JP2001135706A - Processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a processing method capable of preventing the contamination of substrates and reduction of the processing time. SOLUTION: A film-forming unit 2 of a substrate-manufacturing apparatus comprises a cassette station 12 disposed along a transfer path A, a processor 21 facing the cassette station for forming films on the substrate, a spin-cleaning unit 16 adjacent to the processor and the cassette station, and a transfer robot 15 provided between the cassette station and the processor, and the robot 15 takes and carries a substrate having a polycrystalline Si thereon out of the cassette station into the spin-cleaning unit and transfer the cleaned substrate directly from the spin-cleaning unit to the processor, thereby forming an insulation film made up mainly of silicon oxide on the polycrystalline Si.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing method for performing desired processing after cleaning a substrate on which polycrystalline silicon is formed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a manufacturing process for manufacturing an array substrate of a liquid crystal display panel as a flat display device, in each process such as a film forming process, an etching process, and a laser annealing process, processing is performed to ensure the cleanliness of the substrate. Before cleaning the substrate. Therefore, the manufacturing apparatus includes a plurality of processing apparatuses for performing each process, and a cleaning apparatus provided separately from these processing apparatuses, and a substrate as an object to be processed includes the plurality of processing apparatuses and the cleaning apparatus. Is transported by a cart or an automatic transport device (AGV) in a state of being loaded in a cassette.

Further, as a laser annealing apparatus used in a laser annealing step, there is known an apparatus which irradiates a laser on amorphous silicon formed on a substrate to anneal the same to form a polycrystalline silicon film. In such a laser annealing apparatus, for example, if the annealing step is performed in an atmosphere having a high oxygen concentration, the characteristics of the formed polycrystalline silicon film may be deteriorated.

Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-275080
In the publication, a substrate charging chamber, a transfer chamber, an annealing chamber, a transfer chamber, and a substrate unloading chamber are sequentially connected via a gate valve, and preheating is performed in an annealing chamber in a vacuum atmosphere or a nitrogen atmosphere by a vacuum exhaust system. A laser annealing apparatus that performs annealing by performing laser irradiation while performing laser irradiation is disclosed.

[0005]

However, when the processing apparatus and the cleaning apparatus are separately provided, the installation space of the entire manufacturing apparatus must be widened, and the substrate must be located between each processing apparatus and the cleaning apparatus. Is transported, the transport time is long, there is a risk of contamination, and the lead time is also long.

Further, it is necessary to manage the processing time, that is, the Q time, and the state of the subsequent process restricts the loading of the substrate into the previous process. As a result, the processing of the entire manufacturing apparatus becomes complicated.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a processing method capable of preventing contamination of a substrate and reducing a processing time.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a processing method according to the present invention is directed to a processing method in which a substrate mounted on a mounting portion and having polycrystalline silicon formed thereon is carried out by a transfer mechanism and is then removed from the mounting portion. A step of carrying in and cleaning the cleaning section provided adjacent to the mounting section, and providing the cleaned substrate by the transport mechanism to be opposed to the mounting section and adjacent to the cleaning section. Directly carrying into the processing section, and forming an insulating film mainly composed of silicon oxide on the polycrystalline silicon, wherein the cleaning section is connected to a first direction connecting the processing section and the mounting section. It is characterized in that it is provided shifted in the intersecting second direction.

According to the above-described processing method, the substrate cleaned by the cleaning unit can be directly carried into the processing unit provided adjacent to the cleaning unit, so that the substrate transport time can be shortened and the substrate can be contaminated. Prevention can be achieved. At the same time, the overall processing time can be reduced and the processing efficiency can be improved.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a substrate manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing an array substrate of a liquid crystal display device will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a substrate manufacturing apparatus is, for example, an apparatus for manufacturing an array substrate of a liquid crystal display panel used for an active matrix type color liquid crystal device, and a glass substrate for forming the array substrate is used as an object to be processed. Various processes are performed. That is, the substrate manufacturing apparatus has a predetermined transport path,
For example, a transport device (AGV) 7 that transports a glass substrate along a linear transport path A, and a plurality of processing devices disposed along the transport path A are provided. These processing apparatuses include a film forming apparatus 2 for forming a thin film of a desired material on a glass substrate, a laser annealing apparatus 3 for performing a laser annealing process on a film formed on a glass substrate, a dry etching apparatus 4, An ion doping device 5, a wet etching device 6, and the like are provided. The operation of the entire substrate manufacturing apparatus is controlled by a control device including a CPU (not shown).

Next, each processing unit will be described in detail. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a film forming apparatus 2 includes a cassette station 12 disposed near a transport path A, and a processing unit 2 provided opposite the cassette station.
1. a spin cleaning unit 16 provided to be shifted laterally with respect to the cassette station 12 and the processing unit 21; a spin cleaning unit 16 provided between the cassette station and the processing unit 21; It has a transfer robot 15 for loading and unloading glass substrates between them.

The cassette station 12 has two cassette receivers 12a arranged along the transport path A. Each cassette receiver 12a has a cassette C containing a plurality of glass substrates 1 stacked therein. Is detachably mounted. Note that the transport device 7 includes a transport vehicle 7a that travels along the transport path A. The transport vehicle 7 includes a plurality of cassettes C.
Is loaded and transported, and the cassette C is automatically transferred to and from a cassette station of an arbitrary processing apparatus.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the glass substrate 1 is, for example, 500 mm long, 400 mm wide, and has a thickness of 0.1 mm.
It is formed in a 7 mm rectangular shape. In addition, each cassette C
Is formed in a box shape from a top plate 103, a bottom plate 104, a plurality of side plates 105, and a back plate (not shown), and an opening 106 through which the glass substrate 1 is put in and out is formed in the front surface. As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of shelves 107 arranged at a predetermined distance in the vertical direction are protruded from the inner surface of both side plates 105. The glass substrate 1 is placed on the opposite shelves 107 on both sides.
By placing both side edges on the top, it is horizontally supported in the cassette C. In the cassette C, many glass substrates 1 are stored in multiple stages in the vertical direction.

The inner surfaces 108 of the side plates 105 on both sides in each stage are connected to the glass substrate 1 to be taken in and out of the cassette C.
Is formed so as to have a predetermined clearance with respect to the side edge of the glass substrate, so that the distance L1 between the opposing inner surfaces is equal to the width L2 of the glass substrate.
1> L2.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, each cassette mounting portion 12a provided in the cassette station 12 is provided.
Is constituted by a pair of support legs 14 erected on the upper surface of the cassette station 12.
Extend in parallel with each other and along the Y direction orthogonal to the transport path A. A positioning groove 14a extending in the Y direction is formed on the upper end surface of the support leg 14. The cassette C is positioned on the cassette mounting portion 12a by fitting two opposite side edges of the bottom wall 104 into the positioning grooves 14a. When the cassette C is placed on the cassette unit 12a, the opening 106 of the cassette C opens in the Y direction toward the processing unit 21. The two cassettes C mounted on the two cassette mounting portions 12a are located side by side in the direction in which the transport path A extends, that is, in the X direction, and the center axis D of each cassette is
It is located parallel to the Y direction.

As shown in FIGS. 4, 6, and 7A, a position detecting section 110 for detecting the position of the glass substrate 1 in the mounted cassette C is provided in each cassette mounting section 12a. Have been. The position detecting section 110 has a pair of position sensors 112 for detecting the positions of a pair of side edges extending in the Y direction among the side edges of the glass substrate 1. In the cassette station 12, a pair of support posts 11 is provided near each cassette mounting portion 12a.
4 stand substantially vertically, face each other across the cassette mounting portion 12a, and are located side by side in the X direction.
The pair of position sensors 112 are supported vertically by the support posts 114 so as to be able to move up and down along the Z direction. Is movable along the X-direction between a detection position overlapping the side edge of. Note that a pair of position sensors 112
Are arranged at positions where lines connecting these sensors pass through substantially the center h of the glass substrate 1.

When the position of the glass substrate 1 is detected, first, a pair of position sensors 112 at the retracted position are connected to an arbitrary glass substrate, particularly, both side edges of the glass substrate 1 taken out of the cassette C by the transfer robot 15 described later. It is moved in the Z direction to the positions facing each other. Subsequently, FIG.
As shown in (b), each position sensor 112 is moved from the retracted position to the glass substrate 1 in the X direction, and stops when the side edge of the glass substrate is detected. During that time, the movement amount of each position sensor 112 is detected. Then, the position of the glass substrate 1 is detected from the amount of movement of the position sensor 112.

That is, when the movement amounts of the pair of position sensors 112 coincide with each other, it is understood that the glass substrate 1 is placed in a state where the center h coincides with the central axis D of the cassette C. When the movement amounts of the two position sensors 112 are different from each other, the difference indicates that the glass substrate 1 is placed in a state where the center axis thereof is shifted from the center axis D of the cassette C in the X direction, At the same time, the shift amount can be detected. The deviation amount of the glass substrate 1 detected in this manner is used as position information when the glass substrate is transported, which will be described later.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the processing section 21 of the film forming apparatus 2 is provided in the cassette station 12 in the Y direction. The processing unit 21 is a multi-chamber type processing unit, and includes a load lock chamber 22 whose inside can be controlled to atmospheric pressure or vacuum. The load lock chamber 22 functioning as a transport unit extends in the Y direction, and has one end thereof connected to the cassette station 12.
And is facing. At the other end of the load lock chamber 22, a vacuum transfer chamber 24 having a substantially hexagonal flat surface is disposed with one side thereof in contact with the load lock chamber. The other five sides of the vacuum transfer chamber 24 include a heating chamber 2 for heating the glass substrate.
6. Four film forming chambers 25 for forming a thin film on the glass substrate 1 by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) are provided. Each of the heating chamber 26 and the film forming chamber 25 functions as an individual processing unit.

The spin cleaning unit 1 of the film forming apparatus 2
Numeral 6 is for spin-cleaning the glass substrate 1 taken out of the cassette C. The glass substrate 1 is provided adjacent to the cassette station 12 and the processing section 21 and has a space between the cassette station and the processing section 21. A first direction connecting the cassette station and the load lock chamber 22 of the processing unit, that is, a second direction orthogonal to the Y direction, that is,
It is provided shifted in the X direction.

Further, the transfer robot 15 of the film forming apparatus 2
The glass substrate 1 is provided between the cassette station 12 and the load lock chamber 22 of the processing unit 21. The glass substrate 1 is taken out from the cassette station 12, carried into the spin cleaning unit 16, and the cleaned glass substrate 1 is transferred through the load lock chamber 22. To the processing section 21. Then, the transfer robot 15
Takes out the glass substrate formed by the processing unit 21 and returns it to the cassette C.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 8, the transfer robot 15 functioning as a transfer mechanism includes a hand 128 as a support member for supporting the glass substrate 1, and the hand 128 has a center point O in a horizontal plane. Are movable along two directions passing through, ie, the X direction and the Y direction, and are movable up and down along a vertical Z direction passing through the center point O. Further, the hand 128 is rotatable around the Z axis.

More specifically, the transfer robot 15 includes a base 120 provided between the cassette station 12 and the load lock chamber 22 of the processing section 21, and a guide groove 122 formed on the base and extending in the X direction. And a drive unit 123 that is movable along. The guide groove 122
Extends along a direction intersecting the center of the spin cleaning unit 16. The driving unit 123 as a driving unit has a rotating shaft 125 that can move up and down along the Z axis and can rotate around the Z axis in the θ direction. The rotation axis 125 coincides with the center point O. Furthermore,
The drive unit 123 is configured to be able to rotate about the Z-axis.
20.

One end of a first arm 124 is connected to the rotating shaft 125 and can be rotated integrally with the rotating shaft 125. The other end of the first arm 124 has a second arm 126
Is connected to the other end of the second arm 126 so that a hand 128 for mounting the glass substrate 1 is rotatably connected to the rotation shaft 129. Have been. First and second arms 12
4 and 126 constitute a link, and the second arm 126
The arm 124 rotates by a predetermined angle in conjunction with the rotation of the arm 124.

The hand 128 is formed of a thin plate extending horizontally, and has a base end connected to the rotating shaft 129 and a tip formed in a bifurcated left and right shape. The hand 128 is attached to the rotating shaft 129 in a state where its center line d coincides with the direction extending through the rotating shaft 129 and the center point O, that is, the moving axis M extending in the Y direction.

The hand 128 moves in the X direction when the drive unit 123 moves along the guide groove 122, and moves in the Z direction when the arms 124 and 126 move up and down together with the rotary shaft 125. In addition, when the first and second arms 124 and 126 are rotated by the rotation shaft 125, the hand 128 moves along the movement axis M with the center line d always coincident with the movement axis M. Further, the hand 128
When the drive unit 123 rotates around the center point O, the first
And the second arm 124 and the second arm 124 around the center point O.

The opening 128 of the cassette C is
Non-contact type first and second sensors 130 for detecting the position of one side 1a of the glass substrate 1 located at the 06 side at two places
a and 130b are provided. The first and second sensors 130a and 130b are optical reflection sensors, and use infrared light having an optical imaging point that can be detected without transmitting through the transparent glass substrate 1 as the wavelength of the sensor light. Then, the first and second sensors 130a, 130
b is the center line d of the hand 128 with the detection surface as the upper surface.
(A line passing through the rotation axis 29 and the center point O), it is disposed in a position symmetrical to the left and right, that is, arranged side by side on a line orthogonal to the center line d of the hand, and at an interval x1 of 200 mm, for example. Are located.

As will be described later, the first and second sensors 130a and 130b move toward the base of the hand 128.
For example, the board mounting reference line R is set at a position separated by a distance y1 of 100 mm. When the glass substrate 1 is transported, the glass substrate 1 is supported on the hand 128 with one side 1a thereof coinciding with the substrate mounting reference line R.

As shown in FIG. 9, the position sensor 1 described above is used.
12. The first and third sensors 130a and 130b are connected to a control unit 141 functioning as a control unit and an adjustment unit. The control unit 141 includes the transfer robot 1
The driver 142 for driving the fifth drive unit 123 is connected. The control unit 141 includes a main control unit 144 that controls the basic transfer operation of the transfer robot 15, the sensors 112,
A calculation unit 146 for calculating the relative position between the hand 128 and the glass substrate 1 based on the information of the output signals of the transfer robots 30a and 130b and the operation state of the transfer robot 15, and corrects the transfer operation by the transfer robot based on the calculated position. And a correction unit 148 that outputs a correction signal for performing the correction.

Next, the unloading and loading operations of the transport robot 15 configured as described above will be described. Note that the cassette mounting portion 12a of the cassette station 12 has an AVG7
It is assumed that the cassette C transported by the above is placed, and the glass substrates 1 are stored in multiple stages in the cassette C. Further, it is assumed that the hand 128 of the transfer robot 15 is located at the standby position.

As shown in FIG. 10A, at the standby position, the transfer robot 15 moves its center point O on the X-axis.
Further, it is located on a reference axis YR extending coaxially with the central axis D of one of the cassettes C. The hand 28 is disposed at a position where the center line d coincides with the reference axis RY, and the movement axis M of the hand 28 also coincides with the reference axis YR.

When taking out an arbitrary glass substrate 1 from the cassette C, first, the position sensor 112 of the position detecting unit 110 provided in the cassette station 12 is used to detect the position of the glass substrate 1, that is, the center axis D of the cassette C. The shift amount of the center h of the glass substrate is detected. Then, for example, when the center of the glass substrate 1 to be removed is shifted by a distance a in the X direction with respect to the center axis D of the cassette C, the control unit 141 moves the driving unit 123 by the distance a in the X direction. Then, the displacement of the glass substrate 1 is corrected. As a result, FIG.
0 (b), the reference axis Y of the transfer robot 15
R, the center axis d and the movement axis M of the hand 128 pass through the center h of the glass substrate 1 and are positioned parallel to the center axis D of the cassette C.

Subsequently, under the control of the control unit 141,
As shown in FIG. 11A, the transfer robot 15 moves the hand 128 in the Z-axis direction, and moves the hand 128 to a position below the glass substrate 1 to be taken out of the cassette C and to the first position. And second sensor 130a, 130b and glass substrate 1
Stops at a height where the distance between the lower surface and the lower surface becomes a predetermined distance, here, 8 mm.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 11 (b) and 12 (a), the hand 128 is moved into the cassette C along the reference axis RY, and the glass substrate 1 to be taken out and the glass substrate below it are taken out. 1 or the bottom plate 104 of the cassette C. While the hand 128 is entering the lower side of the glass substrate 1 to be taken out, the first and second sensors 130
Reference numerals a and 130b cross below the side 1a of the glass substrate 1, and at this time, each side 1a is detected and a detection signal is output.

It should be noted that the first and second sensors 130a, 130a, 13a
0b does not output the detection signal, the control unit 1
41 determines that the glass substrate 1 is absent from the cassette C and stops the transfer operation. In addition, the first and second sensors 13
When only one of 0a and 130b outputs a detection signal, the control unit 141 determines that the glass substrate 1 is defective.

The control unit 141 includes the first and second sensors 1
The movement distance y2 of the hand 128 in the Y direction from the standby position until the first sensor 130a detects one side 1a of the glass substrate 1 according to the output timing of the detection signals of the detection signals 30a and 130b, and the second sensor 130b from the standby position The calculation unit 146 calculates the moving distance y3 of the hand 128 in the Y direction until the side detects the side 1a.

Further, the control unit 141 controls the moving distances y2, y
3, the inclination of the glass substrate 1, that is, the reference axis R
The inclination θ1 of the center line of the substrate with respect to Y and the position of the glass substrate 1 in the reference axis RY direction are calculated as one-side position information, and the movement of the hand 128 corresponding to the inclination of the glass substrate 1 is calculated according to the calculation result. The direction and the moving distance of the hand 28 required to align one side 1a of the board 1 with the board mounting reference line R of the hand 128 are calculated.

Subsequently, after returning the hand 128 to the standby position, the control unit 141 operates the transfer robot 15 so that the hand 128 is located at a predetermined relative position with respect to the glass substrate 1. That is, FIG. 11C and FIG.
As shown in (b), the control unit 141 controls the first and second
The driving unit 123 is moved in the right direction in the drawing by converting the driving unit 123 into a moving distance x2 along the X axis so that the line connecting the sensors 130a and 130b and one side 1a of the glass substrate 1 are parallel. Is rotated together with the arms 124 and 126 around the center point O in the counterclockwise direction in the figure by θ1. Thereby, the movement axis M and the center line d of the hand 128 coincide with the inclination of the glass substrate 1.

Next, the control section 141 calculates the moving distance y4 of the hand 128 in the moving axis M direction. The substrate mounting reference line R of the hand 28 is connected to the first and second sensors 130a, 130a, 1
It is set at a position separated by a distance y1 from a line connecting 30b. Then, the control unit 141 corrects the data of the movement axis M and the rotation position of the hand 128 based on the calculation result, and thereafter, the transfer robot 1 based on the correction data.
5 is controlled.

By the above-described control, as shown in FIGS. 11D and 12B, the hand 128 moves to a predetermined mounting position corresponding to the take-out position of the glass substrate 1, and stops at the mounting position. You. Thereby, the center line d of the hand 28 matches the center line of the glass substrate 1 and the hand 1
The 28 substrate mounting reference lines R are aligned with one side a of the substrate 1.

The first and second sensors 130a, 130a,
When the movement distances y2 and y3 calculated based on the detection signal of the hand 30b are equal, that is, when the glass substrate 1 to be taken out is at a correct position where one side 1a extends perpendicularly to the center axis d of the hand 128, Angle of inclination of 1 is 0
Is calculated, and the control unit 141 corrects the hand 128 along the reference axis YR without correcting the moving direction of the hand 128.
Is moved to a predetermined mounting position.

In this embodiment, the hand 1
After returning the hand 28 to the standby position, the position correction operation of the hand 128 with respect to the glass substrate 1 is performed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the position correction may be performed without returning the hand 128 to the standby position.

Subsequently, the transfer robot 15 has the hand 128
Is raised a predetermined distance in the Z-axis direction. Accordingly, the hand 128 supports the glass substrate 1 and pushes the glass substrate 1 up to a height position separated from the shelf 7 of the cassette C by a predetermined gap.

In this state, the transfer robot 15
As shown in (e), the hand 128 is moved along the movement axis M to the position above the drive unit 123, and the glass substrate 1 supported by the hand 128 is taken out of the cassette C. continue,
As shown in FIGS. 11F and 12C, the transfer robot 15 includes the arms 124 and 126 and the hand 12
8 together with the driving unit 123 in the clockwise direction around the center point O.
The glass substrate 1 is rotated by 0 ° + θ1 to face the spin cleaning unit 16 so that the center line of the glass substrate 1 is aligned with the X axis. At the same time, the hand 128 is moved in the Z-axis direction and adjusted to a predetermined height position corresponding to the spin cleaning unit 16.

Further, as shown in FIG. 12C, the control section 141 moves the driving section 123 in the direction opposite to the correction direction by the same distance as the X-direction correction amounts a and X2 when the glass substrate is taken out, and conveys the sheet. The reference axis RY of the robot 15 is aligned with the center line D of the cassette C.

Subsequently, the control unit 141 moves the driving unit 123 and the hand 128 by a predetermined distance in the X direction toward the spin cleaning unit 16. In this state, the transfer robot 15 moves the hand 1 as shown in FIG.
28 is moved to the spin cleaning unit 16 along the movement axis M, that is, the X direction, and the glass substrate 1 supported by the hand 128 is carried into a predetermined position in the spin cleaning unit 16. After the loading of the glass substrate 1, the transfer robot 15 is returned to a predetermined standby position.

As shown in FIG. 3, the spin cleaning unit 1
When the cleaning of the glass substrate 1 by the cleaning unit 6 is completed, the transfer robot 15 takes out the glass substrate 1 from the spin cleaning unit 16 under the control of the control unit 141, and moves the glass substrate 1 in the X direction to a position facing the load lock chamber 22 of the processing unit 21. After moving to
The glass substrate 1 is carried into the load lock chamber 22 along the Y direction. Further, when the film formation on the glass substrate 1 is completed by the processing unit 21, the transfer robot 15 moves to the load lock chamber 2.
The glass substrate 1 is taken out from 2 and is moved in the X direction to a position facing one of the cassettes C to convey the glass substrate. Thereafter, the transfer robot 15 carries the glass substrate 1 into a predetermined shelf in the cassette C along the Y direction.

As described above, the transfer robot 15
The glass substrate 1 taken out of the cassette C is transported in the X direction and carried into the spin cleaning unit 16, and the cleaned glass substrate is transported in the Y direction and carried into the processing unit 21. The sheet is transported from the processing section 21 in the Y direction and returned into the cassette C.

Next, a description will be given of the laser annealing apparatus 2 arranged alongside the film forming apparatus 2 described above. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 13, the laser annealing apparatus 3 faces a cassette station 32 and a cassette station disposed opposite the transfer path A of the transfer apparatus 7 in a Y direction orthogonal to the transfer path A. Laser cleaning (ELA) chamber 37, a cassette station 32, and a laser annealing chamber 37, which are provided as processing units, are provided with a spin cleaning unit 36 and a cassette station C which are displaced in the X direction parallel to the transport path A. And a transfer robot 35 for loading and unloading the glass substrate between the cassette station, the laser annealing chamber, and the spin cleaning unit 36.

The cassette station 32 has two cassette mounting portions 32a arranged along the transport path A. Each cassette mounting part 32a is configured similarly to the cassette mounting part 12a of the film forming apparatus 2 described above,
Each of the cassette mounting portions 32a has a configuration similar to that described above, and is a cassette C in which a plurality of glass substrates 1 are stored in a stacked state.
Is detachably mounted.

The cleaning chamber of the spin cleaning unit 36 faces the transfer robot 35 via an openable gate 36a, and the laser annealing chamber 37 also faces the transfer robot via an openable gate 37a. With such an arrangement, the transport distance of the glass substrate 1 taken out of the cassette C is minimized, and the gate 36a,
Due to 37a, the atmosphere in the spin cleaning unit 36 and the annealing chamber 37 can be separated from the atmosphere in the space where the cassette station 32 and the transfer robot 35 are arranged.

As shown by arrows A1 and A2 in FIG. 13, the glass substrate 1 is taken out of the cassette C by the transfer robot 35 and transferred in the X direction, and
, And after cleaning, removed from the cleaning unit,
The laser annealing chamber 37 is transported in the X direction and the Y direction.
It is carried in and out directly. As described later, the glass substrate 1 that has been subjected to the laser annealing in the laser annealing chamber 37 is transported by the transfer robot 35 to the laser annealing chamber 3.
7, transported in the Y direction, and loaded into the cassette C.

As shown in FIGS. 13 to 15, the laser annealing apparatus 3 includes a laser oscillator 38 for irradiating an annealing chamber 37 with an excimer laser.
Reference numeral 8 includes an excimer laser source 38a and an optical system such as a beam homogenizer (not shown) that guides the oscillated laser as a linear beam, and optical mirrors 38b and 38c.

Inside the annealing chamber 37, the glass substrate 1
Are provided in a substantially horizontal shape, and an atmosphere separation cover 39 located above the glass substrate 1 supported on the stage 37b. The atmosphere separation cover 39 is formed in a cylindrical shape having a substantially flat elliptical cross section, and its upper end is air-tightly fixed to the inner surface of the upper wall 37c of the annealing chamber 37. The upper end opening of the separation cover 39 faces the laser window 33 made of quartz glass or the like embedded in the upper wall 37c. The opening at the lower end of the separation cover 39 faces a laser irradiation area on the glass substrate 1 mounted on the stage 37b with a slight gap G.

The excimer laser oscillated from the laser oscillator 38 is reflected by the optical mirrors 38 b and 38 c of the optical system and passes through the laser window 33 to the atmosphere separating cover-3.
9 and irradiates the glass substrate 1 through the separation cover.

In the atmosphere separation cover 39, a gas supply unit 40 provided outside the annealing chamber 37 is provided.
Gas is supplied. That is, the gas supply unit 40 is a gas control system that controls the atmosphere by supplying gas into the atmosphere separation cover 39, and includes, for example, a tube 40a that supplies nitrogen (N ₂ ) and oxygen (O ₂ ). 40b, a gas control unit 40c such as an electromagnetic valve for opening and closing these pipes 40a and 40b to adjust the gas flow rate, and a concentration sensor 41 for detecting the oxygen concentration in the atmosphere in the atmosphere separation cover 39. I have. The gas supply unit 40 controls the atmosphere inside the atmosphere separation cover 39, that is, the atmosphere in the laser irradiation area on the surface of the glass substrate 1 to a predetermined oxygen concentration, for example, when the oxygen concentration is 0.1% to 13%. Preferably, 1.
A nitrogen atmosphere of 0% to 7.0% is used.

In the above embodiment, oxygen and nitrogen are separately supplied. However, oxygen and nitrogen gas previously mixed at a predetermined oxygen concentration may be supplied. Further, the oxygen concentration in the atmosphere only needs to be maintained at a predetermined value in at least a portion near the surface of the glass substrate inside the separation cover 39.

As shown in FIG. 1, a dry etching apparatus 4 is provided along a transport path A, alongside a film forming apparatus 2 and a laser annealing apparatus 3. The dry etching apparatus 4 is provided to the cassette station 42 and the cassette station disposed opposite the transport path A,
Dry etching chamber 47 and a spin cleaning unit 4 as processing units provided in the Y direction orthogonal to
6. Cassette station C and dry etching room 47
And a transfer robot 45 provided between the spin cleaning unit 46 and the cassette station, the dry etching chamber, and the spin cleaning unit.

The cassette station 42 has two cassette mounting portions arranged along the transport path A. Each cassette receiver is the cassette receiver 1 of the film forming apparatus 2 described above.
2a, and each cassette mounting portion has the same configuration as that described above and has a plurality of glass substrates 1
Are stacked and mounted in a removable manner.

In the dry etching apparatus 4, the glass substrate 1 is taken out of the cassette C by the carrying robot 45, carried in the Y direction, carried into the spin cleaning unit 46, washed, taken out of the cleaning unit, and taken out of the X direction. The wafer is conveyed in the Y direction and directly carried into and out of the dry etching chamber 47. And the dry etching chamber 47
Then, the film formed on the glass substrate 1 is dry-etched. Glass substrate 1 subjected to dry etching
Is transferred to the dry etching chamber 47 by the transfer robot 35.
, And transported in the Y direction and loaded into the cassette C.

As shown in FIG. 1, along the transport path A, along with the dry etching apparatus 4, the ion doping apparatus 5
Are arranged. The ion doping apparatus 5 includes a cassette station 52 disposed opposite the transfer path A, an ion doping chamber 57 serving as a processing unit provided opposite to the cassette station in the Y direction orthogonal to the transfer path A, and a spin station. The cleaning unit 56 is provided between the cassette station C and the ion doping chamber 57 and the spin cleaning unit 46.
A transport robot 55 for loading and unloading the glass substrate between the ion doping chamber and the spin cleaning unit is provided.

The cassette station 52 has two cassette mounting portions arranged along the transport path A. Each cassette receiver is the cassette receiver 1 of the film forming apparatus 2 described above.
2a, and each cassette mounting portion has the same configuration as that described above and has a plurality of glass substrates 1
Are stacked and mounted in a removable manner.

In the ion doping apparatus 5, the glass substrate 1 is taken out of the cassette C by the transfer robot 55, carried in the Y direction and carried into the spin cleaning unit 56, washed, taken out of the cleaning unit, and taken out of the X direction and It is transported in the Y direction and directly carried into and out of the ion doping chamber 47. Then, the ion doping chamber 57
Then, ions are doped into the film formed on the glass substrate 1. The glass substrate 1 subjected to the ion doping process is transferred to the ion doping chamber 5 by the transfer robot 55.
7, transported in the Y direction, and loaded into the cassette C.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
A wet etching device 6 is arranged alongside the ion doping device 5 along. The wet etching apparatus 6 feeds the transport path A to the cassette station 62 and the cassette station disposed opposite the transport path A.
Standby stage 7 provided in the Y direction orthogonal to the
1. Similarly, a processing unit 72 provided side by side with the standby stage in the Y direction, and a processing unit 72 provided between the standby stage and the cassette station C, for loading and unloading the glass substrate 1 between the cassette station and the standby stage. A transfer robot 65 is provided.

The cassette station 62 has three cassette mounting portions 63 arranged along the transport path A.
Each of the cassette mounting sections 63 has the same configuration as the above-described cassette mounting section 12a of the film forming apparatus 2, and each of the cassette mounting sections 63 has the same configuration as that described above and includes a plurality of glass substrates. The cassettes C containing the sheets 1 in a stacked state are detachably mounted. Also, the cassette station 62
An operation panel 66 is disposed beside the.

The standby stage 71 is composed of upper and lower stages, and the transfer robot 65 carries the glass substrate 1 taken out of the cassette C into the standby stage along the Y direction and waits for the processed glass substrate 1. It is taken out from the stage and carried into the cassette C along the Y direction. The transfer robot 65 has substantially the same configuration as the transfer robot of the film forming apparatus described above.

The processing section 72 includes four chemical processing sections 73 in a square shape as individual processing sections. Each chemical processing section 7
3 has a cup 74 having a diameter larger than the diagonal dimension of the glass substrate 1, and a substrate chuck 75 is provided at the center of the cup 74. The substrate chuck 75 can rotate and move up and down while holding the glass substrate B, and can adjust the temperature of the glass substrate to the same temperature as the chemical solution. Above the cup 74, a rotatable chemical liquid supply nozzle 76 is provided, and in the center of the four chemical processing units 73, a transfer robot 77 is provided.

The four chemical processing units 73 have a control system for controlling the temperature and the like as a whole or individually. In the chemical processing section 73, spin drying or drying by air blow is also possible.

Next, the structure of an array substrate manufactured by the substrate manufacturing apparatus configured as described above will be described. As shown in FIG. 17, the array substrate B includes a glass substrate 1 as an insulating substrate, and a Si substrate is provided on the glass substrate.
N _x protective film 82 and the protective film 83 of SiO _N are sequentially stacked formation, is on the protective film 83 Porishirion (P-
Si) channel region 84 and drain regions 8 located on both sides of the channel region 84 and made of P-Si, respectively.
5 and a source region 86 are formed.

The channel region 84, the drain region 85, and the source region 86 are covered with SiO ₂ or TEOS.
Is formed, and a gate electrode 88 of a metal such as aluminum (Al) or an aluminum (Al) alloy is formed through the gate insulating film 87. An SiN _x interlayer insulating film 89 is formed to cover the gate insulating film 87 and the gate electrode 88.
Contact holes 90 and 91 are formed in the interlayer insulating film 89 and the gate insulating film 87, and a drain electrode 92 and a source electrode made of a metal such as aluminum (A1) or an aluminum (Al) alloy are formed through the contact holes 90 and 91. 93 is formed, and constitutes a thin film transistor 94. In addition, the array substrate B includes pixel electrodes, signal lines, scanning lines, and the like (not shown).

Next, a manufacturing process for manufacturing the array substrate B using the above-described substrate manufacturing apparatus will be described. First,
The glass substrate 1 stored in the cassette C is transferred along the transport path A by the transport cart 7 a of the transport device 7 to form the film forming device 2.
After being transported to a position opposite to the cassette station 12 of the cassette station 12,
The cassette C is transferred to a.

Then, the glass substrate 1 is taken out from the cassette C in the Y direction by the transfer robot 15 and is carried into the spin cleaning unit 16 located in the X direction orthogonal to the Y direction, and the glass substrate 1 is cleaned by the spin cleaning unit. I do. Subsequently, the glass substrate 1 after the cleaning is taken out from the spin cleaning unit 16 in the X direction by the transfer robot 15, and is taken into the load lock chamber 22 of the processing unit 21 located in the Y direction within 20 seconds, preferably within 10 seconds. insert.

When the glass substrate 1 is inserted, the load lock chamber 22 is reduced in pressure from the atmospheric pressure to a vacuum. Next, the glass substrate 1 is carried into the heating chamber 26 from the load lock chamber 22 through the vacuum transfer chamber 24 by a transfer robot (not shown), and is heated in the heating chamber 26 at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time. After that, the glass substrate 1 is transferred to the heating chamber 2 through the vacuum transfer chamber 24.
6 are sequentially carried into different film forming chambers 25, and FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, in these film forming chambers, a SiN _x film serving as a protective film 82 and a SiON film serving as a protective film 83 are formed on the glass substrate 1.
Film and amorphous silicon (a) forming a channel region 84, a drain region 85, and a source region 86
-Si) films are sequentially formed.

The SiN _x film, SiON film, a-S
The glass substrate 1 on which the i film is formed is transferred to the load lock chamber 22 by the vacuum transfer chamber 24, and after returning the rod lock chamber from vacuum to atmospheric pressure, is transferred by the transfer robot 15 in the Y direction and returned to the cassette C. It is.

After the above-mentioned film forming process is completed for all the glass substrates 1 in the cassette C, the cassette C is moved
a, and transported along the transport path A to a position facing the cassette station 32 of the laser annealing apparatus 3,
Further, the cassette mounting portion 32 of the cassette station 32
Transfer to a.

In the laser annealing apparatus 3, the glass substrate 1 is taken out of the cassette C by the transfer robot 35 as shown by an arrow A 1 in FIG. Then, in the spin cleaning unit 36, pre-processing such as removal of particles and impurities such as phosphorus and boron is performed.

After the completion of the pretreatment, the transfer robot 35 moves the spin cleaning unit 36 as shown by an arrow A2 in FIG.
, The glass substrate 1 is taken out, transported in the X and Y directions, and directly inserted into the annealing chamber 37 through the opened gate 37a. And the spin cleaning unit 3
The transfer time from 6 to the annealing chamber 37 is about 20 seconds or less,
It is desirably 10 seconds or less. Therefore, the transfer time of the glass substrate into the annealing chamber 37 immediately after the pretreatment is always constant and extremely short, and the probability of impurities and particles such as phosphorus and boron adhering to the glass substrate again is minimized. Furthermore, since the number of times the glass substrate is transferred between the spin cleaning unit 36 and the annealing chamber 37 is only one time by the transfer robot 35, the probability that particles adhere to the glass substrate is reduced.

As shown in FIG. 15, in the annealing chamber 37, the glass substrate 1 is mounted at a predetermined position on the stage 37b, and a slight gap G is provided above the glass substrate.
, An atmosphere separation cover 39 is located. In this state, based on the data measured by the oxygen concentration sensor 41, the gas supply unit 40 supplies gas to the inside of the atmosphere separation cover 39 to keep the atmosphere near the laser irradiation region on the glass substrate, for example, the oxygen concentration constant. Control to the value of As a result, the annealing chamber 37 does not have a vacuum atmosphere, but has an atmosphere having a pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure, that is, an atmospheric pressure or a predetermined pressurized (positive pressure) atmosphere.

In this state, an excimer laser is oscillated from the laser oscillator 38, and the laser is guided as a linear beam by the optical system, passes through the laser window 33 and the atmosphere separation cover 39, and irradiates the glass substrate 1. . Then, the glass substrate is sequentially moved at a predetermined interval so that a part of the linear beam overlaps. That is, as shown in FIG. 18B, the a-Si layer formed on the glass substrate 1 is annealed by an excimer laser to form the channel region 8.
4, crystallize into a polycrystalline silicon film for forming a drain region 85 and a source region 86, and form polysilicon (P
—Si) film 95. After that, the a-Si film becomes P-Si
The crystallized glass substrate 1 is returned to the cassette C by the transfer robot 35 as shown by an arrow A3 in FIG.

After the above-mentioned laser annealing process has been completed for all the glass substrates 1 in the cassette C, the cassette C is transferred to the transport carriage 7a and transported along the transport path A to a photo-etching apparatus (not shown), where the photo-etching is performed. By the process, a resist is formed on the channel region 84, the drain region 85, and the source region 86.

Thereafter, the cassette C is transported by the transport trolley 7a to a position facing the cassette station 42 of the dry etching apparatus 4, and is further transferred to the cassette mounting portion of the cassette station 42. In the dry etching apparatus 4, the glass substrate 1 is taken out of the cassette C by the transfer robot 45 and is directly inserted into and removed from the spin cleaning unit 46 sequentially. After the glass substrate 1 cleaned by the spin cleaning unit 36 is directly carried into the dry etching chamber 47 by the transfer robot 45, the resist 96 and the P-Si film 95 are dry etched as shown in FIG. To form islands. Then, the glass substrate 1
After the dry etching process is completed for all the glass substrates 1 in the cassette C returned to the cassette C by the transport robot 45, the cassette C is transferred to the transport trolley 7a, and the next component (not shown) is moved along the transport path A. After being conveyed to a position facing the cassette station of the membrane apparatus, it is placed on the cassette placement section of this cassette station.
This film forming apparatus is configured similarly to the film forming apparatus 2 described above.

In the film forming apparatus, the glass substrate 1 is carried from the cassette C to the spin cleaning unit by the transfer robot, and after being cleaned, is directly transferred from the spin cleaning unit to the load lock chamber. Then, after the glass substrate is heated in the heating chamber 26, the glass substrate is sequentially transferred from the heating chamber to different film forming chambers via the vacuum transfer chamber, and as shown in FIG. An SiO ₂ film serving as a gate insulating film 87 is formed on the film 95.

The glass substrate 1 on which the SiO ₂ film is formed is
After being transferred to the load lock chamber through the vacuum transfer chamber, the atmosphere is returned from vacuum to atmospheric pressure, and then returned to the cassette C by the transfer robot. Subsequently, the cassette C is transported to a sputtering device (not shown), where the film formation is performed on all the glass substrates 1 in the cassette C in which a metal film (MoW) to be the gate electrode 88 is formed on SiO ₂ of the glass substrate. After the processing is completed, the cassette C is transferred to the transport carriage 7a, transported along the transport path A to a photo-etching device (not shown), and a photo-etching process is performed.
As shown in FIG. 9A, an island-shaped resist 97 is formed on the gate insulating film 87 and the gate electrode 88. afterwards,
The cassette C is transported by the transport carriage 7a to a position facing a cassette station of another dry etching apparatus (not shown) having a configuration similar to that of the above-described dry etching apparatus 2, and is further transferred to a cassette mounting portion of the cassette station. .

In this dry etching apparatus, the glass substrate 1 is taken out of the cassette C by the transfer robot, and is directly inserted into and removed from the spin cleaning unit. Then, after the glass substrate 1 cleaned by the spin cleaning unit is directly carried into the dry etching chamber by the transfer robot, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 9B, the gate electrode 88 is formed into an island shape by dry etching. Thereafter, the glass substrate 1 is returned to the cassette C by the transfer robot, and after the above-mentioned dry etching process is completed for all the glass substrates 1 in the cassette C, the cassette C is transferred to the transfer carriage 7a and is moved along the transfer path A. The wafer is conveyed to a position opposite to the cassette station 32 of the laser annealing device 3, and further transferred to a cassette mounting portion of the cassette station 52 of the ion doping device 5.

In the ion doping apparatus 5, the glass substrate 1 is taken out of the cassette C by the transfer robot 55, sequentially inserted into and removed from the spin cleaning unit 56, and the cleaned glass substrate is carried into the ion doping chamber 57 by the transfer robot 55. . In the ion doping chamber 57, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 9C, the P-Si film 95 is ion-doped using the gate electrode 88 as a mask. In this case, the channel region 84 is not ion-doped due to the self-alignment of the gate electrode 88, and only the drain region 85 and the source region 86 are ion-doped. In addition, by using a resist or a metal film as a mask if necessary,
The P-Si film is replaced with a titly doped drain (LD
D) A structure can be formed. The glass substrate 1 in which the drain region 85 and the source region 86 are ion-doped is returned to the cassette C by the transfer robot 55.

After the above-described ion doping process is completed for all the glass substrates 1 in the cassette C, the cassette C
Is transferred to a transport carriage 7a, and transported along a transport path A to a film forming apparatus (not shown) to form an interlayer insulating film on the gate insulating film 87 and the gate electrode 88. Further, the cassette C is transferred to the transport carriage 7a and transported along the transport path A to a photoetching device (not shown), and the contact holes 90,
A resist covering a portion to be 91 is formed.

After that, the cassette C is transferred to the transport carriage 7a, transported along the transport path A to a position facing the cassette station 62 of the wet etching apparatus 6, and further transferred to the cassette mounting portion 63 of the cassette station 62. Transfer.

As shown in FIG. 16, in the wet etching apparatus 6, the glass substrate 1 is alternately carried from the cassette C to the two standby stages 71 by the transfer robot 65, and heated in the standby stage 71. Thereafter, the transport robot 77 sequentially transports the glass substrate 1 to two chemical solution processing units 73 to which a chemical solution for wet etching is supplied. In the chemical processing section 73, the substrate chuck 75 holding the glass substrate 1 at the raised position is lowered, the glass substrate 1 is positioned in the cup 74,
While rotating the glass substrate by 5, a chemical solution for wet etching is supplied from the nozzle 76. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 19D, contact holes 90 and 91 are formed in the interlayer insulating film 89 and the gate insulating film 87.

Subsequently, the substrate chuck 75 is raised,
Glass substrate 1 with contact holes 90 and 91 drilled
Is lifted from the cup 74, and
Chemical processing unit 7 to which a chemical for wet etching is supplied
The glass substrate is sequentially and continuously transported from 3 to another chemical processing section 73 to which a chemical for resist stripping is supplied. And
The glass substrate 1 is held by the substrate chuck 75 and positioned in the cup 74, and while rotating the glass substrate by the substrate chuck 75, a chemical for resist removal is supplied to the glass substrate from the nozzle 76 to remove the resist. In addition,
If the chemical liquid in the chemical processing section 73 in which the glass substrate 1 is not carried in is exchanged, the chemical liquid can be exchanged without lowering the operation rate of the apparatus.

Then, the glass substrate 1 from which the resist has been removed is transferred to the standby stage 71 by the transfer robot 77, and further, the glass substrate is transferred to the cassette C by the transfer robot 65.

Subsequently, the cassette C is transported along the transport path A by the transport carriage 7a of the transport device 7 to a position facing the cassette station of the next film forming apparatus, and is placed at the cassette mounting position of this cassette station. Is placed. This film forming apparatus has the same configuration as the above-described film forming apparatus.

In the film forming apparatus, the glass substrate 1 is taken out of the cassette C by the transfer robot 15 and carried into the spin cleaning unit 16. After the cleaning is completed, the glass substrate is transferred from the spin cleaning unit to the load lock chamber 22 for 20 seconds. ,
Preferably, it is directly loaded within 10 seconds. Then, the glass substrate 1 is transferred from the load lock chamber 22 to the heating chamber 26 via the vacuum transfer chamber 24, and is heated in the heating chamber 26. After that, the glass substrate 1 is sequentially loaded from the heating chamber 26 to the different film forming chambers 25 via the vacuum transfer chamber 24, and the glass substrate 1
A metal film to be a drain electrode 92 and a source electrode 93 is formed on the interlayer insulating film 89 of FIG.

The glass substrate 1 on which the metal film has been formed is transferred to the load lock chamber 22 via the vacuum transfer chamber 24, and further returned to the cassette C by the transfer robot 15. The cassette C is unloaded along the transport path A by the transport device 7 and proceeds to the next step (not shown). Then, in the next step, after a resist is formed on the metal film formed on the glass substrate 1, an etching process is carried out, whereby FIG.
As shown in (e), the drain electrode 92 and the source electrode 93 are formed, and the array substrate B is manufactured.

According to the substrate manufacturing apparatus and the processing method configured as described above, each of the film forming apparatus 2, the laser annealing apparatus 3, the dry etching apparatus 4, and the ion doping apparatus 5 includes the spin cleaning units 16 and 36. , 4
6 and 56, there is no need to transport the cassette C to another independent cleaning device for cleaning the substrate,
The cleaned substrate can be directly carried into the processing section of the apparatus. Therefore, the desired processing can be performed in a short time after the substrate is cleaned, and the substrate is not easily contaminated after the cleaning and before being carried into the processing section. As a result, the yield of array substrate manufacturing is improved and the lead time is reduced. it can.

Further, each of the processing units 2, 3, 4, 5
Since the substrate can be washed in the inside, the transport distance of the cassette C can be shortened, so-called Q time can be easily managed, and the size of the entire manufacturing apparatus can be reduced.

Further, as in the case of the film forming apparatus 2, the transfer device 7
Since the spin cleaning unit 16 is disposed in the X direction along the transport direction of the transport device, which serves as a dead space, for the processing unit 21 disposed in the Y direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the The arrangement efficiency of the apparatus can be improved, and the size of the entire manufacturing apparatus can be reduced.

Further, according to the wet etching apparatus 6, the substrate is transported into each chemical processing section by the transport robot 77 having the movable range of the four chemical processing sections 73.
The installation area can be reduced, and the substrate can be reliably and easily exchanged between the standby stage 71 and the chemical processing section.

According to the above-described substrate manufacturing apparatus, in the laser annealing apparatus, the annealing chamber 37 is disposed directly opposite to the transfer robot 15, that is, the cleaned substrate is directly carried into the annealing chamber 37. Therefore, the number of constituent units of the laser annealing apparatus can be reduced, and at the same time, the number of transport mechanisms between the constituent units can be reduced. Therefore, the structure of the device can be simplified, the number of sources of particles can be reduced, annealing can be performed in a stable atmosphere, and the quality of the substrate can be improved.

The annealing chamber 37 can perform laser annealing in an atmosphere having a pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure, that is, the atmospheric pressure or a predetermined pressurized (positive pressure) atmosphere without setting a vacuum atmosphere. This eliminates the need, simplifies the structure, and reduces manufacturing costs.

Further, as described above, by providing the spin cleaning unit 36 directly connected to the cassette station 32, the substrate is transferred to the annealing chamber 37 in a short time after the pretreatment for annealing is performed by the spin cleaning unit. it can. Therefore, it is possible to perform laser annealing in a state in which particles are removed and, for example, in a state in which amorphous silicon is naturally oxidized, or in a state in which impurities such as boron and phosphorus are removed and adhesion is prevented, and a thin film state is stabilized. Substrate quality such as transistor characteristics can be improved.

In the present embodiment, an atmosphere separation cover 39 surrounding the laser irradiation area of the substrate is arranged in an annealing chamber 37 where the substrate is arranged and irradiated with laser. By supplying the gas into the chamber 39, it is possible to easily control only the atmosphere necessary for annealing near the laser irradiation position in the annealing chamber 37. For this reason, even if the inside of the annealing chamber 37 is at atmospheric pressure or a predetermined pressurized atmosphere, no impurities are mixed, and the thin film state can be stabilized without using an expensive vacuum pump. Therefore, the structure of the laser annealing apparatus can be simplified, manufacturing costs can be reduced, and the amount of gas used can be reduced and the cost of using the apparatus can be reduced as compared with a configuration in which the entire annealing chamber is filled with gas.

The gas supply section 40 includes an oxygen concentration sensor 41 for detecting the atmosphere in the atmosphere separation cover 39 and a gas control section 40c for controlling the gas supplied to the atmosphere separation cover 39, thereby providing a desired gas. Annealing can be performed by setting the atmosphere to an appropriate value, and the quality of the substrate can be improved. For example, the a-Si thin film can be modified into P-Si having a large crystal grain size, and the mobility of transistor characteristics can be increased. The quality of the substrate can be improved.

Further, an atmosphere separating cover-3 is mounted on a stage 37b for supporting a substrate disposed in the annealing chamber 37.
9 are opposed to each other with a predetermined gap G therebetween, a constant oxygen concentration atmosphere can be set by the laminar flow of the gas passing through the gap G, and annealing in a predetermined atmosphere becomes possible, and a simple structure is obtained. The quality of the substrate can be improved.

Then, an object to be processed is used as a substrate of a liquid crystal display panel, and annealing is performed by an excimer laser, so that an a-Si film for forming a channel region 84, a drain region 85 and a source region 86, that is, amorphous silicon is formed. A structure suitable for a structure in which the film is crystallized into a P-Si film, that is, a polycrystalline silicon film can be provided.

At the same time, by setting the atmosphere in the annealing chamber 37 to a nitrogen atmosphere, a substrate of desired quality can be obtained. The atmosphere in the annealing chamber 37 is oxygen concentration 0.1%
By making the atmosphere controllable to about 13%, desirably 1.0% to 7.0%, for example, the a-Si thin film can be modified into P-Si having a large crystal grain size, and the transistor characteristics can be shifted. The quality of the substrate B can be improved by increasing the degree.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified within the scope of the present invention. For example, the film forming apparatus 2 has been described using the example of one load lock chamber 22, four film forming chambers 25, and the first heating chamber 26. Can be combined in an arbitrary number to improve the operation efficiency of the apparatus and shorten the processing time.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 20, the film forming apparatus 2 includes a cassette station 12 having three cassette mounting portions 12a arranged along the transport path A and a cassette station 12 along the X direction. And two spin cleaning units 16a and 16b provided on both sides.
Further, the processing unit 21 includes a pair of load lock chambers 2 provided to face the cassette station 12 in the Y direction.
The load lock chambers 22 are provided side by side in the X direction. Further, the processing section 21 has one heating chamber 26 and four film forming chambers 25. The transfer robot 15 includes two spin cleaning units 16a, 1
6b, and between the cassette station 12 and the load lock chamber 22.

Each of the spin cleaning units, the heating chamber 26, and each of the film forming chambers 25 are configured in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment. The transfer robot 15 is configured as a double-hand type having two hands, and the configuration and operation of each unit are the same as those of the transfer robot in the above-described embodiment.

According to the film forming apparatus 2 configured as described above, the glass substrate stored in the cassette C is transferred by the transfer robot 15 to the two spin cleaning units 16a, as shown by arrows in FIG. 16b is selectively conveyed,
After the cleaning, it is directly carried into the closer load lock chamber 22. Loading and unloading of the glass substrate 1 to and from the spin cleaning units 16a and 16b are performed along the X direction. The loading and unloading of the glass substrate into and out of each cassette C and the load lock chamber 22 are performed in the Y direction orthogonal to the X direction.

The glass substrate carried into the loading / unloading chamber 22 is placed on a rotatable stage (not shown) provided in the loading / unloading chamber. Is rotated in the direction passing through the center of Subsequently, the glass substrate is transferred from the load lock chamber 22 to the heating chamber 26 by the transfer robot 24a disposed in the vacuum transfer chamber 24 and subjected to heat treatment, and then transferred from the heating chamber to any one of the film formation chambers 25. Thus, a desired thin film is formed on the glass substrate. Then, the glass substrate after film formation is transferred from the film formation chamber 25 to the load lock chamber 22 by the transfer robot 24a. The glass substrate is turned in the load lock chamber 22 so that the center line of the glass substrate is parallel to the Y direction, and is taken out of the load lock chamber by the transfer robot 15 and returned to the cassette C.

Even when the film forming apparatus 2 configured as described above is used, the same operation and effect as those of the above-described embodiment can be obtained, and the two spin cleaning units 16 can be used.
By providing a and 16b, the processing efficiency can be further improved.

Further, the film forming apparatus 2 has four film forming chambers 25 and a heating chamber 26, and the wet etching apparatus 6 has four chemical liquid processing sections 73. By arbitrarily changing the processing apparatus to one of a film forming chamber, a heating chamber, a laser annealing chamber, an ion doping chamber, and a chemical processing section, the processing path can be shortened and the processing time can be shortened. Operation efficiency can be further improved.

Although the wet etching apparatus 6 uses four chemical processing sections 73, as shown in FIG. 21, the same applies when only the two chemical processing sections 73 are used without having a standby stage. The effect of can be obtained.

Further, as the chemicals in the chemical processing section 73 of the wet etching apparatus 6, the same specific chemicals may be used, or a photosensitive agent, a resist solution, a developing solution, an etching solution, a stripping solution, pure water or ionic water. For example, different chemicals such as cleaning water may be used. The plurality of chemical processing units 73 have at least one of a chemical processing, a developing processing, an etching processing, a resist coating processing, a cleaning processing, and a drying processing function, and the resist coating processing, the developing processing, and the developing processing are performed by one processing apparatus. The etching, stripping and cleaning may be performed continuously or selectively.

In the above embodiment, in the laser annealing apparatus, one cassette station 32 has one
Although one annealing chamber 37 is arranged to face each other, a plurality of annealing chambers 37 may be arranged to face one cassette station 32. Further, by providing a preheating chamber directly opposed to the cassette station 32, the structure is simplified, the number of sources of particles is reduced, annealing can be performed in a stable atmosphere, and the quality of the substrate B can be improved.

Further, as shown in FIG. 22, in the laser annealing apparatus 3, the spin cleaning unit 36 is provided in parallel with the laser annealing chamber 37 in a direction parallel to the transport path A, that is, in the X direction. Is also good. Further, the spin cleaning unit 36 for cleaning the substrate may perform post-annealing processing on the substrate in addition to the pre-annealing processing.

In the above embodiment, nitrogen gas or the like is used for the atmosphere in the annealing chamber 37 or the atmosphere in the atmosphere separation cover 39. However, another gas, for example, an inert gas such as argon may be used. it can.

In the above substrate manufacturing apparatus, a plurality of processing apparatuses are sequentially arranged along the linear transfer path A. However, the arrangement of the transfer paths and the processing apparatuses can be arbitrarily selected as necessary. It is. According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 23, the substrate manufacturing apparatus has a plurality of processing chambers 150 arranged at predetermined intervals in an array, and a plurality of cassettes are mounted on one end side of each processing chamber. A stocker 152 that can be placed is also provided.

Further, on the ceiling of the factory where the substrate manufacturing apparatus is installed, a main transport path B of the main transport apparatus 154 and a movable carriage 154a that moves along the main transport path are provided. The main transport path B is formed in an elongated track shape,
Part of it extends over the plurality of stockers 152. The movable carriage 154a is configured to be able to support a plurality of cassettes, moves to an arbitrary stacker 152, and transfers the cassette to and from the stacker.

Further, between the two adjacent processing chambers 150,
A double transfer device 156 is provided for each. Each multi-transport device 156 has an elongated track-shaped transport path D extending in a direction perpendicular to the main transport path B, and a movable carriage 156a that runs along the transport path. Moving cart 154
Reference numeral a denotes a configuration in which a plurality of cassettes can be placed, and exchanges cassettes between the stacker 152 and the processing devices disposed in the processing chambers 150 on both sides as described later.

In each of the processing chambers 150, a plurality of processing devices are arranged. In the present embodiment, the double transfer device 15
In two processing chambers 150 adjacent to each other across the same 6, the same processing apparatus that performs the same processing is provided side by side along a side edge facing the multiple transfer apparatus. For example,
In FIG. 23, on both sides of the leftmost double transfer device 156,
A plurality of film forming apparatuses (CVD) 2 are arranged side by side, a plurality of photo-etching apparatuses (PEP) 158 are arranged side by side on both sides of the middle multiple transfer apparatus 156, On both sides, a plurality of excimer laser eye devices (ELAs) 3 are installed side by side.

Each of the film forming apparatus 2 and the excimer laser annealing apparatus 3 has the same configuration as that of the above-described embodiment. Even in the manufacturing apparatus configured as described above,
The same operation and effect as those of the above-described embodiment can be obtained. In addition, by arranging a plurality of processing apparatuses collectively in the processing chamber 150 and partitioning them from the outside, it is possible to relatively easily increase the cleanliness of the processing chamber.

In each of the above-described embodiments, an apparatus for manufacturing an array substrate of a liquid crystal display panel has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The operation and effect can be obtained.

[0124]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a processing method capable of preventing contamination of a substrate and shortening a processing time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing an entire substrate manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a film forming apparatus in the substrate manufacturing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the film forming apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a cassette mounting portion and a transfer robot of the film forming apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a cassette containing glass substrates.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a glass substrate and a position sensor in the cassette.

FIG. 7A is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a positional relationship between the glass substrate and a position sensor when the position sensor has moved to a standby position, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a positional relationship between the glass substrate and a position sensor when the sensor has moved to a detection position.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged plan view showing a hand portion of the transfer robot.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the transfer robot.

FIG. 10A is a plan view showing a positional relationship between a glass plate in the cassette and the hand in a state where the hand has moved to a reference position, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a positional relationship between the glass plate in the cassette and the hand in a state where the hand is corrected by a shift of the glass plate from a reference position.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are plan views showing the transport operation of the glass plate by the transport robot.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing a tilt detection operation and a hand correction operation of the glass substrate by the transfer robot.

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a laser annealing apparatus in the substrate manufacturing apparatus.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view schematically showing an inside of an annealing chamber of the laser annealing apparatus.

FIG. 15 is a sectional view of the annealing chamber.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing a wet etching apparatus in the substrate manufacturing apparatus.

FIG. 17 is a sectional view showing an example of an array substrate manufactured by the substrate manufacturing apparatus.

FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view illustrating each step of manufacturing an array substrate by the substrate manufacturing apparatus.

FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view illustrating each step of manufacturing an array substrate by the substrate manufacturing apparatus.

FIG. 20 is a plan view showing a film forming apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view showing a modification of the wet etching apparatus.

FIG. 22 is a plan view showing a modification of the laser annealing apparatus.

FIG. 23 is a plan view showing a substrate manufacturing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Glass substrate 2 ... Film forming apparatus 3 ... Laser annealing apparatus 4 ... Dry etching apparatus 5 ... Ion doping apparatus 6 ... Wet etching apparatus 7 ... Carrier apparatus 7a ... Moving carriage 12, 32, 62 ... Cassette station 12a, 32a ... Cassette Placement parts 15, 35, 65 Transport robots 16, 16a, 16b, 36 Spin cleaning unit 21 Processing part 25 Film formation chamber 26 Heating chamber 37 Annealing chamber 38 Laser oscillator 39 Atmosphere separation cover 40 Gas control unit 41 Oxygen concentration sensor 112 Position sensor 123 Drive unit 128 Hand 144 Control unit A Transport path C Cassette

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Masatoshi Shimizu 33, Shinisogo-cho, Isogo-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Toshiba Production Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takuo Higashijima 1-9-9 Harara-cho, Fukaya-shi, Saitama 2 Toshiba Fukaya Electronics Factory (72) Inventor Hiroaki Takahashi 1-9-2 Harara-cho, Fukaya-shi, Saitama 1-9-2 Inside Toshiba Fukaya Electronics Factory (72) Inventor Yoshiaki Komatsubara 1-Chara, Fukaya-shi, Saitama No. 9-2 Inside the Toshiba Fukaya Electronics Factory

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A substrate mounted on a mounting portion on which polycrystalline silicon is formed is carried out by a transport mechanism and is carried from the mounting portion to a cleaning section provided adjacent to the mounting portion for cleaning. Process, by the transport mechanism, the cleaned substrate is directly carried into a processing unit provided adjacent to the mounting unit and adjacent to the cleaning unit, and mainly includes silicon oxide on the polycrystalline silicon. Forming an insulating film to be formed, wherein the first cleaning unit connects the processing unit and the mounting unit.
A processing method characterized by being provided in a second direction crossing the direction.