JP2003221116A - Vacuum indoor travelling control device of carrier carriage - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vacuum indoor travelling control method of a carrier carriage of high through-put capable of speedily and smoothly carry a base plate without giving fatal vibration and impact to the base plate without dropping speed of the carriage in a vacuum processing chamber. <P>SOLUTION: A following servo motor is started at low torque in timing immediately before engagement of a following pinion with a rack in a state where a precedent pinion is engaged with the rack and driving force is transmitted to the carrier carriage, driving of a precedent servo motor is changed from high torque over to low torque in timing at an instant of the following pinion engaged with the rack, and simultaneously, driving of the following servo motor is changed from low torque over to high torque, the vacuum indoor travelling control method of the carrier carriage to carry the base plate held on the carrier carriage to a plurality of the vacuum processing chambers by transmitting driving force by engaging a plurality of the pinions arranged with specified intervals along a track with the rack of the carrier carriage. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a travel control method for a vacuum carriage in a transfer carriage for transferring a glass substrate in a vacuum processing room for CVD film formation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A vacuum processing chamber for processing substrates such as plasma CVD, sputtering, and dry etching is surrounded by an outer wall of the chamber in order to maintain airtightness, so that it is impossible to visually control the traveling of a carriage. In addition, the method of transmitting the driving force into the vacuum processing chamber is greatly restricted.

For example, since the vacuum processing chamber is partitioned by a gate valve, it is not possible to employ a timing belt drive mechanism for synchronizing in vacuum. If the timing belt drive mechanism were to be installed in the atmosphere, it would not be possible to install it due to the space constraints of the frame on which the vacuum processing chambers are mounted, and if the vacuum processing chambers of complicated shape were connected to each other, the mechanism would be complicated. Therefore, its practical application is very difficult.

In order to safely and smoothly convey the substrate under such a special environment so as not to transmit a fatal shock or vibration to the substrate, some traveling control methods of the conveyance carriage have been proposed.

For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-158835, in order to reduce the impact at the moment when a rack of a truck meshes with a pinion, a stepping motor or the like is used to synchronously control the rotational drive of a plurality of pinion shafts, and the rack is driven. A travel control method for a transport carriage is described in which the rotation speed of the pinion is reduced at the moment of biting into the pinion to decelerate the carriage, and after the rack and the pinion are completely meshed, the carriage is accelerated.

[0006]

However, in the conventional traveling control method for the bogie, since the bogie is repeatedly decelerated and accelerated each time the rack meshes with the pinion, the bogie frequently vibrates and the glass substrate is chipped or the like. It is easily damaged. Further, since the number of decelerations on the transport path is large, the transport tact time is lengthened and the processing throughput is reduced.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the substrate can be swiftly and quickly moved without slowing the speed of the carriage in the vacuum processing chamber and without giving a fatal vibration or shock to the substrate. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling traveling of a carriage in a vacuum chamber, which can smoothly carry the carriage and has high throughput.

[0008]

According to a method of controlling traveling of a carriage in a vacuum chamber of a carriage according to the present invention, a plurality of pinions arranged at predetermined intervals along a rail are driven by being engaged with a rack of the carriage. In a vacuum chamber traveling control method of a transfer vehicle for transmitting a force to transfer a substrate held by the transfer vehicle to a plurality of vacuum processing chambers, (a) a preceding pinion meshes with the rack, and a driving force is applied to the transfer vehicle. In the transmitted state, the subsequent servomotor is started with a low torque at a timing immediately before the subsequent pinion meshes with the rack, and (b) the timing at the moment when the subsequent pinion meshes with the rack. At the same time as switching the drive of the preceding servo motor from high torque to low torque, the drive of the subsequent servo motor is switched from low torque to high torque. And butterflies.

In this case, the encoder detects the rotational speed while the preceding servomotor drives the preceding pinion with high torque, and the low torque of the subsequent servomotor in step (a) is detected based on the detected rotational speed. Determine the start timing. This eliminates the waste of idling the trailing pinion when the truck is distant, and allows the trailing servomotor to start with low torque at the timing immediately before the trailing pinion bites into the rack when the truck approaches. , The power consumption is reduced.

Further, it is preferable that the rotations of the preceding servomotor and the succeeding servomotor are synchronized at the meshing timing of the succeeding pinion in the step (b).
At this timing, the drive of the succeeding pinion is switched from low torque to high torque, and the impact at the moment when the succeeding pinion meshes with the rack is reduced, and the vibration transmitted to the truck is reduced. Particularly when a large-sized substrate is conveyed, it is preferable to drive at a high torque and a low speed, because the dolly receives an impact when the pinion / rack is engaged and the vibration is transmitted to the substrate. By the way, the traveling speed of the truck is 1.0 to 500 mm /
It is switched in the range of seconds and accelerated or decelerated.

In the control method of the present invention, by controlling the torque of the servomotor for driving the carriage, the carriage travels without slowing down, and the impact transmitted to the carriage at the moment when the plurality of pinions mesh with the rack is reduced. To be done.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the second motor is started with a low torque LT at a timing t3 immediately before the second pinion meshes with the rack.
Timing t at the moment when the second pinion meshes with the rack
At 4, the drive torque of the first motor is switched from the high torque HT to the low torque LT, and at the same time, the drive torque of the second motor is switched from the low torque LT to the high torque HT. By doing so, the propulsive force of the bogie is smoothly switched from the first pinion to the second pinion, the bogie is advanced by the high torque driving force transmitted from the second pinion, and the first pinion is moved forward.
The pinion has a low torque L that does not hinder the forward movement of the bogie.
Continue rotating at T.

In the present invention, since the drive torque of the pinion is controlled without reducing the speed of the carriage, the role of transmitting the main drive force to the rack can be switched from the leading pinion to the trailing pinion, and the trailing pinion can be The impact and vibration transmitted to the dolly at the moment it meshes with the rack of the dolly is greatly reduced.

Further, in the present invention, since the servomotor for driving the pinion hardly causes step out, the synchronous adjustment of the pinion is facilitated.

[0015]

Various preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the cluster type vacuum processing system 1, the carriage rotating chamber 16 as a common transfer chamber.
Is arranged in the center, and a plurality of vacuum processing chambers 10,
18 and 20 are arranged in a radial pattern.
The communication passage chambers (intermediate chambers) 19 are connected to each other.

Of the vacuum processing chambers, the load chamber 10 and the unload chamber 20 have a gate valve mechanism 12 on the front side for blocking an opening to an external transfer path in the atmosphere, and a common transfer chamber for the vacuum atmosphere on the rear side. The gate valve mechanism 12 for blocking the opening between the gate valve 16 and the gate valve 16 is provided.

Among the vacuum processing chambers, a plurality of film forming chambers 18 block the openings between the film forming chambers 18 and the common transfer chamber 16, and the gate valve mechanism 12 is provided.
It has each. A door that can be opened and closed is attached to the back side of each film forming chamber 18, and the inside of each film forming chamber 18 can be maintained by opening the door. The door is attached to each chamber so that it can be opened and closed manually, and a seal member is interposed between the frame wall and the door forming each chamber. A part of the plurality of film forming chambers 18 may be used as a preliminary chamber. The preparatory chamber is, of course, used as a film forming chamber, but may be used as a standby chamber for temporarily holding (retracting) the transport carriage 6 or preparatory for the substrate G before the film forming process. It may be used as a preheating chamber for selectively heating or a cooling chamber for cooling.

The floor of the common transfer chamber 16 is the turntable 1
The turntable 17 rotates the carriage 6 on the rail 8 in a horizontal plane so that the carriage 6 can be turned in any direction by 360 °.

As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of parallel rails 8 are laid so as to be connectable to the rotating rails 8 in the carriage rotating chamber 16 from the external conveying path through the load chamber 10, and the conveying carriages 6 are mounted on the rails 8. It is designed to drive one car at a time. The rails 8 in the load chamber 10 are provided on the extension lines of the rails 8 of the external transport path, and the transport carriage 6 is provided with the gate valve mechanism 12
The outer rail 8 can be transferred onto the inner rail 8 through the rail.

Each of the transport carriages 6 independently transfers the substrate G 1
It is designed to be held and conveyed one by one. That is, the carriage 6 is provided with a pair of support columns 62 and a plurality of support claws (not shown) on the main body frame 61, and thereby holds one glass substrate G in an upright posture with a slight inclination. By the way, the size of the glass substrate G is, for example, 1 m square. 1m
The square glass substrate G has a weight of more than 10 kgf, which is a considerable weight.

The carrier truck 6 holding the substrate G passes through the load chamber 10 from the external carrier path into the carriage rotating chamber 16,
After being rotated by the turntable 17 and aligned with the film forming chamber 18, after entering the film forming chamber 18 to form a film on the substrate G,
It passes through the carriage rotation chamber 16 and the unload chamber 20 and exits to the external conveyance path.

As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of pinions 72 are provided near the sides of the rail 8 at predetermined intervals.
These pinions 72 are arranged at positions where they can mesh with the racks 64 formed on the side surfaces of the carrier truck 6. Further, the mutual distance between the pinions 72 is shorter than the length (1.5 to 1.6 m) of the rack 64 of the trolley, for example, 1
1.2 to 1.4 in the case of the dolly 6 that conveys the m-square substrate G
It is desirable to set m. A stopper block 77 is attached to the end position of the rail 8 in the film forming chamber 18 so that the transport carriage 6 is stopped at a predetermined position.

As shown in FIG. 4, servomotors 70A, 70B and 70C are attached to the respective pinions 72, and the pinions 72 are independently driven to rotate. Each servo motor 70A, 70B, 70
Encoders 75 are attached to C, respectively, and the detected motor rotation speed signals are sent to the controller 80, respectively.

When the rotation speed detection signal is input, the controller 80 calculates the current position of the carrier vehicle 6 and the scheduled point passing time based on this signal, and controls the servomotors 70A, 70B, 70C according to the result. A signal is output to control the drive torque and rotation speed of each pinion 72. The pinion drive motor 7 provided on the same line composed of the rails 8 arranged in series
0A, 70B, and 70C are controlled to be synchronously driven by the controller 80.

As shown in FIG. 5, the carrier truck 6 includes a main body frame 61, a pair of columns 62, and a plurality of roller wheels 63. The rack 6 is provided on one side of the body frame 61.
4 is formed, and the above-mentioned pinion 72 is engaged with this. The pair of support columns 62 are provided upright on the main body frame 61 so as to be inclined about 10 ° with respect to the longitudinal orthogonal axis of the main body frame 61. The mutual distance between the columns 62 is slightly smaller than the long side of the substrate G, and the columns are held and conveyed by the claws for holding the substrate G attached to the pair of columns 62. The columns 62 are firmly fastened to the main body frame 61 so as to bear the weight of the substrate G. The support column 62 and the main body frame 61 are made of a high-strength and strong metal material such as stainless steel. The plurality of roller wheels 63 are rotatably rollingly contacted with respective portions of the rail 8 having a T-shaped cross section, and are supported by a cushioning mechanism for absorbing vibration and impact transmitted to the body frame 61 of the truck.

Next, a case in which the glass substrate G is transferred by the transfer carriage 6 in the cluster type vacuum processing system 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

The transfer carriage 6 receives the substrate G from an unillustrated roller frame mechanism on the external transfer path, passes through the load transfer chamber 10 from the external transfer path, and enters the carriage rotation chamber 16 to the center of the turntable 17. Then, it is rotated by the turntable 17 to be aligned with the film forming chamber 18, and is ready to enter the film forming chamber 18.

When preparation is completed in the bogie rotation chamber, the controller 80 sends a signal to the power source of the gate valve mechanism 12 to drive the cylinder to open the gate valve and send a signal to the power source of the first motor 70A. As shown in FIG. 7A, the first pinion 72 is started with a low torque LT, and after a lapse of a predetermined time, the driving is switched to a high torque HT to move the transport carriage 6 from the carriage rotating chamber 16 to the film forming chamber 18 To move forward.

That is, as shown in FIG. 6A, the controller 80 starts the first motor 70A at low torque LT at the timing t1, and when the timing t2 is reached, the first motor 70A is driven at the low torque LT. To high torque HT drive. At this time, the second motor 70
B also rotates in a low torque state in synchronization with the first motor 70A. By the way, the second and third motors 70B, 70C
Starts rotating at a low torque LT in synchronization with the timing t1 when the first motor 70A starts rotating.

As shown in FIG. 7B, the first motor 7
0A is driven at high torque HT until the subsequent second pinion 72 bites into the rack 64 (time t2 to t4), and as shown in (c) of FIG. 7, the subsequent pinion biting timing t4. Then, the driving is switched from the high torque HT to the low torque LT.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6B, the controller 80 causes the second motor 70B to operate at the low torque LT at the timing t1 before the timing t4 when the second pinion 72 is engaged with the rack 64. It is activated and, as shown in FIG. 7D, the second motor 70B is switched from the low torque LT to the high torque HT at the timing t4. The second motor 70B is driven at a high torque HT until the subsequent third pinion 72 bites into the rack 64 (time t4 to t6), and the high torque is reached when the subsequent pinion biting timing t6 is reached. The drive is switched from HT to low torque LT.

As a result, the propulsive force of the carrier truck 6 is smoothly switched from the first motor 70A to the second motor 70B, and the carrier truck 6 is moved forward by the high torque driving force transmitted from the second motor 70B and the first motor 70A is moved forward. The motor 70A continues to rotate with a weak low torque LT that does not hinder the forward movement of the carriage 6.

Further, the controller 80, as shown in FIG. 6C, has a timing t5 slightly before the timing t6 when the third pinion 72 bites into the rack 64.
In the above, the third motor 70C is started with a low torque LT, and when the timing t6 is reached, the third motor 70C is
Is switched from the low torque LT to the high torque HT drive.

The third motor 70C is switched from the high torque HT to the low torque LT at a timing (not shown) immediately before the tip of the carrier vehicle 6 collides with the stopper 77, and the motor rotation speed is reduced. When the tip of the carrier truck 6 comes into contact with the stopper 77, the carrier truck 6 stops. After the transport carriage 6 is stopped, the substrate G is attached to the film forming mechanism in the film forming chamber.
Then, the carrier 6 is discharged to the outside of the film forming chamber, the gate valve is closed, and plasma CVD is performed on the substrate G in the film forming chamber 18.
Form a film.

After film formation, the controller 80 activates the third motor 70C in the reverse rotation with low torque, and then the low torque L.
Switching from T to high torque HT driving, the transport carriage 6 is withdrawn from the film forming chamber 18. Further, the second motor 70B is reversely rotated at a low torque, and then the low torque LT is switched to the high torque HT to smoothly transfer the rack 64 from the third pinion 72 to the second pinion 72. Further, the first motor 70A is reversely rotated at a low torque, and then the low torque LT is switched to the high torque HT to drive the second pinion 72 to the first pinion 72.
The rack 64 is smoothly bitten into the rack. In this way, the transport carriage 6 retreats from the film forming chamber 18 to the carriage rotation chamber 16, closes the gate valve, rotates the turntable 17, opens the gate valve, and transports the carriage rotation chamber 16 to the unload chamber 20. The dolly 6 is moved forward, and passes through the unload chamber 20 to exit to the external transport path.

According to the above-described embodiment, the trailing motor is started with the low torque LT at a timing slightly before the timing when the trailing pinion bites into the rack, so that the propulsive force of the truck smoothly moves from the leading motor to the trailing motor. The carriage is moved forward by the high torque driving force transmitted from the succeeding motor, and the preceding motor continues to rotate with a low torque LT that does not hinder the forward movement of the carriage. For this reason, the impact transmitted to the trolley at the time of the subsequent pinion bite is significantly alleviated, and the vibration transmitted to the substrate is significantly reduced.

In the above embodiment, the case of supporting and transporting a 1 m square substrate was explained, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a larger substrate, for example, 1.2 m square to 1.5 m square. It is also possible to hold and convey a large size substrate.

[0039]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the driving torque of the pinion is controlled without slowing down the speed of the carrier vehicle, so that the role of transmitting the main driving force to the rack is succeeded by the preceding pinion. The pinion can be switched to quickly and smoothly, and the impact and vibration transmitted to the truck at the moment when the succeeding pinion meshes with the rack of the truck is significantly reduced. Therefore, the glass substrate of the object to be transported is not substantially damaged, and the yield of products is significantly improved.

Further, according to the present invention, since the servomotor for driving the pinion hardly causes step-out, it is possible to facilitate the synchronous adjustment of the pinion drive.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an internal perspective plan view showing a vacuum processing system including a carrier.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a gate valve and a carriage transport path provided in the vacuum processing system.

FIG. 3 is an internal perspective plan view showing a carriage and a drive mechanism in the vacuum processing chamber.

FIG. 4 is an internal see-through side sectional view showing a carriage and a drive mechanism in a vacuum processing chamber.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing a drive mechanism and rails of a truck.

6A to 6C are timing charts respectively showing driving torques of the first, second and third motors for explaining the method of the present invention.

7 (a) to 7 (d) are schematic views respectively showing motors whose drive torque is controlled at the time of pinion / rack engagement to explain the method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

6 ... carrier truck, 61 ... body frame, 62 ... stanchions, 63 ... roller wheels, 64 ... rack, 70A, 70B, 70C ... Servo motor, 72 ... Pinion, 75 ... encoder, 8 ... rail (carrying path), 10 ... load room, 16 ... Common transfer chamber (carrying chamber), 17 ... turntable, 18 ... Film forming chamber (vacuum processing chamber, spare chamber), 19 ... Communication passage room (intermediate room) 20 ... Unload room, 77 ... hitting block, 80 ... controller, G ... Glass substrate.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Shigekazu Ueno             1-1 Satinoura Town, Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture Mitsubishi Heavy Industries             Nagasaki Shipyard Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Eishiro Sasakawa             1-1 Satinoura Town, Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture Mitsubishi Heavy Industries             Nagasaki Shipyard Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 4K030 CA06 CA12 GA12 KA39 KA41                 5F031 CA05 FA02 FA07 FA12 FA18                       GA54 GA58 GA59 JA01 JA21                       JA45 LA08 LA14 LA15 MA04                       MA28 MA29 MA32 NA05 NA09                       PA20 PA30

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of pinions, which are arranged at predetermined intervals along a rail, are engaged with a rack of a carrier truck to transmit a driving force, and a substrate held by the carrier truck is subjected to a plurality of vacuum treatments. (A) Timing immediately before a subsequent pinion meshes with the rack while (a) a preceding pinion meshes with the rack and a driving force is transmitted to the transport vehicle in a vacuum chamber traveling control method for a transporting vehicle that transports to a chamber. In step (b), the subsequent servo motor is started with a low torque, and (b) the drive of the preceding servo motor is switched from high torque to low torque at the moment when the subsequent pinion engages with the rack, and at the same time, A method for controlling traveling in a vacuum chamber of a carrier vehicle, characterized in that driving of a subsequent servo motor is switched from low torque to high torque. 2. The encoder detects the rotation speed while the preceding servomotor drives the preceding pinion with high torque, and the step (a) is performed based on the detected rotation speed.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a low torque start timing for the subsequent servo motor in. 3. The rotation of the preceding servomotor and the rotation of the following servomotor are synchronously decelerated at the meshing timing of the subsequent pinion in the step (b). The method described.