JPH0397858A - Vacuum treating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To smoothly convey a substrate holder and to prevent contamination and fall-down of a substrate by supporting the substrate holder, which held with fixed rollers and pushing rollers in guide member under standing posture, with plural friction rollers in driving member. CONSTITUTION:The substrate holder 4 loaded with plural treating substrates is held under the standing posture with conveying means 9 and conveyed to a treating member to apply the desired vacuum treatment to the above substrate. In the above vacuum treating apparatus, the conveying means 9 is constituted of the guide member 10 holding the standing posture while holding lower side face of the substrate holder 4 and the driving means 11 giving advancing force while receiving and supporting the substrate holder 4. Further, the above guide member 10 is composed of the fixed rollers 13 fitted to H-shaped brackets 15 and the pushing rollers 14 pushing the substrate holder 4 toward the fixed rollers 13, and the substrate holder is held from both sides. On the other hand, plural pieces of the friction rollers 25 in the driving member 11 are driven while rotating through sprockets, chain, etc. By this method, the substrate 4 is smoothly shifted, and the contamination of treating surface caused by diffusion of dust, is prevented, and the fall-down accident of treating substrate is eliminated.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is an improved means for transporting a substrate holder in a vacuum processing apparatus that transports the substrate holder in an upright position to perform processing such as film formation. be.

(Prior Art) For example, in a vacuum processing apparatus, a mask supports a substrate holder in an upright position along a substantially vertical plane, and this is transported by a transport means.
The material is passed through a series of processing tanks to perform processing such as film formation. As a conventional conveying means in such a vacuum processing apparatus, for example, one having a structure shown in FIG. 10 is known.

In FIG. 10, the substrate holder 46 is supported in an upright position by a transport base 47, and is driven to be fed by a transport means via the transport base 47.

The conveyance means includes a rack 48 fixed to one side of the conveyance base 47, a binion 49 that drives the rack 48, a presser roller 50 that presses the conveyance base 47 toward the binion 49, and a conveyance base. It is composed of a reversing roller 51 that supports the lower end surface of the roller 47, and the like. 52 is a motor that rotationally drives the binion 49, and 53 is a partition wall that blocks the atmosphere.

In this manner, all the structural members of the conveying means applied to the vacuum processing apparatus are connected to the substrate holder 46 in order to avoid contamination of the processing apparatus by dust generated from the rotating and sliding parts. They are arranged in a concentrated manner at the bottom.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the case where the rack 48 is fixed to one side of the conveyance base 47 and is fed and driven by four pinions rotating around the vertical axis, the rack 48 and the pinion 49 are The transfer base 47 and the substrate holder 46 are unavoidably meandering depending on their engagement position. This is because a horizontal moment acts on the conveyance base 47 due to the rotational force of the pinion 49, and a pressing force is applied by the presser roller 50 that opposes the acting force.

When the substrate holder 46 and the transfer base 47 meander, dust generated by the drive unit and the like is likely to be diffused, contaminating the processing surface. Further, there is also the disadvantage that the processed substrate loaded in the substrate holder 46 may fall off from the loading frame due to the impact during meandering, resulting in product defects.

In order to prevent the above-mentioned meandering, it is preferable to reduce the arrangement interval of the presser roller 50 and the pinion 49 and increase the number of these. However, in this case, it is impossible to avoid an increase in the amount of dust generated due to the increase in mechanically moving parts, and it cannot be said that this is necessarily useful for preventing contamination of the processing surface.

A series of processing tanks to which the substrate holders 46 are transferred are airtightly separated by gates for each processing step, and the gates are opened and closed each time a substrate holder 46 is transferred from the previous step. At this time, the atmospheres in adjacent processing compartments enter into each other and contaminate the interiors of the compartments. Therefore, it is desirable that the gate opening width be as small as possible. but,
In conventional conveying equipment, the opening width of the gate is as small as ε.
Also, a width B is required which is the sum of the protrusion of the transport base 47 and the rack 48, which is disadvantageous in that the atmosphere is likely to be contaminated early in each processing section.

The substrate holder 4 is heated to a high temperature or cooled to around room temperature while passing through a series of processing tanks, but at this time, there is a shocking difference in heat capacity and thermal strain between the substrate holder 4 and the transfer base 4. In some cases, the processed substrate loaded in the substrate holder 4 may fall due to thermal deformation, resulting in product defects.

This invention was proposed in view of the above, and by improving the drive form of the transport means, it is possible to transport the substrate holder more smoothly, prevent the processing surface from being contaminated due to the diffusion of dust, and at the same time The purpose is to eliminate accidents caused by falling boards.

Another object of the present invention is to reduce the operating cost of the vacuum processing apparatus by reducing the opening width of the gate and avoiding atmospheric contamination between adjacent processing sections as much as possible.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In the present invention, the transport base is omitted so that the substrate holder can be directly fed and driven by the transport means.

In addition, in order to reliably feed and drive the substrate holder, which cannot necessarily be said to have sufficient mechanical strength, and to prevent it from meandering due to the driving force, the conveying means is equipped with a guide member to maintain its posture and a forward force is applied. The lower surface of the substrate holder is moved by the frictional force of the rotating member.

Specifically, the conveying means was composed of a guide member that holds both sides of the lower part of the substrate holder to maintain the vertical position, and a drive member that receives and supports the substrate holder and applies forward force to the holder. . The guide member includes a fixed roller disposed on one side of the substrate holder and a presser which presses the substrate holder toward the fixed roller, and the drive member includes a group of four-wheel drive members. It consists of friction rollers.

Preferably, the 4g fixed rollers are arranged in a rectangular shape, and the presser roller is arranged corresponding to the center position of the rectangle.

(Function) Since the substrate holder is maintained in an upright position by the guide member, and in this state the substrate holder is fed and driven by a group of friction rollers, it is possible to eliminate the horizontal moment acting on the substrate holder. As a result, the substrate holder can be transferred smoothly without meandering, and it is possible to eliminate dust diffusion and falling of the film-forming substrate due to the meandering of the substrate holder.

Since the substrate holder is directly fed and driven by the guide member and drive member, the width of the passage opening at the gate can be reduced to the same level as the board thickness of the substrate holder, thereby sufficiently preventing atmospheric contamination in the adjacent processing section when the gate is opened and closed. can be reduced to

Since the substrate holder is directly fed and driven by the transport means, the thermal distortion etc. can be made uniform over the entire surface of the holder plate, eliminating the shock thermal deformation of the substrate holder during heating or cooling, and processing. Prevents the board from falling.

(Embodiment) FIGS. 1 to 6 show an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a conveying or membrane device, which is a type of vacuum or membrane device.

In FIG. 3, the transport film forming apparatus has vertically long rectangular cross-sectional partition walls 1 disposed in a straight line, the inside of which is divided by gates 2 for each processing step to form a processing tank, and a substrate holder 4 By sequentially passing through a series of processing tanks, a plurality of vapor-deposited thin films are formed on a group of film substrates loaded in the substrate holder 4. Inlet f6 of the transport film forming device
3a, heating tank 3b, and part of spatter tank 3C are shown in FIG. In each of the above treatment tanks 3a, 3b, 3c,
A heater, sputtering electrodes 7, 8, etc. are provided depending on the processing content. Further, although not shown, each of the processing tanks 3a, 3b, and 3c is provided with exhaust equipment that can be operated independently.

Transport means 9 are provided for transporting the substrate holder 4 along the series of processing tanks 3a, 3b, 3c. The substrate holder 4 has a rectangular shape, and a large number of film forming substrates are loaded on its plate surface.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the transport means 9 is the substrate holder 4.
a guide member 10 that defines the transport attitude of the substrate holder 4;
and a drive member 11 that feeds and drives both members 10.
11 are arranged in each processing tank 3a, 3b, 3c at an interval smaller than the width of the board surface of the substrate holder 4 in the transfer direction.

The guide member 10 is arranged corresponding to four fixed rollers 13 arranged in a rectangular shape at the lower part of one side of the substrate holder 4 and the center position of the rectangle of these rollers 13, and guides the substrate holder 4 toward the fixed rollers 13. Presser roller 1 that is pressed by
It consists of 4. Each of the fixed rollers 13 is supported by an H-shaped bracket 15 so as to be rotatable around a vertical axis, and the four fixed rollers 13 are arranged so as to be in circumscribed contact with the plate of the substrate holder 4 at the same time. The bracket 15 is fixed on a lip frame 26, which will be described later.

In FIG. 4, the presser roller 14 is supported by a swing arm 18 via a bearing 16 and a shaft 17 so as to be rotatable around a vertical axis. The swing arm 18 also has a boss 1.
9, it is supported so as to be horizontally swingable via a swing shaft 20, and further swing-biased toward the side approaching the fixed roller 13 by a torsion coil spring 21 fitted onto the swing shaft 20. .

In order to restrict the swingable range of the presser roller 14, a stopper 22 is provided below the presser roller 14, and the lower end 17 of the shaft 17 is placed in a stopper groove 23 formed at the upper end of the stopper 22.
I am facing a. The full width of the stop collar groove 23 is at the lower end of the shaft 1
The diameter of the substrate holder 4 is set to be slightly larger than the diameter of the presser roller 7a, and in particular, by defining the swing limit of the presser roller 14 toward the fixed roller 13, it is possible to reduce the impact when the substrate holder 4 comes into contact with the presser roller 13. There is. Note that when the presser roller 14 is in circumscribed contact with the substrate holder 4, the shaft lower end 17a is located approximately at the center of the stopper groove 23 (
(See Figure 3). The aforementioned one boss and the stopper 22 are each fixed on a support frame 24 mounted on a roller frame 26.

The drive member 11 includes a plurality of friction rollers 25 that support the lower end surface of the substrate holder 4, a roller frame 26 that supports each roller 25, and a drive machine that rotationally drives all the friction rollers 25.
It is composed of R2T, etc.

As shown in FIG. 2, the roller frame 26 is supported at its front and rear ends by a bearing unit 28 fixed to the partition wall 1 and two fixed support shafts, and maintains a horizontal position.

Of the friction rollers 25, the two middle ones are horizontally rotatably supported via bearings 31 on a roller shaft 30 fixed to the roller frame 26 (see FIG. 5, 2), and the inner end of the bearing unit 28 The friction roller 25 located at is fixed to an input shaft 32 supported by a bearing unit 28 so as to be rotatable therewith. Furthermore, the friction roller 25 on the fixed support shaft 29 side is
Like the intermediate friction roller 25, it is rotatably supported by a bearing 31. The height positions of the four friction rollers 25 are aligned so that they simultaneously contact the lower part of the substrate holder 4.

In FIG. 2, the drive machine {&27 is the bearing unit 28
A motor 34 provided at the outer end of
Rotational power is transmitted to each friction roller 25 via the input shaft 32, the roller support 30, and the sprockets 1 and 37 supported by the fixed support 29, respectively, and the chain 38. For human power 1ib32, subrocket 37
is fixed to the human power shaft 32 in the same way as the friction port 25.

On the other hand, in the roller shaft 30 and the two fixed support shafts, the fifth
As shown in the figure, a subrocket 37 is rotatably supported on each shaft 30.29 via three bearings. The subrocket 37ε is connected to the friction roller 25 via a pin 40, and the rotational force of the subrocket 37 is transmitted to the friction roller 25. 41 is a spacer provided between the bearings 31 and 39.

Next, the operation of the conveying means 9 will be explained.

In FIG. 6, when the processing in each of the processing tanks 3a, 3b, and 3c is completed, the gates 2 and 2 between the processing tanks are opened, leaving the entrance gate 2 as it is, and the transport means 9 is activated to transfer the substrates. The holder 4 is sent to the next process. At this time, the substrate holder 4 is supported by at least one set of guide members [0] and held in an appropriate conveyance posture. In addition, the substrate holder 4
is supported by at least three friction rollers 25 and moves forward by receiving equal feeding force from each roller 25.

Then, at the same time as the substrate holder 4 finishes passing through each gate 2, the gate 2 is closed, and further, the transfer means 9 is stopped with the substrate holder 4 moved to a predetermined position, and necessary processing is performed. Thereafter, the entrance gate 2 is opened, the untreated substrate holder 4 is sent into the entrance tank 3a, and the above transfer operation is repeated to perform a certain film.

During transportation, the substrate holder 4 is held between a fixed roller 13 and a presser roller 14, so that its transportation posture is always maintained in an appropriate state. Furthermore, the substrate holder 4 is supported by three or four friction rollers 25 and receives driving force from the rollers 25. Therefore, no lateral moment acts on the substrate holder 4, and smooth transfer can be performed without meandering.

This not only eliminates the diffusion of dust caused by the meandering of the substrate holder 4, but also prevents some film substrates from falling from the loading frame due to the impact caused by the meandering.

The substrate holder 4 is directly fed and driven by the conveyance means 9. In other words, only the substrate holder 4 passes through the gate 2 during transfer. Therefore, the width of the passage opening in each gate 2 only needs to be set slightly larger than the plate surface thickness of the substrate holder 4, and it is possible to sufficiently reduce atmospheric contamination between adjacent sections when the gates are opened and closed.

Since the substrate holder 4 is fed and driven by a group of rotationally driven friction rollers 25, there is no need to synchronously drive the friction holes 25 provided in each process m3a, 3b, 3C, and for example, a binion rack can be used as a driving element. This is advantageous in that the structure and speed control of the transport means 9 can be simplified compared to the transport means.

(Another Embodiment) FIGS. 7 to 9 each show another embodiment of the guide member 10.

In the one shown in FIG. 7, a pair of upper and lower fixed rollers 13,
The guide member 10 is constituted by a total of three rollers including a presser roller 14 disposed corresponding to the upper and lower center positions of both rollers.

In the example shown in FIG. 8, the guide member 10 is composed of a total of four rollers: a fixed roller 13 arranged in a triangular shape and a presser roller 14 arranged corresponding to the center position of the triangle.

Furthermore, in the one shown in FIG. 9, a single fixed roller 13 is constructed by integrally providing fixed roller portions 13a and 13b at both ends of the support shaft. And this fixed roller portion 13
A presser roller l4 was disposed at an intermediate position between a 13b, and the guide member 10 was constituted by a single fixed roller 13 and a single presser roller 14.

As described above, the guide member 10 only needs to be composed of at least one fixed roller 13 and at least one presser roller 14.

It is preferable that all of the friction pressing rollers 25 in the group are driven to rotate, but in some cases, they may be configured to include idle rollers.

The present invention can be applied to various types of vacuum film forming apparatuses in addition to conveyance film apparatuses. For example, the present invention can be applied to a vacuum film forming apparatus that transports a large number of substrate holders to a film forming chamber and performs film forming in a concentrated manner.

Furthermore, the present invention can be widely applied to various vacuum processing apparatuses that perform processes other than film formation.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, in the present invention, the conveyance means is configured to be divided into a guide member that maintains the conveyance posture of the substrate holder and a drive member that feeds and drives the substrate holder. Since the forward force is applied to the holder from the lower surface side, it is possible to eliminate the meandering caused by a lateral moment acting on the substrate holder during transfer, and to ensure that the substrate holder is always transferred smoothly with an appropriate transfer posture. became. This eliminates the problem of the substrate holder meandering, causing dust to spread, and contaminating certain film surfaces, as well as eliminating the possibility of the film-forming substrate falling due to impact during meandering, resulting in product defects. .

In addition, in this invention, all of the guide members and driving members that constitute the transport means are fixed along the transport path, and only the substrate holder is transported, so that the width of the passage opening in the gate that separates each processing tank is reduced. can be made as small as approximately the thickness of the board surface of the substrate holder. Therefore, when the gates are opened and closed, mutual contamination of atmospheres in adjacent processing compartments can be suppressed to the maximum extent possible, which is advantageous in that the operating cost of the vacuum processing apparatus can be reduced.

Furthermore, since only the substrate holder is transferred, it is possible to equalize the thermal strain that occurs on the board surface, eliminating the shock thermal deformation of the substrate holder due to the difference in the amount of thermal strain during heating and cooling. It is possible to prevent the film-forming substrate from falling due to impact.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 6 show embodiments of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a view taken along the line A-A in FIG. 2, FIG. is a sectional view taken along the line B-B in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line C-C in FIG.
The figure is a cross-sectional view taken along the line D--D in FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional plan view showing an outline of the transfer film forming apparatus. FIGS. 7 to 9 are side views of essential parts showing other embodiments of the guide means. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional conveying means. 4...Substrate holder, 9...Transportation means, 10...Guide member, 11...Driving member, 13...Fixed roller, 14...Press roller, 25...Friction roller. Figure 3 Figure 4〕Figure ○

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A vacuum processing apparatus that is equipped with a transport means for holding a substrate holder loaded with a plurality of processing substrates in an upright position and transporting the holder along a transport path, the transport means being one of the substrate holders. It consists of a guide member that holds both sides of the lower part to maintain the vertical position, and a drive member that receives and supports the substrate holder and applies forward force to the holder, and the guide member is arranged on one side of the substrate holder. A vacuum processing device that is composed of a fixed roller and a presser roller that presses the substrate holder toward the fixed roller, and the driving member is a group of rotationally driven friction rollers. (2) Claim (1) in which the four fixed rollers are arranged in a rectangular shape, and the presser roller is arranged corresponding to the center position of the rectangle.
Vacuum processing equipment described in Section 1.