JP5047859B2 - Lift pin unit and XY stage apparatus having the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention particularly relates to an XY stage apparatus used for manufacturing and inspection of flat panel displays (FPD) such as liquid crystal panels and plasma display panels. Furthermore, the present invention particularly relates to a lift pin unit that is used by being attached to a suction plate provided in an XY stage device used for manufacturing and inspection of flat panel displays (FPD) such as liquid crystal panels and plasma display panels. Is.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-28974 is an example of an XY stage apparatus that has been generally used. The XY stage apparatus described in this publication employs three lift pins for lifting the workpiece. Each lift pin is fixed to the θ-axis table, penetrates the work table, and can freely move in and out of the work table. Therefore, when the workpiece placed on the work table is gripped by a handling robot or the like, the upper end of the lift pin protrudes from the work table due to the lowering of the Z-axis movable part, and the workpiece is lifted by the tip of the lift pin. The workpiece is released from the table.

JP 2003-28974 A

  However, since the conventional lift pins described above are incorporated as a part of the structure of the XY stage device, when the size of the workpiece, that is, the size of the work table is increased, the design of the lift pins and their drive devices must be significantly changed, There was a problem that it was difficult to cope with an increase in the size of the workpiece.

  An object of this invention is to provide the lift pin unit which made it easy to respond to the enlargement of a workpiece | work, and the XY stage apparatus provided with the same.

The lift pin unit according to the present invention includes a mounting plate that can be placed on the back surface of a work table for mounting a work, a motor fixed to the mounting plate, and a pin hole that extends vertically through the work table. A plurality of lift pins that can be inserted; and a motion conversion means for converting the rotation of the motor into the vertical motion of the lift pins . The motion conversion means is screwed to the screw shaft and extends to the screw shaft. A nut portion that advances and retreats by rotation of the screw shaft, a pair of cam plates that are arranged so as to sandwich the nut portion and are connected to the nut portion, and a cam groove that is formed in the pair of cam plates, And a lift pin base for supporting the lift pin, wherein the motor is inside the lift pin base .

  Since the lift pin unit includes an attachment plate that can be fixed to the work table, the attachment plate can be fixed to the back surface of the work table with a bolt or the like. Therefore, the lift pin unit can be securely fixed to the work table. When the work is a glass substrate for a flat panel display, the glass substrate is very fragile and extremely delicate, and may be placed in a state of being stuck on the work table. When such a glass substrate is lifted from the work table by lift pins, it is necessary to reduce the initial ascent rate, and after the glass substrate is separated from the work table, it is necessary to increase the ascent rate. Further, when the glass substrate is placed on the suction plate by lowering the lift pins, it is necessary to slow down the final lowering speed. In this way, a motor is employed in the present invention in order to precisely control the lifting / lowering speed of the lift pins. Furthermore, even when the work table is enlarged so as to correspond to a large work, it is only necessary to increase the number of lift pin units according to the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is excellent in that it can be easily applied to a large work table. Has an effect. The glass substrate is an example of a workpiece, and a semiconductor wafer or the like can be used as the workpiece.

Further, when such a configuration is adopted, the motion converting means can be made compact, and the lifting pin lifting mechanism can be made smaller.

The lower ends of the plurality of lift pins are fixed to a lift pin base formed in a substantially lattice shape by a plurality of frames, and the lift pin base is preferably moved up and down along a guide rail fixed to the mounting plate. .
Thus, by making the lift pin base into a lattice shape, it is possible to reduce the weight, and with such weight reduction, the output of the motor can be reduced. The unit can be reduced in weight and size.

  An XY stage apparatus according to the present invention includes a suction plate that holds and holds a workpiece on the upper surface, and a plurality of lift pin units fixed to the back surface of the suction plate, and the lift pin unit is a suction plate for sucking the workpiece. A mounting plate that can be fixed to the back surface of the motor, a motor that is fixed to the mounting plate, a plurality of lift pins that can be inserted into pin holes that can penetrate the suction plate and extend in the vertical direction, and a vertical movement of the lift pin that rotates the motor. And a motion conversion means for converting into motion.

  Since this XY stage apparatus includes a suction disk that enables vacuum suction to hold the workpiece, when the workpiece is a glass substrate for a flat panel display, the glass substrate is very fragile and extremely It is a delicate and is placed in a state of being stuck on the suction board. When such a glass substrate is lifted from the suction plate by lift pins, it is necessary to slow down the initial ascent rate, and it is necessary to speed up after the glass substrate is separated from the suction plate. Further, when the glass substrate is placed on the suction plate by lowering the lift pins, it is necessary to slow down the final lowering speed. Thus, in order to make it possible to precisely control the lifting speed of the lift pins, the lift pin unit applied to the present invention employs a motor. Moreover, since the lift pin unit applied to this invention is provided with the attachment plate which can be fixed to a suction disk, it can fix a mounting plate so that it may contact | adhere to the back surface of a suction disk with a volt | bolt etc. Therefore, the lift pin unit can be securely fixed to the suction disk. Furthermore, even when the suction plate is enlarged to correspond to a large workpiece, it is only necessary to increase the number of lift pin units. Therefore, the lift pin unit applied to the present invention can be easily adapted to a large suction plate. Has an excellent effect. The glass substrate is an example of a workpiece, and a semiconductor wafer or the like can be used as the workpiece.

  The present invention has an effect that it is easy to cope with an increase in size of a workpiece.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a lift pin unit and an XY stage apparatus including the lift pin unit according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The X axis and the Y axis are 90 degrees on the horizontal plane, the vertical direction is defined as the Z axis direction, and the X axis, the Y axis, and the Z axis are used below when necessary.

  As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the XY stage apparatus 1 is arranged along a pair of stone surface plates 3 and 4 that are arranged side by side on the base 2 and extend in the Y-axis direction, and the stone surface plates 3 and 4. A Y-axis stage 6 that moves in the Y-axis direction, a pair of Y-axis linear motors 7 and 8 that function as a drive unit for the Y-axis stage 6, and an X-axis stage 9 that moves in the X-axis direction on the Y-axis stage 6; And an X-axis linear motor (not shown) that functions as a drive unit for the X-axis stage 9 and supported by the air bearing 5 on the stone surface plates 3 and 4, and disposed above the X-axis stage 9, And a suction disk 10 provided with a number of suction holes.

  One stone surface plate 3 is made of a prismatic stone, and the upper surface thereof is flattened to provide an upper surface side sliding surface 3a for sliding the Y axis lift air bearing 14 of the Y axis stage 6. Is formed. Further, both side surfaces of the stone surface plate 3 extending along the Y-axis direction are planarized in the same manner as the upper surface side sliding surface 3a, so that the Y-axis yaw air bearing 17 of the Y-axis stage 6 is Side-side sliding surfaces 3b and 3c for sliding are formed. Similarly, the upper surface side sliding surface 4a and the side surface sliding surfaces 4b and 4c are formed by performing planar processing also on the upper surface and both side surfaces of the other stone surface plate 4.

  The Y-axis stage 6 that slides on the stone surface plates 3 and 4 includes a pair of Y-axis sliders 12 and 13 that move in the Y-axis direction while being guided by the stone surface plates 3 and 4, and the Y-axis sliders 12 and 13. The Y-axis lift air bearing 14 for supporting the stone surface plates 3 and 4 in the Z-axis direction in a non-contact state with the upper surface side sliding surfaces 3a and 4a and the Y-axis sliders 12 and 13 are respectively connected to the stone surface plates 3 and 4. The Y-axis slider is fixed to the Y-axis yaw air bearing 17 and the Y-axis sliders 12 and 13 for supporting the side surface side sliding surfaces 3b, 3c, 4b and 4c in a non-contact state in the horizontal direction. And a guide member 19 extending in the X-axis direction so as to bridge the wires 12 and 13.

  The X-axis stage 9 disposed on the Y-sliders 12 and 13 includes an X-axis slider 33 that moves along the guide member 19 in the X-axis direction, and the X-axis slider 33 on the upper surface side running surface of the stone surface plates 3 and 4. An X-axis lift air bearing (not shown) for supporting the X-axis slider 33 in the horizontal direction and a X-axis yaw air bearing (not shown) for supporting the X-axis slider 33 in the horizontal direction, respectively. (Not shown) and a θ table 37 disposed between the X-axis slider 33 and the suction disk 10 and rotating the suction disk 10 about the Z-axis. In order to slide the X slider 33 on the stone surface plates 3 and 4, the above-described X-axis lift air bearing (not shown) moves the long holes 21 and 22 provided in the Y-axis sliders 12 and 13 up and down. Has penetrated.

  Next, the lift pin unit 50 that is fixed to the back surface 10a of the suction disk 10 and used to raise and lower a workpiece (for example, a large glass substrate) will be described in detail.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 to 9, the lift pin unit 50 includes a mounting plate 51 that is fixed to the back surface 10 a of the suction plate 10 that functions as a work table with bolts (not shown). The mounting plate 51 is provided with a plurality of mounting holes 51 a for fixing the suction plate 10 with bolts, and the upper ends of the columns 52 are fixed to the four corners of the mounting plate 51. It extends to hang down from.

  Further, a motor 54 is fixed to the back surface of the mounting plate 51 via a bracket 53, and a screw shaft 57 is attached to an output shaft 54 a (see FIG. 7) of the motor 54 via a coupling 56. The screw shaft 57 extends horizontally below the mounting plate 51, and a nut portion 58 is screwed onto the screw shaft 57. In order to achieve smooth horizontal movement of the nut portion 58, the screw shaft 57 and the net portion 58 constitute a ball screw.

  Further, two guide rails 60 extending in the horizontal direction are fixed to the back surface of the mounting plate 51 by bolts, and a slidable slider 61 is mounted on each guide rail 60. The nut portion 58 disposed between the pair of left and right sliders 61 and each slider 61 are fixed to the connection plate 62 (see FIG. 7) by bolts. Accordingly, when the nut portion 58 advances and retracts linearly by the rotation of the screw shaft 57, the connection plate 62 can be linearly advanced and retracted in the horizontal direction by guiding the guide rail 60 following the movement of the nut portion 58. it can.

  A pair of left and right cam plates 63 are fixed to both ends of the connecting plate 62 by bolts, and each cam plate 63 extending in the vertical direction linearly follows the movement of the connecting plate 62 in the horizontal direction. Advance and retreat (see FIG. 7). Each cam plate 63 is formed with a cam groove 63a extending obliquely linearly or curvedly, and a driven roller (driven portion) 64 is mounted in each cam groove 63a. (See Figure 8)

  The motion conversion mechanism S that converts the rotation of the motor 54 into the vertical movement of the lift pin 67 includes a screw shaft 57 that extends as an output shaft 54a of the motor 54, a nut portion 58 that is screwed to the screw shaft 57, and a nut. The cam plate 63 is connected to the portion 58, and the driven roller 64 is connected to a lift pin base 66 that moves along a cam groove 63 a formed in the cam plate 63 and supports the lift pin 67. When such a configuration is adopted, the motion conversion means S can be made compact, and the lifting mechanism of the lift pin 67 can be downsized.

  Further, a lift pin base 66 assembled in a substantially lattice shape by a plurality of frames F having different lengths is fixed to the support shaft of each driven roller 64, and a lower end of the lift pin 67 is fixed to a predetermined position of the lift pin base 66. Has been. Furthermore, a guide rail 68 extending in the vertical direction is fixed to each column 52 extending so as to hang down from the mounting plate 51 by a bolt. Each guide rail 68 is provided with a slidable slider 69, and each slider 69 is fixed to a lift pin base 66.

  Although not shown, the lift pin base 66 is fixed with a plurality of proximal ends of pipe-like suction pins having substantially the same length as the lift pins 67. The base end of each suction pin is connected to a vacuum source via a tube, and when the workpiece is lifted and lowered by the lift pin 67, the tip of the suction pin is attracted to the back surface of the workpiece, thereby preventing the side slip of the workpiece. Yes. Each suction pin is particularly effective when the workpiece is formed of a slippery material such as a glass substrate. Each suction pin can also move in and out of the suction board 10 as the lift pin base 66 moves up and down, like the lift pin 67.

  Therefore, when the cam plate 63 moves back and forth in the horizontal direction, the driven roller 64 moves up and down with the movement of the cam groove 63a, and the lift pin base 66 and the lift pin 67 can be smoothly moved up and down by the guide rail 68 ( (See FIG. 8 and FIG. 9). Further, the lift pin base 66 can be made into a substantially lattice shape, so that the weight can be reduced, and the output of the motor 54 can be reduced along with the weight reduction, so that the motor 54 can be downsized. The weight reduction and size reduction of the lift pin unit 50 are achieved.

  Further, the suction plate 10 is formed with pin holes 70 (see FIGS. 1, 8 and 9) penetrating and extending in the vertical direction, and the lift pins 67 inserted into the pin holes 70 are lift pin bases. 66 can be moved up and down by the vertical movement of 66. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, each lift pin unit 50 is fixed by bolts at four locations (regions surrounded by a two-dot chain line) on the back surface 10 a of the suction disk 10.

  As described above, the XY stage apparatus 1 includes the suction disk 10 that enables vacuum suction to hold the workpiece. Therefore, when the workpiece is a glass substrate for a flat panel display, It is fragile and extremely delicate, and is placed in a state of being stuck on the suction disk 10 so as to be in close contact therewith. When such a glass substrate is lifted from the suction plate 10 by the lift pins 67, it is necessary to slow down the initial ascent rate, and after the glass substrate is separated from the suction plate 10, it is necessary to increase the ascent rate. Further, when the glass substrate is placed on the suction plate 10 by the lowering of the lift pins 67, it is necessary to slow down the final lowering speed. In this way, the lift pin unit 50 employs a motor 54 in order to precisely control the lifting speed of the lift pin 67.

  Further, since the lift pin unit 50 includes the mounting plate 51 that can be fixed to the suction disk 10, the mounting plate 51 can be fixed so as to be in close contact with the back surface of the suction disk 10 with a bolt or the like. Therefore, the lift pin unit 50 can be reliably fixed to the suction disk 10. Furthermore, even when the suction disk 10 is enlarged to correspond to a large workpiece, for example, a glass substrate, it is only necessary to increase the number of lift pin units 50 attached to the suction disk 10. It has an excellent effect that it can be easily adapted to the large suction disk 10.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a moving stage (X-axis stage 9, Y-axis stage 6, θ table 37, etc.) is arranged below the suction plate 10, and each of the lift pin units 50 is also a part of the suction plate 10. Since it will be arranged below, it is necessary to devise the arrangement of the lift pin unit 50. First, since the θ table 37 is arranged on the XY stage 1, each lift pin unit 50 is arranged around the θ table 37. When each lift pin unit 50 is arranged at a position symmetrical with respect to the center of gravity of the lift pin unit 50 itself or the center of gravity of the motor 54 about the rotation axis of the θ table 37, a workpiece (for example, a large glass) is arranged on the suction plate 10. Substrate) can be lifted in a balanced manner. Further, since it is necessary to access under the suction plate 10 during maintenance, if each lift pin unit 50 is arranged near the periphery of the suction plate 10, it is easy to access each lift pin unit 50 and perform maintenance. . In addition, each lift pin unit 50 is attached so as to be hung from the back surface of the suction disk 10 using an attachment plate, so that it is not necessary to interfere with the moving stage machinery described above. Therefore, it is not necessary to separately provide a space for arranging lift pins on or near the moving stage, and there is no restriction on the shape and arrangement of the moving stage.

  It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above. For example, the workpiece is not limited to a glass substrate but may be a semiconductor wafer. Further, the lattice shape of the lift pin base 66 is appropriately changed in design depending on the number of the lift pins 67, and the lift pin base 66 may not be a lattice shape. The number and arrangement of the lift pin units 50 are appropriately selected according to the size of the suction plate 10, the size of the workpiece, and the weight of the workpiece. Further, by making the both ends of the cam groove 63a have a gentle inclination, the initial speed and the final speed when the lift pin 67 moves up and down can be reduced.

It is a perspective view which shows one Embodiment of the XY stage apparatus to which the lift pin unit which concerns on this invention is applied. It is a perspective view which shows the state which removed the suction disk from the XY stage apparatus. It is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a lift pin unit concerning the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the state which removed the attachment plate from the lift pin unit shown by FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the state which the lift pin raised. It is a top view which shows the state by which the attachment plate was removed from the lift pin unit. It is a bottom view which expands and shows the principal part of a lift pin unit. It is a side view which shows the state which the lift pin fell. It is a side view which shows the state which the lift pin raised.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... XY stage apparatus, 10 ... Suction board (work table), 50 ... Lift pin unit, 51 ... Mounting plate, 54 ... Motor, 54a ... Motor output shaft, 57 ... Screw shaft, 58 ... Nut part, 63 ... Cam plate , 63a ... cam groove, 64 ... driven roller (driven portion), 66 ... lift pin base, 67 ... lift pin, 68 ... guide rail, 70 ... pin hole, S ... motion conversion means.

Claims (3)

A mounting plate that can be placed on the back of the work table for mounting the work;
A motor fixed to the mounting plate;
A plurality of lift pins that can be inserted into pin holes extending vertically through the work table;
Motion conversion means for converting rotation of the motor into vertical motion of the lift pin ,
The motion conversion means includes
A screw shaft extending as an output shaft of the motor;
A nut portion that is screwed onto the screw shaft and advances and retracts by rotation of the screw shaft;
A pair of cam plates arranged to sandwich the nut portion and connected to the nut portion;
A lift pin base that moves along the cam grooves formed in the pair of cam plates and supports the lift pins;
The lift pin unit, wherein the motor is inside the lift pin base . Lower ends of the plurality of lift pins are fixed to the lift pin base formed in a substantially lattice shape by a plurality of frames, and the lift pin base moves up and down along a guide rail fixed to the mounting plate. The lift pin unit according to claim 1 . A suction plate that holds and holds the workpiece on the top surface;
A plurality of lift pin units fixed to the back surface of the suction plate,
The lift pin unit is
A mounting plate that can be fixed to the back surface of the suction plate for adsorbing the workpiece;
A motor fixed to the mounting plate;
A plurality of lift pins inserted into pin holes that can penetrate the suction plate and extend in the vertical direction;
Motion conversion means for converting rotation of the motor into vertical motion of the lift pin ,
The motion conversion means includes
A screw shaft extending as an output shaft of the motor;
A nut portion that is screwed onto the screw shaft and advances and retracts by rotation of the screw shaft;
A pair of cam plates arranged to sandwich the nut portion and connected to the nut portion;
A lift pin base that moves along the cam grooves formed in the pair of cam plates and supports the lift pins;
An XY stage apparatus characterized in that the motor is inside the lift pin base .

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