 921 Extend horizontally.

The conveying system is mainly composed of gears 44 meshing with the rack 43 and a gear drive unit 45. The gear drive unit 45 mainly includes a drive gear 451 connected to each gear 44 via a drive rod, etc., a timing belt 452 that winds a set of drive gears 451, a motor 453 connected to one of the drive gears 451, and A shaft seat 454 and the like supporting the shafts of the remaining drive gears 451.

In FIG. 2, when the motor 453 is operated, the timing belt 452 will be used to rotate the driving gears 451 and the like. These rotations will drive the gears 44 through the shafts. The rack 43 will move horizontally due to the rotation of the gears 44, thereby causing the substrate holder 92 to move horizontally as a whole. Therefore, the substrate 9 placed on the holding member 92 will be transported.

As shown in Figure 2, a guide rail 48 supports the entire substrate holding member 92 and can guide its movement. The guide rail 48 has a groove into which the bottom edge of the support plate 924 can be inserted. The bottom edge of the supporting plate 924 can be smoothly slid by means of a bearing member or the like arranged on the inner surface of the groove. A magnetic levitation mechanism that allows the bottom edge of the support plate 924 to float in the groove is more suitable for use because it can prevent pollutants such as dust from being released from the groove.

The combination of the gear 44, the gear drive unit 45 and the guide rail 48 will be arranged in each of the loading lock chamber 11, the intermediate chamber 7, the processing chamber 2 and the loading station (not shown). When each gear 44 is driven by each gear drive unit 45 at any position, the substrate holder 92 will move along the extending direction of the rack 43, and the substrate 9 will be moved from the loading station through a loading chamber The chamber 11 and the intermediate chamber 7 are sent to the processing chamber 2.

It can be seen from FIG. 1 that the direction from each loading chamber 11 to the intermediate chamber 7 corresponds to the direction from the intermediate chamber 7 to the processing chamber 2. The conveying direction of the aforementioned rack and pinion mechanism also corresponds to this direction. This direction is hereinafter referred to as the "first direction". In addition, the direction from each loading chamber 11 to the intermediate chamber 7 does not necessarily correspond to the direction from the intermediate chamber 7 to the processing chamber 2. If the former does not correspond to the latter, either of the two directions can be used as the first direction.

The second important feature of this embodiment is that in addition to the first direction, the substrate 9 can also be transported along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. This point is illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. Figure 3 is a schematic front view of the delivery system in the intermediate chamber 7.

As shown in Fig. 3, it is a pair of composites composed of gear 44, gear drive unit 45, guide rail 48, etc., which are separately arranged on the left and right. The gear 44, the driving device 45, the guide rail 48, etc. of each composition are fixed on a bottom plate 46. The bottom plates 46 are tied on the same horizontal plane. The combination of the gear 44, the drive device 45, the guide rail 48, and the bottom plate 46 on the right is hereinafter referred to as the "right conveying mechanism 4R". The combination of the gear 44, the driving device 45, the guide rail 48 and the bottom plate 46 on the left is hereinafter referred to as the "left conveying mechanism 4L". The right conveying mechanism 4R and the left conveying mechanism 4L basically have the same components. Fig. 2 shows the right conveying mechanism 4R in Fig. 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, a guide rod 471 is provided below the bottom plate 46 of each conveying mechanism 4R, 4L. As shown in Figure 2, the number of the guide rods 471 is two. The distance between the two guide rods 471 is slightly narrower than the width of each bottom plate 46. Linear bearings 472 are provided on the bottom surface of each bottom plate 46. Each linear bearing system is located on the bottom surface of the bottom plate 46 At all corners of the house.

As shown in FIG. 3, a right driving rod 474 is fixed to the right side of the bottom plate 46 in the right conveying mechanism 4R by a right fixing plate 473. A left driving rod 476 is fixed to the left side of the bottom plate 46 of the left conveying mechanism 4L by a left fixing plate 475. A right linear actuator 477 is connected to the right drive rod 474, and a left linear actuator 478 is connected to the left drive rod 476. The linear actuators 477 and 478 may be pneumatic cylinders, for example.

When the right linear actuator 477 is operated, the entire right conveying mechanism 4R will be guided by the guide rail 471 and the like to move linearly. Therefore, the substrate holder 92 will carry the substrate 9 and move together. On the other hand, when the left linear actuator 478 is operated, the entire left conveying mechanism 4L will be guided by the guide rod 471 to move linearly. Therefore, the substrate holder 92 will carry the substrate 9 and move together.

It can be seen from the above description that the conveying direction of the substrate 92 corresponds to the extending direction of the guide rod 471. The extending direction of the guide rods 471 is the second direction. Therefore, in addition to the first direction, the substrate 9 can also be transported in the second direction.

The third important feature of this embodiment is that the substrate 9 is heated by a heater 6 in the intermediate chamber 7 before being processed in the processing chamber 2. In this embodiment, a ceramic heater will be used as the heater 6. The ceramic heater is in the shape of a flat plate and is arranged parallel to the base material 9 positioned on the holder 92.

As shown in Fig. 3, the heater 6 is connected to the bottom plate 46 of the left conveying mechanism 4L by a bracket 61. The bracket 6 includes a supporting portion 611 fixed on the bottom plate 46, and a heater holding member 612 provided on the supporting portion 611. As in section 3 As shown in the figure, the support portion 611 is horizontally bent at the top end of the suspending member 612.

The holding member 612 holds the top edge and the bottom edge of the plate heater 6. The holding member 612 contains a cable connected to the heater 6 and a power supply (not shown). As shown in Figure 3, the heater holding member 612 has a symmetrical structure, and can hold a pair of heaters 6 on the left and right sides. Therefore, a pair of substrates 9 can be heated at the same time. The aforementioned openings 925 and the like of the supporting plates 922 and 923 are fed by the heater 6 with sufficient radiation to heat the substrates 9.

Figure 4 illustrates the operation of the conveying system. Figure 4 is a schematic plan view for explaining the operation of the device of the first embodiment. In Figure 4, only the support plate 924 is shown to represent the position of the substrate holder 92.

First, the holder 92 holding a pair of unprocessed substrates 9 will be moved to the load lock chamber 11 on the left. When the gate valve 10 between the left loading chamber 11 and the outside is closed, the gate valve 10 between the left loading chamber 11 and the middle chamber 7 will be opened. Then, the conveying system will move the substrate holder 92 to the intermediate chamber 7, as shown in Fig. 4(1).

Specifically, the left linear actuator 478 will operate forward to align the left conveying mechanism 4L with the conveying mechanism (not shown) in the left loading chamber 11. In other words, the guide rail 48 and the gear 44 of the left conveying mechanism 4L will be aligned with the components in the left loading chamber 11. This position of the left conveying mechanism 4L is hereinafter referred to as the "left conveying position".

In this state, when the gear drive unit 45 of the left loading chamber 11 is operated synchronously with the gear drive unit 45 of the left transport mechanism 4L, the substrate holder 92 will be transported by the left loading chamber 11 Mechanism is released, and by the middle The left conveying mechanism 4L in the chamber 7 is accepted. When the holding member 92 reaches a required position on the bottom plate 46, the operation of each gear driving unit 45 will stop. Then, the gate valve 10 between the left loading chamber 11 and the middle chamber 7 will be closed.

When the holding member 92 is received by the left conveying mechanism 4L, each base material 9 is held so that its surface faces the heater 6. As mentioned above, the heaters 6 will preheat the untreated substrates 9 before they are sent into the intermediate chamber 7.

After the preheating is completed, the left conveying mechanism 4L is ready to move the substrate holder 92 to the processing chamber 2. Specifically, by operating the left linear actuator 478 again, the holding member 92 will be moved to the center of the intermediate chamber 7, as shown in Fig. 4(2). This position is where the guide rails 48 and gears 44 are aligned with the opposing components in the processing chamber 2. This position is hereinafter referred to as the "processing side conveying position". At the same time, the right conveying mechanism 4R will stop back to the right position in the middle chamber 7.

In this state, when the gate valve 10 between the intermediate chamber 7 and the processing chamber 2 is opened, the gear drive unit 45 of the left conveying mechanism 4L and the gear drive unit (not shown) in the processing chamber 2 , It will operate simultaneously to move the substrate holder 9 into the processing chamber 2.

When processing in the processing chamber 2, the left conveying mechanism 4L takes a form that can accept the next substrate. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4(3), the next holding member 92 holding the next pair of unprocessed substrates 9 will move to the left loading chamber 11. The left linear actuator 478 will operate again to move the left conveying mechanism 4L back to the left conveying position. Then, the conveying mechanism in the left loading chamber 11 and the left conveying mechanism 4L in the middle chamber 7 will operate at the same time, and the next The substrate holder 92 is moved into the intermediate chamber 7. When the first pair of substrates 9 are processed in the processing chamber 2, the pair of substrates 9 positioned above and below the next holding member 92 will be preheated by the heater 6.

After the processing in the processing chamber 2 is completed, the first substrate holder 92 will be moved into the right loading chamber 11 by the right conveying mechanism 4R in the middle chamber 7. Specifically, the right linear actuator 477 operates to move the right conveying mechanism 4R to the processing side conveying position. After opening the gate valve 10 between the processing chamber 2 and the intermediate chamber 7, the gear drive unit 45 in the processing chamber 2 and the gear drive unit 45 of the right conveying mechanism 4R will operate simultaneously to remove the first substrate The holding member 92 is moved from the processing chamber 2 to the intermediate chamber 7, as shown in Fig. 4(4). The first substrate holding member 92 will be received by the right conveying mechanism 4R. When the first substrate holding member 92 reaches the required position on the bottom plate 46, the gear driving units 45 will stop.

Then, as shown in Fig. 4(5), the right linear actuator 477 operates to move the right conveying mechanism 4R back to the initial position. This position is where the guide rails 48 and gears 44 are aligned with the counterpart components in the right loading chamber 11. This position is hereinafter referred to as the "right conveying position". After opening the gate valve 10 between the middle chamber 7 and the right loading chamber 11, the first substrate holder 92 will be moved into the right loading chamber 11, as shown in Fig. 4(6). After closing the gate valve 10 between the middle chamber 7 and the right loading chamber 11, the right loading chamber 11 will be connected to the external pressure. Then, the gate valve 10 between the right loading chamber 11 and the outside is opened, and the first substrate holder 92 will be moved out to the loading station.

At the same time, as shown in Figures 4(5) and (6), the next substrate holding member 92 will be moved into the processing chamber by the same operation. And the next substrate holder 92 It will be moved into the left loading chamber 11 again. The left conveying mechanism 4L will return to the left conveying position to receive the next substrate holder 92.

During the above operation, each substrate holder 92 will be sequentially moved into the left loading chamber 11, the left conveying mechanism 4L, the processing chamber 2, the right conveying mechanism 4R, and the right loading chamber 11. To transport and process the substrate 9. The substrate holder 92 removed from the right loading chamber 11 will hold another pair of unprocessed substrates 9 and be moved into the left loading chamber 11 again.

It can be seen from the foregoing description that two or three (or even four) substrate holders 92 are simultaneously fed into the device. When processing in the processing chamber 2, the subsequent preheating of the substrate 9, and the operations of feeding and unloading through the loading chamber 11 are all completed. Therefore, the device has high productivity.

In the device, it is better to have a structure at the entrance of the guide rail 48 that can easily accept the bottom edge of the support plate 924. Because during the conveying operation, the substrate holder 92 will be transferred from a rear-end rail 48 to a front-end rail 48. If the bottom edge of the support plate 924 is not correctly inserted into the front guide rail 48, it will cause conveying errors. In order to prevent this transportation error, the entrance of the guide rail 48 should have a push-pull structure, so that the bottom edge of the support plate 924 can be easily received.

Next, the processing chamber 2 will be explained in detail using Fig. 1 again. As mentioned above, the device of this embodiment is a sputtering device. Therefore, a sputtering operation is performed in the processing chamber 2. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the processing chamber 2 includes a pumping system 21 for pumping its interior, and a gas introduction system 21 for injecting a gas for sputtering therein. The pumping system 21 can use a vacuum pump such as a turbomolecular pump or a cryopump to pump the processing chamber 2 to about 10^-³~10^-⁵Pa. The gas introduction system 22 can introduce argon or nitrogen as the gas to provide sputtering at a required flow rate.

As shown in FIG. 1, a pair of sputtering cathodes 24 are provided in the processing chamber 2. The sputtering cathodes 24 are airtightly arranged with the wall of the processing chamber 2. Each sputtering cathode 24 mainly includes a target material whose sputtering surface is exposed inside the processing chamber, and a magnet is arranged on the back of the target material.

The target material is made of the same material as the film deposited on the substrate 9. For the uniformity of the film deposition, the target material should preferably be able to face the substrate 9 in parallel. The magnet unit can perform magnetron sputtering. A sputtering power source 26 for sputtering discharge is connected to each cathode 24. Each power supply 26 generates a high negative DC voltage or a high frequency AC voltage.

During the conveying operation, the substrates 9 will stop at the position where they face the sputtering cathode 24. In this state, the gas introduction system 22 will introduce the gas, and the sputtering power supply 26 will operate. As a result, the sputtering discharge will be induced. The particles, usually atoms, will be released from the target, reach the substrate 9 through the sputtering discharge zone, and deposit the thin film material of the target on the substrate 9.

As an example of this thin film deposition, a target made of indium tin oxide (ITO) is sputtered to deposit an ITO film of a transparent electrode. Another target made of chromium (Cr) is sputtered to deposit a Cr film of a color filter.

In the foregoing operation, the left loading chamber 11 is only used for transporting untreated substrates 9, and the right loading chamber 11 is only used for transporting processed substrates 9. But this is not necessarily immutable. It can also use the two loading chambers 11 to feed in and out the substrate 9, or change the opposite role to use the Two loading chamber 11. If the substrate holder 92 is moved between the left conveying mechanism 4L and the right loading chamber 11, the left conveying mechanism 4L must be retracted to a more left position.

The device of this embodiment has the following important advantages. First, the substrate 9 is conveyed and processed in a vertical or nearly vertical state, so it will have the advantage of avoiding an increase in the footprint of the device. Specifically, because the substrate 9 will be transported and processed vertically or nearly vertically, the floor space of the loading chamber 11, the intermediate chamber 7, and the processing chamber 2 will be larger than that of the substrate. 9 is even smaller when it is transported and handled horizontally. Especially when the substrate 9 is enlarged, the area occupied by each chamber must also be enlarged to the same extent. On the contrary, in the device of this embodiment, although its vertical length must be enlarged, basically the floor space of each chamber does not need to be enlarged. Therefore, the entire area occupied by the device does not need to be enlarged.

The described device is often installed in a clean room. The enlargement of the device requires the enlargement of the clean room, which will increase the construction cost and the operation cost of the clean room. Therefore, the device of this embodiment has the advantage of reducing the cost of constructing and operating the clean room, because its floor space has not been enlarged, even when the substrate 9 has been enlarged.

In addition, the substrate 9 is transported and processed vertically or nearly vertically, which also has the great advantage of avoiding bending of the substrate 9. When the substrate 9 is transported and processed horizontally, the substrate 9 will bend due to its weight. In contrast, in this embodiment, the substrate 9 is positioned on the holding member 92 and attached to the substrate holding member 92. Therefore, the base material 9 will not bend due to its weight. This means that there will be no reduction in processing uniformity, or product defects such as non-uniformity. The cause of the defect, or the cause of cracking due to the inconsistent residual internal stress of the base material 9 does not occur.

In addition, since the substrate 9 is conveyed and processed vertically or nearly vertically, it has the advantage of making the device easier to maintain. As mentioned earlier, each chamber in the device is provided with a door for maintenance of its interior. Because in this embodiment, the area occupied by each chamber is reduced, there is no need to install a large-sized door, even if it is installed on the top wall of each chamber. Since the front surface of the substrate 9 is directed to the side, the door can be provided on the side wall of each chamber. In this case, even a large-size door can be easily opened and closed with human power.

The holding angle θ is stated to be 45 to 90 degrees. This is because when the angle θ is less than 45 degrees, the aforementioned advantages cannot be obtained, which means that the substrate 9 is in a form closer to the horizontal rather than vertical. The holding angle θ is more preferably 70 to 85 degrees. If the angle θ exceeds 85 degrees or is close to 90 degrees, the substrate 9 may not be sufficiently fixed on the holding member 92, but only attached to it. In this case, the substrate 9 may accidentally fall from the holding member 92 due to some vibration. To avoid this, a clamping mechanism may be required to clamp the substrate 9 to the holding member 92. However, these clamping mechanisms will make the structure of the holding member 92 more complicated, and make it more troublesome to load and unload the substrate 9. When the angle θ is 70 degrees or greater, the aforementioned advantages will be more enhanced.

Furthermore, the substrate 9 can be transported along the second direction in addition to the first direction in the intermediate chamber 7, which will have the following advantages. First, if the substrate 9 is only transported along the first direction, it will not be loaded into the chamber 11 It is connected to the processing chamber 2 and the intermediate chamber 7 in a straight line, otherwise it will not be suitable for any other chamber arrangement. In other words, only the conventional linear arrangement can be used. As mentioned above, this in-line method will have a problem, that is, when the substrate 9 is enlarged, the device will be lengthened in the in-line direction.

On the contrary, in this embodiment, since the substrate 9 can also be transported in the second direction in addition to the first direction, a plurality of the chambers, such as the loading chamber 11 on the left and the right, can be combined with The intermediate chambers 7 are arranged side by side. Therefore, the number of chambers can be increased without having to lengthen the device. This is particularly advantageous when the device continuously performs many different processing treatments, or when many chambers are required to alleviate the pressure difference.

Secondly, the substrate 9 can be transported in the second direction in addition to the first direction in the intermediate chamber 7, which will have the advantage of enabling the intermediate chamber 7 to have a buffering effect. If the substrate 9 can only be transported in the first direction, the next substrate 9 will not be sent into the device unless the first substrate 9 is processed in the processing chamber 2 and passed through After the same route returns it to the loading chamber 11, it is sent out from the device before it can be fed into the next substrate. On the contrary, in this embodiment, when the first substrate 9 is being processed, the next substrate 9 can be fed into the device. It is also possible to simultaneously send the next substrate 9 into the processing chamber 2 for processing when the first substrate 9 is sent out of the device. Therefore, the device of this embodiment has higher productivity. This advantage is basically the same when only one loading chamber 11 is provided. Of course, the aforementioned device contains two loading chambers 11, so when the substrate 9 is fed in and out, the efficiency will be doubled.

In addition, as shown in Figure 2, the first direction is along the top of the substrate 9. Edge and bottom edge. This will lead to the advantage of reducing the horizontal footprint of the device. If the substrate 9 is sent in a direction that is not along the top and bottom edges, for example, perpendicular to the top and bottom edges, the substrate 9 will be transported forward or backward. In this case, the width for conveying needs to correspond to the width of the substrate 9. Therefore, the horizontal space required for transportation will be wider than this embodiment. This means that the device must be enlarged, and when the substrate 9 is enlarged, this situation becomes more serious. On the contrary, in this embodiment, there will be no such problem, and the horizontal space required for transportation must be minimized.

Furthermore, the above points also contribute to the simplification of the gate valves. If the first direction is perpendicular to the top and bottom edges of the substrate 9, the loading chamber 11 and the processing chamber 2 will be connected to the middle chamber 7 by the longer sides of the rectangle. Therefore, the openings of the gate valves 10 that must be opened and closed are enlarged. This requires a larger size gate valve, which requires a larger driving force to open. On the contrary, this embodiment does not have this problem, so the gate valve can be simplified.

Also in this embodiment, the processed substrate 9 will be retreated in the processing chamber 2 and sent back to one of the loading chambers 11 via the intermediate chamber 7. This structure is called a "entrance retreat" type. This feature allows the substrate 9 to be fed in and out on the same side of the device. Therefore, the device can be easily built into existing production lines.

On the contrary, the aforementioned in-line device requires wider space on both sides, because the substrate 9 is fed in from one side and fed out from the other side. Therefore, this type of device will be difficult to build in the current production line.

Since the device of this embodiment contains the heater 6 in the intermediate chamber 7 with buffer function, another chamber for preheating is not required. This point can also Obtain the advantages of a smaller footprint and reducing the cost of the device. Because the preheating can be performed while another substrate 9 is being processed, the lead time of the device is reduced, which contributes to high productivity.

It can also use the intermediate chamber 7 to provide a buffer function. When the pressure difference between the loading chamber 11 and the processing chamber 2 is large, the pressure in the intermediate chamber 7 is preferably maintained at an intermediate value as a buffer.

Next, the second embodiment of the present invention will be explained. Figure 5 is a schematic plan view of the device of the second embodiment. The apparatus shown in Figure 5 is different from the first embodiment in that a pair of processing chambers are provided. The description of other parts will be omitted because they are basically the same as the first embodiment.

The pair of processing chambers are referred to as the first processing chamber 201 and the second processing chamber 202 hereinafter, as shown in FIG. 5. The first processing chamber 201 corresponds to the processing chamber 2 of the first embodiment. The second processing chamber 202 is aligned with the first processing chamber 201, and is like an in-line device.

In the second processing chamber 202, a row of gears, a gear drive unit, and a guide rail are also provided with the same composition as the first embodiment. These components are aligned with the counterpart components in the first processing chamber 201. The substrate holder 92 can be moved between the first processing chamber 201 and the second processing chamber 202 by the rack and pinion mechanism containing these components.

The second processing chamber 202 is designed to be the same as the first processing chamber 201. The following describes the situation where sputtering is performed in the second processing chamber 202. Therefore, the components in the second processing chamber 202 are basically the same as those in the processing chamber 2 in FIG. 1.

If a titanium nitride film is deposited on a titanium film, for example, in the first And the target material in the second processing chamber 201, 202 is made of titanium. The gas introduction system of the first processing chamber 201 will inject argon, and the gas introduction system of the second processing chamber 202 will inject a mixture of nitrogen and argon. The titanium film is deposited on the front surface of the substrate 9 through sputtering of the titanium target in the first processing chamber 201. The titanium nitride film is deposited on the deposited titanium film through the sputtering of titanium and palladium in the second processing chamber 202 and the reaction of nitrogen and titanium.

In the sputtering process described above, if the nitrogen in the second processing chamber 202 is dispersed into the first processing chamber 201, the surface of the target in the first processing chamber 201 may be contaminated. Therefore, the diffusion of nitrogen can best be prevented. This can be achieved by arranging a gate valve 10 between the first and second processing chambers 201 and 202. It is better to pump the first and second processing chambers 201 and 202 so that the pressure in the first processing chamber 201 is higher than that in the second processing chamber 202, that is, differential pressure pumping, because the pumping system To be simplified.

Although it is shown that there are two processing chambers 201 and 202 arranged in a straight line, three or more chambers may also be arranged in a line. Alternatively, two or three (or more) processing chambers can also be arranged side by side with the intermediate chamber, such as the loading chamber 11 in the first embodiment. In this example, since there must be a pair of processing side conveying positions in the intermediate chamber, the length of the intermediate chamber 7 along the second direction must be made larger. However, compared with the conventional device with multiple chambers arranged in line, the problem of increased floor space is not too serious.

Although the rack and pinion mechanism is adopted in the above embodiments, it is not limited to this. For example, a design in which two rows of most conveying rollers rotate around a vertical axis can also be arranged along the first direction. Each conveying roller system comes into contact with both sides of the support plate 924 with appropriate frictional force. By rotating the rows facing each other With the conveying roller, the substrate holder 92 can be moved to the first direction.

The mechanism for moving the holding member 92 to the second direction can also be modified. For example, a ball screw (precision screw) can be set at the middle position of the second guide rod 471 in FIG. 2. The ball screw is parallel to the guide rod 471. A driving head has a through hole whose surface abuts against the ball screw and is fixed on the bottom surface of the bottom plate 46. By using a servo motor to rotate the ball screw, the substrate holder 92 can be moved to the second direction.

When the substrate 9 is heated to a high temperature in the processing chambers 2, 201, 202, the intermediate chamber 7 may include a cooling mechanism. The cooling mechanism can be exemplified as a device for cooling by contacting a cooling element on the back surface of the base material 9 or the holding member 92.

In addition to the sputtering treatment described above, the device of the present invention can also be modified for other processing treatments. Specifically, the processing performed in the device may be other deposition processes, such as chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, etching, or surface modification processing. The substrate 9 as a processing target is also not limited. The device of the present invention can process an information storage medium, such as a substrate of a hard disk, or a substrate of a printed circuit, and so on.

Component label comparison

10. . . gate

11, 2, 3, 12. . . Chamber

11. . . Load lock chamber

2. . . Processing chamber

twenty one. . . Pumping system

twenty two. . . Gas introduction system

twenty four. . . Sputtering cathode

26. . . power supply

201. . . The first processing room

202. . . Second processing room

4R. . . Right conveying mechanism

4L. . . Left conveying mechanism

41. . . Scroll wheel

42. . . Teleportation robot

43. . . rack

44. . . gear

45. . . Gear drive unit

451. . . Drive gear

452. . . Timing belt

453. . . motor

454. . . Shaft seat

46. . . Bottom plate

471. . . Guide rod

472. . . Linear bearing

473. . . Right fixing plate

474. . . Right drive lever

475. . . Left fixing plate

476. . . Left drive lever

477. . . Right linear actuator

478. . . Left linear actuator

48. . . guide

5. . . Transfer chamber

6. . . Heater

61. . . bracket

611. . . Support

612. . . Heater holder

7. . . Middle chamber

9. . . Substrate

91. . . tray

92. . . Substrate holder

921. . . Midplane

922, 923. . . Bearing plate

924. . . Support plate

925. . . Perforation