JP3249172B2 - Exposure stage of substrate exposure equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an exposure stage of a substrate exposure apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, photolithography has been used for manufacturing ICs and the like. In recent years, this method has been used to form conductor patterns on printed wiring boards and the like. This photolithography method is a method in which the same pattern as the original is drawn on a printed wiring board by projecting and exposing light using an original on which a pattern to be formed is drawn. A glass plate is used as an original plate because high accuracy is required in the manufacture of ICs and the like. However, in the case of a printed wiring board, a film mask is used as the original plate because the accuracy may be relatively low. Is common. What is important in this photolithography method is to accurately align a substrate to be wired and a film mask as an original during exposure, and the accuracy of the alignment directly affects the product yield. The flatness of the substrate is also an important factor, and not only the warpage of the substrate itself, but also the flatness of the table on which the substrate is placed greatly affects the quality of the product.

[0003]

However, the exposure stage of the conventional substrate exposure apparatus cannot align the substrate, and has only a function of mounting the substrate that has been aligned in the previous process. Further, it is difficult to increase the flatness of the exposure stage of the substrate exposure apparatus, and particularly, it is difficult to improve the flatness of the exposure stage of a large-sized substrate exposure apparatus corresponding to a large substrate. The present invention aims to solve these conventional problems.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, an exposure stage of a substrate exposure apparatus according to the present invention has a predetermined gap in at least two directions of a moving direction of a substrate to be exposed and a direction substantially orthogonal to the moving direction. And a plurality of block bases for mounting the substrate, and a moving unit for moving the substrate provided in the gap in the moving direction. In the invention of claim 2, in addition to the above, at least a gap in the moving direction and a gap in a direction substantially perpendicular to the moving direction are provided, and the gap is formed in the moving direction or a direction substantially perpendicular to the moving direction. A movable positioning means for positioning the substrate at a predetermined position. Further, in addition to this, it is also possible to provide a blowing device for floating the substrate on the block base. With this configuration, the substrate can be floated and positioned by the positioning means.

[0005]

The substrate on which the substrate is placed is divided into a plurality of parts by at least a gap in the moving direction of the substrate and a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the substrate, so that the flatness can be improved and highly accurate exposure can be performed. Moreover, since the substrate moving means can be provided in the gap in the moving direction, the substrate can be moved accurately. If the above-mentioned positioning means is provided,
Since positioning in the XY directions can be performed and the gap can be moved, accurate positioning can be performed, a positioning range can be widened, and substrates of different sizes can be positioned. Further, if a blowing device for floating the substrate is provided, positioning by the positioning means can be performed smoothly and accurately.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, how the exposure stage of the substrate exposure apparatus according to the present invention is arranged in the exposure step will be described with reference to FIG. In the example of FIG. 7, the same exposure device is disposed on the left and right sides of the reversing device 53, and the wiring pattern is printed on the front and back surfaces of the substrate W inverted by the reversing device 53. A pre-conveyor 52 is provided at the entrance side of the exposure apparatus. A substrate W is placed on the exposure stage S from the pre-conveyor 52, and the wiring pattern of the film mask device 50 is printed on the substrate W by exposure from the light source 51. It is configured to be. After the printing of one surface of the substrate W is completed, the substrate W is inverted by the reversing device 53, and the other surface is printed again by the same operation.

The details of the exposure stage S will be described with reference to FIG. The exposure stage S is a base 9 that can be moved up and down.
And a plurality of block bases 1 installed on the base 9. In this embodiment, the blocks 1 are arranged in three rows in the X direction and five rows in the Y direction, and gaps 2 at predetermined intervals are formed between the respective blocks 1. The block table 1 'and the block table 1 "are not separated from and are in contact with the adjacent block table 1 in the X direction. Each of the block tables 1 is basically in the shape of a cube, Stand 1 '
And the block base 1 ″ have a planar convex shape.

In the gaps 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, a conveyor belt 3 is arranged in the X direction. This conveyor belt 3
As shown in FIG. 6, the base 9 is configured to be exposed on the upper surface of the block base 1 by lowering the base 9 and to be accommodated in the gap 2 of the block base 1 by raising the base 9. By this operation, the transport belt 3 transports the substrate W, and the substrate W can be placed at a predetermined position on the block table 1.

The gap 2b and the gap 2d parallel to the X direction include:
A concave portion is formed by the convex block bases 1 ′ and 1 ″,
Four X-direction positioning pieces 4 are provided to face each other. As shown in FIG. 4, the X-direction positioning piece 4 is supported by a cylinder 45, and is vertically movable by a vertical movement of the cylinder 45 along a linear guide 46. This vertically movable mechanism may have another configuration. With this configuration, the positioning piece 4 is configured to protrude above the level of the block base 1 and retreat below as required. Further, the positioning piece 4 is movable in the X direction by a ball screw 40 as shown in FIG. The ball screw 40 is configured to be driven by a pulse motor 42 via a pulley 41. Then, one set of the X-direction positioning pieces 4 arranged at one side is fixed at a predetermined position to serve as a stopper, and the other set facing to the pusher is used to push the substrate W to position the substrate W in the X direction. Have been.

The gap 2f and the gap 2e extending in the Y direction are similarly provided with four Y direction positioning pieces 5 facing each other, and have the same configuration as the X direction positioning piece 4 described above. It is configured to be positioned in the Y direction.

A large number of air holes 10 are provided on the upper surface of the block base 1.
Is open. The block base 1 is hollow as shown in FIG.
3 is connected. The pump 12 sucks air, blows air by the compressor 13, and sucks and blows out the air through the air hole 10. The block table 1 is sucked by air from the air holes 10.
The upper substrate W is fixed. Switching valve 1
Numeral 4 is for switching between suction and blowing of air.

On the other hand, when positioning the substrate W, as shown in FIG. 3, air is blown out from the air holes 10 of the block base 1 to slightly float the substrate W. It is configured to push W to move. By blowing air from the air holes 10, the substrate W can be moved smoothly, and the substrate W is not damaged by friction.

Next, the operation will be described. The substrate W conveyed from the pre-conveyor 52 shown in FIG. 7 is moved to a predetermined position on the block table 1 by the conveying belt 3, and is placed on the predetermined block table 1 by raising the base 9 at this position. Is done. Then, the substrate W is floated by blowing air from the air holes 10 of the block base 1, and is positioned at a predetermined position by the X-direction positioning piece 4 and the Y-direction positioning piece 5. After the positioning, the blowing of the air from the air holes 10 is stopped, the air is sucked from the air holes 10 and the substrate W is sucked and fixed at the position. Thus, the position of the substrate W in the X and Y directions can be determined with extremely high precision. Further, since the block table 1 is formed into a block, the rigidity is high and the flatness can be increased, so that the accuracy of the position of the substrate W placed on the block table 1 in the Z direction can be improved. In this state, light is emitted from the light source 51 to print the circuit pattern of the film mask device 50 on the substrate W.
Next, the substrate W is discharged to the reversing machine 53, the front and the back are reversed, and the back side of the substrate W is similarly burned.

In the configuration described above, since the block table 1 is divided into a large number of blocks, the rigidity thereof can be increased, and the flatness of the upper surface of the block table 1 can be improved. Further, the transport belt 3, the X-direction positioning piece 4, and the Y-direction positioning piece 5 can be installed in the gap 2 generated by dividing the block table 1, and the substrate W can be positioned on the exposure stage S. Further, an air hole 10 is provided in the block base 1 so that the substrate W can be smoothly moved and fixed by suction and blowing.

[0015]

As described above, the exposure stage of the substrate exposure apparatus of the present invention performs exposure by mounting a substrate on a block with high flatness, so that exposure accuracy can be improved. In addition, since the moving means for moving the substrate in the gap is provided, accurate movement of the substrate is possible. When the positioning means is further provided in the gap, accurate positioning of the substrate in the XYZ directions becomes possible. And so on.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an elevation view showing an example of the structure of a positioning piece.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an example of the structure of a positioning piece.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic overall view of an exposure apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: block block, 2: gap, 3: conveyor belt, 4: X
Direction positioning piece, 5: Y direction positioning piece, 9: base, 1
0: air hole, 11: piping, 12: pump, 13: compressor, 14: switching valve, 40: ball screw, 41:
Pulley, 42: pulse motor, 45: cylinder, 46:
Linear guide, 50: film mask device, 51: light source, 52: pre-conveyor, 53: reversing machine.

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-62-212659 (JP, A) JP-A-60-250689 (JP, A) JP-A-58-7638 (JP, A) JP-A-5-6006 (JP) , A) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03F ^7/ 20-7/24 G03F 9/00-9/02 H01L 21/027

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of block tables for placing a substrate to be exposed, the plurality of block stages being arranged at predetermined intervals in at least two directions of a moving direction of a substrate to be exposed and a direction substantially orthogonal to the moving direction; An exposure stage for a substrate exposure apparatus, comprising: moving means for moving a substrate provided in a gap in a moving direction. 2. A plurality of block stages for mounting the substrate to be exposed, the plurality of block stages being arranged at predetermined intervals in at least two directions of a moving direction of the substrate to be exposed and a direction substantially orthogonal to the moving direction; Transport means for transporting the substrate provided in the gap in the movement direction; provided at least in the gap in the movement direction and the gap in a direction substantially perpendicular to the movement direction, and the gap is substantially moved in the movement direction or the movement direction. An exposure stage for a substrate exposure apparatus, comprising: a positioning unit movable in a direction orthogonal to the substrate, for positioning a substrate at a predetermined position. 3. The exposure stage of the substrate exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a suction device for sucking a substrate is provided on the block base. 4. The exposure stage of the substrate exposure apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a blowing device for floating the substrate on the block base.