CN115264099A

CN115264099A - Gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display device

Info

Publication number: CN115264099A
Application number: CN202210398652.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 金锡俊
Original assignee: Syt Co ltd
Current assignee: Syt Co ltd
Priority date: 2021-04-29
Filing date: 2022-04-15
Publication date: 2022-11-01
Also published as: KR20220148661A

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a gate valve for a semiconductor and a flat panel display device is provided between a semiconductor and a chamber of the flat panel display device, wherein the gate valve may include: a valve housing having a shutter plate opened in both directions; a cylinder part installed in the valve housing; and a blade module which ascends and descends in the valve housing through the cylinder part and opens and closes the shutter opened in both directions in conjunction with an air flow supplied through the cylinder part.

Description

Gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a gate valve for a semiconductor and flat panel display device, and more particularly, to a gate valve for a semiconductor and flat panel display device, which has a structure in which a cylinder is provided in a valve housing, so that the overall size can be reduced, the space and cost required for constructing the device can be reduced, and a gate plate can be opened and closed by a blade module through an air flow, thereby reliably maintaining a vacuum state.

Background

A common in-line semiconductor and flat panel display apparatus is an apparatus such as a load lock chamber, a plurality of process chambers, a buffer chamber, and an unload lock chamber, which are connected to each other in-line to perform a plurality of processes on a substrate such as a wafer.

Among these chambers, for example, a process chamber is a space for performing processes such as thin film deposition, etching, etc. on a substrate while maintaining a high vacuum state, and a buffer chamber is a space connecting the process chamber and other process chambers, which must also maintain a vacuum state.

Therefore, a gate valve is installed between each chamber so that each chamber maintains a vacuum while a vacuum is maintained while conveying the substrate.

However, in the gate valve of the related art semiconductor and flat panel display device, since the gate valve has a structure using a cylinder portion in an atmospheric region, a bellows is wrapped around a cylinder rod to form a vacuum state or other air supply lines are constructed, but there is a limit to maintain the vacuum state.

Further, since there is a structure in which the cylinder portion is installed at the lower portion of the gate valve, the whole apparatus becomes large, and there is a limit in that a large amount of space is required for the apparatus construction.

Accordingly, there is a need for developing a gate valve of a new structure that can maintain a vacuum state and reduce the size of the device.

As related prior art, there are korean patent laid-open No. 10-2013-0013748 (title of the invention: gate valve of semiconductor manufacturing equipment) and the like.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a gate valve for a semiconductor and flat panel display device, which has a structure in which a cylinder is provided in a valve housing, so that the entire size can be reduced, the space and cost required for constructing the device can be reduced, and a shutter can be opened and closed by a blade module using air flow, so that a vacuum state can be reliably maintained.

The problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned problems, and other problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

The cylinder part according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a first cylinder provided at one side in the valve housing; and a second cylinder provided in the valve housing on the opposite side of the first cylinder, and both end portions of the blade module being coupled to the first cylinder and the second cylinder so as to be movable up and down.

The first cylinder and the second cylinder according to the embodiment of the invention respectively include: a guide member provided in the valve housing and forming a movement guide in a height direction; and a lifting member that is attached to the guide member so as to be able to be lifted, wherein the guide member and the lifting member are provided with an air line for supplying air or discharging air to the blade module.

The blade module according to an embodiment of the present invention may include: a lifting body which is lifted and lowered by the cylinder part; and a shutter opening/closing portion that moves in the shutter direction to close or open the shutter according to supply or discharge of air in the elevating body.

The shutter opening and closing portion according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a linear moving member installed to be linearly movable in the elevating body in a direction of the shutter; a first gate installed to face one of the 2 shutters at both sides outside the elevating body, connected to the linearly moving member, and moving together with the linearly moving member to open and close one of the shutters; and a second shutter provided on an outer wall of the lifting body opposite to the first shutter, and interlocked with the first shutter to open and close the other of the shutters, wherein the first shutter and the second shutter are operated in conjunction with an air flow from the cylinder portion.

The air line according to an embodiment of the present invention may include: an ascending pipe formed upward from the guide member for supplying air; a down pipe formed downward from the guide member for discharging air; a push line for supplying air from the lifting member into the blade module; and a traction duct for discharging air from the blade module to the lifting member.

Furthermore, the air line according to embodiments of the present invention may further comprise a vent line for preventing a pressure difference in the air flow between the push line and the pull line.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the blade module ascends together with the elevation member by supplying air from the ascending pipe and discharging air from the descending pipe, and air is supplied to the blade module through the push pipe and discharged from the blade module to the elevation member through the pull pipe, the first gate and the second gate may block the shutter by an air flow.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first and second gates may be opened by supplying air to the blade module through the traction duct and discharging air from the blade module to the elevation member through the push duct, and the blade module may be lowered together with the elevation member by supplying air from the descending duct and discharging air from the ascending duct.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a sealing member may be provided on a surface of the first gate and the second gate facing the gate plate so as to be in close contact with a surface of the valve housing in which the gate plate is formed.

Effects of the invention

According to the embodiments of the present invention, since there is a structure in which the cylinder is provided in the valve housing, it is possible to reduce the entire size and the space and cost required for constructing the apparatus, and also, it is possible to open and close the shutter by the blade module through the air flow, and thus, it is possible to reliably maintain the vacuum state.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a view showing a structure of a semiconductor and flat panel display apparatus mounted with a gate valve for the semiconductor and flat panel display apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view for explaining the operation of the gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display devices shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the gate valve shown in fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view for explaining an operation of the gate valve by an air flow, using a partial view of the gate valve shown in fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the cylinder part and the vane module shown in fig. 3.

In the figure:

1: semiconductor and flat panel display device, 10, 20, 30, 40: chamber, 100: gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display devices, 110: a valve housing, 113: bottom cover, 115: top cover, 120: cylinder portion, 130: first cylinder, 131: guide member, 135: lifting member, 140: second cylinder, 150: blade module, 151: lifting body, 152: linear moving member, 153: connecting rod, 155: first shutter, 157: second shutter, 158: sealing member, 161: upstream line of air line, 162: down line, 163: push line, 164: traction line, 165: exhaust pipeline

Detailed Description

Advantages and/or features of the present invention, and methods of accomplishing the same, will become apparent by reference to the following detailed description of the embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but may be embodied in various different forms only to provide a more complete disclosure of the present invention and to provide those of ordinary skill in the art with a full scope of the present invention, which is defined only by the claims. The same components are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the specification.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a semiconductor and flat panel display device having a gate valve for the semiconductor and flat panel display device mounted thereon according to an embodiment of the present invention, fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an operation of the gate valve for the semiconductor and flat panel display device illustrated in fig. 1, fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the gate valve illustrated in fig. 2, fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating an operation of the gate valve according to an air flow by using a partial view of the gate valve illustrated in fig. 3, and fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a cylinder part and a blade module illustrated in fig. 3.

First, referring to fig. 1, a semiconductor and flat panel display apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention is an in-line apparatus that performs processes such as deposition, etching, etc. on a substrate, and for example, may include a load lock chamber 10, a plurality of process chambers 20, a buffer chamber 30, and an unload lock chamber 40, and a gate valve 100 may be provided between each of the

chambers

10, 20, 30, 40.

As shown in fig. 2 to 4, a gate valve 100 for a semiconductor and flat panel display device according to an embodiment of the present invention may include: a valve housing 110 provided with a shutter plate 111 that opens in both directions; a cylinder part 120 supported at both sides in the valve housing 110; and a blade module 150 which ascends and descends in the valve housing 110 through the cylinder part 120, and opens and closes the shutter plate 111 opened in both directions in conjunction with the flow of air supplied through the cylinder part 120.

With this structure, the size of the gate valve 100 can be reduced more than ever, and therefore, the space and cost required for constructing the apparatus can be reduced. Further, by the structure of the cylinder part 120, not only can a vacuum be maintained, but also a load is not applied to the rod of the cylinder part by the pipe structure, and thus, reliability of operation can be improved.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the valve housing 110 of the present embodiment has a basic appearance, and for example, the gate plates 111 are formed in the direction of the chambers disposed on both sides, so that the substrate can be transferred through the gate plates 111.

The valve housing 110 has a structure that is open in the upper and lower directions, and a bottom cover 113 may be coupled to a lower end portion thereof and a top cover 115 may be coupled to an upper end portion thereof. This enables the valve housing 110 to have a rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole.

The bottom cover 113 may include a groove 114 to which a lower end of a guide member 131, which will be described later, of the cylinder portion 120 is coupled. By having a structure that is open in the vertical direction, the gate valve 100 can be easily manufactured.

In addition, as shown in fig. 3, the cylinder part 120 of the present embodiment may include a first cylinder 130 and a second cylinder 140 disposed at both sides in the valve housing 110. In other words, when the first cylinder 130 is disposed at the left side of the valve housing 110, the second cylinder 140 is disposed at the right side in the valve housing 110 symmetrically thereto, and the vane module 150 is coupled between the first cylinder and the second cylinder, so that the vane module 150 can be moved up and down together with the first cylinder 130 and the second cylinder 140 to open and close the shutter plate 111.

Since the first cylinder block 130 and the second cylinder block 140 have the same structure, taking the first cylinder 130 as an example to explain the structure, as shown in fig. 2 to 4, the first cylinder 130 of the present embodiment may include: a guide member 131 provided in the valve housing 110 and forming a movement guide in a height direction; and a lifting member 135 liftably mounted on the guide member 131 and coupled to one side of the blade module 150.

Referring to fig. 3, the guide member 131 of the present embodiment is formed in a circular bar shape having a length direction as a whole, and a lower end portion may be coupled to the bottom cover 113 and an upper end portion may be coupled to the top cover 115.

The elevation member 135 is coupled to the guide member 131, and the elevation member 135 has a cylindrical structure in which an air line (refer to fig. 4) is formed to serve as a supply of air to the blade module 150 or a discharge of air from the blade module 150, so that the opening and closing of the blade module 150 can be interlocked with the flow of air.

That is, when the elevating member 135 operates the guide member 131, an air flow is formed through the air pipe, and the air flow operates the blade module 150 such that the blade module 150 opens and closes the shutter 111.

The blade module 150 of the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 3 to 5, may include: a lifting body 151 which ascends and descends through the cylinder part 120; and a shutter opening/closing unit which moves in the direction of the shutter 111 by air supply or exhaust in the elevating body 151 to close or open the shutter 111.

First, the lifting body 151 is formed to have a size capable of lifting and lowering on the inside of the valve housing 110 as a whole, and has a hollow rectangular parallelepiped shape having a length toward both sides as a whole. The elevating body 151 is coupled to the elevating member 135 provided in the

cylinder portions

130 and 140, and the elevating member 135 and the elevating body 151 may have a structure in which an air flow is formed through an air passage, which will be described later.

In the elevating body 151, a first shutter 155 and a second shutter 157 are installed to be linearly movable in two directions, i.e., in directions toward the shutters 111 formed at both sides. Thus, the first shutter 155 can open and close one shutter 111a of the both shutters 111, and the second shutter 157 can open and close the other shutter 111b.

Referring to fig. 5, in the elevating body 151 of the shutter opening and closing portion, linear moving members 152 linearly movable in the direction of the shutters 111 are provided on both sides, and the linear moving members 152 are connected to a first shutter 155 through a connecting rod 153. Therefore, as shown in fig. 5 (b), when the linearly moving member 152 moves to the left side, the first shutter 155 connected thereto may also move to the left side to close the shutter plate 111a.

The second shutter 157 is attached to the outer wall of the elevating body 151 opposite to the first shutter 155, and the second shutter 157 can open and close the other shutter plate 111b in conjunction with the first shutter 155.

In other words, as shown in fig. 5 (c), after the shutter plate 111a is blocked by the first shutter 155, the elevating main body 151 moves to the right side by the air flow, and at this time, the second shutter 157 installed at the elevating main body 151 linearly moves in the direction of the other shutter plate 111b, so that, as shown in fig. 5 (d), the shutter plate 111b can be blocked.

Referring to fig. 5, a sealing member 158 may be provided on the surfaces of the first shutter 155 and the second shutter 157 facing the gate plate 111 to be in close contact with the inner surface of the valve housing 110 in which the gate plate 111 is formed, whereby the vacuum state of the gate valve 100 may be reliably maintained.

As described above, air or exhaust air is supplied from the air line formed in the cylinder portion 120 through the shutter opening and closing portion of the blade module 150, so that the blade module 150 can perform an opening and closing action on the shutter 111.

The air pipeline of this embodiment, as shown in fig. 4, may include: an upward line 161 formed upward from the guide member 131 of the cylinder for supplying air; a down line 162 formed downward from the guide member 131 for discharging air; a push pipe 163 for supplying air from the elevation member 135 into the elevation body 151 of the blade module 150; a drawing line 164 for discharging air from the elevating body 151 to the elevating member 135; and a vent line 165 preventing a pressure difference from being generated when the air flows through the push line 163 and the pull line 164.

To explain in further detail, by supplying air from the ascending pipe 161 and discharging air from the descending pipe 162, the blade module 150 may be lifted together with the elevation member 135 with respect to the guide member 131. When air is supplied into the elevating body 151 through the push pipe 163 and discharged from the blade module 150 to the elevating member 135 through the pull pipe 164, the first shutter 155 and the second shutter 157 block the respective shutters 111 by the air flow, as shown in the lower diagram of fig. 1.

Conversely, air is supplied into the blade module 150 through the pulling line 164, and air is discharged from the blade module 150 to the elevation member 135 through the pushing line 163, so that the first shutter 155 and the second shutter 157 are separated from the respective shutters 111 to open the shutters 111. At this time, the blade module 150 descends together with the elevation member 135 by supplying air from the descending duct 162 and discharging air from the ascending duct 161, as shown in the upper view of fig. 2.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, since there is a structure in which the cylinder portion 120 is provided in the valve housing 110, it is possible to reduce the entire size, reduce the space and cost required for the equipment construction, and open and close the shutter plate 111 by the air flow using the blade module 150, and thus, it is possible to reliably maintain the vacuum state.

Although specific embodiments according to the present invention have been described so far, various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims and the equivalents thereof.

As described above, although the present invention has been described with reference to the limited embodiments and the accompanying drawings, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and variations can be made by those skilled in the art from the above description. Therefore, the spirit of the invention should be construed only by the appended claims, and all equivalent and equivalent variations thereof are intended to fall within the scope of the spirit of the invention.

Claims

1. A gate valve for a semiconductor and flat panel display device, the gate valve being disposed between a semiconductor and a chamber of the flat panel display device, comprising:

a valve housing having a shutter plate opened in both directions;

a cylinder part installed in the valve housing; and

and a vane module which ascends and descends in the valve housing through the cylinder part and opens and closes the shutter opened in both directions in conjunction with an air flow supplied through the cylinder part.

2. The gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display device according to claim 1, wherein the cylinder portion comprises:

a first cylinder provided at one side in the valve housing; and

a second cylinder disposed in the valve housing on an opposite side of the first cylinder,

both ends of the blade module are coupled to the first cylinder and the second cylinder so as to be movable up and down.

3. The gate valve of claim 2, wherein the first cylinder and the second cylinder respectively comprise:

a guide member provided in the valve housing and forming a movement guide in a height direction; and

a lifting member liftably mounted to the guide member,

an air line for supplying air or discharging air to the blade module is provided in the guide member and the lifting member.

4. The gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display device according to claim 3, wherein the blade module comprises:

a lifting body which is lifted and lowered by the cylinder part; and

and a shutter opening/closing unit which moves in the shutter direction to close or open the shutter according to supply or discharge of air in the elevating body.

5. The gate valve for a semiconductor and flat panel display device according to claim 4, wherein the shutter opening/closing portion comprises:

a linear moving member installed to be linearly movable in the elevating body in a direction of the shutter;

a first gate installed to face one of the 2 shutters at both sides outside the elevating body, connected to the linearly moving member, and moving together with the linearly moving member to open and close one of the shutters; and

a second gate provided on an outer sidewall of the elevating body opposite to the first gate and interlocked with the first gate to open and close the other one of the gate plates,

the first shutter and the second shutter operate in conjunction with an air flow from the cylinder portion.

6. The gate valve of claim 5, wherein the air line comprises:

an ascending pipe formed upward from the guide member for supplying air;

a down pipe formed downward from the guide member for discharging air;

a push line for supplying air from the lifting member into the blade module; and

a pull line for exhausting air from the blade module to the lifting member.

7. The gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display device according to claim 5, wherein the air line further comprises an exhaust line for preventing a pressure difference from being generated when the air flow is in the push line and the pull line.

8. The gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display device according to claim 6, wherein the blade module ascends together with the elevation member by supplying air from the ascending pipe and discharging air from the descending pipe, and the first gate and the second gate block the gate by an air flow when supplying air to the blade module through the push pipe and discharging air from the blade module to the elevation member through the pull pipe.

9. The gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display devices according to claim 6, wherein the first gate and the second gate are opened by supplying air to the blade module through the drawing line and discharging air from the blade module to the elevating member through the pushing line, and further, the blade module descends together with the elevating member by supplying air from the descending line and discharging air from the ascending line.

10. The gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display devices according to claim 5, wherein a sealing member is provided on a surface of the first gate and the second gate facing the gate plate so as to be in close contact with a surface of the valve housing in which the gate plate is formed.