JP2001237295A - Substrate transfer fingers - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: A substrate transfer finger capable of flattening the temperature distribution within one substrate as much as possible. A substrate transport finger (32) for removing a substrate having a surface to which a heat treatment substance is applied from a heat treatment apparatus and transporting the substrate, wherein the plate-like finger body (60).
And a coating layer 7 made of a material whose thermal conductivity and thermal emissivity are smaller than the material forming the finger body 60, which is arranged on the surface of the finger body 60 on which the substrate is placed.
8 is provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate transport finger for transporting a substrate such as a glass substrate for liquid crystal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a finger which supports and transports a substrate from below while keeping the substrate horizontal. The base material of such fingers is typically stainless steel or aluminum. In the case of stainless steel, no surface treatment is performed, but in the case of using aluminum, alumite treatment is often performed to prevent generation of dust from the surface. The finger is provided with a suction pad to prevent the glass substrate from being displaced.

[0003]

When the substrate is ejected from the heating device by using such fingers, the substrate heated to a high temperature is gripped by a hand at room temperature, so that a temperature distribution occurs on the substrate. In other words, the way in which the substrate temperature drops is different between where the hand is behind and where it is not. This difference causes a problem that the quality of the substance applied to the substrate surface after heating is different.

[0004] Furthermore, the product area in contact with the suction pad for fixing the substrate has a different temperature history from the non-contact area, so that the quality is similarly different.

In particular, in the process of manufacturing a color filter in which red, green, and blue dyes are drawn on an ink receiving layer for each pixel, unless the quality of the receiving layer is made constant, the dye is supplied in a certain amount at a certain place. However, the dye may not be received in a prescribed amount in other places and may overflow, and if the quality of the receiving layer varies as described above, adjacent red / green / blue dyes may be mixed. In sum, something that cannot be a product is created.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate transfer finger capable of flattening a temperature distribution within one substrate as much as possible. is there.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems To solve the above-mentioned problems,
In order to achieve the object, the substrate transfer finger according to the present invention includes a substrate having a surface coated with a heat treatment substance,
A substrate transport finger for removing and transporting from a heat treatment apparatus, wherein the finger is disposed on a flat plate-shaped finger body and a surface of the finger body on which the substrate is mounted, and has a thermal conductivity and a heat radiation. A covering member made of a material having a ratio smaller than a material forming the finger body.

In the finger for transferring a substrate according to the present invention, the covering member is formed by applying a material having a lower thermal conductivity and a lower thermal emissivity than a material forming the finger body to the finger body. It is characterized in that it is a formed coating layer.

In the finger for transferring a substrate according to the present invention, the covering member is formed by forming a material having a thermal conductivity and a thermal emissivity smaller than a material forming the finger body into a thin plate shape. It is characterized by having.

In the finger for transferring a substrate according to the present invention, a suction pad for sucking the substrate is further provided, and the suction pad is arranged at a position corresponding to the outside of the product area of the substrate. I have.

Further, in the substrate transfer finger according to the present invention, the finger body is formed of stainless steel as a material.

Further, in the substrate transfer finger according to the present invention, the material whose thermal conductivity and thermal emissivity are smaller than the material forming the finger body is ceramic or glass fiber. .

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a glass substrate heating processing system into which a finger according to an embodiment is introduced.

In FIG. 1, the glass substrate 100 unloaded from a previous step (not shown) is positioned on the conveyor at a position where the fingers 14 of the first transfer robot 12 can be removed. The support 16 of the first transfer robot 12 is raised, and the suction pad 7 for fixing the position installed on the finger 14 is provided.
0 (see FIG. 2) is in contact with the back surface of the glass substrate 100, and the position is firmly fixed. Further, the support 16 is raised, and the glass substrate 100 is completely separated from the conveyor. The finger 14 advances along the rail 18 and the glass substrate 10
It is inserted into the heating furnace unit 20 together with 0. The suction pad 70 for fixing the position is returned to the atmospheric pressure, and the suction is released. As the cylinder unit 22 rises, the combined elevating base plate 24 and the elevating pins 26 installed thereon rise. The raised pins 26 separate the glass substrate 100 from the fingers 14. The finger 14 of the first transfer robot 12 retreats along the rail 18 and is removed from the heating furnace unit 20. The elevating pins 26 move down, and the glass substrate 100 is transferred onto the hot plate 28. Then, heat treatment is performed at a certain temperature for a certain time.

When the heating process is completed, the elevating pins 26 move up to separate the glass substrate 100 from the hot plate 28.

The fingers 32 of the second transfer robot 30 advance along the rails 34 into the heating furnace unit 20. The elevating pins 26 of the heating furnace unit 20 descend to transfer the glass substrate 100 to the fingers 32 of the second transfer robot 30. The position fixing suction pad 70 provided on the finger 32 is in contact with the back surface of the glass substrate 100, and the position is firmly fixed. The finger 32 of the second transfer robot 30 moves back along the rail 34, and the heating furnace unit 20
From the glass substrate 100.

The support 36 of the second transfer robot 30 turns, and the fingers 32 move along the rails 34 to the cooling unit 3.
Go inside 8. The suction pad 70 for fixing the position is returned to the atmospheric pressure, and the suction is released. With the rise of the cylinder unit 40 in the cooling unit 38, the combined elevating base plate 42 and the elevating pins 4 installed thereon
4 rises. The raised pins 44 separate the glass substrate 100 from the fingers 32.

The fingers 32 of the second transfer robot 30 move back along the rails 34 and are removed from the cooling unit 38, and are turned to prepare for the next cycle.

The elevating pins 44 in the cooling unit 38 are lowered, and the glass substrate 100 is mounted on the cooling plate 46. Then, a cooling process is performed until the temperature reaches a certain temperature for a certain time. When the cooling process is completed, the elevating pins 44 move up,
The glass substrate 100 is separated from the cooling plate 46.

The fingers 50 of the third transfer robot 48 advance along the rails 52 into the cooling unit 38. The elevating pins 44 of the cooling unit 38 are lowered, and the glass substrate 1
00 is transferred to the finger 50 of the third transfer robot 48. The position fixing suction pad 70 provided on the finger 50 contacts the back surface of the glass substrate 100 and the position is fixed firmly. Finger 5 of third transfer robot 48
0 is retracted along the rail 52 to remove the glass substrate 100 from the cooling unit 38. The column 54 of the third transfer robot 48 turns, and delivers the glass substrate 100 to a downstream conveyor (not shown).

FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of a substrate transfer finger according to one embodiment. Fingers 14 and 3 already described
2 and 50 all have the same structure, and FIG. 2 shows the finger 32 as a representative thereof.

The finger body 60 is made of stainless steel. This is to increase the rigidity and minimize the deflection of the finger itself when the glass substrate 100 is placed.
The upper surface of the finger main body 60 (that is, the surface on which the glass substrate 100 is placed) is coated. Here, the coating is a condition that the thermal conductivity and the thermal emissivity are lower than that of stainless steel. For example, a ceramic sprayed or a thin plate made of ceramic or glass fiber is attached. Further, a light white color is better than a dark black color. Both ceramics and glass fibers have much lower thermal conductivity than stainless steel, and white color is less likely to absorb the radiant heat of the heated glass substrate. That is, the amount of heat of the glass substrate 100 that has been heated once is hardly released to the finger body 60.

As a result, the difference in temperature history after heat treatment between the portion of the glass substrate 100 that is not shadowed by the finger and the portion that is not shadowed by the finger is reduced, and the difference in quality of the material to be heat-treated is reduced.

At the base of the finger main body 60, a mounting bolt hole 62 for connecting to a transfer robot is formed. The suction air supply hole 64 is connected to a pipe from the vacuum utility, and is connected to a suction air pipe passage 68 (see FIG. 3 which is a bottom perspective view of the finger in FIG. 2). The suction pad 7 is attached to the finger body 60 with an adhesive so that the suction air piping 68 does not leak.
0 through the suction pad hole 72 at the center. The suction pad 70 is for firmly positioning the glass substrate 100 with respect to the finger.

The suction pad 70 is arranged on the finger body 60 so as to be outside the product area of the glass substrate 100. This is because the suction pad 70 is
, And the amount of heat of the heated substrate 100 flows out significantly from that portion, and the temperature history is clearly different from the other portions and becomes lower. For this reason, the quality difference of the substance to be heat-treated (that is, the ink receiving layer applied on the glass substrate 100) becomes large. However, there is a large difference in the acceptability of the dye (ink). As a result, the dye cannot be uniformly received, and the dye overflows or does not reach the entire pixel. As a result, the yield is reduced or the line does not function as a mass production line. The height of the support member 76 protruding from the substrate support overhanging portion 74 of the hand main body 60 is adjusted so that another portion of the glass substrate 100 does not contact the hand main body 60.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA of the finger shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line BB of the finger shown in FIG.

Each of the surfaces on the side on which the glass substrate 100 is placed is coated with the above-described coating, and a coating layer 78 is formed.

FIG. 6 shows a glass substrate 100 on the finger 14.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a positional relationship when a symbol is placed. FIG. 7 is a view showing a state of a finished product when a conventional finger is used.

In FIG. 7, the portion corresponding to the shade of the finger 14 in FIG. 6 is different from the other portions in the completed state after the heat treatment, and the red, green and blue dyes are quantitatively determined. When the image is drawn on the receiving layer one by one, the dye overflows from the receiving layer and is in a mixed state. However, FIG.
By using the finger of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1, such a problem is eliminated, and a good color filter can be obtained.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing changes in the surface temperature of the glass substrate.

FIG. 8 shows the temperature histories in the area where the finger is actually shaded (temperature measurement point 1) and the temperature histories in other product areas (temperature measurement point 2). Regarding the temperature measuring point 1, the temperature history is close to the temperature measuring point 2 (the temperature history of the non-defective region in FIG. 7) when the coating is not performed on the finger surface. Is better. This indicates that the difference in temperature history was reduced by coating, and the quality of the material to be heated after heating became uniform.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, even when the glass substrate is taken out of the heating furnace with the fingers after the heat treatment and transferred to the next step, the surface temperature distribution on the substrate can be made as flat as possible. In addition, the quality of the receiving layer can be made constant, the yield can be improved without admixing of adjacent red / green / blue dyes, and mass production can be realized.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Even when the glass substrate is taken out of the heating furnace with the fingers after the heat treatment and transferred to the next step, the surface temperature distribution on the substrate can be made as flat as possible, the yield can be improved, and mass production can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a glass substrate heating processing system into which a finger according to an embodiment is introduced.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a finger according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the finger according to the embodiment as viewed from the back surface.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state where a glass substrate is supported by fingers.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a state of a finished product when a conventional finger is used.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing changes in the surface temperature of a glass substrate.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 First transfer robot 14, 32, 50 Finger 16, 36, 54 Support column 18, 34, 52 Rail 20 Heating furnace unit 22, 40 Cylinder unit 24, 42 Lift base plate 26, 44 Lift pin 28 Hot plate 30 Second transfer robot 38 Cooling Unit 46 Cooling Plate 48 Third Transfer Robot 60 Finger Body 62 Mounting Bolt Hole 64 Suction Air Supply Hole 66 Air Pipe Cover 68 Suction Air Pipe Path 70 Suction Pad 72 Suction Pad Hole 74 Board Overhang 76 78 Coating layer

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page F-term (reference) 2H088 FA10 FA16 FA17 FA20 FA21 FA24 FA28 MA16 3C007 DS01 ET08 FS01 FT01 FU01 GU03 NS09 3F061 AA01 BB08 CA01 CB01 CC01 DB04 DC03 5F031 CA05 FA02 FA07 FA12 FA14 GA06 GA48 GA33 GA33 HA37 HA38 LA15 MA30

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A substrate transport finger for removing a substrate having a surface to which a heat treatment substance is applied from a heat treatment apparatus and transporting the substrate, wherein a flat plate-shaped finger body and the substrate of the finger body are provided. A finger for transporting a substrate, comprising: a covering member disposed on a surface on which the finger is to be mounted, the covering member having a thermal conductivity and a thermal emissivity smaller than a material forming the finger body. 2. The coating member according to claim 1, wherein the covering member is a coating layer formed by applying a material having a thermal conductivity and a thermal emissivity smaller than a material forming the finger body to the finger body. 2. The substrate transfer finger according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The coating member according to claim 1, wherein the covering member is made of a material having a smaller thermal conductivity and a lower thermal emissivity than a material forming the finger body. The substrate transfer finger as described in the above. 4. The substrate transfer apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a suction pad for sucking the substrate, wherein the suction pad is disposed at a position corresponding to an area outside the product area of the substrate. Finger. 5. The finger according to claim 1, wherein the finger body is formed of stainless steel. 6. The finger according to claim 5, wherein the material whose thermal conductivity and thermal emissivity are smaller than the material forming the finger body is ceramic or glass fiber. .