JP3249289B2 - Disk loading / unloading device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a disk-shaped recording medium such as an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk. More specifically, the present invention relates to a disk loading / unloading apparatus that automates the operation of loading and unloading a disk loaded in a disk transport cassette from a pallet for disk film formation processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Disk-shaped recording media such as optical disks and magneto-optical disks are being used in various fields as high-density, large-capacity information recording media. Such a disk-shaped recording medium is formed by forming various types of thin films on a disk substrate made of a plastic material or the like.

Here, for example, a recording film is formed in a vacuum from a raw material of a recording film composition on a disk by using a thin film forming apparatus such as a sputtering apparatus or a vapor deposition apparatus. After the formation of the recording film, the disk provided with the recording film is taken out of the vacuum chamber of the thin film forming apparatus, and a protective film is coated on the disk by a method such as spin coating. Subsequently, a metal disk or the like for centering the disk is attached to the center hole of the disk, and the disk is put into a case to form a product.

In such a manufacturing process, when a recording film is formed on a disk by a thin film forming apparatus, it is necessary to fix the disk at a predetermined position in the thin film forming apparatus. Therefore, in a manufacturing facility where productivity is required, a plate called a pallet is used.

[0005] The pallet is provided with a plurality (usually 10 to 25) of disk fixing portions called disk holders. Further, when fixing the disk to the disk holder, an outer mask and an inner mask are used. The outer mask is a shield on the outer periphery of the disk and has a ring shape. The inner mask is a shield at the inner peripheral portion of the disk and has a disk shape. Thus, a thin film is not formed except for a predetermined area of the disk.

[0006] The disk is fixed to a disk holder together with an outer mask and an inner mask outside the vacuum chamber of the thin film forming apparatus. After a plurality of disks are fixed to one pallet, the disks are moved into a thin film forming apparatus and fixed at a predetermined place, and a thin film is formed.

[0007] By the way, discs are generally handled in a container called a cassette. The disk is held by the cassette in a state where the surfaces of the disks are parallel and the center axes of the disks are aligned, and the disks are erected vertically at a pitch of several millimeters. Usually, one cassette can load about 20 to 30 disks.

After the disk is taken out of the cassette and mounted on a pallet, the pallet moves into a vacuum chamber of the thin film forming apparatus, and a recording film is formed under predetermined conditions. The disk on which the recording film has been formed is drawn out of the vacuum chamber together with the pallet again.

Then, the outer mask and the inner mask are sequentially removed from the disk holder, and the processed (recording film formed) disks are loaded into a cassette one by one. And the disk on which the recording film is formed by the sputtering device,
It is placed in a cassette and sent to the next step, where it is further processed to produce an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk.

In the film forming process of such a disk-shaped recording medium by the thin film forming apparatus, the operation of attaching and detaching the disk together with the outer mask and the inner mask to and from the disk holder on the pallet has conventionally been performed manually. Was. However, the productivity is poor in the conventional manual work, and as the production volume increases, a method of automating the apparatus has been studied.

Therefore, as one method of automatically processing, for example, using an articulated robot, first, the outer mask and the inner mask are mechanically chucked and gripped. Further, a method of vacuum-suctioning the disk via a vacuum suction port opened in the inner mask was studied.

That is, when an unprocessed disk is mounted on the disk holder of the pallet, first, the outer mask and the inner mask are mechanically chucked by an articulated robot. Further, the disk is supplied to an inner mask having a vacuum suction port. Then, the outer mask, the inner mask, and the disk are mounted together on the disk holder. Then, the processed disk on which the recording film has been formed by the thin film forming apparatus,
In this method, the articulated robot removes it from the disk holder together with the outer and inner masks.

[0013]

However, in the conventional method described above, since the outer mask and the inner mask are mechanically chucked, if the mechanical alignment between the articulated robot and the disk holder is not accurate, a displacement may occur. Equipment damage and friction between the mask and holder can cause metal powder. Therefore, in order to perform accurate positioning, it is necessary to use a method such as image processing in combination, and there has been a problem that equipment costs are increased.

That is, in a mechanism in which mechanical positioning accuracy is important, the equipment cost is high, and in order to achieve the accuracy, constraints such as the dimensions of a disk, a pallet and a disk holder are required. Further, when changing the mechanical dimensions of the object to be processed, there is a problem that it takes a long time to change the conditions, and it is necessary to switch to a dedicated device.

According to the present invention, there is provided a disk mounting / dismounting apparatus which can reliably mount / dismount a disk with a simple structure, can perform processing for mounting / dismounting a disk in a short time, and can easily change conditions. The purpose is to:

[0016]

A disk loading / unloading apparatus according to the present invention includes disk relay means for transferring a disk between a disk transport cassette and a disk holder, and is disposed on a pallet positioned. A disk mounting / dismounting apparatus for mounting / dismounting a disk together with an outer mask and an inner mask to / from a disk holder, wherein the disk relay means includes an outer mask suction pad, an inner mask suction pad, and a disk suction pad; Vacuum suction of the outer mask by the pad for suction, vacuum suction of the inner mask by the pad for suction of the inner mask, and vacuum suction of the disc and the inner mask by the suction pad of the disc through the vacuum suction port provided in the inner mask Until the disc removed from the transport cassette is attached to the disc holder. Between between, or the disc has been removed from the disk holder to fit the cassette for transport, it is characterized in that disc relaying means for holding the inner mask and the disk and the outer mask.

That is, not only is the disk attracted to the inner mask through the vacuum suction port provided in the inner mask, but also the holding of the outer mask and the inner mask is performed by attracting the vacuum suction pad. Therefore, the outer mask suction pad,
An inner mask suction pad and a disk suction pad are used.

[0018] These suction pads are mounted on the same pad holder, and are constructed and function integrally. That is, the disk suction pad, the inner mask suction pad, and the outer mask suction pad simultaneously move and suction between the cassette and the pallet. Further, the pad holder moves in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the disk holder on the pallet, and attaches and removes the disk, the outer mask, and the inner mask to and from the disk holder. Thus, the pad holder integrated with the suction pad functions as the disk relay means.

In the suction method using a vacuum suction pad, the suction position of the outer mask or the inner mask is temporarily deviated from the center of the disk holder. It is preferable because a mask or a disk can be attached. For this reason, the mechanism is very simple as compared with the conventional method in which mechanical positioning is important, and the disk can be attached / detached with very inexpensive equipment.

In general, both the outer mask and the inner mask have a mask portion which regulates the film formation region, which is inclined toward the film formation region of the disk. Therefore, when suction is performed by the suction pad, it becomes necessary to suction the inclined portion. However, the use of a flexible type pad improves the reliability of suction.

Further, it is preferable to select the most suitable suction pad according to the shape and weight of the mask and to attach a plurality of suction pads in the circumferential direction.

In addition, even if the size of the disk is changed to change the production brand, if the mounting position of the disk on the pallet is fixed, the center position of the pad holder and the disk is fixed. By simply changing the mounting position, you can easily respond to changes in disk size (change in production brand). That is, it is preferable because it is possible to easily cope with the production of many brands with the same device.

When an articulated robot is used, the pallet can be moved between the disk holder and the cassette by the shortest distance. Alternatively, the mechanism can be simplified by moving the pallet and the cassette by combining an air cylinder and a single-axis robot that moves by a motor in only one direction.

It is preferable that the cassette is arranged so that the disk surface held in the cassette is perpendicular to the disk holder mounting surface of the pallet, and is as close to the pallet as possible. In order to transfer the disk between the cassette and the disk holder, a 90 ° rotation mechanism for rotating the disk taken out of the cassette to a position parallel to the disk holder is provided. That is, the disk taken out of the cassette is rotated by 90 ° toward the pallet, and the disk surface and the disk holder surface face in parallel. Then, the disc is mounted on the disc holder. In addition, the disk removed from the disk holder is rotated 90 ° in the reverse direction, and is inserted into the cassette. As a result, the distance between the pallet and the cassette is reduced, and the time required for handling between the pallet and the cassette can be reduced.

An arm provided with a suction pad can be used for taking out the disk from the cassette.
That is, the arm protruding above the cassette descends to the vicinity of the disk in the cassette, and sucks the disk by the suction pad. Thereafter, the arm moves up to the vicinity of the pad holder together with the disk, and transfers the disk to the suction pad of the pad holder. By reversing this procedure, a disc can be inserted into the cassette.

There are two methods for removing the processed disk from the pallet and attaching a new unprocessed disk. One is a method of loading all the processed disks on the pallet into a processed disk cassette and then mounting unprocessed disks sequentially. Another is a method in which a processed disk is removed for each disk holder and then an unprocessed disk is attached to the disk holder. Of these, the latter is more efficient.

If the cassette containing the disk before the thin film formation processing is arranged on the upstream side of the production line and the cassette for inserting the processed disk is arranged on the downstream side, all the disks before the processing are mounted on the pallet. The empty cassette can be used as it is as a processed disk cassette, which is efficient.

When the apparatus is fully automated, it is necessary to detect whether or not handling such as taking out a disc from a pallet and attaching it to a disc holder, or removing a disc from a disc holder and putting it in a cassette is performed reliably. Required.

Therefore, it is important to detect the presence / absence of a disk by a method such as a photoelectric tube and to take measures such as stopping the operation and issuing an alarm when the absence of the disk is detected. In that case, the disk detector is attached near the suction pad of the pad holder,
The presence or absence of a disk can be detected more reliably.

When the disk, the outer mask, and the inner mask are handled by the suction pad, it is also important to confirm whether suction is performed reliably. This confirmation is preferably made based on whether or not the degree of vacuum has reached a predetermined value. If the predetermined degree of vacuum has not been reached, it is necessary to take measures such as stopping the operation as a suction error and issuing an alarm.

The above-described disk mounting / dismounting operation needs to be performed in a clean atmosphere. If a thin film is applied by sputtering with dust or the like adhered to the disk, the product will be defective. Therefore, these devices should be installed in a clean booth.

[0032]

1 to 4 show a disk attaching / detaching apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention. Here, FIG. 1 shows a pad holder pallet provided with a suction pad, FIG. 2 shows a disk holder with a disk mounted thereon, FIG. 3 shows a pallet viewed from the front, and FIG. 4 shows a positional relationship between a pallet, a cassette and a pad holder. FIG.

In these figures, 1 is an outer mask suction pad, 2 is an inner mask suction pad, 3 is a disk suction pad, 4 is a pad holder, 5 is a disk, 6 is an outer mask, 7 is an inner mask, 8 is a vacuum suction port provided in the inner mask 7, 9 is a disk holder, 10 is a pallet, 11 is a cassette for a disk before the thin film formation processing, 12 is a cassette for a disk after the thin film formation processing, and 13 is a disk removal. The arm 14 is a disk insertion arm. Arrows in FIG. 4 indicate the direction in which the cassette is transported and the direction in which the pad holder moves along the flow of the production line.

When an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk is manufactured, the disk 5 includes an outer mask 6 and an inner mask 7.
Together with the disk holder 9. A pallet 10 provided with a plurality of disk holders 9
Moves into the vacuum chamber of the thin film forming apparatus. Then, a film is formed in a vacuum on a portion of the disk 5 not covered by the outer mask 6 and the inner mask 7. At that time, a thin film is formed by a method such as a sputtering method or an evaporation method.

Here, the disk holder 9 of the pallet 10
In order to mount the disk 5 together with the outer mask 6 and the inner mask 7 or to remove the disk 5 from the disk holder 9 together with the outer mask 6 and the inner mask 7, the outer mask suction pad 1 is used. And a pad holder 4 provided with an inner mask suction pad 2 and a disk suction pad 3.

At this time, the outer mask 6 is attached to the pad holder 4
Is sucked by the outer mask suction pads 1 attached to a plurality of outer peripheral portions. The inner mask 7 is sucked by the inner mask suction pad 2. Then, the disk 5 is sucked by the disk suction pad 3 through the vacuum suction port 8 of the inner mask 7.

The pad holder 4 directs the disk 5 taken out of the cassette 11 together with the outer mask 6 and the inner mask 7 toward the pallet 10 or the disk 5 (the outer mask 6) removed from the disk holder 9 on the pallet 10. , With the inner mask 7) turned 90 ° in order to orient it in the direction of the cassette 12, and furthermore, move in parallel between the disc unprocessed cassette 11 and the disc processed cassette 12.

For this purpose, the cassette 1 of the disc before processing
Reference numeral 1 denotes a position near the pallet 10, where the disk mounting surface of the pallet 10 is perpendicular to the disk surface in the cassette 11. Further, the cassette 12 of the processed disk is also disposed downstream of the cassette 11 of the unprocessed disk at a position where the disk mounting surface of the pallet 10 and the disk surface of the cassette 12 are perpendicular to each other.

When mounting the disks 5 on the disk holder 9 of the pallet 10, first, the disks 5 are removed one by one from the cassette 11 by the disk removal arm 13. For this purpose, the arm 13 has a suction pad for suctioning the inner peripheral portion of the disk at its tip end and has a structure capable of moving up and down.

The disk 5 taken out of the cassette 11 sucks the outer mask 6 and the inner mask 7 in advance, and the arm 13 moves to the pad holder 4 which stands by with the suction surface facing the arm 13. And handed over there.

Thereafter, the pad holder 4 rotates 90 ° so that the surface of the disk 5 sucked together with the outer mask 6 and the inner mask 7 faces the pallet 10. Subsequently, the pad holder 4 moves to the disk holder 9 and attaches the disk 5 together with the outer mask 6 and the inner mask 7. At that time, the outer mask 6 is fixed by a magnet embedded in the side surface of the disk holder 9.

The pallet 10 has a rotatable disk shape and is supported by a gantry. Further, the pallet 10 is provided with a plurality of disk holders 9. And pallet 10 and pad holder 4
The delivery of the disc 3 between the pallet 10 and the pallet 10 is always performed at the same place as the pallet 10 rotates. That is, the delivery of the disk is performed by the disk holder located at the bottom of the pallet 10. The movement of the pallet 10 to the thin film forming apparatus is performed by moving the support base on a conveyor. The disc holder 9 itself is also rotatable, that is, the disc 5 mounted on the pallet 9 has a structure capable of revolving around itself.

Then, the disk 5 having been subjected to the thin film forming process
Is stored in the cassette 12 of the processed disk in the reverse procedure. That is, the processed disk 5 removed from the disk holder 9 is
The pad holder 4 is rotated to the cassette side by 90 ° together with the inner mask 7 and received by the suction pad attached to the disk insertion arm 14 and inserted into the cassette 12.

When the cassette 12 of the processed disk is full, the cassette 12 is sent further downstream.
Then, in the place where the original cassette 12 was, the cassette 11 of the unprocessed disk that has been emptied upstream is set and used as the cassette 12 of the new processed disk.

[0045]

As has been described in detail above, the present invention provides a disk mounting / removing apparatus which enables a reliable mounting / dismounting of a disk with a simple structure, performs processing for mounting / dismounting a disk in a short time, and can easily cope with a change in conditions. Can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

Fig. 1 Pad holder

FIG. 2 Disc holder

FIG. 3 is a front view of a pallet.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a positional relationship between a pallet, a cassette, and a pad holder.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 outer mask suction pad 2 inner mask suction pad 3 disk suction pad 4 pad holder 5 disk 6 outer mask 7 inner mask 8 vacuum suction port 9 disk holder 10 pallet 11 disk cassette before thin film processing 12 after thin film processing Disc cassette 13 Disc take-out arm 14 Disc insertion arm

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A disk relay means for transferring a disk between a disk transport cassette and a disk holder, wherein a disk holder disposed on a positioned pallet is provided together with an outer mask and an inner mask. In a disk mounting / dismounting apparatus for mounting / dismounting a disk, the disk relay means includes an outer mask suction pad, an inner mask suction pad, and a disk suction pad, and the outer mask suction pad vacuum-sucks the outer mask, and the inner mask. The inner mask is vacuum-sucked by the suction pad, and the disk and the inner mask are vacuum-sucked through the vacuum suction port provided in the inner mask by the disk suction pad, so that the disk taken out of the transport cassette can be disk-mounted. Until it is installed in the holder, or the data A disk mounting / removing device, wherein a disk relay means holds an outer mask, an inner mask, and a disk until the disk is accommodated in a transport cassette. 2. The disk mounting / dismounting device according to claim 1, wherein the disk holders are arranged on the pallet at equal distances and at equal angular intervals from the center of the pallet.