JPH06247507A - Conveyer arm - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a large size object to be conveyed from bending due to its dead weight, by providing suction pads made of a PEEK material on a loading surface so as to suck up a planar material through the intermediary of this pad. CONSTITUTION:A conveying arm 1 adapted used in a plasma treating device or the like, is composed of a loading bed 4 on which an object to be conveyed is loaded directly, a slide mechanism incorporating extendable shafts for reciprocating the loading bed 4, and a base bed 6 supporting the loading bed 4 and the slide mechanism and moved up and down by an elevating mechanism. Further, loading bed 4 comprises upper and lower loading beds 11, 21 which are made of aluminum, and are arranged in two vertical stages with a spacer 31 being interposed therebetween, suction pads 12 to 15 made of a PEEK material (polyester-ether-ketone) are provided at the four corners of the peripheral edge of a large diameter part on the upper surface of the upper loading bed 11. Supports 17, 18 made of a PEEK material are located at middle points between the suction pads 12, 13, 14, 15 on lines connecting between the pads.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transfer arm used for transferring a substrate to be processed such as a CD substrate and various other plate-shaped bodies.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of transfer arm, for example, a transfer arm used in a manufacturing process of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) substrate is known. Regarding the transfer arm used in this kind of atmosphere, under the conventional technique, there is a transfer arm 51 as shown in FIG. 5, for example.

That is, the conventional transfer arm 51 as a whole is
A first arm 52 installed on a rotatably driven base (not shown), a second arm 53 that is rotationally driven in conjunction with the first arm 52, and is rotationally driven with respect to the second arm 53. It is composed of a mounting table 54. Further, on the mounting surface side of the mounting table 54, suction ports 56 for vacuum-sucking the LCD glass substrate 55 to be mounted are usually provided at four places, and O-rings are provided at the peripheral portions of these suction ports 56. 57
Were provided respectively.

The LCD glass substrate 55 to be transported is mounted on the O-ring 57 of the mounting table 54 and is evacuated from a vacuum evacuation channel (not shown) provided in the mounting table 54. As a result, the LCD glass substrate 55 is held in close contact with the respective O-rings 57, and is held on the mounting table 54 by frictional force and vacuum suction to prevent misalignment during transportation. .

[0005]

However, the above-described conventional transfer arm causes the following problems. First, it is the O-ring 57 that is in contact with the LCD glass substrate 55 to be transported. Conventionally, the material of this type of O-ring is silicon or Viton, and therefore, the transport is repeated. Particles of these silicon and viton are generated by friction, and LC
It was a cause of contaminating the glass substrate 55 for D.

Recently, the glass substrate for LCD has been increased in size. For example, when the size becomes 450 mm × 500 mm, the glass substrate for LCD of this kind generally has a thickness of 1 mm.
Since it is about the degree, the center of the substrate itself bends due to its own weight,
Therefore, a gap may be formed between the O-ring that is in contact with the substrate in the peripheral portion of the substrate and the substrate, and vacuum suction may not be possible. This is particularly remarkable when the O-ring is made of a hard material.

Further, as is apparent from FIG. 5, the conventional transfer arm 51 can transfer only one substrate at a time, and there is a limit in achieving high throughput.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a transfer arm capable of preventing contamination of an object to be transferred, increasing the size of the object to be transferred, and capable of handling high throughput. That is the purpose.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, in the invention according to claim 1, there is provided a placing arm, and a carrying arm for placing a plate-like body on the placing means and carrying it. , A suction pad made of PEEK (polyether ether ether ketone) material is provided on the mounting surface side of the mounting means,
There is provided a transfer arm, which is configured to adsorb a plate-shaped body that is a blade layer target via the adsorption pad.

In this case, as described in claim 2, P
A support made of EEK material is provided on the mounting surface side of the mounting means,
The height of this support may be set to be substantially the same as that of the suction pad material.

Furthermore, in each of the above-mentioned transfer arms, as described in claim 3, the mounting means may be constructed in a plurality of upper and lower stages at appropriate intervals.

[0012]

The PEEK material is an extremely stable material and is excellent in chemical resistance, abrasion resistance and mechanical properties. Therefore, even if the conveyance is repeated, the possibility of particle generation is significantly reduced as compared with the conventional O-ring made of silicon or Viton, so that contamination of the conveyance target can be prevented.

When a support made of a PEEK material is provided on the mounting surface side of the mounting means and the height of the support is set to be substantially the same as the suction pad material, not only the suction pad but also each support Since the plate-like body is also supported by, it is possible to prevent the large object to be conveyed from being bent by its own weight.

In the case where the mounting means is composed of a plurality of upper and lower stages at appropriate intervals, it is possible to convey a plurality of plate-like bodies at one time.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. This embodiment is configured as a transfer arm used in a plasma processing apparatus, and FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a transfer arm 1 according to this embodiment. As is clear from the figure, the transfer arm 1 in the present embodiment includes a mounting table 4 on which a transfer target is directly mounted, and the mounting table 4 is indicated by a reciprocating arrow in FIG. It is configured by a slide mechanism (not shown) such as a telescopic shaft that is slidably driven, and a mounting base 4 and a base 6 that supports the slide mechanism and rotatably drives them.

Further, the base 6 itself is constructed so that it can be moved up and down by an appropriate elevating mechanism, for example, the pickup of a substrate and the up and down movement can be freely performed. The base 6 accommodates drive means and the like. It is provided on the supporting table 5 that is provided. With the above configuration, the transfer arm 1 is a transfer target (a plate-shaped substrate) located in the space around the support table 5 on both sides within the turning range of the mounting table 4.
It is possible to carry in.

The above-described mounting table 4 has a structure in which an upper mounting table 11 and a lower mounting table 21 each made of an aluminum material are arranged in two upper and lower steps with a spacer 31 also made of an aluminum material interposed therebetween. These are electrically grounded by an appropriate ground wire (not shown).

The upper mounting table 11 and the lower mounting table 21 have the same shape and the same structure. The plane form of the upper mounting table 11 will now be described with reference to FIG. Approximately half of the end side (left side in FIG. 2) is trapezoidal, and approximately half of one end side (left side in FIG. 2) is rectangular. By forming the flat surface on the insertion side into a trapezoidal shape in this manner, the rotation of the mounting table 4 and the LC that is the object of conveyance
The rotation of the mounting table 4 is not hindered when the D substrate is taken out of the storage cassette and is inserted into the gate valve when being transferred into the processing chamber. Further, with such a configuration, the weight of the other end portion (tip portion) of the mounting table 4 can be reduced, and the mounting table 4 is prevented from vibrating during transportation, particularly at the time of starting and stopping. Furthermore, in order to further reduce the weight of the tip portion of the mounting table 4, a punched portion such as a window may be appropriately provided on the tip portion side.

On the upper surface of the upper mounting table 11, that is, on the mounting surface side, as shown in FIG. 2, suction pads 12, 13, 1 made of PEEK material are provided at four corners of the trapezoidal portion.
4, 15 are provided. Each of these suction pads 12,
13, 14 and 15 have the same shape and the same size. For example, as for the suction pad 15, as shown in FIG. 3, the suction pad 15 is fitted into the hole formed on the mounting surface side of the upper mounting table 11. It is fixed to the above-mentioned mounting base 11 by bonding with
The top of the suction pad 15 is set to project from the surface of the mounting table 11 by, for example, about 0.5 mm.

The suction pad 15 has a suction hole 15 at its center.
a, and this suction hole 15a has a suction pad 1
5b has a suction port 15b provided at the bottom of the hole
And the suction port 15b is connected to the mounting table 1 described above.
1 communicates with the suction flow path 16 disposed inside.
This suction channel 16 is provided with the other suction pads 12, 13, 1 described above.
4 so that the suction pads 12, 13, 14, 15 are evenly sucked by suction means (not shown) such as a vacuum pump provided separately from the transfer arm 1. It is configured.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, at the intermediate point between the suction pads 14 and 15 just on the line connecting the suction pads 12 and 13, the supports 17, 18 made of PEEK material are provided. Is provided. These supports 17, 18 are the suction pads 12, 13, 14,
It has an outer diameter smaller than 15, for example, a diameter of 5 mm, and as shown in FIG. 3, it is inserted into a hole formed on the mounting surface side of the upper mounting table 11 and fixed by an adhesive. There is. Each of the supports 17 and 18 is also set to project from the surface of the upper mounting table 11 by, for example, about 0.5 mm, like the suction pads 12, 13, 14, and 15.

When the LCD glass substrate 32 to be conveyed is placed on the placing surface side of the upper placing table 11 constructed as described above, as shown in FIG.
When the glass substrate 32 has a size of 450 mm × 500 mm,
The suction pads 12 and 1 are provided between the periphery of the back surface of the LCD glass substrate 32 and 10 mm to 20 mm inward.
It is set so that 3, 14, 15 are placed in contact with each other. By adsorbing the liquid crystal on the peripheral edge of the LCD glass substrate 32 in this manner, the LCD glass substrate 3 is conveyed during transportation.
It is possible to suppress the influence on 2 as much as possible, and it is possible to carry out the subsequent processing without any trouble, for example, even when carrying it in the preprocessing stage.

On the other hand, a spacer 31 is provided below the table 11 described above.
The lower mounting table 21 positioned at an interval corresponding to the height of the upper mounting table 11 has the same structure as the upper mounting table 11, and the suction pads 12, 13, 14, on the upper mounting table 11,
Adsorption pad 22 made of PEEK material at the same position as 15.
22, 22, 22 and, on the other hand, support members 23, 23 made of PEEK material are provided at the same positions as the support members 17, 18 on the upper mounting table 11, and as shown in FIG. The suction hole 22a of the pad 22 also communicates with the suction flow passage 26 provided inside the lower mounting table 21 via the suction port 22b. The interval between the upper placing table 11 and the lower placing table 21 as described above is set to be the same as the vertical pitch of a cassette (to be described later) that houses the LCD glass substrate.

Similarly to the LCD glass substrate 32, the LCD glass substrate 33 having a size of, for example, 450 mm × 500 mm, which is mounted on the lower mounting table 21 having the above structure, is also used.
The suction pads 22 and 2 are provided between the periphery of the back surface of the LCD glass substrate 33 and 10 mm to 20 mm inward.
It is set so that 2, 22, and 22 are in contact with each other. The transfer arm 1 having the above configuration is used for the atmospheric transfer system in the plasma processing apparatus 41 as described above.

That is, in the plasma processing apparatus 41, three process chambers 41a, 41b, 41c are provided adjacent to three side surfaces of the transfer chamber 43 via gate valves 42, respectively, and the remaining process chambers 41a, 41b, 41c are provided. The load lock chamber 45 is located adjacent to the side surface via the gate valve 44, and the transfer arm 1 according to the above-described embodiment is supported at the transfer inlet of the gate valve 46 on the atmosphere side in the load lock chamber 45. The support base 5 is arranged.

On both sides of the support table 5, cassettes 34 and 35 containing a large number (for example, 20) of LCD glass substrates to be processed are located.
Reference numerals 4 and 35 are configured to be vertically movable by an appropriate elevation mechanism (not shown).

The plasma processing apparatus 41 employing the transfer arm 1 according to this embodiment is constructed as described above.
The operation will be described. First, when the cassette 34 accommodating an unprocessed LCD glass substrate P is set at a predetermined position with its entrance (open side) facing the support table 5, the cassette 34 is moved by the elevation mechanism.
Of the LCD glass substrates 33 and 32 housed in the lowermost position and second from the lowermost position substantially correspond to the positions of the lower mounting table 21 and the upper mounting table 11 of the transfer arm 1 ( (The positions are slightly higher than the lower mounting table 21 and the upper mounting table 11, respectively).

Next, the mounting table 4 is expanded to the cassette 34 side by the expansion by the slide mechanism, the upper mounting table 11 is below the upper LCD glass substrate 32, and the lower mounting table 21 is the lowermost LCD glass. The lower mounting table 2 is inserted below the substrate 33, and the suction pad 12 and the like of the upper mounting table 11 are mounted on the back surface of the LCD glass substrate 32 by the raising of the base 6.
The suction pad 22 of No. 1 is in close contact with the back surface of the glass substrate 33 for LCD (the state shown in FIG. 3), and is immediately vacuum-sucked by a suction mechanism (not shown) provided separately, and each of these L
The glass substrates 32 and 33 for CD are suction-held on the upper mounting table 11 and the lower mounting table 21 via the suction pads 12 and 22, respectively.

In this state, the transfer arm 1 is contracted by the slide mechanism, and further the rotation of the base 6 causes the mounting table 4 to face the transfer inlet of the gate valve 46, and the expansion of the transfer arm 1 causes the glass substrate for the LCD described above. 32, 33
The mounting table 4 which is suction-held is inserted into the load lock chamber 45, and is mounted on a mounting table (not shown) having a positioning mechanism installed in the load lock chamber 45. In this embodiment, since the cassettes 34 and 35 are located on both sides of the support base 5, the rotation angle of the mounting table 4 by the base 6 is controlled to be 90 °. However, for example, when it is positioned diagonally rearward of the support fifth, the rotation angle of the base 6 may be controlled to be appropriately increased accordingly. With such control, it is possible to increase the degree of selectivity of the installation position of the cassette that houses the glass substrate for LCD, and increase the degree of freedom in layout and the like.

After that, when the transfer arm 1 contracts again and the gate valve 46 is closed, the inside of the load lock chamber 45 is evacuated, and then the transfer arm 43 provided in the transfer chamber 43 separately provides each of these. The glass substrates 32 and 33 for LCD are respectively the process chamber 41a,
41b and 41c are distributed according to a preset program, and plasma processing such as etching and ashing is performed there.

As described above, the plasma processing apparatus 41 has three
Having one process chamber 41a, 41b, 41c,
For example, two process chambers can be configured as an etching process chamber and the remaining one process chamber can be configured as an ashing process chamber, which is designed to achieve extremely high throughput. According to arm 1, two LCDs at a time
Since it is possible to transport the glass substrate for use, the substrate can be transported sufficiently corresponding to such high throughput. For example, as mentioned above, two LCs at a time
It is possible to carry the D glass substrate into the load lock chamber 45 and to wait there. Further, as a matter of course, it is also possible to convey the processed glass substrates for LCD two at a time.

During transportation, the suction pads 12, 13 made of PEEK material, which is a very stable material, is in direct contact with the LCD glass substrate, and is excellent in chemical resistance, abrasion resistance, and mechanical properties. Since these are Nos. 14, 15 and 22, the possibility of particle generation is significantly reduced compared to the conventional O-ring made of silicone rubber or Viton rubber, and it is possible to prevent contamination of the object to be conveyed.

Furthermore, the suction pads 12, 13, 1 are also provided.
In addition to 4, 15, and 22, supports 17, 18, and 23, which are also made of PEEK material, are provided on the mounting surface side of the mounting table 4, so that the glass substrate for LCD, which is the transfer target, is placed above, Even if the central portion of the LCD glass substrate is as large as 450 mm × 500 mm and is about to bend due to its own weight, the LCD glass substrate is also supported by the supports 17, 18, and 23, so that its back surface is on the front surface of the mounting table 4. They do not come into contact with each other, and no air gap is generated between the suction pads 12, 13, 14, 15, 22 and the glass substrate for LCD. Therefore, it is possible to stably maintain suction-holding by vacuum suction, and even if the object to be conveyed becomes large, it can be stably conveyed at high speed, and high throughput can be dealt with.

Further, since the mounting table 4 is grounded, the mounting table 4 itself is not charged and attracts floating particles. Therefore, also from this point, the contamination of the object to be transported is prevented.

Although the above embodiment is constructed as a transfer arm for the glass substrate for LCD, the present invention is not limited to this, and according to the present invention, it is used for the purpose of transferring another plate-like body in the atmosphere. It can also be applied to the transfer arm of.

[0036]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the material which comes into direct contact with the object to be conveyed is an extremely stable material, and is resistant to chemicals and abrasion.
Since it is a PEEK material having excellent mechanical properties, the possibility of particle generation is significantly reduced compared to the conventional O-ring made of silicon or Viton, and the contamination of the object to be transported can be prevented.

According to the second aspect, the support made of the PEEK material is provided on the mounting surface side of the mounting means, and the height of the support is set to be substantially the same as the suction pad material. It is possible to prevent the transfer target from bending due to its own weight, and for example, when suctioning the transfer target by vacuum suction, there is no possibility of creating a gap in the support location, and it is possible to hold the transfer target by suction by vacuum suction reliably. is there.

According to the third aspect, in addition to the above-mentioned effects, it is possible to further convey a plurality of conveyance targets at one time, and it is possible to realize a conveyance system compatible with high throughput.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a transfer arm according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a mounting table in the transfer arm according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of an essential part of a side surface of a mounting table in the transfer arm according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a plasma etching / ashing apparatus using a transfer arm according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a transfer arm according to a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Transport arm 4 Mounting table 5 Support table 6 Base 11 Upper mounting table 12, 13, 14, 15, 22 Suction pad 15a Suction hole 17, 18 Support 21 Lower mounting table 23 Support 31 Spacer 32, 33 For LCD Glass substrate 35 Cassette 41 Plasma etching / ashing device 45 Load lock chamber 46 Gate valve

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A transfer arm having a mounting means for mounting and transporting a plate-shaped body on the mounting means, wherein a suction pad made of a PEEK material is provided on the mounting surface side of the mounting means. A transfer arm, wherein the transfer arm is provided so as to adsorb the plate-shaped body through the adsorption pad. 2. A transfer arm, characterized in that a support made of PEEK material is provided on the mounting surface side of the mounting means, and the height of the support is set to be substantially the same as that of the suction pad material. 3. The transfer arm according to claim 1, wherein the mounting means is configured in a plurality of upper and lower stages at appropriate intervals.