JP6298109B2 - Substrate processing apparatus and alignment method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and an alignment method.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an alignment method for performing alignment between a substrate and a mask. In this Patent Document 1, the difference data between the calculated movement amount and the actual movement amount calculated from the relative distance between the alignment marks of the substrate and the mask acquired using the optical means is recorded, and in the second and subsequent alignments, By quickly correcting the calculated movement amount based on the difference data and moving the substrate, alignment is performed quickly.

JP 2009-277655 A

  By the way, the above-mentioned patent document 1 describes the processing when the alignment mark of the substrate and the mask is within the imaging range of the optical means, that is, the camera, but the alignment mark is in the imaging range of the camera. No processing is described when there is not.

  However, in reality, the alignment mark of the substrate transferred to the processing chamber may not be within the imaging range of the camera. In this case, before alignment, a position adjustment step before alignment is necessary to adjust the position of the substrate so that the alignment mark falls within the imaging range.

  In view of the above situation, the inventors have made various studies and obtained the following findings.

  That is, the reason why the alignment mark of the substrate does not enter the imaging range of the camera is that if the substrate transport path is different, the position when the substrate is loaded into the processing chamber (the position at the time of loading) changes. Specifically, if the previous processing chamber (preprocessing chamber) transported immediately before is different, or if the substrate stage (substrate mounting part) is different even in the same preprocessing chamber, the substrate after processing in the preprocessing chamber Since the positions are different, even the substrates transferred to the same processing chamber have different loading positions.

  In FIG. 1, when a substrate is transported using the same hand in a so-called cluster type film forming apparatus, the substrate path X when passing through the processing chamber ABC ′, and the processing chamber A′− An example of the route X ′ of the substrate when passing through BC is shown. As described above, the substrate loading position in the processing chamber B that passes through both the X and X ′ paths is not the same because the preprocessing chamber is different. In FIG. 1, symbols D and E are transfer chambers, F is a carry-in section, and G and H are hands of a substrate transfer robot.

  In addition, a plurality of transfer robot hands G and H are usually provided in the carry-in portion F. However, since there is a tendency to move for each hand, when a substrate is transferred using a different hand, the substrate in each processing chamber The transport position is different.

  The present invention has been completed on the basis of the above-described knowledge, and the substrate is aligned before alignment by using movement information grouped for each different transport path due to a difference in the pretreatment chamber, a difference in the hand of the transport robot, and the like. The present invention provides a substrate processing apparatus and an alignment method capable of performing alignment more efficiently by allowing movement control in advance.

  In the present invention, the substrate placement unit of another processing chamber in which the substrate has been transported immediately before and the transport means used for transport are collectively referred to as a “transport route”.

  A substrate provided with a plurality of processing chambers for performing processing on a substrate, a substrate mounting portion provided in each of the plurality of processing chambers, and a transfer means for transferring the substrate to the substrate mounting portion A processing apparatus, comprising: a storage unit having movement information grouped for each conveyance path; and a control unit that controls movement of the substrate based on the movement information. It is.

  Since the present invention is configured as described above, it is possible to control the movement of the substrate in advance before alignment using the movement information grouped for each different transfer path due to the difference in the pretreatment chamber, the difference in the hand of the transfer robot, and the like. By doing so, it becomes a substrate processing apparatus and an alignment method capable of performing alignment more efficiently.

It is a schematic explanatory drawing of a prior art example. It is a schematic explanatory drawing of a present Example. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of a present Example. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of another example.

  An embodiment of the present invention which is considered to be suitable will be briefly described with reference to the drawings showing the operation of the present invention.

  After the substrate transported to the processing chamber by the transport means is moved based on the movement information grouped for each transport path, alignment between the substrate and an object such as a mask is performed.

  At this time, transfer information grouped for each transfer path set for each combination of transfer means used for transfer and substrate placement units in other process chambers where the substrate was transferred immediately before is transferred to the process chamber. By controlling the movement of the substrate before alignment using the movement information that matches the transfer path through which the transferred substrate passes, the shift in the position during transfer that differs for each transfer path is offset, and the alignment mark on the substrate is more reliably detected by the camera. Thus, the substrate and the object can be aligned smoothly as much as possible.

  For example, when using movement information grouped for each transport path, the movement information includes position information when the substrate is placed on the substrate placement portion, and position after the substrate is aligned after placement of the substrate. It is possible to control the movement of the substrate by using difference information with the information and using an average value of a large number of difference information grouped and accumulated for each transport path.

  Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of processing chambers 11, 12, 13, 14 for performing a film forming process or the like on the substrate, and the plurality of processing chambers 11, 12, 13, 14. Substrate placement units (substrate stages) 111, 121, 131, 141 provided in each of the substrate mounting units 111, 121, 131, 141, and transfer means 20, 21 for transferring the substrate to the substrate mounting units 111, 121, 131, 141. This is an example in which the present invention is applied to a film forming apparatus. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 15 denotes a mask stock chamber, 16 denotes a carry-in section, and 17 and 18 denote transfer chambers.

  In this embodiment, one substrate placement unit is provided for each processing chamber, and the substrate is transported to the processing chamber 11 or the processing chamber 12 for performing the first processing and then subjected to the second processing. It is carried to the processing chamber 13 or the processing chamber 14. In this case, there are four patterns of combinations of the two substrate platforms used. Two or more substrate placement units may be provided in one processing chamber. In this case, the combination pattern of the substrate placement units is increased accordingly.

  Further, for the movement of the substrate between the processing chambers, the hand 20 or the hand 21 of the transfer robot 19 is used as a substrate transfer means. In this embodiment, since there are two hands, the total number of combinations (transport paths) of the substrate platform and transport means is eight patterns.

  Further, each processing chamber 11, 12, 13, 14 has an alignment mechanism for aligning a mask support that supports the mask, a substrate placed on the substrate placement portion, and a mask supported by the mask support. Is provided.

  The film forming apparatus includes a storage unit having movement information grouped for each conveyance path, and a control unit that controls movement of the substrate based on the movement information.

  The movement information includes difference information between position information when the substrate is placed on the substrate placement portion and position information after the substrate is aligned after the substrate is placed.

  In this embodiment, the movement information is used to correct and move the substrate in advance by the control means before alignment.

  The control means is configured to control the movement of the substrate using the substrate platform. Specifically, the substrate platform is supported on a stage device (XYθ stage) capable of horizontal movement and rotation, and a computer connected to the stage device is used to parallel the substrate with the mask based on the movement information. It is configured to move to the horizontal or rotate horizontally. The computer is provided with storage means (storage device such as HDD or memory, storage area such as a data register), and the position information when the substrate is placed on the substrate placement portion by the computer and the placement of the substrate. Later, difference information with respect to the position information after the alignment of the substrate is acquired, and a database is created for each of the eight patterns of conveyance paths and stored in the storage device.

  In addition, it is not the structure provided with the said memory | storage means which has the movement information grouped for every conveyance path | route, the memory | storage means which has the movement information based on the processing chamber and the conveyance means, respectively, and the processing chamber where the board | substrate was conveyed, It is good also as a structure provided with the control means which controls a movement of a board | substrate based on movement information with a conveyance path | route. Specifically, the storage means has movement information based on all the processing chambers (substrate placement units) and all the transporting means, and the processing chamber in which the target substrate is transported and the target. The substrate is corrected and moved in advance before alignment by calculating movement information based on the other processing chamber in which the substrate is transferred immediately before the processing chamber and the transfer means used to transfer the target processing chamber. The movement information to be calculated may be calculated.

  In addition, the control means may be configured to control the movement of the substrate using the transport means instead of the substrate placement unit. Specifically, before the substrate is placed on the substrate platform by the transport unit, a computer connected to the transport unit is used to move the substrate in parallel with the mask or horizontally rotate based on the movement information. You may comprise.

  Specifically, the correction movement of the substrate before alignment in the present embodiment is performed as follows.

  As illustrated in FIG. 3, the first process on the substrate is completed in the process chamber 11 or the process chamber 12. The substrate placed on the substrate stage 111 in the processing chamber 11 or the substrate stage 121 in the processing chamber 12 is carried out by the hand 20 or the hand 21. A transport path is specified from the information of the processing chamber of the first processing, the hand, and the processing chamber of the second processing, and a database for storing the position information is determined. The database can be determined before or after the substrate is taken out. A plurality of databases are prepared for each transport route. In the case of FIG. 1, eight types of databases are required.

  Subsequently, the substrate is carried into the processing chamber 13 or the processing chamber 14 of the second process, and is placed on the substrate platform 131 or the substrate platform 141. The substrate position at the time of placing the substrate is recorded as position information A. When there is position information D described later in the determined database, the position information A is acquired, and then the substrate is corrected and moved based on the position information D.

  Subsequently, the substrate is aligned. The substrate position after alignment is recorded as position information B. The position information C, which is the difference between the position information A and the position information B, is calculated. The position information C is stored in the previously determined database. Position information D to be used for substrate position correction is calculated from the accumulated position information (one or more). The calculation method of the position information D can be selected as appropriate, such as the average value or median value of the position information C. In the correction movement, the substrate is moved by the movement amount of the position information D.

  The position information D may be a fixed value, and the correction movement may be performed without acquiring the position information A, B, and C.

  For example, the storage means has movement information based on each processing chamber (substrate placement unit) and all the transporting means, and the processing chamber in which the target substrate is transported and the target processing chamber. Movement information for correcting and moving the substrate in advance before alignment by calculating movement information based on the other processing chamber in which the substrate was transferred immediately before and the transfer means used for transferring the target processing chamber. As a configuration for calculating the above, processing may be performed as in another example illustrated in FIG.

  That is, after the first processing on the substrate is completed, the substrate placed on the substrate stage 111 in the processing chamber 11 or the substrate stage 121 in the processing chamber 12 is unloaded by the hand 20 or the hand 21. At this time, the position information D is calculated from movement information based on the substrate placement unit of the first processing chamber, the substrate placement unit of the second processing chamber, and the used hand. Subsequently, the substrate is carried into the processing chamber 13 or the processing chamber 14 of the second processing and placed on the substrate platform 131 or the substrate platform 141, and is corrected and moved based on the position information D. Thereafter, the substrate is aligned.

  In this case, it becomes possible to perform the pre-correction movement of the substrate before alignment without acquiring the position information A, B, C, and the configuration can be simplified accordingly.

  As described above, as a method of correcting and moving the substrate based on the position information D, the substrate mounting portion in the processing chamber may be moved, or the substrate may be moved using the hand before mounting the substrate. After moving, it may be placed on the substrate placement portion.

  In addition, when the substrate is moved by the substrate mounting unit, the substrate mounting unit is moved in advance in the direction opposite to the moving direction for moving the substrate before the substrate is mounted. Then, the substrate may be placed and corrected for movement. In other words, the control unit may be configured to move the substrate platform by the same amount in the opposite direction to the movement of the substrate based on the movement information before the movement based on the movement information of the substrate.

  In this case, since the substrate mounting portion comes to the center position of the operating range after the correction movement of the substrate, the operating range is widened when performing subsequent alignment, and the alignment at the center of the operating range with high accuracy is possible. There is an effect.

  In addition, although the present Example demonstrates the example which performs alignment with a board | substrate and a mask, for example, alignment with a board | substrate and an inkjet head, alignment with a front panel and rear panels, such as an electronic device, etc. The present invention can also be used for alignment of other members.

  The present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and the specific configuration of each component can be designed as appropriate.

Claims (12)

Comprising a plurality of processing chambers for performing a process on a substrate, and the substrate platform provided on each of said plurality of processing chambers, and a conveying means for conveying the substrate to the substrate placement portion, wherein A substrate processing apparatus for performing alignment between a substrate and an object provided in the processing chamber, the storage means having movement information grouped for each transport path, and the substrate before alignment based on the movement information And a control means for controlling movement in advance .   The movement information includes difference information between position information when the substrate is placed on the substrate placement portion and position information after alignment of the substrate after placement of the substrate. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1. Comprising a plurality of processing chambers for performing a process on a substrate, and the substrate platform provided on each of said plurality of processing chambers, and a conveying means for conveying the substrate to the substrate placement portion, wherein A substrate processing apparatus for performing alignment between a substrate and an object provided in the processing chamber , the storage means having movement information based on the substrate mounting portion and the transporting means of the processing chamber , and A substrate processing apparatus comprising: control means for controlling movement of the substrate in advance before alignment based on the movement information between the processing chamber in which the substrate is transferred and the transfer path.   The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit uses the transfer unit for movement control of the substrate based on the movement information.   The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit uses the substrate placement unit for movement control of the substrate based on the movement information.   The control means is configured to move the substrate platform by the same amount in the opposite direction to the movement of the substrate based on the movement information before the movement based on the movement information of the substrate. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 5. A plurality of processing chambers for performing processing on the substrate; a substrate mounting portion provided in each of the plurality of processing chambers; a transporting means for transporting the substrate to the substrate mounting portion; and a transport path in the film forming apparatus and a storage means having a moving information grouped, to the target object to said substrate is provided in the processing chamber and the substrate by moving the substrate mounting part that is mounted An alignment method for performing alignment,
A step of transporting the substrate to the processing chamber by the transport means;
Moving the substrate based on movement information grouped for each transport path of the storage means ;
An alignment method comprising an alignment step of aligning the substrate and the object. The said movement information has the difference information of the positional information at the time of mounting the said board | substrate on the said board | substrate mounting part, and the positional information after the said alignment process of the said board | substrate, It is characterized by the above-mentioned. Alignment method . A plurality of processing chambers for performing processing on a substrate; a substrate mounting portion provided in each of the plurality of processing chambers; a transporting means for transporting the substrate to the substrate mounting portion; and the processing chamber In the film forming apparatus comprising storage means for storing movement information based on the substrate placement part and the transfer means , the substrate placement part on which the substrate is placed is moved to An alignment method for performing alignment with an object provided in the processing chamber,
A step of transporting the substrate to one of the processing chambers by the transport means;
Moving the substrate based on movement information based on the substrate placement unit and the transfer unit of the processing chamber in which the substrate of the storage unit has been transferred, and
An alignment method comprising an alignment step of aligning the substrate and the object.   The alignment method according to claim 7, wherein the movement of the substrate based on the movement information is performed by the transport unit.   The alignment method according to claim 7, wherein the movement of the substrate based on the movement information is performed by the substrate placement unit.   12. The method of moving the substrate mounting unit by the same amount in a direction opposite to the movement of the substrate based on the movement information before the movement based on the movement information of the substrate. The alignment method described in 1.

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