JP3259165B2 - Processing container with clamping mechanism for substrate to be processed - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing apparatus for performing processing while holding a substrate to be processed on a stage in a processing vessel maintained in an airtight state, and more particularly to processing using a laser or the like while heating the substrate to be processed. The present invention relates to a processing container for a processing apparatus for performing the above. This type of processing vessel is particularly suitable for a processing apparatus such as a laser annealing apparatus that performs a heat treatment for converting amorphous silicon into polysilicon in a vacuum or an inert gas atmosphere in the processing vessel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an example of a substrate to be processed applied to this type of processing apparatus, a glass substrate is used when a liquid crystal substrate for a liquid crystal display device is manufactured. This glass substrate has
A display unit for forming a large number of pixels and drivers for driving each pixel on the upper, lower, left and right sides of the display unit are formed. In order to form a driver, a method has recently been adopted in which amorphous silicon is applied to a region of a glass substrate corresponding to the driver, and this is heated to be converted to polysilicon. In order to perform the above heat treatment,
A laser annealing device is used. Hereinafter, this laser annealing device will be described.

When laser annealing is performed by a laser annealing apparatus, a substrate to be processed is placed on a stage and placed in a vacuum vessel, and a processing region of the substrate to be processed is irradiated with laser light through a quartz window. By moving the stage in the uniaxial direction in the vacuum container, a desired region of the substrate to be processed can be sequentially irradiated with laser light.

[0004]

The stage is usually made movable by a uniaxial drive shaft extending to the outside of the vacuum vessel. It is preferable that the glass substrate is pre-heated before irradiation with the laser beam, and therefore, a heater is provided in the vacuum vessel.
Further, the glass substrate is placed on a plurality of pins implanted on the stage. If the glass substrate is held so as to hinder its thermal expansion, there is no place for stress to escape during expansion, and the glass substrate is damaged. For this reason, the glass substrate is prevented from being displaced only by the frictional force due to its own weight.

On the other hand, the stage needs to be precisely positioned in order to irradiate a laser beam to a desired region of the substrate to be processed. However, when the positioning control of the stage is performed at a high speed, the glass substrate is displaced by the acceleration at the time of the movement, so that it is difficult to perform the positioning control to exceed the acceleration exceeding a certain fixed value. Further, the displacement of the glass substrate may be caused by vibration.

In any case, since the conventional laser annealing apparatus does not have a means for preventing the displacement of the glass substrate, high-speed positioning control is impossible, and the displacement is likely to occur due to vibration. There is a point.

An object of the present invention is to provide a processing container provided with a clamp mechanism capable of holding a substrate to be processed on a stage without causing a positional shift.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a processing container provided with a clamp mechanism capable of holding a substrate to be processed without obstructing the substrate even if the substrate undergoes thermal expansion.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a processing container maintained in an airtight state, and a stage disposed in the processing container and having a plurality of pins for mounting a substrate to be processed. And a clamp mechanism for pressing the substrate to be processed from above at at least one side end of the substrate to be mounted on the stage, and releasing the substrate being clamped by the clamp mechanism from a clamped state. An arm that is rotatable around a horizontal axis and has a holding portion for the substrate to be processed on one end side, and an arm on the other end side of the arm. A spring mechanism for applying an urging force for clamping the processing substrate, wherein the unclamping mechanism applies a turning force greater than the urging force of the spring mechanism to the other end side of the arm, and The over-time to unclamp state
And penetrating the upper wall from outside of the processing container.
To apply a rotating power to the other end of the arm from above.
And an unclamping pin
A cylinder mechanism for driving up and down;
The outer part of the processing container at the lamp pin is airtight.
And a bellows mechanism for maintaining the substrate in a processing container.

The stage has a heater for heating below the substrate to be processed, and the plurality of pins are implanted in the heater.

[0011]

Further, the clamp mechanism and the unclamping mechanism are provided at two positions on at least one side end of the substrate to be processed, and are also provided at positions corresponding to the pressing portions of the arm on the substrate in the heater. Preferably, the pins for mounting the substrate to be processed are provided.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, an outline of a case where the present invention is applied to a laser annealing apparatus will be described. FIG. 4 is a schematic plan cross-sectional view of a processing vessel in the processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and FIG.
FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 4, and FIG.
FIG. 1C shows a schematic cross-sectional view, respectively.

Driving support shafts 2a and 2b for forming a linear motion mechanism are provided in a processing container 1 capable of evacuating the inside.
Are arranged parallel to each other. Driving spindles 2a and 2
One end of “b” extends through the side wall of the processing container 1 to the outside. The processing vessel 1 is evacuated, and after that, an inert gas may be introduced in some cases.

One ends of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b are respectively connected to linear motors 4a and 4b having a linear guide mechanism.
And driven in the axial direction of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b by these linear motors 4a and 4b. By driving the linear motors 4a and 4b, the driving support shaft 2 is driven.
a and 2b can be translated in their axial direction.

A portion of each of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b extended out of the processing container 1 is covered with a vacuum bellows 5a, 5b as an airtight mechanism. Vacuum bellows 5a,
One end of 5b is attached to the side wall of the processing container 1, and the other end is attached to the linear motors 4a and 4b. The airtightness of the processing container 1 is maintained by such vacuum bellows 5a and 5b.

A holding table 6 is arranged in the processing vessel 1. The holding table 6 is fixed to the other end side of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b, and is supported by a so-called cantilever support structure. An opening 6a is provided in the center of the holding table 6, and a plurality of pins 7 protrude from the upper surface around the opening 6a. A substrate 8 such as glass to be annealed is placed on the plurality of pins 7. Is done. A heater 9 is provided in the lower area where the holding table 6 moves.
a, heaters 9 b are arranged on the inner wall of the ceiling of the processing container 1. The substrate 8 is heated by these heaters 9a and 9b. The heater may be provided only on the inner wall of the ceiling of the processing container 1 in some cases. A quartz window 1-1 is provided on the upper surface of the processing chamber 1, and laser light from the optical system 10 is introduced into the processing chamber 1 through the quartz window 1-1.

The substrate 8 can be moved in the processing chamber 1 by driving the linear motors 4a and 4b to translate the driving support shafts 2a and 2b in the axial direction. Linear motors 4a and 4 for moving the holding table 6
Although a detailed description of the drive control of b is omitted, linear encoders 11a and 11b are provided on the side surfaces of the linear motors 4a and 4b, respectively. The position detection signals from the linear encoders 11a and 11b are fed back to the drive control systems of the linear motors 4a and 4b,
Is controlled so as to follow the target position value.

In this embodiment, a rotation drive mechanism for rotating the substrate 8 in a horizontal state is provided in addition to the above-described linear movement mechanism. This rotation drive mechanism is located below the holding table 6, and one end moves up and down and rotates through an opening 6 a provided in the holding table 6 to move the substrate 8 up and down and rotates, and the other end side holds the processing vessel 1. And a rotary drive shaft 12 extending to the outside through the bottom wall of the motor.

In particular, in this embodiment, this rotary drive shaft 12 is
A first shaft 12-1 movable up and down by the cylinder 13,
It comprises a cylindrical second shaft 12-2 which is arranged around the first shaft 12-1 and driven to rotate by the motor 14. That is, the first shaft 12-1 can only move up and down, and the second shaft 12-2 can only rotate.
A support plate 15 for mounting the substrate 8 is provided on the upper end side of the first shaft 12-1. A vacuum bellows 16 is provided between the support plate 15 and the upper end of the second shaft 12-2. Is provided. The support plate 15 is provided with an opening 6 provided in the holding table 6.
The substrate 8 is separated from the holding table 6 by moving upward through the opening 6a of the holding table 6 together with the upward movement of the first shaft 12-1. The support plate 15 is also provided with the second shaft 12.
When −2 rotates, it rotates together with the vacuum bellows 16 to rotate the substrate 8. The vacuum bellows 16 is connected to the first shaft 12-
It suppresses minute dust generated due to friction between the first shaft 12-2 and the second shaft 12-2 from flowing into the processing container 1.

The torque of the motor 14 is transmitted to the second shaft 12-2 via the steel belt 17 here. A rotation introducing member 18 made of a magnetic fluid is provided between the second shaft 12-2 and the bottom wall of the processing chamber 1.

This rotation drive mechanism rotates the substrate 8 by a desired angle according to the processing mode of the substrate 8. That is,
The support plate 15 is usually below the holding table 6. When the substrate 8 needs to be rotated, the rotation is performed in a state where the opening 6 a of the holding table 6 is directly above the support plate 15. First, first
Is moved upward to separate the substrate 8 from the holding table 6,
Next, the second shaft 12-2 is rotated to rotate the substrate 8 by a desired angle. When the rotation is completed, the first shaft 12-1 is moved down, and the substrate 8 is mounted on the holding table 6 again.

In the rotation by the rotation drive mechanism,
In principle, it is difficult to position an angle on the order of several microns, and minute rotation angle correction is performed by the differential operation of the two linear motors 4a and 4b in the linear motion mechanism. That is, by giving a minute difference to the displacement by the two linear motors 4a and 4b, the holding table 6 can be rotated by a minute angle.

In such an apparatus, the substrate 8 is moved while irradiating a laser beam having a long sectional shape in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the substrate 8, whereby the substrate 8 is moved.
Can be annealed over a wide area of the surface. In particular,
By heating the substrate 8, the effect of laser annealing can be stabilized.

In the linear motion mechanism and the rotary drive mechanism according to the present embodiment, there is no sliding portion in the processing container 1. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the inside of the processing container 1 from being contaminated by minute dust caused by friction in the sliding portion. Further, even if the holding table 6 is heated and thermal distortion occurs, the linear guide mechanism is provided in the linear motors 4a and 4b and is outside the processing vessel 1 and is not affected by thermal distortion. Therefore, the holding table 6 can be stably moved even when the holding table 6 is heated.

A processing container according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The processing container according to the present embodiment has substantially the same structure as the processing container shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 except for the stage 60, the clamp mechanism 70, and the unclamping mechanism 80. The illustration is omitted, and the processing container 1 is also partially shown. Briefly, in the examples shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the substrate 8 itself is rotated, but in this embodiment, the entire stage 60 is rotated by the above-described rotation drive mechanism. Therefore, the stage 60 is not fixed to the other end side of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b, but is held so as to be transferable.

The stage 60 is provided with a square box-shaped trolley 61 mounted on the other end of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b described with reference to FIGS. A plurality of heat shield plates 62;
Support portions 61-provided at three places on the inner wall of the trolley 61-
The heater 63 includes a heater 63 supported by the support 1 and five support pins 64 planted at positions near the center and corners of the heater 63 for mounting the substrate 8.

The clamping mechanism 70 includes a horizontal shaft 72 having a bearing mechanism 71 as shown in detail in FIG.
An arm 73 rotatable around the fulcrum and having a pressing portion 73-1 of the substrate 8 on one end side, and a spring mechanism 74 for applying an urging force for clamping the substrate 8 to the other end side of the arm 73. Having.

The unclamping mechanism 80 is for applying a turning force larger than the urging force of the spring mechanism 74 to the receiving portion 73-2 on the other end side of the arm 73 to put the arm 73 in an unclamped state. . Unclamp mechanism 80
An unclamping pin 81 is provided from the outside of the processing container 1 to penetrate the upper wall thereof and applies a turning power to the receiving portion 73-2 at the other end of the arm 73 from above. Cylinder mechanism 82 for driving in the direction
And a bellows mechanism 83 for maintaining the outside part of the processing container 1 in the unclamping pin 81 in an airtight state, and a support portion 84 for a cylinder mechanism 82. The bellows mechanism 83 also prevents dust and the like from entering through a hole in the upper wall of the processing container 1 through which the unclamping pin 81 passes.

In the present embodiment, the clamp mechanism 70
The trolley 61 is provided so as to oppose two places on one side end of the trolley 61. In this case, a support pin 65 for mounting the substrate 8 is also provided at a position corresponding to the pressing portion 73-1 of the arm 73 in the heater 63. The positional relationship between the clamp mechanism 70 and the unclamping mechanism 80 is such that when the stage 60 is at a predetermined initial position, the receiving portion 73-2 at the other end of the arm 73 is used.
Unclamping pin 81 of unclamping mechanism 80 right above
Is located. The initial position is a position at which the transfer of the substrate 8 to the stage 60 is performed.

The operation of the clamp mechanism 70 and the unclamping mechanism 80 according to this embodiment will be described. A substrate 8 is placed in the processing chamber 1 by a transfer robot from a transfer chamber described later.
When carrying in, by the control of the linear motor described above,
Stage 60 is placed in the initial position. At this time, the unclamping pin 81 of the unclamping mechanism 80 moves down to push down the receiving portion 73-2 at the other end of the arm 73, and
Rotate -1 upward. In this state, the substrate 8 is carried into the processing container 1 from the side, and the support pins 64 and 65 are provided.
Put on top. When the loading is completed, the unclamping pins 8
1 moves upward and the receiving portion 73-2 of the arm 73 is
As a result, the holding portion 73-1 turns downward and holds the side end of the substrate 8 between the support pin 65 and the holding portion 73-1.

Next, precise positioning control of the stage 60 is performed by controlling the linear motor. Then, heating by the heater 63 is performed, and laser annealing is performed on the substrate 8 while moving the substrate 8 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. The heating by the heater 63 is increased to about 400 ° C. in the case of the above-described manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display device. During this laser annealing process, the entire stage 60 is rotated by the above-described rotation drive mechanism as needed. That is, the stage 60 is rotated while the support plate 15 of the rotary drive mechanism is moved upward to float the stage 60 from the other end of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b. When the laser annealing process is completed, when the stage 60 is rotated, the stage 60 is returned to the state before the rotation and then returned to the initial position. As a result, the unclamping pin 81 is located directly above the receiving portion 73-2. Subsequently, the unclamping pin 81 is moved down to push down the receiving portion 73-2 of the arm 73, thereby releasing the substrate 8 from the clamped state. In this state, the processed substrate 8 is carried out from the side surface of the processing container 1 by the transfer robot. When the unloading is completed, the next substrate 8 is loaded into the processing container 1 from the side by the transfer robot. When the loading is completed, the unclamping pin 81 moves up again to move the arm 73.
The receiving portion 73-2 is rotated upward by the spring mechanism 74,
The holding portion 73-1 rotates downward to hold the side end of the substrate 8 between the support pin 65 and the holding portion 73-1.

According to such a clamping mechanism 70, the substrate 8 is clamped only at one end by a force in a direction perpendicular to the surface, and the thermal expansion of the substrate 8 due to heating by the heater 63 is parallel to the surface. Since the elongation and the elongation are slow in time, the elongation is hardly hindered. The clamping force is determined by the weight of the arm 73 and the urging force of the spring mechanism 74, and can be set to an appropriate value by adjusting the urging force of the spring mechanism 74. Also, the clamp mechanism 70
Is exposed to high temperatures, it is preferable that the bearing mechanism 71 is made of all ceramics and the spring mechanism 74 is made of a material such as Inconel. Further, although the heating by the heater 63 is performed while being clamped by the clamp mechanism 70, the clamping may be performed after the heating by the heater 63. In this case, it is not necessary to consider the elongation of the substrate 8 due to heating.

By the way, in the present embodiment, since a processing apparatus in which the substrate 8 is preheated to a high temperature is assumed, the clamping by the clamping mechanism 60 is performed only on one side end of the substrate 8. However, there is a case where the substrate 8 in the normal temperature state is subjected to the treatment by laser irradiation. In this case, the thermal expansion of the substrate 8 does not cause much problem. It may be provided at a location where it is to be held to ensure the holding.

As described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, in this embodiment, only the substrate 8 may be rotated by the rotation driving mechanism. In this case, as described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the trolley 61, the heat shield plate 62, and the heater 63 may be provided with holes through which the support plate 15 can pass. Then, the stage 60 includes a driving support shaft 2a,
2b is fixed to the other end side.

FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of the entire laser annealing apparatus provided with the above-mentioned processing container. The laser annealing apparatus has, in addition to the processing container 1, a transfer chamber 22 for the substrate 8, a carry-in chamber 23, and a carry-out chamber 24. The optical system 10 includes a homogenizer 41, a CCD camera 42, and a video monitor 43.

The processing chamber 1 and the transfer chamber 22 are connected via a gate valve 25. Similarly, the transfer chamber 22 and the carry-in chamber 23, and the transfer chamber 22 and the carry-out chamber 24 are connected via gate valves 26 and 27, respectively. Vacuum pumps 31, 32 are provided in the processing container 1, the carry-in chamber 23 and the carry-out chamber 24, respectively.
And 33 are provided, and the inside of each chamber is evacuated when the substrate 8 is transferred. A transfer robot 28 is accommodated in the transfer chamber 22. The transfer robot 28 transfers the processed substrate or the unprocessed substrate between the processing container 1, the loading chamber 23, and the unloading chamber 24.

In the optical system 10, the laser beam output from the excimer laser device 44 that has oscillated the pulse enters the homogenizer 41 through the attenuator 45.
The homogenizer 41 changes the cross-sectional shape of the laser beam into an elongated shape. The laser beam that has passed through the homogenizer 41 is an elongated quartz window 1-1 corresponding to the cross-sectional shape of the laser beam.
And irradiates the substrate in the processing container 1 with the light. Homogenizer 41 so that the surface of the substrate coincides with the homogenized surface.
The relative position between the substrate and the substrate is adjusted.

The substrate is moved in a direction orthogonal to the long axis direction of the quartz window 1-1 by the linear motion mechanism described with reference to FIG. By moving the substrate at such a speed that part of the irradiation area for one shot overlaps part of the irradiation area in the previous shot, a large area on the substrate surface can be irradiated. The substrate surface is photographed by the CCD camera 42, and the substrate surface being processed can be observed on the video monitor 43.

The linear motors 4a, 4b, the cylinder 13,
The operations of the motor 14, the gate valves 25 to 27, the transfer robot 28, the homogenizer 41, the excimer laser device 44, and the unclamping mechanism 80 are controlled by the control device 40.

In the above example, a linear motor is used as the drive source. However, another direct drive source, for example, a combination of a rotary motor and a ball screw may be used. In the above embodiment, the laser annealing apparatus has been described as an example. However, the processing container shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 can be applied to other apparatuses. For example, the present invention is also effective for a processing container that needs to hold a substrate to be processed in an environment that needs to be isolated from the outside world, such as when a special chemical is used.

In the above-described embodiment, the holding table 6 is supported in a cantilever manner by the driving support shafts 2a and 2b. However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and two holding tables are used. The present invention is also applicable to a configuration in which the driving support shaft is supported like a so-called pestle. Briefly speaking of this structure, the processing vessel, two driving spindles disposed in the processing vessel, both ends of which are penetrated to the outside through the wall of the processing vessel, and At a point penetrating the wall of the drive shaft so that the driving support shaft can be translated in the axial direction,
And so that the inside of the processing container is kept airtight, an airtight mechanism that separates the inside and the outside is attached to one end of a driving support shaft, and the driving support shaft is attached to the processing container. A linear guide mechanism for supporting the driving support shaft so as to be able to translate in the axial direction; and a linear guide mechanism attached to the other end of the driving support shaft, for axially translating the driving support shaft with respect to the processing container. The apparatus includes a driving mechanism and a holding unit that is attached to a driving support shaft and holds an object to be processed in the processing container. Such an apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 8-32349 filed by the present applicant. However, in this device, since the two driving support shafts are driven integrally by a common driving mechanism, it is difficult to make minute rotation angle corrections.
As shown in FIG. 4, this can be realized by separately driving the two drive shafts with separate drive sources, that is, linear motors. However, it is also possible to correct the minute rotation angle by the homogenizer 41 shown in FIG. 7 without using the configuration shown in FIG.

It is needless to say that the present invention is also applicable to a processing container having no rotary drive mechanism as shown in FIG.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The substrate to be processed on the stage can be held without causing displacement, and even if thermal expansion occurs in the substrate to be processed, it can be held without hindering it. As a result, the position of the substrate to be processed does not shift even when the positioning control of the stage is performed at high speed, and the position shift due to vibration is prevented. As a result, the positioning control of the stage can be performed at high speed and precisely.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a stage that is a main part of a processing container according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1 and also shows an unclamping mechanism not shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the configuration of the clamp mechanism shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a processing container in a laser annealing apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line CC of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration when the processing container of FIG. 1 is applied to a laser annealing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Processing container 2a, 2b Driving support shaft 4a, 4b Linear motor 5a, 5b, 16 Vacuum bellows 6 Holder 8 Substrate 9a, 9b, 63 Heater 10 Optical system 11a, 11b Linear encoder 12 Rotary drive shaft 22 Transport chamber 23 Carry in Chamber 24 Unloading chamber 25-27 Gate valve 28 Transfer robot 31-33 Vacuum pump 40 Controller 41 Homogenizer 42 CCD camera 43 Video monitor 44 Excimer laser device 45 Attenuator 60 Stage 61 Trolley 62 Heat shield plate 64, 65 Support pin 70 Clamp mechanism 71 Bearing mechanism 73 Arm 74 Spring mechanism 80 Unclamp mechanism 81 Unclamp pin 82 Cylinder mechanism 83 Bellows mechanism

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B01J 3/00-3/02 H01L 21/68 B23Q 5/00-5/56

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A processing container maintained in an airtight state, a stage disposed in the processing container and having a plurality of pins for mounting a substrate to be processed, and a stage mounted on the stage. A clamp mechanism for pressing the substrate to be processed from at least one side end of the substrate to be processed from above, and an unclamping mechanism for releasing the substrate to be processed clamped by the clamp mechanism from a clamped state; The clamp mechanism is rotatable about a horizontal axis, and has an arm having a pressing portion for the substrate to be processed at one end, and an urging force for clamping the substrate to be processed at the other end of the arm. The unclamping mechanism applies a turning force to the other end of the arm greater than the urging force of the spring mechanism to bring the arm into an unclamped state. It is one that, outside the treatment container
From the other end of the arm
An unclamping pin for applying rotational power to the
A syringe for driving the unclamping pin vertically
And a processing mechanism in the unclamping pin
Bellows mechanism to keep the outer part of the
A processing container provided with a clamp mechanism for a substrate to be processed , comprising: 2. The processing container according to claim 1, wherein the stage has a heater for heating below the substrate to be processed, and the plurality of pins are implanted in the heater. 3. The clamping mechanism and the unclamping.
The mechanism is provided on at least one side edge of the substrate to be processed.
At two locations, and the arm of the heater
The substrate to be processed is also placed at a position corresponding to the holding portion of the substrate to be processed.
It is noted that the pins for mounting the plate are provided.
3. The processing container according to claim 2, wherein