JPH0679140U - Substrate heat treatment equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] By adding a simple structure, it is possible to prevent lateral slippage when the substrate is lowered and supported on the hot plate to improve processing efficiency. [Structure] Substrate support pins 8 for mounting a substrate W are provided in through holes 7 formed in a heating plate 15, and the air cylinder 10 is provided at a position above the heating plate 15 and a position below the heating plate 15. It is configured to move up and down with
An expansion / contraction member 17 that forms a closed space S continuous with the through holes 7 is provided between the lower surface of the heating plate 15 and the pin mounting member 9 provided with the substrate support pins 8 ... The check valve 18 that allows only the exhaust from the closed space S to the outside is provided so as to be connected to.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention comprises at least one of heating means or cooling means for heating or cooling a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for a photomask, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, or a substrate for an optical disk. A heat plate, a substrate support pin that is provided in a through hole formed in the heat plate and mounts a substrate above the heat plate, and the base plate support pin above and below the top surface of the heat plate. And a pin elevating means for elevating and lowering to and from the substrate heat treatment apparatus.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 As this type of substrate heat treatment apparatus, the one disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 63-193833 is conventionally known. According to this conventional example, a hot plate having a heating means or a cooling means is provided with ceramic spheres (balls) so as to project a minute height above the plate surface, and a so-called proximity is provided on the hot plate. By supporting the substrate while maintaining a minute gap called a gap, the substrate can be uniformly heated or cooled.

With this configuration, when the substrate is loaded onto the hot plate, the substrate transfer arm having the outer peripheral edge of the substrate placed and supported thereon moves the substrate onto the hot plate, and in that state the substrate support pins are raised. Then, the substrate is placed and supported on the substrate support pin, the substrate transfer arm is moved to another place, and then the substrate support pin is lowered to support the substrate on the sphere.

[0004]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 In this type of substrate heat treatment apparatus, the upper surface of the hot plate is temperature-controlled with high precision so that the substrate is uniformly heated or cooled to a desired temperature, and the result of the desired uniformity at the desired temperature is obtained. In order to obtain the above, it is necessary to support the substrate at a predetermined position on the hot plate.

By the way, in the case of the conventional example, in order to support the substrate transferred from the substrate transfer arm on the hot plate, when the substrate support pin is lowered, the substrate comes into contact with the sphere and passes through the sphere. There was a drawback in that slippage occurred laterally immediately before being supported by the hot plate, and it was not possible to properly descend to a predetermined position.

In order to prevent such a problem, it is necessary to perform position adjustment so that the posture of the substrate placed on the substrate support pins and the horizontalness of the heating plate are increased, but high accuracy is required. There was a drawback that it took time to adjust the position to be touched.

Such a problem mainly occurs when the posture of the substrate supported on the substrate support pins or the upper surface of the heat plate is not horizontal, and particularly noticeable when the descending speed of the substrate support pins is high. It was Therefore, in the past, the assembling of the board support pins and the heat plate was adjusted with high accuracy to keep the posture of the board and the upper surface of the heat plate strictly horizontal, and at the same time, the board support pins were forced to descend at a low speed. By doing so, the frequency of occurrence of this problem was reduced.

However, in such a method, there is a drawback that processing efficiency is low because it takes a lot of time and labor to adjust the assembling of the substrate support pins, the heat plate, and the like, and it takes time to move the substrate up and down. Such measures could not completely prevent the problem of lateral slippage immediately before the substrate was supported by the sphere.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and by adding a simple structure, it is possible to prevent lateral slippage when the substrate is lowered and supported on the hot plate. The purpose is to improve processing efficiency.

[0010]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a heating plate having at least one of heating means and cooling means, and a through hole formed in the heating plate, which is located above the heating plate. In the substrate heat treatment apparatus including the substrate support pins on which the substrate is placed and the pin elevating means for elevating and lowering the substrate support pins above and below the upper surface of the hot plate, An expansion valve that forms a closed space that connects to the through hole is provided between the board mounting pin and the pin mounting member, and an exhaust valve that connects to the closed space and allows only exhaust to the outside from the closed space. Is provided and configured.

[0011]

[Action]

 According to the structure of the substrate heat treatment apparatus of the present invention, when the substrate support pin with the substrate mounted and supported is lowered, the volume of the closed space increases as the pin mounting member lowers, and accordingly the closed space is closed. A negative pressure is generated in the space, and the air on the hot plate is sucked through the through hole. The suction of air on the hot plate is very effective in solving the problem of the substrate slipping laterally.

That is, as a result of investigating the cause of such a defect, immediately before the substrate descends and is supported by the hot plate, the air between the substrate and the hot plate is narrowly sandwiched vertically and is difficult to escape. The board is in a state of supporting it, and the board cannot be lowered synchronously with the board support pins, but temporarily floats in the air, and due to a slight effect due to a slight imperfection in the assembly adjustment of the board support pins, heat plate, etc. Was found to have slid sideways. For this reason, as described above, in the present invention, since the air on the hot plate is sucked, the phenomenon that the substrate floats itself is eliminated, and the disadvantage that the substrate slides laterally is eliminated. On the other hand, when raising the substrate support pin, the volume inside the closed space decreases and the internal pressure increases, but the exhaust valve opens and exhausts, and the substrate is removed without applying exhaust pressure from the through hole to the substrate side. Can rise.

[0013]

【Example】

 Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall vertical sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which a substrate cooling device 3 as a substrate heat treatment device is provided in a lower portion of a housing 2 and a substrate heating device as a substrate heat treatment device is provided above the substrate cooling device 3. A device 4 is provided.

The substrate cooling device 3 is provided with a cooling plate 6 as a heating plate in the processing chamber 5, a substrate support pin 8 is provided so as to be vertically movable through a through hole 7 formed in the cooling plate 6, and the substrate is An air cylinder 10 as a pin elevating means is interlockingly connected to a pin attaching member 9 to which the support pins 8 are integrally attached, and the substrate support pins 8 are elevated and lowered by the expansion and contraction of the air cylinders 10. The substrate W is carried in and out by a substrate transfer robot (not shown) in a state where 8 is raised, and the substrate support pins 8 are lowered, so that the substrate W can be supported on the cooling plate 6. ing.

The cooling plate 6 includes a heat transfer plate 11 made of aluminum for supporting the substrate W, a water-cooled water-cooled plate 12 made of aluminum, and a quenching plate interposed between the heat-transfer plate 11 and the water-cooled plate 12. Of the Peltier device 13 ... The water cooling plate 12 and the Peltier element 13 correspond to the cooling means in the scope of claims for utility model registration.

The substrate heating device 4 is configured to include a heating plate 15 as a heating plate having a heating means such as a plate heater in the processing chamber 14, and the heating plate 15 is the same as in the substrate cooling device 3. A substrate support pin 8 is provided so as to be able to move up and down through a through hole 7 formed in 15, and an air cylinder 10 as a pin lifting means is interlockingly connected to a pin mounting member 9 to which the substrate support pins 8 are integrally mounted. The substrate W can be loaded and unloaded by the lifting and lowering of the support pins 8 and a transfer robot (not shown), and the loaded substrate W can be supported by the heating plate 15.

Each of the heat transfer plate 11 and the heating plate 15 constituting the cooling plate 6 has three pieces as shown in a perspective view of a main part of FIG. 2 (which will be described here as the heating plate 15). Recesses are formed in the positional relationship of the vertices of an equilateral triangle, and a ball 16 is placed in each of the recesses. Each of the balls 16 ... Is made of, for example, a low heat transfer member such as aluminum or matatite, and the upper side of the balls 16 ... projects from the upper surface of the heating plate 15 by a minute amount, so-called proximity gap. The substrate W is placed and supported on the balls 16 with a predetermined gap, and can be heated or cooled uniformly.

An expandable member (bellows) 17 is provided between the lower surface of the heating plate 15 and the pin mounting member 9 so as to form a closed space S connected to the through holes 7 ... And the pin mounting member 9 is provided. , As an exhaust valve that opens when the pressure in the closed space S becomes higher than the external pressure so as to connect to the closed space S, and closes when the pressure in the closed space S becomes lower than the external pressure. A check valve 18 is provided and is configured to allow only the exhaust from the closed space S to the outside. The same configuration is adopted between the water cooling plate 12 and the pin mounting member 9 which form the cooling plate 6.

With the above configuration, when the substrate support pins 8 ... With the substrate W placed and supported are lowered, as shown in the sectional view of FIG. The expansion / contraction member 17 extends with the inside closed, and a negative pressure is generated in the closed space S accordingly, and the air on the heating plate 15 (or the cooling plate 6) is sucked through the through holes 7 ... Since the air between 15 and 15 is sucked and removed, the floating of the substrate W can be eliminated, and the substrate W can be vertically lowered without causing skidding. On the other hand, when the substrate support pins 8 are raised, the volume in the closed space S decreases and the internal pressure increases, as shown in the sectional view of FIG. Along with this, the check valve 18 is opened and exhausted, and the substrate W can be raised from the through holes 7 ... Without applying exhaust pressure to the substrate W side.

It should be noted that if an air cylinder is used as the pin elevating means and the operation is performed at a low speed, it is unavoidable that the operating speed becomes unstable due to the characteristics of the air cylinder. In the present invention, since the substrate does not slide in the lateral direction even if the descending speed of the substrate supporting pins 8 is increased, the air cylinder can be used at high speed, so that even when the air cylinder is used as the pin lifting means. It is convenient because it is possible to avoid the unstable lifting operation.

In the above-described embodiment, when the pressure in the closed space S formed by the elastic member 17 becomes higher than the external pressure as the substrate support pins 8 ... A check valve 18 is provided for exhausting the gas to the exhaust valve. However, in the present invention, for example, an electromagnetic on-off valve as an exhaust valve is provided in place of the check valve 18, while the substrate support pins 8 ... A sensor for detecting the operation may be provided, and the sensor and the electromagnetic opening / closing valve may be linked so that the electromagnetic opening / closing valve is automatically opened only when the substrate support pin 8 is lifted.

In addition, although the air cylinder 10 is used to raise and lower the substrate support pins 8 ... In the above embodiment, for example, a rod is projected on the pin mounting member 9 and a screw is formed on the rod. On the other hand, various pin elevating means such as a so-called ball screw structure in which an inner screw member having an inner screw meshing with the screw is rotated by an electric motor can be applied.

The present invention can also be applied to a substrate heat treatment apparatus of the type in which the substrate W is placed in close contact with the cooling plate 6 or the heating plate 15 without providing the balls 16 ... As in the above embodiment.

[0025]

[Effect of device]

 As described above, according to the substrate heat treatment apparatus of the present invention, when the substrate is placed and the substrate support pins are lowered, the air between the substrate and the hot plate is sucked and removed. It is possible to prevent the substrate from floating from the substrate support pins even when the speed is set to high, and to prevent lateral slippage during transfer to the hot plate side. Therefore, the processing efficiency of the substrate can be improved.

Moreover, since the exhaust valve exhausts air when the substrate support pins are raised, the exhaust pressure is not applied to the upper side of the heat plate, and the air flow is generated from the lower side of the through hole to the upper side. There is nothing to do. Therefore, dust-laden air is not sent from below to the hot plate, and the substrate is not contaminated.

Further, as described above, it is not necessary to use a forced suction means such as a vacuum pump in order to suck and remove the air between the substrate and the heat plate, and as a whole, there is a closed space connected to the through hole. The addition of a simple structure that only requires the expansion / contraction member and the exhaust valve to form the heat sink can be accurately lowered to a predetermined position on the hot plate to support it without sliding the base plate, and good processing is achieved. You can do it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall vertical sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a main part for explaining the operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 6 ... Cooling plate as hot plate 7 ... Through hole 8 ... Substrate support pin 9 ... Pin mounting member 10 ... Air cylinder as pin lifting means 15 ... Heating plate as hot plate 17 ... Expansion / contraction member 18 ... Reverse as exhaust valve Stop valve S ... Closed space W ... Substrate

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A hot plate provided with at least one of a heating means and a cooling means, and a substrate support pin which is provided in a through hole formed in the hot plate and mounts a substrate at a position above the hot plate. In a substrate heat treatment apparatus provided with a pin elevating means for elevating and lowering the substrate support pin to a position above and below the upper surface of the hot plate, a pin attachment provided with the lower surface of the heat plate and the substrate support pin. An elastic member that forms a closed space connected to the through hole is provided between the member and a member, and an exhaust valve that is connected to the closed space and allows only exhaust from the inside of the closed space to the outside is provided. Substrate heat treatment equipment.