JP3268436B2 - Processing equipment with a processing container having a linear motion mechanism - 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 provided with a processing container having a linear motion mechanism for moving a holding table for holding an object to be processed in the processing container. This type of processing apparatus is particularly suitable for an apparatus that performs processing with a laser beam on a processing target such as glass in a vacuum or an inert gas atmosphere in a processing container, such as a laser annealing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A laser annealing apparatus will be described as an example of this type of processing apparatus. When performing laser annealing by a laser annealing apparatus, an object to be processed is held in a holding table and placed in a vacuum vessel, and the surface of the object to be processed is irradiated with laser light through a quartz window. By moving the holding table in the vacuum vessel, a large area on the surface of the processing object can be sequentially irradiated with laser light.

The holding table is provided with two drive shafts extending to the outside of the vacuum vessel, and can be moved by a drive mechanism using a combination of a servo motor and a ball screw disposed in the vacuum vessel. I have. The holding table also
Guidance at the time of movement is performed by two guide mechanisms arranged in the vacuum vessel. In addition, a bellows is attached as an airtight mechanism between the drive shaft outside the vacuum vessel and the wall of the vacuum vessel, and the airtightness of the vacuum vessel is maintained.

[0004]

In order to stably obtain the effect of laser annealing, an object to be processed may be heated. For this reason, a heater is embedded in the holding table.
When the holding table is heated, extra force is applied to the sliding portions of the two guide mechanisms due to thermal strain. This extra force makes it difficult for the holding table to move, and in extreme cases, may make it impossible to move.

Further, the conventional drive mechanism is based on a combination of a servo motor and a ball screw, and therefore, there is a backlash, and it is difficult to obtain a highly accurate positioning and high-speed response of the holding table.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a processing apparatus provided with a processing container which is less susceptible to heat distortion due to heating of an object to be processed, by reducing a guide mechanism in the processing container.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a processing apparatus provided with a processing container capable of obtaining high-accuracy positioning of a holding table and high-speed response.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a processing vessel maintained in an airtight state, and disposed inside the processing vessel, both ends of which are led out through the wall of the processing vessel to the outside. Two driving spindles, and at a location where the two driving spindles penetrate the wall of the processing container,
So that the drive shaft can be translated in the axial direction,
And as airtightness of the processing vessel is maintained, a gas-tight mechanism that isolates and the outside the process vessel, Ri attached taken on each of the at least one end of the two drive shaft, said Two drive mechanisms by linear motors, each of which can move two driving support shafts in the axial direction with respect to the processing container;
A holding table that is supported by the two drive spindles and holds the object to be processed, and that extends in the same direction as the two drive spindles and is driven by the two drive mechanisms in the processing container. There is provided a processing apparatus provided with a processing container having a linear motion mechanism, which includes one guide mechanism for guiding the traveling of the holding table.

The holding table is supported by a support frame fixed over both of the two drive shafts.
It is supported by a drive support shaft of the book, and the lower part of the support frame is configured to be guided by the guide mechanism disposed at the bottom of the processing container.

[0010] A heating means for heating the object to be processed is provided on at least the holding table among the inner wall of the processing container and the holding table.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan sectional view of a processing container according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view taken along line BB in FIG.

Driving support shafts 2a and 2b for forming a linear motion mechanism are provided inside a processing vessel 1 capable of evacuating the inside.
Are arranged parallel to each other. Driving spindles 2a and 2
Both ends of b are led out to the outside through the side wall of the processing container 1. The processing vessel 1 is evacuated, and after that, an inert gas may be introduced in some cases. The processing container 1 is also fixed on a base (not shown).

Both ends of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b are connected to linear motors 4a and 4b having a linear guide mechanism via a supporting structure 3, respectively. The drive shafts 2a and 2b are driven by these linear motors 4a and 4b.
Are driven independently of each other in the 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 5 b is attached to the side wall of the processing container 1, and the other end is attached to the structure 3. 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 supported by the driving support shafts 2a and 2b, and the supporting structure will be described later. Holder 6
A plurality of pins 7 protrude from the upper surface of the substrate, and a substrate 8 made of glass or the like to be annealed is placed on the pins 7. A heater (not shown) is provided in the holding table 6, and the substrate 8 is heated by the heater. A heat shield 9 is provided on the lower surface of the holding table 6. The holding table 6 and the heat shield plate 9 are the support plate 10
Supported by The heater may be provided on the inner wall of the processing container 1, for example, on the inner wall of the ceiling, or may be provided in a lower area where the holding table 6 moves. In any case,
On the lower side of the heater, a water cooling plate 12 is provided so as not to hinder the movement of the mechanism supporting the holding table 6.
The temperature in the space inside the processing vessel 1 below the temperature rise in the space 2 is suppressed. A quartz window 1-1 is provided on the upper surface of the processing vessel 1.
Is provided, and laser light from an optical system is introduced into the processing chamber 1 through the quartz window 1-1.

By driving the linear motors 4a and 4b to translate the driving support shafts 2a and 2b in the axial direction, the substrate 8 can be moved together with the holding table 6 in the processing chamber 1. Although detailed description of the drive control of the linear motors 4a and 4b for moving the holding table 6 is omitted, linear encoders 11a and 11b are provided on 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, and control is performed so as to follow the position target value of the holding table 6.

In this embodiment, the driving support shafts 2a and 2a
b, on each side thereof, a linear motor 4a,
4b, but the linear motor 4
a and 4b may be provided only on one end side of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b. In this case, a linear guide mechanism is provided on the other end of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b, and it is not necessary to install the linear encoders 11a and 11b on the other end. The structure 3 on the side of the linear motor 4a and the linear motor 4b
Although the drive shafts 2a and 2b can be driven independently of the structure 3 on the side, the structure 3 on the side of the linear motor 4a and the structure 3 on the side of the linear motor 4b are integrated. There may be.

Next, the support structure of the holding table 6 will be described. In FIG. 1, the holding table 6 is indicated by a dashed line for convenience. The holding table 6 is supported by a support plate 10 via a support frame 13 fixed to two driving support shafts 2a and 2b at one end side and the other end side in the movement direction. In the support frame 13, a rotation mechanism 14 is disposed immediately below the center of the support plate 10, and a pulse motor 15 for transmitting a rotational driving force to the rotation mechanism 14 is disposed. The rotation mechanism 14 has a rotation shaft 14-1 having an upper end directly connected to the support plate 10 and a lower end connected to a rotation shaft of the pulse motor 15 via a steel belt 16. Rotating mechanism 14
Actually includes a harmonic drive and a cross roller ring so that the rotation angle can be controlled with high accuracy, but detailed description is omitted. In any case, the rotation mechanism 14 is for rotating the holding table 6 in a horizontal state during processing to position the substrate 8. For this reason, a rotary encoder (not shown) is provided in the rotating portion of the rotating mechanism 14, and the detection signal is fed back to the drive control system of the pulse motor 15 to control the rotation angle. The pulse motor 15 has a holding table 6
Power is supplied through a flexible heat-resistant cable (not shown) so as not to hinder the traveling of the vehicle.

At the bottom of the processing vessel 1, driving shafts 2a, 2a
One guide mechanism 17 is provided in the same direction as b. The guide mechanism 17 has a linear guide portion 17-1 connected to the guided portion 13-1 on the lower side of the support frame 13. The linear guide portion 17-1 guides the movement of the support frame 13 traveling integrally with the holding table 6 in the processing container 1.

As described above, the movement of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b is guided by the linear guide mechanism for guiding the traveling of the linear motors 4a and 4b without being affected by the heater outside the processing vessel 1. You. On the other hand, in the processing container 1, the traveling of the holding table 6 and the support frame 13 is guided by the guide mechanism 17. In particular, one guide mechanism 17 is provided, and the heat shield plate 9 is disposed below the heater, and the water cooling plate 12
Are disposed, the thermal strain applied to the guide mechanism 17 is very small as compared with the case of two guide mechanisms.

In addition to such a guide structure, by using a linear motor as a drive system, the resonance frequency of the entire traveling system including the holding table 6 and the support frame 13 can be increased. Accurate positioning can be performed, and trajectory followability can be improved.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the entire laser annealing apparatus provided with the above-described 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 for laser light irradiation is a homogenizer 4
1. It comprises 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, 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
The substrate in the processing chamber 1 is irradiated through the elongated quartz window 1-1 corresponding to the sectional shape of the laser beam. The relative position between the homogenizer 41 and the substrate is adjusted so that the surface of the substrate coincides with the homogenized surface.

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. Linear motors 4a, 4b, gate valves 25-2
7. The operations of the transfer robot 28, the homogenizer 41, and the excimer laser device 44 are controlled by the control device 40.

Returning to FIGS. 1 and 2, the substrate 8 is moved by irradiating the substrate 8 with a laser beam having a long sectional shape in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the substrate 8.
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 according to the present embodiment, even if the holding table 6 is heated to cause thermal distortion, the driving support shafts 2a, 2b
The guide mechanism is provided in the linear motors 4a and 4b and is located outside the processing vessel 1, so that it is not affected by thermal distortion caused by a heater in the processing vessel 1. Therefore, the holding table 6 can be stably moved even when the holding table 6 is heated. In particular, the linear motor can drive the holding table 6 at high speed, and can also perform positioning with high accuracy. on the other hand,
In the processing container 1, the guide mechanism of the holding table 6 is reduced to one, and the thermal influence is reduced as much as possible, so that the adverse effect due to the thermal distortion can be reduced.

In the above embodiment, the laser annealing apparatus has been described as an example. However, the processing container shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 can be applied to other apparatuses. For example,
It is also effective in the case of a processing container that requires a linear motion mechanism and a rotation drive mechanism in an environment that needs to be isolated from the outside, such as when a special chemical is used.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By reducing the number of guide mechanisms in the processing container, it is possible to provide a processing apparatus provided with a processing container that is not easily affected by thermal distortion due to heating of the processing target.

Further, it is possible to provide a processing apparatus provided with a processing container capable of obtaining high-accuracy positioning of the holding table and high-speed response by driving the linear motor.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view 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;

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining a support structure of the holding table shown in FIG. 1, and is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 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 1-1 Quartz window 2a, 2b Driving spindle 3 Structure 4a, 4b Linear motor 5a, 5b, 16 Vacuum bellows 6 Holder 7 Pin 8 Substrate 9 Heat shield plate 10 Support plate 11a, 11b Linear encoder 12 Water cooling plate 13 Support frame 14 Rotary mechanism 15 Pulse motor 16 Steel belt 17 Guide mechanism 17-1 Linear guide section

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI H01L 21/428 H01L 21/428 21/68 21/68 K

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A processing container maintained in an airtight state, two driving spindles disposed in the processing container, both ends of which are led out to the outside through respective walls of the processing container, At a position where the two driving support shafts penetrate the wall of the processing container, the two driving support shafts can be translated in the axial direction, and the airtightness in the processing container is maintained. the way, an airtight mechanism that isolates and the outside the processing chamber, each of the at least one end of the two drive shaft
Installing attached, the two drive mechanisms by the linear motor which can be moved in the axial direction two the driving support shaft with respect to each of the processing container, in the processing chamber, the two drive A holding table supported by a support shaft and holding the object to be processed; and a traveling of the holding table extending in the same direction as the two driving support shafts and driven by the two driving mechanisms in the processing container. And a single guiding mechanism for guiding the processing. 2. The holder according to claim 1, wherein the holding base is provided with two driving shafts .
It is supported by the two drive spindles via a support frame fixed over both, and is configured to guide the lower part of the support frame by the guide mechanism arranged at the bottom of the processing container. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing is performed. 3. The processing device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the inner wall of the processing container and the holding table is provided with a heating unit for heating the object to be processed. Processing equipment.