JP5274275B2 - Heat treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a heating processing device capable manufacturing a substrate at low cost and well heating and processing the substrate at high efficiency. The heating processing device comprises a vacuum cavity (20), a support part (30) and a heating device (40). The vacuum cavity (20) comprises a cavity main body (21) composed of cavity parts (25) with perforation holes (24) and groove parts (27) continuously arranged on at least one adjacent cavity part (25) along the whole perimeter of an opening of the perforation hole (24) of another bunt surface, wherein each cavity part (25) is clamped between seal parts (26) in the groove parts to be fixed at the closed set state and the cavity main body (21) comprises a processing space (A) composed of a plurality of perforation holes (24); a wall part (22) inserted into the processing space (A); and a cover part (23) wherein the support part (30) is arranged in the processing space (A) to support the base plate (S) and the heating device (40) is used for heating the base plate (S) by irradiation.

Description

  The present invention relates to a heat treatment apparatus for heating a substrate in a vacuum state.

  When manufacturing various devices such as a liquid crystal display, a step of heat-treating the substrate under vacuum, such as degassing of the substrate, is required. With the recent increase in size of various apparatuses, the size of substrates to be processed has been increasing. For example, in the case of a liquid crystal display, an 11th generation (3000 mm × 3320 mm) size glass substrate has been used. For this reason, it is necessary to enlarge the vacuum chamber of the heat treatment apparatus for heat-treating the substrate.

  Here, the vacuum chamber is formed by cutting an aluminum block, for example. However, if a vacuum chamber corresponding to a large substrate is formed of an aluminum block, the production cost of the vacuum chamber itself becomes high, for example, a dedicated large cutting apparatus is required.

In order to suppress such an increase in manufacturing cost, for example, from a frame-shaped side wall portion in which a plurality of divided components are joined by welding, and a bottom plate and a lid plate fixed to the side wall portion by bolts constructed vacuum chamber that is known (eg, see Patent Document 1).

JP-A-8-64542 (FIG. 1 and claim 1)

However, when a vacuum chamber having a structure in which constituent members are joined by welding as in Patent Document 1 is employed in a heat treatment apparatus for repeatedly performing an atmospheric state and a low-pressure state, leakage is likely to occur from the welded portion. There is a problem.

  Further, even if only the frame-shaped side wall is divided into a plurality of parts, it is inconvenient because a transportation means such as a large trailer is required to transport the bottom plate and the cover plate to the installation location of the processing apparatus. Depending on the size and weight, there is a problem that transportation is not possible due to restrictions of laws and regulations.

  By the way, in a heat treatment apparatus that performs substrate degassing processing or the like, in order to simultaneously process a large number of large substrates, each vacuum chamber having one processing space is stacked and fixed to have a multi-stage processing space. A vacuum chamber configured as described above may be used. In this case, the wall of each vacuum chamber needs to be formed thick enough to prevent distortion due to the pressure difference between the processing space in a vacuum state and the outside, resulting in an increase in the height of the vacuum chamber. For this reason, the installation location of the multistage vacuum chamber is limited, and there are also problems that the production material increases.

Furthermore, in the heat treatment apparatus, for example, a substrate is placed on a heating means such as a hot plate provided in a vacuum chamber and heated. In general, the transfer of the substrate into the vacuum chamber is performed by a robot hand or the like. However, for this purpose, for example, a special mechanism such as an elevating mechanism for moving the substrate up and down is necessary, which increases the cost. There is a problem that it ends up.

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a situation, and it aims at providing the heat processing apparatus which can be manufactured at low cost and can heat-process a board | substrate favorably with high efficiency. .

The present invention that solves the above-mentioned problems comprises a plurality of block-like chamber members having through holes formed so that a substrate can be inserted, and the through holes in the contact surface with at least one of the adjacent chamber members. A groove is provided continuously around the periphery of the opening of each of the chambers, and each chamber member is fixed in close contact via a seal member attached to the groove, and is configured by a plurality of through holes. A vacuum chamber comprising: a chamber body having a space; a wall member for sealing one opening of the processing space; and a lid member for closing the other opening of the processing space; Te supporting the substrate and the support member, disposed to face the substrate supported by the support member possess a heating means for heating the substrate by radiant heat, and the support member, the Chi Is composed of a plurality of substrate support pins erected on the rod-shaped base member and the base member on the Nba member, said base member, characterized in that it has a hinge portion bendable at a plurality of positions in the axial direction It is in the heat treatment apparatus.

In this invention, since the chamber member which comprises a vacuum chamber is compactized, conveyance and installation become easy. Further, since the substrate supported by the support member is heated by the radiant heat of the heating means, the substrate can be easily transported and the throughput of the heat treatment can be improved. Further, since the support member is composed of the base member provided on the chamber member and the substrate support pins, the substrate can be favorably supported in the processing space. Furthermore, since the base member has hinge portions that can be bent at a plurality of locations in the axial direction, the support member can be easily handled, and safety and workability in maintenance work and the like are improved.

  Here, each of the chamber members is preferably provided with a plurality of the through holes at predetermined intervals along the height direction thereof. Thereby, since the vacuum chamber is made more compact, less production material is required, and cost can be reduced.

  Further, it is preferable that a coating film containing a material for improving radiation efficiency is formed on the surface of the heating means, or a coating plate made of a material for improving radiation efficiency is provided on the heating means. Thereby, the heating effect of the board | substrate by the radiant heat of a heating means increases, and a board | substrate can be heated favorably.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that the heating means has a sheath heater as a heating source. Thereby, a board | substrate can be heated more favorably with the radiant heat of a heating means.

  As described above, the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention can be manufactured at a relatively low cost. In addition, it is possible to heat-treat the substrate satisfactorily while improving the throughput of the heat treatment, that is, the processing efficiency.

Sectional drawing of the heat processing apparatus which concerns on this invention. The typical perspective view which shows the chamber main body which concerns on this invention. The typical perspective view showing the chamber member concerning the present invention. The schematic diagram which shows the inside of the processing space which concerns on this invention. The schematic diagram which shows the modification of the holding member which concerns on this invention. The typical perspective view which shows the modification of the chamber main body which concerns on this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a heat treatment apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of the chamber body, FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the configuration of the chamber member, and FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the inside of the processing space.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the heat treatment apparatus 10 heats the substrate S, a vacuum chamber 20 having a processing space A for heat-treating the substrate S, a support member 30 that supports the substrate S in the processing space A, and the substrate S. Heating means 40. The heat treatment apparatus 10 is used, for example, when performing a deaeration process by heat-treating the substrate S.

  The vacuum chamber 20 includes a chamber body 21 in which the processing space A is formed, and a wall surface member 22 and a lid member 23 that block the opening of the processing space A.

  The chamber body 21 is composed of a plurality of block-like (substantially rectangular parallelepiped) chamber members 25 having through holes 24 formed so that the substrate S can be inserted. The through holes 24 are respectively opened in a pair of opposing wall surfaces of the chamber body 21. These chamber members 25 are fixed in a state where the wall surfaces where the through holes 24 open are in close contact with each other. The through holes 24 formed in each chamber member 25 communicate with each other, and a processing space A is defined by the plurality of through holes 24.

  Each of the chamber members 25 is provided with a plurality (five in this embodiment) of through holes 24 at predetermined intervals along the height direction (vertical direction in the drawing) of the chamber members 25. That is, the chamber body 21 has processing spaces A in multiple stages.

  In the example shown in FIG. 2, six processing chambers A each having six through holes 24 are formed by arranging the six chamber members 25 each having the through holes 24 side by side and fixing them. And the chamber main body 21 which has 10 steps | paragraphs of process space A is formed by stacking two chamber members 25 in which the process space A was formed in five steps in this way vertically. That is, the chamber body 21 according to the present embodiment includes a total of 12 chamber members 25. The stacked chamber members 25 do not necessarily need to be fixed, but are preferably fixed with bolts or the like to prevent displacement.

  Each chamber body 21 constituting such a vacuum chamber 20 has, for example, width × depth (substrate transport direction) × height of about 3200 mm × 3600 mm × 2200 mm, whereas each chamber member 25 has, for example, a width X Depth x Height is about 3200mm x 600mm x 2200mm and it is extremely compact and relatively light in weight. Therefore, the chamber body 21 (chamber member 25) can be transported relatively easily without using a large and special transport means. That is, an arbitrarily large chamber main body 21 can be manufactured by transporting a predetermined number of chamber members 25 to the installation place of the heat treatment apparatus 10 and assembling there.

  The method for manufacturing the chamber member 25 is not particularly limited, but the chamber member 25 is manufactured, for example, by cutting a metal block such as aluminum or stainless steel.

  The wall surface member 22 is fixed to one wall surface 21a where the processing space A of the chamber body 21 opens, and the lid member 23 is fixed to the other wall surface 21b where the processing space A of the chamber body 21 opens so as to be openable and closable. . In the present embodiment, the wall surface member 22 and the lid member 23 are provided corresponding to each processing space A, respectively.

  Further, a seal member 26 such as an O-ring is provided between each wall member 22 and lid member 23 and the chamber body 21 (chamber member 25) and between each chamber member 25. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, at least one wall surface where the through hole 24 of each chamber member 25 opens is provided with a groove portion 27 that extends around the through hole 24. A seal member 26 is attached to 27. Thereby, the space between the wall surface member 22 and the lid member 23 and the chamber main body 21 (chamber member 25) and between the chamber members 25 are surely sealed.

As described above, the chamber main body 21, the wall surface member 22, and the lid member 23 constituting the vacuum chamber 20 are respectively fixed so as to seal the processing space A. In other words, each member defining a process space A, rather than being fixed by welding, across the sealing member 26 that is fixed by a fastening member such as screws, are sealably constituting the processing space A Yes. As a result, even if the inside of the processing space A is repeatedly changed between the atmospheric state and the vacuum state, the occurrence of leakage between the members that define the processing space A is suppressed.

  The chamber member 25 sets the thickness of each wall portion to a predetermined thickness or more in order to suppress distortion of the surrounding wall portion when the inside of the processing space A is set to a desired pressure (for example, 1 Pa). There is a need. However, if the pressure in each processing space A is substantially constant, the partition wall 28 between the through holes 24 hardly bends. Therefore, the thickness of the partition wall 28 is equal to that of the uppermost through hole 24. It can be made thinner than the thickness of the ceiling wall and the bottom wall of the lowermost through hole 24. Thereby, since the chamber member 25 can be formed more compactly, conveyance and installation are further facilitated. In addition, the manufacturing material can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, the support member 30 and the heating unit 40 installed in the processing space A of the vacuum chamber 20 will be described in detail.

The heating means 40 has, for example, a sheath heater as a heating source, and heats the substrate to, for example, about 120 to 150 ° C. by radiant heat. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the heating means 40 is arranged in parallel for each block-shaped chamber member 25 and fixed thereto. That is, the heating means 40 is installed in each through hole 24 of each chamber member 25.

On the surface of the heating means 40, as a surface treatment, a coating film 41 containing a material that enhances radiation efficiency, for example, a metal material is formed. Thereby, since the radiation efficiency of the heating means 40 is increased, the substrate S can be efficiently heated by the radiant heat of the heating means 40. The coating film 41 is formed by spraying a material on the surface of the heating unit 40, for example. As a material used for the coating film 41, a metal material, for example, titanium or chromium, an alloy containing these, an oxide thereof, or the like is preferably used. Of course, the material used for the coating film 41 is not particularly limited as long as the radiation efficiency can be increased. However, from the viewpoint of the vacuum heat treatment chamber, it is desirable to use a material that emits less gas.

  In addition, a thermocouple is provided on a sample made of a solid aluminum plate on which the coating film 41 made of the above-described material is formed, and the temperature of the heater is measured with a radiation thermometer at a position 20 mm away, and compared with the temperature of the thermocouple. When the radiation efficiency was examined, the radiation efficiency when spraying titanium oxide was 0.89, and the radiation efficiency when forming a chromium oxide film was 0.9. In addition, since the radiation efficiency of the solid aluminum plate measured similarly was 0.3, it turned out that radiation efficiency increases by forming the coating film 41 as these surface treatments.

  In the present embodiment, the coating film 41 is formed on the surface of the heating unit 40 to increase the radiation efficiency. For example, instead of the coating film 41, a metal material that is a separate member from the heating unit 40 A covering plate made of may be provided in contact with the surface of the heating means 40. As the metal material for forming the cover plate, the same material as the cover film may be used. Even with such a configuration, the radiation efficiency of the heating means 40 can be increased.

  The support member 30 supports the substrate S at a position away from the heating unit 40 by a predetermined distance. In the present embodiment, the support member 30 is disposed on the heating means 40, and a plurality of bar-shaped base members 31 (eight in FIG. 4 as an example) provided along the transport direction of the substrate S; The base member 31 includes a plurality of substrate support pins 32 erected at predetermined intervals. The support member 30 supports the substrate S at the tips of the plurality of substrate support pins 32.

Here, the substrate S is transferred into the processing space A by a robot hand , for example. At this time, the substrate S is inserted into the processing space A from the lid member 23 side by the robot hand and placed on the substrate support pins 32. Thereafter, the robot hand moves through the gap between the substrate S and the heating means 40 and is pulled out from the lid member 23 side.

In the heat treatment apparatus 10 of the present invention, in this manner places the substrate S on the substrate supporting pins 32 of the support member 30 by a robot hand, is subjected to a heat treatment of the substrate S by radiant heat of the heating means 40 in this state it can. For example, in a conventional heat treatment apparatus that employs a hot plate or the like as the heating means, it is necessary to move the substrate after placing the substrate on the substrate support pins in order to contact the heating means. In the heat treatment apparatus of the invention, such a movement of the substrate is unnecessary and the throughput is improved.

  Further, in order to move the substrate to contact the heating means, for example, it is necessary to provide a mechanism or the like for allowing the substrate support pins to move up and down, but such a mechanism is not included in the heat treatment apparatus of the present invention. Since it is not necessary, the heat treatment apparatus can be manufactured at a relatively low cost.

  As mentioned above, although the example of the heat processing apparatus concerning this invention was demonstrated, this invention is not limited to this embodiment.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the support member 30 in which the substrate support pins 32 are erected on the single bar-shaped base member 31 is illustrated, but the configuration of the support member 30 is not limited thereto. . For example, as illustrated in FIG. 5A, the support member 30 includes a plurality of divided base members 33, hinge portions 34 that connect the divided base members 33, and predetermined intervals on the divided base members 33. It may be configured with the substrate support pins 32 standing upright. The hinge portion 34 is configured to be bendable about the shaft 35. Moreover, it is preferable that the adjacent hinge part 34 is distribute | arranged so that it may each bend in the reverse direction, as shown in FIG.5 (b). Thereby, since the support member 30 can be folded centering | focusing on the axis | shaft 35 of each hinge part 34, handling becomes easy. For example, when the support member 30 is removed from the processing space A during the maintenance of the apparatus, the long support member 30 can be folded and taken out while being short, so that handling becomes easy.

  In the present embodiment, an example in which a plurality (five) of through holes 24 are formed in each chamber member 25 constituting the chamber body 21 has been described. However, the configuration of the chamber body 21 is not limited to this. . For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the chamber body 21 </ b> A may be obtained by stacking a predetermined number of chamber members 25 </ b> A in which one through hole 24 is formed.

  Further, in the present embodiment, six heating means are provided for one processing space A in accordance with the chamber member 25, but a large heating means corresponding to the size of the processing space A may be provided. In the present embodiment, the support member 30 and the heating unit 40 are separately provided in the processing space A, but they may be provided integrally. Specifically, for example, the substrate support pins 32 may be provided directly on the heating means 40.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, the groove part 27 which continues over the circumference | surroundings of the through-hole 24 was provided in the at least one wall surface where the through-hole 24 of each chamber member 25 opens, but such a groove part 27 is provided in each adjacent chamber. Each may be provided on the wall surface of the member 25.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Heat processing apparatus 20 Vacuum chamber 21 Chamber main body 22 Wall surface member 23 Cover member 24 Through hole 25 Chamber member 26 Seal member 27 Groove part 28 Partition part 30 Support member 31 Base member 32 Substrate support pin 33 Divided base member 34 Hinge part 35 Shaft 40 Heating means 41 Coating film A Processing space S Substrate

Claims (5)

Consists of a plurality of block-shaped chamber members having through holes formed so that a substrate can be inserted, and is continuous over at least one of the adjacent chamber members around the opening of the through hole on the contact surface with the other chamber member. A chamber body having a processing space constituted by a plurality of through holes, each chamber member being fixed in close contact with each other via a seal member attached to the groove portion, and the processing A vacuum chamber comprising a wall member for sealing one opening of the space, and a lid member for closing the other opening of the processing space so as to be openable and closable;
A support member disposed in the processing space and supporting the substrate;
Heating means provided opposite to the substrate supported by the support member and heating the substrate by radiant heat;
I have a,
The support member includes a rod-shaped base member and a plurality of substrate support pins provided on the base member on the chamber member,
The said base member has the hinge part which can be bent in the several location of the axial direction, The heat processing apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.   2. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the chamber members is provided with a plurality of the through holes at a predetermined interval along a height direction thereof.   The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a coating film including a material that enhances radiation efficiency is formed on a surface of the heating unit.   The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a covering plate made of a material that increases radiation efficiency is provided on the heating unit.   The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heating unit includes a sheath heater as a heating source.

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