JPH1197382A - Laser annealer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To protect an object to be treated against temperature drop or disturbance of temperature distribution at the time of transfer by providing a moving space tar passing the object at a part coupling a preheating chamber and an annealing chamber and transferring the object from the preheating chamber to the annealing chamber through the moving space. SOLUTION: A preheating chamber 2 provided with a gate valve 2a is coupled with an annealing chamber 3 provided with a gate valve 3a through a coupling part comprising a wall face and a moving space, i.e., a thin groove 5, is made at the coupling part. A moving passage 16 for a transfer hand 15 is secured to the side wall of each chamber from the annealing chamber 3 to the preheating chamber 2 such that the moving passage 16 passes through the thin groove 5. The transfer hand 15 is fixed movably to the moving passage 16 such that an object 1 to be treated is moved from the preheating chamber 2 to the annealing chamber 3 through the thin groove 5 by means of the transfer hand 15 and a driver 17 for transfer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser annealing apparatus for irradiating an amorphous material with a laser beam and annealing the amorphous material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Inexpensive amorphous materials (such as amorphous silicon) are used for many transparent electrodes of liquid crystal displays and the like. Recently, however, the use of polycrystalline thin films has been increasing from the viewpoint of improving image quality. ing. This polycrystalline thin film is made up of an amorphous thin film formed by CVD or the like.
Although it can be obtained by heating to 00 ° C or more,
As another method, it can be obtained by irradiating the amorphous thin film with laser light and annealing. At the time of the above annealing, it is not necessary to heat the entire object to be processed to a high temperature exceeding 1000 ° C., and it is preferable to irradiate while scanning the laser beam while heating the entire object to be heated to about 200 to 400 ° C. Annealing is performed efficiently.

[0003] By the way, in the processing apparatus used for the annealing process, in order to reduce the throughput (processing time),
Before being processed in the annealing chamber, the object to be processed is preliminarily heated, and the preheating is performed in a preheating chamber separate from the annealing chamber. This conventional laser annealing apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9. The preheating chamber 20 and the annealing chamber 21 which are arranged continuously are separated by a partition wall 22, and the object 1 to be processed is provided in each chamber. Heaters 20a and 21a for heating the heater to a predetermined temperature are arranged. In addition, the processing object 1 is put in and out of the front wall of each room.
Openable opening / closing entrances 20b and 21b are provided, and a workpiece transfer device 23 is disposed in front of these entrances and exits. A laser output device (not shown) is provided outside the annealing chamber 21. The laser beam emitted from this output device is passed through an appropriate optical system to the annealing chamber 2.
The light enters the room through one of the introduction windows.

A description will be given of an example of use of the above annealing apparatus. The object 1 having an amorphous thin film formed on a substrate by CVD or the like is carried into the preheating chamber 20 from outside by an object transfer device 23, and is heated by a heater 20a. Heat to a predetermined temperature. The heated object 1 is transferred from the carry-in / out port 20b by the transfer device 23 to the pre-heating chamber 20.
After carrying it out and moving it near the loading / unloading entrance 21b,
The material is carried into the annealing chamber 21 through the carry-in / out entrance 21b.
In the annealing chamber 21, the object 1 is irradiated with laser light while being heated to a predetermined temperature by the heater 21a, so that the amorphous thin film of the object 1 is polycrystallized. The object 1 after the annealing is again taken out of the annealing chamber by the transfer device 23 through the carry-in / out opening 21b.
Moved to the desired location.

[0005]

However, in the laser annealing apparatus, when the object 1 is transferred from the preheating chamber 20 to the annealing chamber 21, the heated object 1 is heated.
When exposed to the outside air, the temperature decreases. In addition, since the workpiece 1 is placed on the U-shaped or I-shaped transporting hands 25 and 26 as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 during the transport, the temperature distribution of the preheated workpiece is shaped like a hand. According to. Therefore, in order to perform the annealing process, it is necessary to heat the substrate again, or to preliminarily heat the substrate at a temperature higher than the annealing temperature in anticipation of the temperature decrease (for example, by setting the heating temperature during the annealing process to 200 ° C.).
In this case, if a temperature decrease is expected to be 70 ° C., the preheating temperature is set to 270 ° C.), and there is a problem that energy efficiency is poor. Further, not only the overall temperature control but also the work of correcting the temperature distribution of the object to be processed by the annealing heater is required, which causes a problem that the processing time is long and the throughput is reduced. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a laser annealing processing apparatus capable of preventing a temperature drop and a disturbance in a temperature distribution of a processing target at the time of conveyance and performing efficient annealing processing. The purpose is to:

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems To solve the above problems, a first aspect of the laser annealing apparatus of the present invention comprises a preheating chamber for preheating an object to be processed containing an amorphous material, A laser annealing apparatus having an annealing chamber for irradiating a laser beam to the processed object to anneal the amorphous material, wherein the preheating chamber and the annealing chamber are connected via an air-tight connecting portion. A moving space through which the object passes is secured in the connecting portion, and an object conveying device that moves the object from the preheating chamber to the annealing chamber through the moving space is provided. And

A second invention is characterized in that, in the first invention, the object transfer apparatus has a transfer mechanism for moving between the preheating chamber and the annealing chamber through the connecting portion.
According to a third aspect, in the first or second aspect, a multi-stage heater is provided for heating the multi-stage heater by setting the object to be processed in the pre-heating chamber in multiple stages, and the heater driving device moves the multi-stage heater in a vertical direction. Is provided outside the preheating chamber. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect, when the object to be processed is refilled into the multi-stage heater, the multi-stage heater is provided so that the object to be processed can be introduced into a vacant portion among the installation positions of the object in the multi-stage heater. When the heater is moved up and down to a predetermined position, and when the workpiece is transferred from the multi-stage heater to the workpiece transporting device, a properly heated workpiece is selected and the workpiece can be taken out. The multi-stage heater has a control unit for moving the heater up and down to a predetermined position.

As the object to be treated in the present invention, the material for a transparent electrode of a liquid crystal device can be exemplified as described above, but in the present invention, the application examples are specifically limited to the above. However, the present invention can be applied to any application material that anneals by irradiating a laser beam. Next, as the laser beam used in the processing apparatus of the present invention,
What is necessary is just to output from a laser output part by a conventional method, and the present invention is not limited to the generation form or beam shape of laser light. However, an excimer laser beam having a wavelength with a high absorptivity for the transparent electrode is desirable. The laser light is applied to the object to be processed via an appropriate optical system (a lens, a mirror, a transmission path, a laser light introduction window, and the like). Further, a heater for heating the object to be processed is provided in the preheating chamber and the annealing chamber, but the configuration is not particularly limited, and a resistance heating device, an induction heating device, a microwave heating device, and the like are provided. As described above, any heating means capable of heating the object can be employed as the heater. In addition, the heating temperature in each chamber can be set arbitrarily.

[0009] The preheating chamber and the annealing chamber are connected via an air-tight connecting portion, so that the connecting portion is prevented from coming into contact with outside air. The degree of airtightness should be such that the internal temperature is not affected by the outside air temperature due to contact with the outside air, and the airtightness should be such that the adjusted atmosphere of the preheating chamber and the annealing chamber is not impaired. It can also be determined from the viewpoint of securing In addition, the connecting portion is provided with a space for moving the object to be processed, and this space may be a minimum space necessary for movement, and it is necessary to secure an unnecessarily large space. There is no. This space may be open at all times, but it is also possible to provide an opening / closing door so that the space is opened only when necessary, such as when the object passes. There is no particular limitation on the configuration of the object transfer device that moves the object through the moving space, but it is desirable that a part of the transfer mechanism be moved between the preheating chamber and the annealing chamber via the space. With this configuration, the object to be processed can be transported by a device having a simple structure without disposing a complicated device in both the relatively high-temperature chambers. In addition, since the transfer mechanism is always located in both high-temperature chambers or the space for movement, the temperature of the members such as the transfer hand also rises, and the change in the temperature distribution when the workpiece is brought into contact with it is minimized. can do.

On the preheating chamber side, it is desirable to use a multi-stage heater for heating a plurality of objects to be set in multiple stages as a heater, so that the plurality of objects to be processed can be efficiently heated. . Further, if a heater driving device for moving the multi-stage heater in the vertical direction is provided outside the preheating chamber, it is possible to smoothly carry in and carry out the object to and from the heater. The load on the movement mechanism of the device is reduced, and the structure of the transport device can be simplified. In addition, since the heater driving device is placed outside the preheating chamber, there is no need to arrange a complicated mechanism in a high-temperature room, and the cost and life of the device can be reduced. When installing the multi-stage heater, it is possible to use, as the transfer hand, a transfer hand having two support pieces that can be moved to and away from each other left and right, and a plurality of support protrusions provided inward on each support piece. it can. This transport hand can place the workpiece only on the support projection when transporting the workpiece, and minimizes the contact area between the workpiece and the transport hand to affect the temperature distribution of the workpiece. Can be reduced. Further, when placing and lowering the object to be processed on the transport hand, the above-mentioned work can be easily performed by moving the support pieces far and near. In addition, it is necessary to move the transport hand in a complicated manner. Therefore, the structure of the transfer device can be simplified.

According to the present invention, the object heated in the preheating chamber is moved to the annealing processing chamber through the moving space of the connecting portion, so that the temperature change is small and the work can be performed with high energy efficiency. In addition, the influence on the temperature distribution of the object is reduced, so that the heating load is reduced and the processing efficiency is improved. In the above configuration,
By combining a transfer mechanism that moves between the pre-heating chamber and the annealing chamber through the connecting portion, and a multi-stage heater in which the heater driving device is provided outside the pre-heating chamber, the transfer device can be simplified and a complicated mechanism can be used. Can be avoided in a high-temperature room, so that the manufacturing cost and running cost of the transport mechanism can be reduced, the damage to the transport device can be reduced, and the life can be prolonged.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. A preheating chamber 2 provided with a gate valve 2a for carrying in the object 1 and an annealing chamber 3 provided with a gate valve 3a for carrying out the object 1 are connected by a connecting portion 4 composed of a wall surface. A narrow groove 5 is formed in the connecting portion 4 as a space for movement. In the preheating chamber 2, a multi-stage heater 6 is provided.
. The multi-stage heater 6 has a large number of heaters 6a... 6a arranged at intervals in the vertical direction, and each heater 6a... 6a is fixed to a heater support frame 6b. . Further, between the heaters 6a, 6a, there are disposed workpiece mounts 7, which are also fixed to the heater support frame 6b, and the upper surface of each workpiece support 7 supports the workpiece 1. A plurality of supporting protrusions 7a... 7a are formed. A support rod 6c protruding from the ceiling of the preheating chamber 2 is fixed to the heater support frame 6b. The support rod 6c is connected to a heater driving device 10 disposed outside the preheating chamber 2. The multistage heater 6 is configured to move up and down by the heater driving device 10 via the support rod 6c and the support frame 6b. The heater driving device 10 is connected to a control unit 11 that controls the vertical movement of the driving device 10. On the other hand, in the annealing chamber 3, a processing object fixing table 13 is disposed, and the processing object fixing table 1 is provided.
Reference numeral 3 denotes a plurality of support protrusions 13a for supporting the object on the upper surface.
The annealing chamber 13a is provided, a heater 14 for heating the object 1 is built in, and the apparatus is configured to be slidable in the annealing chamber 3 by a driving device (not shown).

A moving path 16 for the transfer hand 15 is fixed to the side wall of each chamber from the annealing chamber 3 to the preheating chamber 2 so as to pass through the narrow groove 5.
6, a transfer hand 15 is movably attached.
The transfer path 16 is connected to a transfer drive device 17 disposed outside the annealing chamber 3, and the transfer device 15 is configured to move the transfer hand 15 along the transfer path 16. The transfer hand 15 constitutes a transfer mechanism that moves between the preheating chamber 2 and the annealing chamber 3, and the transfer object 15 is further moved by the transfer hand 15, the movement path 16, and the transfer driving device 17. It is configured. For example, a ball screw is used as the moving path 16, the transfer hand 15 is screwed into the ball screw, and a driving device 17 is configured by a motor or the like.
Thus, the transport hand 15 can be moved along the moving path 16 by the configuration in which the ball screw is rotated. The transport hand 15 includes a hand base 15a attached to the moving path 16 and two support pieces 15b, 15b attached to the hand base 15a so as to be slidable in the left-right direction. Pieces 15b, 15
b have four support projections 15c.
c is provided. As described above, the support pieces 15b, 15b can slide on the hand base 15a to change the distance therebetween.

The operation of the above embodiment will be described below. Workpiece 1 with amorphous thin film formed on substrate
In order to preheat, the object 1 is carried into the preheating chamber 2 by opening the gate valve 2a, and the heater driving device 10 is operated by the instruction of the control unit 11 to move the multistage heater 6 up and down. . In this vertical movement, the vacant mounting table 7 of the processing object mounting tables 7 on which the processing object is mounted is mounted.
The moving direction and the moving amount of the multi-stage annealing 6 are determined so that the object 1 can be carried in and placed on the substrate. At this time, the shape of the support frame 6b may be devised so that the workpiece 1 can be carried in. Further, a rotating mechanism is provided in the heater driving device 10, and the multi-stage heater 6 is rotated to rotate the workpiece 1 It is also possible to assist in carrying in. On the other hand, when taking out the processing target 1 from the multi-stage heater 6, a sufficiently heated one is selected from the plurality of processing target 1 heated by the multi-stage heater 6, and the processing target 1 is selected. The controller 11 determines the direction and amount of movement of the multi-stage heater 6 to be conveyed, and operates the heater driving device 10 in accordance with this determination command. In the selection of the processing target 1, for example, the control unit 11 stores the loading timing of the processing target for each processing target mounting table 7, and selects the optimum processing target from the stored contents. can do. Further, it is also possible to store the carry-in time and carry-in position (that is, which work piece mounting table 7) for each work piece, and select an optimum work piece from the contents.

At the time of unloading the object 1, as shown in FIG. 5, the multi-stage heater 6 is set so that the transfer hand 15 is located at a height between the object 1 to be transferred and the upper heater 6a. Move up and down. Then, the transfer hand 15 is moved along the moving path 16 and is positioned between the target object 1 and the heater 6a above the target object. In this state, the support pieces 15b, 15b of the transfer hand 15 are opened or opened in advance so that the object 1 is positioned inside the support protrusion 15c. Then, with the transport hand 15 stopped, the multi-stage heater 6 is raised, and the support projection 15b is
It is positioned between the processing target 1 and the processing target mounting table 7, and the support pieces 15b, 15b are brought close to each other,
The object to be processed 1 is positioned on 5c. Then, when the multi-stage heater 6 is slightly lowered, the workpiece 1 is detached from the workpiece mounting table 7 while being supported by the supporting protrusions 15c of the transport hand 15. This transfer hand 15
Is moved along the movement path 16 to the annealing chamber 3 side,
The transport hand 15 reaches the annealing chamber 3 through the narrow groove 5 together with the object 1 to be processed. Further, the transfer hand 15 is moved to be positioned immediately above the processing object fixing base 13.
At this time, the workpiece fixing base 13 can also be moved. Then, the support piece 15 of the transport hand 15 is
When b and 15b are opened, the processing target 1 is supported on the processing target fixing base 13 by the support protrusions 13a and 13a. The object 1 is irradiated with laser light while being heated by the heater 14, and during this time, the object 1 is fixed.
By moving 3, the entire surface of the amorphous film of the processing target 1 is irradiated with laser light, and is polycrystallized by annealing.

In the above-mentioned annealing, the transfer path from the preheating chamber 2 to the annealing chamber 3 is short, the temperature of the object 1 to be processed is small, and it is not necessary to heat the preheating chamber 2 to a higher temperature than necessary. In addition, the burden of reheating in the annealing chamber is small, or the reheating itself can be unnecessary, so that the energy efficiency is excellent. In addition, since the temperature distribution of the object to be processed during the transfer is very small, the heating adjustment in the annealing chamber can be reduced or omitted, and the processing efficiency is excellent. The annealed object 1 is placed in an annealing chamber 3
Through the gate valve 3a. Thereafter, the other object 1 heated by the multi-stage heater 6 is conveyed in the same manner as described above to perform the annealing process. The replenishment of the object to be processed into the multi-stage heater 6 may be performed each time an empty space is created, or a plurality of heaters may be replenished by retrieving a plurality of heaters. In the above embodiment, the atmospheres of the preheating chamber 2 and the annealing chamber 3 are not particularly described. However, the atmosphere can be adjusted to an appropriate atmosphere such as an inert gas atmosphere or a vacuum atmosphere if desired. Since it is not necessary to open the preheating chamber 2 and the annealing chamber 3 at the time of transport, there is also an effect that the burden of atmosphere adjustment is reduced. In the above embodiment, a narrow groove is used as a space for moving the connecting portion. However, a door that opens and closes according to the conveyance may be provided in the space for moving.

[0017]

As described above, according to the annealing apparatus of the present invention, the preheating chamber and the annealing chamber are connected via the hermetic connection, and the object to be processed is connected to the connection. There is a space for movement through which
Since the workpiece transfer device for moving the workpiece from the pre-heating chamber to the annealing chamber through the moving space is provided, the transport path from the pre-heating chamber to the annealing chamber can be shortened, and the temperature of the workpiece can be reduced. Annealing can be performed in accordance with high energy efficiency and processing efficiency by reducing the decrease and the disturbance of the temperature distribution. In addition, if a transfer mechanism that moves between the preheating chamber and the annealing chamber through the connecting portion is provided in the object transfer apparatus, the structure of the apparatus can be simplified, and the drive unit and the like are disposed outside the chamber. It becomes possible to do. Further, if a multi-stage heater is provided in the pre-heating chamber for heating the multi-stage object by heating the multi-stage heater, and a heater driving device for moving the multi-stage heater in the vertical direction is provided outside the pre-heating chamber, the object to be processed can be efficiently disposed. In addition to heating, the structure of the transfer device can be simplified, and the cost and durability of the device can be improved. Also, when replenishing the object to be processed into the multi-stage heater, the multi-stage heater is moved up and down to a predetermined position so that the object to be processed can be taken from the outside of the preheating chamber into a vacant portion of the installation position of the object to be processed in the multi-stage heater. In addition to moving the object to be transferred to the object transfer device, the control unit selects a properly heated object and moves the multi-stage heater up and down to a predetermined position to deliver the object. By providing the unit, a plurality of objects to be processed can be efficiently processed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view of the same.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing the transport hand.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view showing the transfer hand in a state in which the object to be processed is similarly placed.

FIG. 5 is a process chart when the object to be processed is taken out of the multi-stage heater.

FIG. 6 is a plan sectional view showing a conventional laser annealing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a front sectional view of the same.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged perspective view of the transfer hand on which the object to be processed is placed.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective view of another transfer hand on which the object to be processed is similarly mounted.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Workpiece 2 Preheating chamber 3 Annealing chamber 4 Connecting part 5 Narrow groove 6 Multi-stage heater 6a Heater 10 Heater driving device 11 Control part 13 Workpiece fixing base 14 Heater 15 Transport hand 15b Support piece 15c Support protrusion 16 Moving path 17 Drive

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kazuyuki Kawahara 2-2-1, Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Japan Steel Works Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A laser annealing process comprising: a preheating chamber for preheating an object containing an amorphous material; and an annealing chamber for annealing the amorphous material by irradiating a laser beam to the preheated object. In the apparatus, the preheating chamber and the annealing chamber are connected via an air-tight connecting portion, and a space for moving the object to be processed is secured in the connecting portion, and the moving space is provided through the moving space. A laser annealing apparatus having a workpiece transfer device for moving a workpiece from a preheating chamber to an annealing chamber. 2. The laser annealing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object transfer apparatus has a transfer mechanism that moves between a preheating chamber and an annealing chamber through a connecting portion. 3. A multi-stage heater for heating an object to be processed in multiple stages in a pre-heating chamber, and a heater driving device for moving the multi-stage heater in a vertical direction is provided outside the pre-heating chamber. The laser annealing treatment apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein 4. When replenishing an object to be processed into a multi-stage heater,
The multi-stage heater is moved up and down to a predetermined position so that the object to be processed can be taken into a vacant portion among the installation positions of the object to be processed in the multi-stage heater, and the object to be processed is transferred from the multi-stage heater to the object conveying device. 4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of selecting an object to be heated, which is appropriately heated, and moving the multistage heater up and down to a predetermined position so that the object can be taken out. Laser annealing equipment