JP2010177336A - Thin film formation system and thin-film formation method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently form a thin film while preventing catching of fire by solvent, relating to a thin film formation system and a thin film formation method which applies a coat liquid containing thin film material on a thin film carrier, which is transferred on a substrate surface, and peels the thin film carrier thereafter to form a thin film on the substrate. <P>SOLUTION: In the thin film formation system, a plurality of process units are arrayed on both sides of a transportation path for a main transportation robot 70 that reciprocally moves in X direction within a transportation space TP2 which is managed for atmosphere. Such layout is arranged as an apply unit 34 that can generate solvent vapor and a peeling unit 10 that can generate static electricity face each other across the transportation space TP2. Thus, catching fire by solvent is prevented, for efficient thin film formation process. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a thin film forming system and a thin film forming method for forming thin films on the surfaces of various substrates such as semiconductor wafers, glass substrates for photomasks, glass substrates for liquid crystal displays, glass substrates for plasma displays, and substrates for optical disks.

  As this type of thin film formation technology, in order to obtain a uniform thin film without defects, a coating liquid containing a thin film material was applied onto a thin film carrier such as a resin sheet film, and this was adhered to the substrate surface. There are some which later transfer the thin film onto the substrate surface by peeling the thin film carrier. In this thin film formation technology, a thin film is formed on a substrate through a coating liquid application process to a thin film carrier, a thin film transfer process to the substrate, a thin film carrier peeling process from the substrate, and the like. Conventionally, a thin film forming system for efficiently performing the above has been proposed.

  For example, in the thin film forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1, a coating unit, a drying unit, a transfer unit, and a peeling unit are arranged in a line in the order of processing steps along a conveyance path by a reciprocating conveyance robot. The processing is performed while delivering the sheet film as the thin film carrier. The thin film forming apparatus described in Patent Document 2 is a so-called cluster-structured thin film forming apparatus in which units are arranged so as to surround a transfer chamber provided with a center robot that does not move.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-100727 (FIG. 1) JP 2004-296855 A (FIG. 1)

  Among the above steps, in the coating step of applying a coating liquid containing a thin film material to the thin film carrier, only the thin film material remains on the thin film carrier due to evaporation of the solvent from the coating liquid. On the other hand, in the peeling process, when the thin film carrier adhered to the substrate is peeled off from the substrate, discharge due to static electricity may occur. Therefore, if the solvent constituting the coating liquid is flammable, for example, an organic solvent, the vaporized solvent may be ignited by discharge. However, in the conventional thin film formation system, a layout according to the processing procedure is adopted, and in order to prevent the above ignition, the coating process is performed under strict atmosphere management, or the solvent vapor is sufficiently used. Consideration such as performing a peeling process after exhausting is necessary, and there is room for improvement in terms of processing efficiency.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems. A thin film is formed on a substrate by applying a coating liquid containing a thin film material onto the thin film carrier, transferring the coating liquid to the substrate surface, and then peeling the thin film carrier. In a thin film forming system and a thin film forming method to be formed, an object is to efficiently form a thin film while preventing ignition to a solvent.

  In order to achieve the above object, a thin film forming system according to the present invention applies a coating unit containing a thin film material to a thin film carrier, and a substrate is adhered to the thin film carrier to attach the thin film material to the substrate. A transfer unit for transferring, a peeling unit for peeling the thin film carrier after thin film transfer from the substrate, and a delivery means for delivering the thin film carrier between the units, the delivery means being controlled in atmosphere The unit is configured to move along a transfer path in the transfer space, the units are arranged around the transfer space, and the coating unit and the peeling unit sandwich the transfer space. It is characterized by being arranged at positions opposite to each other.

  In the invention configured as described above, the coating unit in which the concentration of the vaporized solvent is high and the peeling unit in which discharge due to static electricity may occur are on the opposite side across the conveyance space in which the delivery means moves. A layout like this is adopted. For example, in a system in which various processing units are arranged on both sides of a conveyance path along which the delivery means moves, a coating unit may be installed in one of a group of units separated by a conveyance space and a separation unit in the other. Since the atmosphere of the transfer space is controlled, it is possible to reliably prevent the solvent vapor generated in the vicinity of the coating unit from reaching the peeling unit. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent the solvent vapor from igniting without performing complicated atmosphere management. In addition, since it is not necessary to wait for the solvent vapor to be exhausted, the thin film forming process can be performed efficiently.

  Further, in order to achieve the above object, the thin film forming method according to the present invention is a coating method in which a coating liquid containing a thin film material is applied to the thin film carrier at a coating processing position facing a conveyance space for conveying the thin film carrier. A transfer process in which a substrate is brought into close contact with the thin film carrier and the thin film material is transferred to the substrate at a transfer process position facing the transport space, and a peeling process position facing the transport space, A peeling step of peeling the thin film carrier after transfer of the thin film from the substrate; and a transporting step of transporting the thin film carrier between the processing positions between the steps. It is characterized in that the separation processing position is set to positions opposite to each other across the transport space in which the atmosphere is controlled.

  In the invention thus configured, the application processing position for applying the coating liquid to the thin film carrier and the separation processing position for peeling the thin film carrier from the substrate are separated by a transport space in which the atmosphere is controlled. . Therefore, similarly to the above-described thin film forming system, the thin film forming process can be performed efficiently while preventing the ignition of the solvent vapor.

  In the above-mentioned invention, it is desirable that the application of the coating liquid to the thin film carrier and the peeling of the thin film carrier from the substrate are performed at positions as far apart as possible. Further, when collecting the thin film carrier peeled off from the substrate, it is desirable to collect it as far as possible from the position where the coating is performed in order to prevent ignition due to static electricity remaining on the thin film carrier.

  In addition, when an indexer part for carrying at least one of the thin film carrier or the substrate is provided at one end of the transport path, it is desirable to perform separation and recovery at a position as far as possible from the indexer part. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the thin film carrier from being contaminated by dust such as fragments of the thin film material generated due to peeling / recovery or dust attracted by static electricity. The same applies to the installation position of the carrier holding unit that holds the thin film carrier before the coating liquid is applied, and further from the position where peeling is performed across the conveyance space, that is, the position where coating is performed. It is desirable to provide on the same side.

  Also, the substrate is loaded with the transfer surface of the main surface to which the thin film material is transferred facing upward, and the substrate is inverted so that the transfer surface faces downward in the system, and then the thin film is transferred. In this case, it is desirable that the reversal process is performed on the opposite side of the conveyance space from the position where peeling is performed, that is, on the same side as the position where coating is performed. Thereby, it is possible to prevent dust from adhering to the surface of the substrate whose transfer surface is facing upward.

  According to the present invention, the process of applying the coating liquid to the thin film carrier and the process of peeling the thin film carrier from the substrate are executed at different positions separated from each other by the transport space under the atmosphere management. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently perform the thin film formation process while preventing the solvent vapor generated by the coating process from being ignited by static electricity generated by the peeling process.

1 is a layout diagram showing an embodiment of a thin film forming system according to the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the thin film formation process by this thin film formation system. It is a disassembled assembly perspective view which shows the structure of a ring body. It is a figure which shows the structure of a main conveyance robot. It is a figure which shows the more detailed structure of a ring hand. It is a flowchart which shows the process in an application | coating process. It is a 1st figure which shows typically the operation | movement in an application | coating process. It is a 2nd figure which shows typically the operation | movement in an application | coating process. It is a flowchart which shows the process in a transcription | transfer process. It is a figure which shows typically the operation | movement in a transcription | transfer process. It is a figure which shows the structure of a peeling unit and a collection | recovery unit. It is a flowchart which shows the process in a peeling and collection | recovery process. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the carrying-in operation | movement of a workpiece | work. It is a 1st schematic diagram for demonstrating peeling operation | movement. It is a 2nd schematic diagram for demonstrating peeling operation | movement. It is a 1st schematic diagram for demonstrating collection | recovery operation | movement. It is a 2nd schematic diagram for demonstrating collection | recovery operation | movement. It is a 3rd schematic diagram for demonstrating collection | recovery operation | movement. It is a figure which shows the flow of the material in this thin film formation system.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a thin film forming system according to the present invention. More specifically, it is a layout view of the thin film forming system as viewed from above. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a thin film forming process by this thin film forming system. In the following description, the depth direction (left and right direction in FIG. 1) of this system is the X direction, the width direction (up and down direction in FIG. 1) is the Y direction, and the height direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 1) is the Z direction. And

  This thin film formation system is a system for forming a thin film by, for example, SOG (Spin-On-Glass) as an insulating film on the surface of a semiconductor substrate, more specifically, a thin film material on a resin sheet film. A thin film is formed by applying a coating solution containing, and the thin film supported by the sheet film is transferred to the substrate surface after being adhered to the substrate surface, and then the sheet film is peeled off to leave only the thin film on the substrate surface. .

  That is, in the thin film forming process executed by this thin film forming system, as shown in FIG. 2, first, a film cassette containing a sheet film, a substrate cassette containing a substrate, and a ring removed from the sheet film are accommodated. A ring cassette is carried in (step S10). Following this, the following steps: an application step (step S20) of applying a coating solution containing a thin film material to the sheet film taken out from the film cassette; a drying step of drying this to form a thin film on the sheet film (Step S30); Transfer process for transferring the thin film thus formed on the sheet film to the substrate taken out from the substrate cassette (Step S40); Peeling / collecting step for peeling and collecting only the sheet film from the substrate (Step S30) S50) is performed on the total number of substrates to be processed (step S60), and the cassette containing the processed substrates is unloaded (step S70), thereby completing the processing.

  In this system, as shown in FIG. 1, an indexer unit 1 for receiving a substrate cassette 11 containing unprocessed substrates W from the outside is provided on one side (left side in the X direction in FIG. 1). On the other hand, on the other side (right side in the X direction in FIG. 1) of the indexer unit 1, a first transfer unit TP1 in which a substrate transfer robot 2 that reciprocates in the Y direction is installed is provided. A thin film forming unit 3 is provided on the opposite side of the indexer unit 1 across the first transport unit TP1 to perform a predetermined process to be described later on the substrate W to form a thin film on the surface thereof. In this thin film forming system, each of the above-described parts constituting the system operates based on a control command from the control unit 4.

  The thin film forming unit 3 is provided with a second transport unit TP2 extending along the X direction, and various processing units for executing the above-described thin film forming process, that is, a transfer unit 35, a drying unit, are provided on both sides thereof. A unit 36, a peeling unit 10, a recovery unit 50, a reversing unit 31, a coating unit 34, a chemical solution cabinet 37, a film cassette mounting table 33, and a ring cassette mounting table 32 are provided. Such a thin film forming system in which a plurality of processing units are arranged side by side with a conveyance space makes it easy to rearrange the processing units and add new processing units. Compared with the cluster system described in Patent Document 2, for example. And it is excellent in flexibility and expandability as a system.

  The second transport unit TP2 is provided with a main transport robot 70 that reciprocates in the X direction and delivers a substrate W, a ring body RF, which will be described later, and the like between the processing units. Note that an air supply unit 39 using, for example, a fan filter unit is provided at the ceiling of the second transport unit TP2, and a clean air downflow is created in the second transport unit TP2. That is, the atmosphere is managed by the air supply unit 39 in the second transport unit TP2.

  Hereinafter, although the structure and operation | movement of said each part are demonstrated, as these reversal units 31, the coating unit 34, the transfer unit 35, and the drying unit 36 among these units, for example, patent document 1 (Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2003-1000072) mentioned above. Since the thing of the same structure as what was described in the gazette) can be used, detailed description is abbreviate | omitted about the structure of these units.

  In this thin film forming system, in order to convey a flexible sheet film while maintaining its shape, the thin film forming system is moved in the system in the state of a ring body equipped with a ring-shaped holding frame as is also done in the prior art described above. . In this embodiment, the sheet film is accommodated in the ring cassette as a “ring body” in a state where the ring is mounted, and is carried in from the outside, as in the conventional apparatus.

  FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the structure of the ring body. This ring body RF holds the sheet film F by sandwiching the peripheral portion of the resin sheet film F between the upper ring Rup and the lower ring Rdw. The upper ring Rup and the lower ring Rdw are, for example, circular rings formed of the same diameter with aluminum, and a plate made of four magnetic materials (for example, iron or an iron alloy) is formed on a part of the upper surface of the upper ring Rup. 91 is attached.

  A plurality of permanent magnets 92 are embedded in the upper ring Rup at positions different from the plate 91, while the same number of permanent magnets 93 are embedded in the lower ring Rdw. The permanent magnet 92 and the permanent magnet 93 are attached to positions facing each other when the upper ring Rup and the lower ring Rdw are overlapped with each other and have polarities attracting each other. For this reason, when the upper ring Rup and the lower ring Rdw are overlapped directly or with the sheet film F interposed therebetween, the upper and lower rings are integrated by the attractive force of the permanent magnet.

  Positioning cuts 94 and 95 are provided at each of the outer peripheral surfaces of the upper ring Rup and the lower ring Rdw. The upper ring Rup is provided with a plurality of through holes 96, and the lower ring Rdw is also provided with a plurality of through holes 97. The through-hole 96 of the upper ring Rup and the through-hole 97 of the lower ring Rdw are provided at different positions, and when the upper ring Rup and the lower ring Rdw are integrated, the respective through-holes may overlap. There is no such thing. The function of these through holes 96 and 97 will be clarified in later explanation.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of the main transfer robot. More specifically, FIG. 4A is a plan view of the main transfer robot 70 as viewed from above, and FIG. 4B is a side view thereof. The main transfer robot 70 is an articulated robot and includes a robot body 701 and two articulated arms 702 and 703 attached to the top of the robot body 701. The robot body 701 is attached to the base portion 710 so as to be rotatable about the rotation axis AX1 and to be extendable and contractible in the Z direction. The base portion 710 can reciprocate in the X direction along a guide rail 720 laid in the second transport portion TP2 along the X direction.

  A substrate hand 704 for holding the substrate W at its periphery is attached to the tip of the articulated arm 702. A gripping claw 704 a for gripping the outer peripheral portion of the substrate W is provided on the upper surface of the substrate hand 704. That is, the substrate hand 704 can hold the substrate W by placing the substrate W on the upper surface side thereof. Further, a ring hand 705 for magnetically attracting and holding the upper ring Rup is attached to the tip of the other articulated arm 703.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a more detailed structure of the ring hand. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5A, four electromagnets 706 are fixed to the ring hand 705 corresponding to the four plates 91 attached to the upper ring Rup. When the electromagnet 706 is excited in accordance with a control command from the control unit 4, the upper ring Rup plate 91 is electromagnetically attracted and the upper ring Rup or the upper ring Rup is integrated with the lower ring Rdw or the sheet film F. The body RF can be held. Further, by stopping the excitation of the electromagnet 706, the holding of the upper ring Rup or the ring body RF can be released.

  In addition, a protrusion mechanism 707 for separating the upper and lower rings is provided at a position corresponding to the through hole 96 formed in the upper ring Rup. FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A ′ of FIG. As shown in FIG. 5B, the protrusion mechanism 707 houses the protrusion pin 708 and can protrude the protrusion pin 708 downward from the lower surface of the ring hand 705 in accordance with a control command from the control unit 4. it can. As shown in FIG. 5C, in the state where the protrusion pin 708 protrudes downward, the tip of the protrusion pin 708 pushes the upper surface of the lower ring Rdw downward through the through hole 96 provided in the upper ring Rup. Thus, the upper ring Rup and the lower ring Rdw that are electromagnetically attracted by the permanent magnets 92 and 93 are separated.

At this time, the condition necessary for separating only the lower ring Rdw while the upper ring Rup is held by the ring hand 705 is that the total electromagnetic attractive force of the electromagnet 706 to the plate 91 is F1, and the protruding pin 708 is the lower ring. When the total force pushing Rdw is F2, and the total electromagnetic attractive force between the permanent magnets 92 and 93 is F3,
F1>F2> F3
Is established. The electromagnetic attraction force F1 of the electromagnet 706 with respect to the plate 91 must be larger than the total weight of the upper ring Rup, the lower ring Rdw, the sheet film F on which the thin film is formed, and the substrate W. Instead of electromagnetic attraction, vacuum attraction, that is, a vacuum chuck may be used.

  Here, of the thin film formation process (FIG. 2) by this thin film formation system, the operation from the beginning to the transfer step (steps S10 to S40) will be described. The structure of the peeling unit 10 and the collection unit 50 and the processes after the peeling / collecting step (step S50) using them will be described in detail later.

  First, a film cassette and a substrate cassette are carried in from the outside (step S10). The substrate cassette is installed in the indexer unit 1, while the film cassette is installed on the film cassette mounting table 33. As described above, a plurality of sets of ring bodies RF in which the sheet film F and the upper and lower rings Rup and Rdw are integrated are accommodated in the film cassette. Subsequently, an application process (step S20) is performed.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing in the coating process. 7 and 8 are diagrams schematically showing the operation in the coating process. First, one set of ring bodies RF is installed in the coating unit 34 (step S201). More specifically, the main transfer robot 70 sucks and holds one set of the ring bodies RF accommodated in the ring cassette, carries them into the coating unit 34, and as shown in FIG. 7 (a). Then, it is placed on a cylindrical stage 341 provided in the coating unit 34. Next, the protrusion mechanism 707 is operated to disconnect the upper and lower rings, and only the upper ring Rup is carried out of the coating unit 34 as shown in FIG. 7B (step S202). As a result, the lower ring Rdw and the sheet film F are placed on the stage 341 of the coating unit 34. The ring hand 705 stands by with the upper ring Rup being sucked and held.

  The stage 341 is rotatable about a substantially vertical axis, and the upper surface of the central portion 341a is finished flat. The central portion 341a is raised by the thickness of the lower ring Rdw with respect to the upper surface of the peripheral edge portion 341b, and the diameter thereof is substantially equal to the inner diameter of the lower ring Rdw. Therefore, in a state where the lower ring Rdw is installed on the stage 341, the central portion 341a of the stage 341 and the upper surface of the lower ring Rdw are aligned to form a substantially single plane. In addition, the central portion 341a and the peripheral portion 341b of the stage 341 are provided with a vacuum suction function, and the placed object can be vacuum-sucked. Further, the suction can be turned on / off independently at the central portion 341a and the peripheral portion 341b. When the ring body RF is installed on the stage 341, the sheet film F and the lower ring Rdw are fixed on the stage 341 by turning on the suction. Since the center portion 341a of the stage 341 and the lower ring Rdw have the same height on the upper surface, the sheet film F is sucked and held on the stage 341 in a flat state.

  Subsequently, a coating liquid containing a thin film material is applied to the sheet film F by spin coating (step S203). That is, as shown in FIG. 7C, the stage 341 is rotated by rotating the rotating shaft 342 connected to the stage 341 by a driving mechanism (not shown). Then, a predetermined amount of coating liquid containing SOG as a thin film material and supplied from the chemical liquid supply cabinet 37 is supplied onto the sheet film F from the coating nozzle 343 provided above the rotation center. A uniform coating solution layer is formed.

  After applying the thin film material, an edge rinse process is subsequently performed (step S204). That is, by supplying the cleaning liquid from the edge rinse nozzle 344 installed toward the peripheral edge of the sheet film F while rotating the stage 341, the coating liquid adhering to the peripheral edge of the sheet film F is washed away. Thereby, the thin film R will be carry | supported by the sheet film F on the surface except the peripheral part.

  Next, the upper ring Rup is put back into the coating unit 34 and is combined with the lower ring Rdw to re-form the ring body RF (step S205). That is, as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the upper ring Rup that has been held outside the coating unit 34 while being held by the ring hand 705 is carried into the coating unit 34 again, And integrated with the lower ring Rdw. Thereby, the ring body RF in which the sheet film F carrying the thin film R is sandwiched between the upper ring Rup and the lower ring Rdw is re-formed.

  The ring body RF formed in this way is unloaded from the coating unit 34 while being held by the ring hand 705 as shown in FIG. 8C (step S206), loaded into the drying unit 36, and then on the sheet film F. The thin film R is completely dried (step S70). Since the configuration of the drying unit 36 and the drying process executed thereby are described in detail in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-1000072), description thereof is omitted here.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing processing in the transfer process. FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically showing the operation in the transfer process. The structure of the transfer unit 35 is the same as that described in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-100727). In the transfer process, first, the ring body RF is carried into the transfer unit 35 (step S401). That is, as shown in FIG. 10A, the ring body RF after the drying process taken out from the drying unit 36 by the main transport robot 70 by the ring hand 705 is installed on the stage (second stage) 352 in the transfer unit 35. To do.

  Subsequently, the substrate W is carried in a face-down state, and is brought into close contact with the thin film R on the sheet film F (step S402). In the substrate cassette 11, the substrate W is stored with the surface Wf on which the thin film is to be formed facing upward, that is, in a face-up state. The substrates W are taken out from the substrate cassette 11 one by one by the substrate transport robot 2 and transferred to the reversing unit 31. The main transfer robot 70 receives the substrate W inverted by the reversing unit 31 in the face-down state with the front surface Wf facing down and the back surface Wb facing up, and this is received as shown in FIG. It is conveyed directly below the first stage 351 provided above the second stage 352 and held on the lower surface thereof.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 10C, the sheet film F and the substrate W are sandwiched and pressurized by the second stage 352 and the first stage 351, and the heaters 353 and 354 provided on the respective stages. To heat. As a result, the thin film R carried on the sheet film F is transferred to the surface Wf of the substrate W (step S403). Then, after the first and second stages 351 and 352 are separated from each other, as shown in FIG. 10D, a structure in which the substrate W is integrated with the ring body RF is transferred by the ring hand 705 to the transfer unit 35. (Step S <b> 404), which is subsequently carried into the peeling unit 10, and the sheet film F is peeled from the substrate W.

  Next, the structure of the peeling unit 10 and the recovery unit 50 and the peeling / recovery process (step S50 in FIG. 2) executed by them will be described in detail. These units have a structure in which the ring body RF and the substrate W, which are formed by performing the above-described transfer process, as an object to be processed. It will be referred to as a work Wk.

  FIG. 11 shows the structure of the peeling unit and the recovery unit. More specifically, FIG. 11A is an external top view of the peeling unit 10 and the recovery unit 50, and FIG. 11B is a side view thereof. The peeling unit 10 and the collecting unit 50 receive a substrate carried from the outside with a sheet film attached thereto as a workpiece, and peel and collect the sheet film from the substrate. A peeling unit 10 for peeling the sheet film from the substrate and a collecting unit 50 for collecting the peeled sheet film are fixed to the frame 90.

  The peeling unit 10 includes a suction stage block 100 for sucking and holding the substrate from above, a winding block 200 for winding and peeling the sheet film while moving below the sucked and held substrate, and a winding block 200. Is provided with a guide rail block 300 for moving the substrate in a substantially horizontal direction (Y direction), and a temporary stage block 400 for receiving a substrate from the outside and transferring it to the suction stage block 100.

  The guide rail block 300 holds a guide rail 303 that serves as a guide when the winding block 200 is moved horizontally, a ball screw 302 that constitutes a ball screw mechanism that drives the winding block 200, a ball screw driving unit 304, and these. A base 301 is provided.

  The temporary placement stage block 400 includes a temporary placement stage 410 that receives and temporarily supports a workpiece Wk including a substrate W and a sheet film F to be processed. On the upper surface of the temporary placement stage 410, a ring support pin 411 for supporting the ring body RF constituting the workpiece and a substrate support pin 412 for supporting the substrate after the sheet film is peeled are provided. . Three or more ring support pins 411 and three substrate support pins 412 are provided. At the tip of each ring support pin 411, there is provided a tip projection that fits into a through hole 97 (FIG. 3) provided in the lower ring Rdw constituting the workpiece. A shaft 420 extends vertically downward from the lower part of the temporary placement stage, and is attached to a stage lifting mechanism 430 that holds the shaft 420 and drives it in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction). That is, in the temporary placement stage block 400, the temporary placement stage 410 is held by the stage lift mechanism 430 so as to be lifted and lowered.

  Further, the recovery unit 50 recovers and stores the transported block 500 that transports the sheet film peeled from the substrate backward (rightward in FIG. 11) and the peeled sheet film transported by the transport block 500. And a box 600. The transport block 500 includes a sheet peeling mechanism 510, an upper transport mechanism 520, a lower transport mechanism 530, and the like attached to a housing 501 that is held up and down by a housing lift mechanism 540. The collection box 600 is a hollow housing capable of storing a sheet film therein, and a door 601 for taking out the stored sheet film is provided in a part of the collection box 600.

  A region sandwiched between the upper transport mechanism 520 and the lower transport mechanism 530 is a transport path for transporting the sheet film peeled from the substrate toward the collection box 600. The upper transport mechanism 520 moves up and down the sheet guides 521 and 524 for guiding the sheet film peeled from the substrate to the transport path, a plurality of driven rollers 522 rotatably mounted on these, and the sheet guide 521. And a guide opening / closing mechanism 523 for opening and closing the conveyance path. The lower transport mechanism 530 includes a plurality of transport rollers 531 that are rotationally driven by a transport roller driving unit (not shown). The driven roller 522 and the transport roller 531 are in contact with each other to form a nip portion, and the transport path includes this nip portion.

  The suction stage block 100 has a structure in which a first plate (top plate) 101, a second plate 102, and a third plate 103 are overlapped. The third plate 103 has a disk shape having substantially the same diameter as that of the substrate W, and the lower surface thereof is an opposing flat surface facing the upper surface (back surface Wb) of the substrate W. In addition, a plurality of substrate adsorbers for vacuum adsorbing the substrate W are provided near the periphery of the third plate 103.

  Further, the second plate 102 has a disk shape having a diameter substantially the same as the outer diameter of the upper ring Rup, and a plurality of ring adsorbers for vacuum adsorbing the upper ring Rup are provided at the periphery thereof. . A plurality of sheet adsorbers for adsorbing the sheet film F are provided inside the ring adsorber. In addition, a protruding pin hole 114 is provided through the first and second plates 101 and 102, and two adsorbers provided at positions adjacent to the protruding pin hole 114 in the sheet adsorber, and Other adsorbers can be turned on / off independently of each other.

  Each suction unit is controlled by the control unit 4, and the control unit 4 can perform suction and release of the substrate W, the upper ring Rup, and the sheet film F independently. Further, the sheet film F can be sucked and released independently in the vicinity of the protruding pin hole 114 and in other areas.

  A protrusion mechanism 140 is provided on the upper portion of the first plate 101. The ejecting mechanism 140 includes a cylinder 141 and an ejecting pin 142 provided inside the cylinder 141 so as to be movable up and down. The ejecting pin 142 moves up and down in response to a control command from the control unit 4. Since the protrusion pin hole 114 is formed through the first plate 101 and the second plate 102 immediately below the protrusion mechanism 140, the protrusion pin 142 moves downward through the protrusion pin hole 114 when the protrusion mechanism 140 is operated. Project to

  Since the position of the protrusion pin 142 is provided on the outer side of the outer periphery of the substrate W and on the inner side of the inner periphery of the upper ring Rup as viewed from the central axis of the substrate W, the protrusion pin 142 protruding downward is located on the substrate W. Also, it has a function of contacting the sheet film F extending outward and projecting it downward. Although details will be described later, in this embodiment, the suction stage block 100 holds the workpiece Wk from which the lower ring Rdw has been removed, so that the peripheral portion of the sheet film F projected by the operation of the ejection mechanism 140 faces downward. It will hang down.

  The winding block 200 includes a base frame 211 that moves in the Y direction along the guide rail 303, and a roller-shaped winding roller 220 that is rotatably attached to the base frame 211.

  Next, the operation of the peeling and collecting unit configured as described above will be described. The operation of this peeling apparatus is as follows: (1) loading a workpiece (carrying-in operation), (2) peeling the sheet film from the substrate (peeling operation), (3) collecting the peeled sheet film (collecting operation), 4) By repeating a series of operations of unloading the substrate and the ring (unloading operation), a large number of workpieces are continuously processed. In the following, the flow of processing for one workpiece Wk will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the process in the peeling / collecting step. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram for explaining the work loading operation. 14 and 15 are schematic diagrams for explaining the peeling operation. FIGS. 16 to 18 are schematic diagrams for explaining the collecting operation.

  First, a loading operation (steps S501 to S504) for loading the workpiece Wk is performed. That is, the housing lifting / lowering mechanism 540 is operated to move the housing 501 containing the transport block 500 downward, and the winding block 200 is retracted to the space (right side) created thereby (step S501). Further, the stage elevating mechanism 430 is actuated to lower the temporary placement stage 410 to widen the distance from the suction stage block 100. In this state, the work Wk carried in along the arrow direction in FIG. 13A is received while being held by the ring hand 705 of the main transfer robot 70. The loaded work Wk is placed on the temporary placement stage 410 (step S502). The workpiece Wk is supported from below the lower ring Rdw by a ring support pin 411 installed on the upper surface of the temporary placement stage 410 (FIG. 13A).

  At this time, since the work can be carried in from the outside by a combination of simple horizontal movement and vertical movement, a conventionally known conveyance mechanism can be used. Further, when viewed from above, the guide rail block 300 is substantially U-shaped with the left side of FIG. 11 (a) opened, and the winding block 200 is retracted to the right end position, so both are from the left side. This will not interfere with the loading of workpieces.

  When the work Wk is placed on the temporary placement stage 410 in this way, the temporary placement stage 410 is raised toward the suction stage block 100 by the stage lifting mechanism 430. Then, when the work Wk on the temporary placement stage 410 comes to just below the suction stage block 100, the work Wk is sucked and held by the sucker (step S503). At this time, the ring adsorber adsorbs the upper ring Rup of the workpiece Wk. The sheet adsorber adsorbs the sheet film F. The substrate adsorber adsorbs the back surface Wb of the substrate W (FIG. 13B).

  Next, only the lower ring Rdw is removed from the workpiece Wk. In this embodiment, the temporary placement stage 410 that supports the lower ring Rdw is rotated around the rotation axis J of the substrate W to disconnect the magnetic coupling with the upper ring Rup, and the temporary placement stage remains on the lower ring Rdw. By lowering 410, the lower ring Rdw is retracted downward (step S504, FIG. 13 (c)). At this time, the fitting between the tip protrusion of the ring support pin 411 and the through hole 97 of the lower ring Rdw functions as a detent for the lower ring Rdw. Although the removed lower ring Rdw is in a state of being retracted downward together with the temporary placement stage 410, it may be carried out to the outside at this time.

  Next, a peeling operation is performed. At this time, as shown in FIG. 14A, the upper ring Rup, the substrate W and the sheet film F are integrally held by suction at the lower part of the suction stage block 100, while the winding block 200 is retracted to the right. It has become a state. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14B, the winding block 200 is moved to the left end, and the transport block 500 that has been retracted downward is returned to the original position (step S505). And the sheet clamp 223 attached to the notch part 221 provided by notching a part of the winding roller 220 is opened.

  In this state, only the sheet adsorber adjacent to the ejection pin hole 114 is released (step S506). Thereby, only the area | region adjacent to the protrusion pin hole 114 among the sheet | seat films F is not adsorb | sucked, but another area | region will be in the adsorbed state. Here, when the protrusion mechanism 140 is operated to protrude the protrusion pin 142 downward (step S507), a part of the peripheral edge of the sheet film F hangs down. As shown in FIG. 14C, the protrusion mechanism 140 is provided directly above the winding block 200 positioned at the left end, and the positional relationship between the end Fs of the sheet film F that hangs on the winding roller 220. It has become. When the sheet clamp 223 is closed (step S508), as shown in FIG. 14D, the end Fs of the sheet film F that hangs down is clamped by the sheet clamp 223 and fixed to the take-up roller 220. Even if the end portion Fs of the sheet film F is clamped, the adsorption by the remaining sheet adsorbers is not canceled.

  Thus, in this embodiment, the end portion of the sheet film F that hangs down due to gravity is clamped and wound up. Here, if the substrate is set on the lower side and the sheet film is set on the upper side and the sheet film is peeled upward, the configuration for clamping the end of the flexible sheet film may be complicated, but this embodiment If the sheet film is arranged on the lower side and peeled downward as described above, the end of the sheet film F hangs down due to gravity, so that it is easy to clamp. Further, in this embodiment, in the sheet film F extending outward from the outer peripheral portion of the substrate W, only the vicinity of the area protruding by the protruding pin 142 is released, while the other areas are adsorbed. Thereby, the sagging location of the sheet film F and its shape can be controlled, and clamping by the sheet clamp 223 can be easily and reliably performed.

  Subsequently, when the winding roller 220 is moved in the Y direction below the substrate W while rotating the winding roller 220 in the direction of arrow D1 in FIG. 15A (step S509), the sheet film F is sequentially moved from the clamped end portion Fs side. It is peeled off from the substrate W and taken up by the take-up roller 220 (FIG. 15B). At this time, the pulling direction of the sheet film F from the substrate W is controlled to be constant by the guide roller 214 regardless of the position of the take-up roller 220, and a uniform thin film can be left on the substrate surface Wf.

  At this time, since the suction by the sheet suction device is not released, the take-up roller 220 peels off the sheet film F from the substrate W while forcibly releasing the suction. Then, when the winding block 200 reaches an end position (position shown in FIG. 15C) described later, the suction by the sheet adsorber is released. This prevents the sheet film F from sagging during the peeling operation. At this time, each sheet adsorber is provided with a needle valve (not shown) in order to prevent the partial vacuum break caused by the sheet film F from being peeled off.

  When the winding block 200 passes through the lower part of the substrate and reaches a predetermined end position (the position shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 15C) (step S510), as shown in FIG. The substrate W is completely peeled off and wound up by the winding roller 220.

  The rotation amount of the winding roller 220 during the movement of the winding block 200 is about 3/4 rotation (270 degrees). Thus, by setting the rotation amount of the winding roller 220 when winding the sheet film F to less than one rotation, the winding start position (end portion Fs) of the sheet film F is covered by the wound sheet film. It will never be. For this reason, when the sheet film F is peeled off from the winding roller 220 in the collecting operation described below, it can be peeled off from the winding start position (end Fs). This has a great significance for achieving the object of reliably removing the sheet film F from the take-up roller 220.

  When the substrate W and the sheet film F are thus separated, the sheet film F is collected in the collection box 600 by the collecting operation, while the substrate W is carried out by the carrying-out operation.

  First, the collecting operation (steps S521 to S524) for collecting the peeled sheet film F will be described. After the end of the peeling operation, as shown in FIG. 16A, the winding block 200 is positioned at the end position immediately adjacent to the left side of the transport block 500 with the sheet film F being wound around the winding roller 220. ing. At this time, the winding start position of the sheet film F on the winding roller 220 is set to face the conveyance block 500 side (right side in the figure).

  The sheet peeling mechanism 510 provided in the transport block 500 includes a sheet peeling claw 512 that is slidably mounted in the Y direction on the main body 511. At almost the same time as the sheet clamp 223 on the take-up roller 220 releases the clamp, the sheet peeling claw 512 extends toward the take-up roller 220 and hooks the end of the sheet film F. When the sheet peeling claw 512 is moved back (FIG. 16B) and returned to the original position (FIG. 16C), the sheet peeling mechanism 510 holds the end Fs of the sheet film F. (Step S521).

  At this time, the end portion of the sheet film F drawn out by the sheet peeling claw 512 is a winding start end portion Fs that is first wound up by the winding roller 220. When the thin sheet-like sheet film F is peeled off from the substrate W and wound up, the end portion may be bent or curved, or in a severe case, it may be rounded into a cylindrical shape. It is extremely difficult to grip the resulting end. On the other hand, since the end portion Fs of the winding start is pressed against the notch portion 221 of the take-up roller 220 by the sheet clamp 223, there are few such problems. Thus, by pulling out the end Fs of the sheet film F on the winding start side by the winding roller 220 by the sheet peeling claw 512, in this embodiment, the sheet from the winding roller 220 to the sheet peeling mechanism 510 is obtained. The delivery of the film F can be performed smoothly and reliably.

  When the end of the sheet film F is gripped by the sheet peeling mechanism 510, as shown in FIG. 17A, the guide roller 521 provided on the side closer to the winding block 200 in the upper conveying roller mechanism 520 is driven. It is raised together with the roller 522 by the guide opening / closing mechanism 523. As a result, the conveyance path P sandwiched between the upper conveyance mechanism 520 and the lower conveyance mechanism 530 opens greatly toward the take-up roller 220 side. It may be opened before the sheet film F is gripped by the sheet peeling mechanism 510.

  The sheet peeling mechanism 510 includes a skew feeding mechanism 513 that moves the main body 511 obliquely downward along the direction of the arrow D2 in FIG. 17A. The sheet peeling mechanism main body 511 and the sheet peeling mechanism main body 511 are operated by the operation of the skew feeding mechanism 513. The sheet peeling claw 512 moves downward in the direction of the arrow D2 while holding the end Fs of the sheet film F (step S522). Thereby, as shown in FIG. 17B, the sheet film wound around the winding roller 220 is pulled and gradually peeled off.

  As shown in FIG. 17C, when the sheet peeling mechanism 510 moves to the lowermost end, the sheet opening / closing mechanism 523 lowers the sheet guide 521 and closes the conveyance path. For this reason, the end Fs of the sheet film F that has been lowered together with the sheet peeling mechanism 510 is clamped by the upper and lower rollers 522 and 531 (step S523, FIG. 18A). In this state, the holding of the sheet film by the sheet peeling claw 512 is released, and the conveying roller 531 is driven to rotate in the direction of arrow D3 in FIG. 18A, whereby the sheet film F is further peeled off from the take-up roller 220. Then, it is transported along the transport path P in the direction of the arrow D4 (FIG. 18B). The conveyed sheet film is finally collected in the collection box 600 (step S524, FIG. 18C).

  Next, the carrying-out operation of the substrate W will be described. Prior to unloading the substrate W, a space is created so as not to interfere with the raising / lowering operation of the temporary placement stage 410 and the operation of the external transport mechanism. That is, the housing 501 in which the transfer block 500 is housed is retracted downward, and the winding block 200 is retracted in the space (right side) generated by this as in the case of the work loading (step S525).

  When the peeling operation is completed, the substrate W and the upper ring Rup after the sheet film is peeled are separated from each other and are individually sucked by the suction stage block 100. Therefore, the temporary placement stage 410 is raised to receive them (step S526). Specifically, when the lower ring Rdw retracted on the temporary placement stage 410 comes close to the upper ring Rup and is coupled by a permanent magnet, the adsorption stage block 100 releases the adsorption by the ring adsorber. As a result, the ring body formed by combining the upper ring Rup and the lower ring Rdw is supported by the ring support pins 411 of the temporary placement stage 410. Further, by releasing the suction by the substrate suction unit, the substrate W is supported by the substrate support pins 412 of the temporary placement stage 410. In this state, the temporary placement stage 410 is lowered, and the substrate W and the ring body can be individually carried out to the outside by the main transfer robot 70 (step S527).

  Here, the substrate W and the ring body are placed on the temporary placement stage 410 and lowered simultaneously, but the substrate W and the ring body are removed from the suction stage block 100 and carried out at different timings. It may be. Either can be accommodated by individually controlling the substrate adsorber and the ring adsorber.

  Thereby, peeling and collection | recovery of the sheet film F from the board | substrate W are completed about one workpiece | work Wk. By repeating the above series of operations for each workpiece, it is possible to continuously perform processing for a large number of workpieces. The sheet film thus collected and stored in the collection box 600 can be taken out from the door 601 at a necessary timing by the operator and reused or discarded.

  The main transfer robot 70 carries the substrate W, onto which the thin film R has been transferred, from the peeling unit 10 by the substrate hand 704 and the upper ring Rup and the lower ring Rdw integrally by the ring hand 705. At this time, the substrate W is in a face-down state, and the main transfer robot 70 picks up the substrate W with the substrate hand 704 from the gap between the temporary placement stage 410 and the substrate W by the substrate support pins 412 and transfers it to the reversing unit 31. When the reversing unit 31 reverses the substrate W to the face-up state, the substrate transport robot 2 receives this and stores it in the substrate cassette 11. During this time, the main transfer robot 70 accommodates the used rings Rup and Rdw in the ring cassette mounted on the ring cassette mounting table 32. Thereby, a series of processes for one substrate W is completed.

  FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the flow of materials in this thin film forming system. The ring body RF taken out from the film cassette is carried into the coating unit 34 and the coating liquid is applied to the sheet film F, and the re-formed ring body RF is sent to the transfer unit 35 through the drying unit 36. On the other hand, after the substrate W is taken out from the substrate cassette 11, the substrate W is reversed to the face-down state by the reversing unit 31 and carried into the transfer unit 35. Then, the substrate W and the ring body RF are integrated in the transfer unit 35 to form the workpiece Wk.

  The workpiece Wk is sent to the peeling unit 10 and separated into the substrate W, the sheet film F, the upper ring Rup and the lower ring Rdw. Among these, the substrate W is sent back to the reversing unit 31 to be returned to the face-up state and accommodated in the original substrate cassette 11. The used sheet film F is collected by the collection unit 50. On the other hand, the upper ring Rup and the lower ring Rdw are integrated again and accommodated in the ring cassette.

  In the thin film formation system configured as described above, the layout is devised so as to cope with the following problems.

  First, the coating liquid applied to the sheet film F in the coating unit 34 includes a thin film material and a solvent, but a flammable and volatile solvent (for example, an organic solvent) may be used as the solvent. On the other hand, in the peeling unit 10, since the resin sheet film F adhered to the substrate is mechanically peeled off, static electricity may be generated in the sheet film F. For this reason, there is a possibility that the flammable solvent vapor generated in the coating unit 34 may be ignited by discharge caused by static electricity. In particular, the possibility is high when the application unit and the peeling unit are arranged close to each other, focusing only on the process flow.

  On the other hand, in this embodiment, the coating unit 34 and the peeling unit 10 are not simply disposed apart from each other, but are disposed so as to be opposite to each other with the second transport unit TP2 interposed therebetween. That is, the coating unit 34 and the peeling unit 10 are separated by the second transport unit TP2. Since the atmosphere of the second transport unit TP2 is controlled by a downflow from the air supply unit 39, the possibility that the solvent vapor generated in the coating unit 34 reaches the peeling unit 10 is extremely low. Thereby, in this embodiment, the problem of solvent ignition is solved.

  As a result, in this embodiment, it is possible to efficiently perform the thin film forming process without requiring a special mechanism or processing time for exhausting the solvent vapor.

  In addition, since the sheet film F after peeling has fragments of the thin film material remaining and peeled off or is charged with static electricity, it is easy to attract the surrounding dust and the like, and therefore the recovery unit 50 for accommodating the sheet film F after peeling. Garbage tends to gather in the vicinity. If such dust adheres to the surface of the sheet film F before application of the thin film material or the substrate W before transfer of the thin film, there is a possibility of causing defects in the thin film. In this embodiment, the separation unit 10 is interposed between the recovery unit 50 and the second transport unit TP2, in other words, the recovery unit 50 is located on the other side of the separation unit 10 when viewed from the second transport unit TP2. The arrangement prevents dust or the like in the vicinity of the collection unit 50 from entering the second transport unit TP2 and adhering to the sheet film F or the like.

  In addition, by arranging the collection unit 50 on the outer periphery of the system together with the ring cassette mounting table 32 and the film cassette mounting table 33, the convenience of carrying in and out the ring and sheet film by the operator can be improved.

  Further, in the layout of the entire system, by providing the recovery unit 50 at a position farthest from the indexer unit 1 where the substrate W before thin film transfer is temporarily held, dust from the recovery unit 50 adheres to the substrate W. Is preventing. In addition to this, the transfer unit 35 and the reversing unit 31 that handle the substrate W in a state where the thin film is not transferred are also positioned as far as possible from the collection unit 50. In this case, regarding the positional relationship between the transfer unit 35 and the reversing unit 31, the reversing unit 31 that handles the substrate W in a face-up state is disposed on the opposite side of the collection unit 50 with respect to the second transport unit TP2, that is, By arranging them on the same side, it is possible to more effectively prevent dust from adhering to the substrate surface.

  Further, the film cassette mounting table 33 containing the sheet film F before being applied with the coating liquid is also disposed on the opposite side of the collection unit 50 with respect to the second transport unit TP2, that is, on the same side as the coating unit 34. Accordingly, it is possible to effectively prevent dust from adhering to the surface of the sheet film F.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the coating unit 34, the transfer unit 35, and the peeling unit 10 function as the “coating unit”, “transfer unit”, and “peeling unit” of the present invention, respectively. The main transfer robot 70 functions as the “delivery means” of the present invention, and the second transfer unit TP2 corresponds to the “transfer space” of the present invention. Further, the recovery unit 50 and the reversing unit 31 function as the “recovery unit” and “reversing unit” of the present invention, respectively.

  In this embodiment, the sheet film F functions as the “thin film carrier” of the present invention, and the film cassette mounting table 33 functions as the “carrier holding part” of the present invention.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications other than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, a flexible resin sheet film is functioned as the “thin film carrier” of the present invention. However, the thin film carrier is not limited to such a resin or sheet material. For example, a disk-shaped one may be used.

  Further, for example, in the above-described embodiment, the sheet film is sandwiched by adsorbing a pair of annular rings by permanent magnets and bonding them together, but the ring shape and bonding method are not limited to this. For example, a rectangular ring or a ring that is partially open, such as a U-shape or C-shape, may be used instead of a complete ring. Further, the holding of the ring by the ring hand 705 and the holding of the substrate by the substrate hand 704 are not limited to those described above. If the thin film carrier can be maintained in a flat state, the ring need not be used.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment is a thin film formation system which forms a SOG insulating film on a semiconductor substrate, the formation object and thin film material of a thin film are not limited to these. For example, as a substrate on which a thin film is to be formed, a liquid crystal panel glass substrate, a photomask glass substrate, a plasma display glass substrate, an optical disk substrate, and the like can be used in addition to a semiconductor wafer. As the thin film material, SOD (Spin-On-Dielectric) material, photoresist material, etc. can be used in addition to SOG.

  In the above embodiment, the thin film material is applied on the sheet film by the spin coating method. However, the application method is not limited to this, and any method such as a nozzle scanning method can be used. . In the above embodiment, the drying step is provided after the coating step, but the drying step may be omitted depending on the properties of the thin film material or the coating solution. In addition, the present invention can be applied to a system having other processing units such as a hydrophilic processing unit that performs a hydrophilic surface treatment on a sheet film.

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for photomask, a glass substrate for liquid crystal display, a glass substrate for plasma display, a substrate for FED (Field Emission Display), a substrate for optical disk, a substrate for magnetic disk, a substrate for magneto-optical disk, etc. The present invention can be suitably applied to a thin film forming system in which the entire substrate including the target is a processing target and a thin film is formed on these substrates.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Peeling unit 31 ... Reversing unit 33 ... Film cassette mounting base (carrier holding part)
34 ... coating unit 35 ... transfer unit 50 ... collection unit (collection unit)
70 ... Main transfer robot (delivery means)
F ... Sheet film (thin film carrier)
R ... Thin film RF ... Ring body Rup ... Upper ring Rdw ... Lower ring TP2 ... Second transfer section (transfer space)
W ... Board

Claims (9)

A coating unit for coating a thin film carrier with a coating solution containing a thin film material;
A transfer unit that attaches a substrate to the thin film carrier and transfers the thin film material to the substrate;
A peeling unit for peeling the thin film carrier after thin film transfer from the substrate;
Delivery means for delivering the thin film carrier between the units,
The delivery means is configured to move along a transport path in a transport space whose atmosphere is controlled, and each unit is disposed around the transport space, and
The thin film forming system, wherein the coating unit and the peeling unit are disposed at positions opposite to each other with the conveyance space interposed therebetween.   The thin film forming system according to claim 1, wherein the peeling unit is provided with a collection unit that collects the thin film carrier peeled from the substrate on a side opposite to the side facing the transport space.   An indexer part for carrying in at least one of the thin film carrier and the substrate is provided at one end of the transport path, and the recovery part is provided at a position where the distance from the indexer part is maximized. The thin film formation system according to claim 2.   4. The thin film forming system according to claim 1, further comprising a carrier holding unit that holds the thin film carrier before the coating liquid is applied on the same side as the coating unit with respect to the transport space. . The transfer unit is configured to be in close contact with the thin film carrier on the transfer surface in a state where the transfer surface to which the thin film material is transferred is held downward among the main surface of the substrate.
5. The reversing unit further includes a reversing unit for reversing the substrate to be transferred with the transfer surface facing upward on the same side as the coating unit with respect to the transport space so that the transfer surface faces downward. The thin film formation system in any one of. A coating step of applying a coating liquid containing a thin film material to the thin film carrier at a coating processing position facing a conveyance space for conveying the thin film carrier;
A transfer step of transferring the thin film material onto the substrate by bringing the substrate into close contact with the thin film carrier at a transfer processing position facing the conveyance space;
A peeling step of peeling the thin film carrier after thin film transfer from the substrate at a peeling processing position facing the conveyance space;
A transport step for transporting the thin film carrier between the processing positions between the steps,
A method of forming a thin film, characterized in that the coating treatment position and the peeling treatment position are opposite to each other across the transport space in which the atmosphere is controlled.   The thin film forming method according to claim 6, further comprising a recovery step of recovering the thin film carrier peeled from the substrate at a recovery processing position opposite to the transport space as viewed from the peeling processing position.   The carrier holding position for temporarily holding the thin film carrier before the coating liquid is applied is provided on the same side as the application processing position with respect to the transport path. Thin film forming method.   Prior to the transfer step, the substrate is carried in with the transfer surface of the substrate main surface to which the thin film material is transferred facing upward at a reversal processing position on the same side as the coating unit with respect to the transport space. The thin film forming method according to claim 6, further comprising a reversing step of reversing the substrate so that the transfer surface faces downward and transporting the substrate to the transfer processing position.

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