JPH10102259A - Substrate knock-up mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent infiltration of electric discharge by constituting the mechanism in such a manner that only the lifting direction of pins is restrained in connecting parts between the pins and pin lifting means. SOLUTION: The rear surfaces of lower electrodes 3 are provided with plural pin lifting guides 18. The pins 19, pin holes 20 and guides 18 are respectively concentrically disposed. Right end rollers 22 of levers 21 connected to the piston rod 42a of a pin lifting cylinder 42 are fitted into grooves 23a at the bottom ends of the pins 19 so that only the lifting direction of the pins 19 is restrained in the connecting parts to the pins 19. The directions exclusive of the lifting direction of the pins are thereby not restrained and, therefore, the pins 19 and the guides 18 are movable integrally as the electrodes 3 expand thermally. As a result, the spacings formed by the rear surface of the substrate, the pins 19 and the pin holes 20 during the treatment may be minimazed at the lower electrodes 3 heated to a high temp. Even if the lower electrodes 3 expand thermally, the operation of the mechanism is ensured and the infiltration of the electric charge is prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a manufacturing apparatus for forming a thin film by plasma or etching a relatively large substrate such as a glass substrate for liquid crystal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in a semiconductor or liquid crystal panel manufacturing apparatus, the production mode has shifted from batch processing to single-wafer processing in order to increase the size of a substrate. In the above-described single-wafer processing, in order to process substrates one by one in a reaction vessel, each time processing is performed, an unprocessed substrate is loaded onto the electrode by a transport means into the reaction vessel, and the processed substrate is reacted. Must be removed from container. Therefore, conventionally, a mechanism for pushing up the substrate with a pin from the lower side of the electrode has been often used to carry the substrate in and out of the reaction container. Hereinafter, a conventional substrate pushing-up mechanism will be described with reference to FIG. 4 taking a plasma CVD apparatus for liquid crystal as an example. A lower electrode 3 having a heater 2 which can be raised and lowered into a chamber 1 evacuated to a predetermined degree of vacuum and is heated to a predetermined temperature (for example, up to 400 ° C.), and an upper electrode 4 opposed to the lower electrode 3 It is installed in the chamber 1. The upper electrode 4 is
The processing gas introduction pipe 5, the matching device 6, and the high frequency power supply 7 are connected, and are attached to the chamber upper lid 9 via the insulator 8. The substrate 10 is carried by the transfer arm 11 between the lower electrode 3 and the upper electrode 4 which have been lowered in advance. Thereafter, the four pins 14 fixed on the pin table 13 are passed through the pin holes 15 provided in the lower electrode 3 by the ascending drive of the pin elevating cylinder 12 so that the substrate 10 Is lifted to a position higher than the horizontal movement position of the transfer arm 11. In this state, the transfer arm 11 is retracted from above the lower electrode 3 (retracts to the right in FIG. 4), and then the tip of the pin 14 is moved downward by the pin elevating cylinder 12 to move the surface of the lower electrode 3. By lowering further, the substrate 10 is placed on the lower electrode 3 and heated by the heater 2. The lower electrode 3 is raised to a predetermined position by the electrode lifting cylinder 16 with the substrate 10 placed thereon for processing. At this time, the pin 14 remains lowered. SiH via the introduction pipe 5 of the upper electrode 4
_When high-frequency power is applied to the upper electrode 4 from the high-frequency power source 7 via the matching device 6 while supplying a processing gas such as NH ₃ , N ₂ , and H ₂ , plasma is generated between the upper electrode 4 and the lower electrode 3. Is generated, for example, a nitride film is formed on the surface of the substrate 10. The substrate 10 after the processing is lowered to the original position while being placed on the lower electrode 3 by the electrode lifting cylinder 16. Thereafter, the substrate 10 is raised to a position higher than the horizontal movement position of the transfer arm 11 by the pins 14 by the ascending drive of the pin lifting cylinder 12, and the transfer arm 1
Handed over to 1. Thus, the process ends.

[0003]

However, in the process of heating and processing a substrate in the manufacture of semiconductors and liquid crystal panels, for example, aluminum electrodes have a particularly large thermal expansion. The relative position is shifted, and in view of the expansion of the electrode, for example, a pin having a diameter of 5 mm has to be provided with a large pin hole so as to form a gap of about 3 mm around the pin. Therefore, there is a disadvantage that the space where the discharge enters the pin hole is increased, and a discharge mark is generated on the back surface of the substrate. The present invention minimizes the gap formed between the back surface of the substrate, the pin, and the pin hole on the electrode during processing in the electrode heated to a high temperature, operates reliably even if the electrode expands, and prevents the discharge from flowing around. It is an object of the present invention to provide a mechanism for pushing up a substrate.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a pin elevating guide on the back surface of an electrode so that a pin, a pin hole, and a pin elevating guide are provided concentrically. The gap between the pin and the pin hole is minimized by restraining only the pin elevating direction at the connection portion with the means.
Specifically, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in a reaction chamber for processing a substrate by plasma of a processing gas in a vacuum state,
A substrate lifting mechanism for mounting and lowering the substrate with respect to the electrode having the substrate heating means and the electrode lifting and lowering means, wherein the substrate lifting pin is provided in the electrode, and the substrate lifting pin is provided in the electrode. And, a pin elevating guide that has a through hole and guides the elevating of the pin by elevating and lowering the pin concentrically in the through hole, and for the pin,
The pins are integrally moved in the elevating direction, while being movably connected in a direction different from the elevating direction according to the thermal expansion of the electrodes when the electrodes are heated by the substrate heating means. And a pin elevating drive mechanism that drives the drive unit up and down to drive the pins up and down.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the pin lifting / lowering drive mechanism includes a pin lifting / lowering means, and a pin lifting / lowering pivoted about a pivot axis by driving the pin lifting / lowering means. A driving lever, and the driving unit includes a roller rotatably provided at one end of the pin lifting lever, and a groove extending at a lower end of the pin in a direction perpendicular to the lifting direction of the pin. A direction perpendicular to the elevating direction according to the thermal expansion of the electrode when the electrode is heated by the substrate heating means, the roller of the drive unit of the pin elevating drive mechanism being in the groove. The pin is lifted and lowered by driving the pin raising and lowering means so that the roller moves up and down, and the pin having the groove fitted to the roller moves up and down. Can also be configured Kill.

Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, the first,
In the second aspect, it is possible to further comprise an electrode lifting mechanism that raises and lowers the electrode and raises and lowers the pin in synchronization with the raising and lowering operation of the electrode.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the apparatus further comprises an electrode lifting mechanism for raising and lowering the electrode and raising and lowering the pin in synchronization with the lifting and lowering operation of the electrode. An elevating mechanism for raising and lowering the electrode; and rotating the pin elevating lever by rotating about a fulcrum when the electrode elevating means elevates and lowers the electrode and when the pin elevating mechanism drives the elevating mechanism. The lever may be configured to include a lever for causing the lever to move.

According to the above aspects of the present invention, even when the temperature of the electrode is changed from room temperature to a high temperature, the electrode, the pin, and the guide can move integrally according to the thermal expansion of the electrode. Since the relative position between the pin and the pin hole does not change due to thermal expansion, the substrate push-up mechanism can be reliably operated, the discharge is prevented from wrapping around the pin, and the quality of the product can be improved.

[0009]

As described above, according to the present invention, the connection between the pin and the pin elevating means is restricted only in the elevating direction of the pin and not in the other direction. When the electrode is thermally expanded by changing the temperature from high to high, the pin can move integrally with the electrode in a direction different from the elevating direction. Therefore, since the relative position between the pin and the pin hole does not change due to thermal expansion, the substrate pushing-up mechanism can operate reliably, and the gap between the substrate and the pin mounted on the upper surface of the electrode and the pin hole can be reduced. Can be prevented from sneaking around the discharge, and the quality of the product can be improved.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Various embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In the substrate lifting mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of pin lifting guides 18 are provided on the back surface of the lower electrode 3, and the substrate lifting pins 19, the pin holes 20, and the pin lifting guides 18 are provided concentrically, respectively. In the connecting portion between the pin 19 and the pin elevating means, only the elevating direction of the pin 19 is restricted.
The pin lift guide 18 and the pin lift guide 18 can be moved together with the thermal expansion of the lower electrode 3.

FIG. 1 shows a substrate push-up mechanism according to the first embodiment, in which a swing link is used as a pin elevating means. In a chamber 1 as an example of a reaction chamber, a columnar guide 18 fixed by a mounting flange 17 in an aluminum lower electrode 3 which incorporates a heater 2 as a heating means and can be raised and lowered by an electrode lifting cylinder 16 is provided. The four pins 19 are fitted concentrically so as to go up and down through the through holes of the guides 18 to guide the pins 19 up and down. In order to prevent image sticking, for example, it is preferable that the guide 18 is formed of a ceramic and the pin 19 is formed of a combination of nickel. Each guide 18 is arranged concentrically with each pin hole 20 of the lower electrode 3.
It is fitted in a circular counterbore 3a provided in the lower electrode 3. As an example, each pin 19 and each pin hole 20 are formed with a slight gap of about 0.1 to 0.5 mm. The lever 21 introduces the elevating operation by the pin elevating cylinder 42 into the chamber 1 and swings for elevating the pin 19. That is, the pin lifting cylinder 42 is fixed to the lower end of the chamber 1 so that the piston 42a of the pin lifting cylinder 42 reciprocates substantially in the horizontal direction in FIG. Is pivotally mounted at the lower end 21a. The lever 21 is swingably supported around a swing shaft 21c. Lever 2
Roller 22 rotatably attached to the right end 21b of the first roller 21
Moves in the groove 23a formed in the boss 23 attached to the lower end of the pin 19 by swinging the lever 21 around the swing shaft 21c in the left-right direction, and moves the pin 19 up and down.
Since the width of the groove 23 a has a small gap with respect to the diameter of the roller 22, the guide 18 and the pin 19 have an effect that they can move with the thermal expansion of the lower electrode 3. In addition, the lower end 21a of the lever 21 and the connecting rod 24 having one end pivotally connected to the tip of the piston 42a of the pin elevating cylinder 42, the lever 21 and the boss 23 of the pin 19 are also connected to the other three pins 19. Therefore, the four pins 19 are raised and lowered simultaneously by driving the pin lifting cylinder 42. As a specific configuration example for simultaneously raising and lowering the four pins 19, another set of two levers 21 and a connecting rod 24 connecting between them as shown in FIG. When the rods 24 are connected by levers (not shown) so as to move in the same manner, the four pins 19 can be simultaneously raised by swinging the four levers 21 counterclockwise.

According to the above configuration, the pin lifting cylinder 42
When the piston rod 42a is driven so as to move rightward, the four levers 21 are respectively driven by the pivot shafts 21c.
The substrate 10 is swung in a counterclockwise direction, and the four pins 19 are simultaneously pushed up by the four rollers 22 via the bosses 23 to push up the substrate 10 from the surface of the lower electrode 3. On the other hand, when the piston rod 42a of the pin elevating cylinder 42 is driven to move to the left, the four levers 21 swing clockwise around the swing shaft 21c, respectively, and the bosses are rotated by the four rollers 22. The four pins 19 are simultaneously depressed via 23, and the substrate 10 is placed on the surface of the lower electrode 3.
When the lower electrode 3 thermally expands in a direction different from the elevating direction of the pins 19 due to the heat of the heater 2, for example, in a direction orthogonal to the elevating direction, the boss 18 fixed to the lower electrode 3 and the inside of the boss 18 The moving pin 19 moves integrally according to the thermal expansion of the lower electrode 3. At this time, the boss 23 at the lower end of the pin 19 also moves integrally with the pin 19, but the roller 22 connected to the pin lifting cylinder side in the groove 23a of the boss 23 rolls on the inner surface in the groove 23a. By
The movement of the pin 19 is not hindered.

A similar effect can be obtained by using a motor instead of a cylinder as the means for raising and lowering the pin 19 and the lower electrode 3. Although the number of pins 19 is four, the number of pins is three or more according to the substrate size. In addition,
50 is a rod connecting the lower electrode 3 and the driving plate 16b of the piston rod 16a of the electrode lifting cylinder 16, and 51 is provided between the driving plate 16b and the chamber 1 and the chamber 1
It is a bellows for shutting off the inside and the outside, so that a predetermined degree of vacuum in the chamber 1 can be maintained even when the piston rod 16a of the electrode lifting cylinder 16 is driven up and down.
The inside and outside of the chamber 1 are shut off by a bellows 51.

According to the first embodiment, a plurality of pin lifting guides 18 are provided on the back surface of the lower electrode 3, and
9, a pin hole 20 and a pin elevating guide 18 are provided concentrically, and a right end roller of a lever 21 connected to a piston rod 42 a of a pin elevating cylinder 42 serving as a pin elevating means is provided in a groove 23 a of a boss 23 at a lower end of the pin 19. The pin 22 is fitted so as to restrict only the lifting direction of the pin 19 at the connection between the pin 19 and the pin lifting / lowering means. Therefore, since the connecting portion is not restrained in a direction other than the pin lifting direction by the pin lifting means, the pin 19 and the pin lifting guide 18 can move integrally with the thermal expansion of the lower electrode 3. Therefore, in the lower electrode 3 heated to a high temperature, the back surface of the substrate 10
And the gap formed by the pin hole 20 can be minimized, and even if the lower electrode 3 thermally expands, it operates reliably,
It is possible to prevent the discharge from wraparound.

In the first embodiment, a control device 100 for synchronously controlling the electrode lifting cylinder 16 and the pin lifting cylinder 42 may be further provided. In this case, by the synchronous control of the control device 100, when the lower electrode 3 is raised to the thin film forming position by driving the electrode lifting cylinder 16, at the same time, the pin lifting cylinder 42 is driven to move the pin 19 together with the lower electrode 3. And pin 19
Between the tip of the lower electrode 3 and the upper surface of the lower electrode 3 can be prevented from being formed. By doing so, the space into which the discharge enters the pin hole can always be kept small, and it is possible to effectively prevent the discharge from flowing into the pin hole.

The substrate lifting mechanism according to the second embodiment of the present invention synchronizes the lifting and lowering of the lower electrode 3 with the lifting and lowering of the push-up pins 19 of the substrate 10 by the lower electrode lifting and lowering means. In addition to the function and effect, even when the lower electrode 3 is moved up and down, the gap between the upper surface of the lower electrode 3 and the tip of the pin 19 does not change. FIG. 2 shows a substrate pushing-up mechanism according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 3 shows a partially enlarged view thereof. In the second embodiment, in the substrate lifting mechanism using the swing link mechanism according to the first embodiment, the electrode lifting cylinder 16 of the lower electrode 3 is connected by levers 26 and 29 instead of the pin lifting cylinder 42. Is used.

In the second embodiment, the chamber 1
A pin elevating cylinder 52 in which a piston rod 52a moves downward is fixed to a lower end of the piston rod 52, and a pusher 25 is fixed to a lower end of the piston rod 52a.
A roller 25a is rotatably provided at the left end of the pusher 25. The roller 25 a pushes the right end 26 a of the lever 26 downward from above in response to the lowering of the pusher 25. The roller 25a is a right end 26a of the lever 26.
Can be contacted from above only with the roller 25a.
When the roller rises, the roller 25a is moved to the right end 2 of the lever 26.
6a. The intermediate portion of the lever 26 is rotatably supported by a fulcrum 26d. The upper end of a spring 27 is fixed to a slightly left portion of the intermediate portion of the lever 26, and the lower end of the spring 27 is fixed to the installation floor of the chamber 1.
Is always urged to rotate counterclockwise around its fulcrum 26d. A lower end pin 21d of a lever 21 connected to each of the pins 19 via a boss 23 and a roller 22 is rotatably fitted to the upper forked portion 26b of the intermediate portion of the lever 26, and When the lever rotates clockwise, the lever 21 swings counterclockwise,
When the lever 26 rotates counterclockwise, the lever 21 swings clockwise. Left end 2 of lever 26
6c is a piston rod 16a of the electrode lifting cylinder 16.
The lower end roller 29a of the lever 29, which is fixed downward at one end of the drive plate 16b, is fixed. The lower end roller 29a can only contact the left end 26c of the lever 26 upward from below, and can be separated from the left end 26c of the lever 26 when the lower end roller 29a descends.

In this configuration, when the pin 19 is raised, first, the pusher 25 is lowered by driving the pin lifting cylinder 12 as shown by a dotted line in FIG. 3, and the lever 26 is moved through the roller 25a at the tip of the pusher.
Is pressed downward as shown by the dotted line. As a result, this downward pressing force imparts clockwise rotation about the fulcrum 26d to the lever 26 as shown by a dotted line, and causes the lower end pin 21d of the lever 21 to rotate around its pivot shaft 21c via the forked portion 26b. As described above, the pin 19 is lifted through the roller 22 and the boss 23 through the roller 22 and the boss 23. Another set of two levers 21 and a connecting rod 24 connecting between them as shown in FIG. 3 is arranged, and the two connecting rods 24 are connected by levers (not shown) so as to simultaneously move simultaneously. Thus, the four pins 19 are simultaneously raised by the counterclockwise swing of the four levers 21. Therefore, the lower electrode 3
The substrate 10 placed on the upper surface is raised by four pins 19.

On the other hand, when the pin lifting cylinder 52 is driven in reverse and the pusher 25 rises and the roller 25a of the pusher 25 moves away from the right end 26a of the lever 26, the lever 26 rotates around the fulcrum 26d by the urging force of the spring 27. Then, the lever 21 is rotated counterclockwise to swing the lever 21 clockwise around the swing shaft 21c via the forked portion 26b. At this time, since the four levers 21 are simultaneously swung clockwise by the connecting rod 24 or the like, the four pins 19 are simultaneously lowered.

When the lower electrode 3 is raised by driving the piston rod 16a by driving the electrode lifting cylinder 16, the piston rod 1 of the electrode lifting cylinder 16 is moved upward.
6a, the lever 29 also rises, and the lever 2
The lower end roller 29a of 9 pushes up the left end 26c of the lever 26 upward, and the lever 26 rotates clockwise around its fulcrum 26d. Therefore, the lever 26 is rotated clockwise in the same manner as when the right end 26a of the lever 26 is pushed down by the roller 25a of the pusher 25 of the pin elevating cylinder 52, so that the four pins 19 are simultaneously raised. As a result, the four pins 19 can be raised simultaneously with the raising operation of the lower electrode 3.

On the other hand, when the lower electrode 3 is lowered by the reverse drive of the electrode lifting cylinder 16, the lever 26 rotates counterclockwise by the action of the spring 27, and each lever 21 swings clockwise. Also lowers in synchronization with the operation of the lower electrode 3. Thereby, the lower electrode 3
The four pins 19 can be moved up and down in synchronism with each other, and the positional relationship between the tip of each pin 19 and the upper surface of the lower electrode 3 does not change regardless of the elevating operation. As a result of the positional relationship not changing, it is possible to prevent a large depression from being formed between the tip of the pin 19 and the upper surface of the lower electrode 3 even when the lower electrode is located at the thin film forming position. By doing this,
The space into which the discharge enters the pin hole can always be kept small, and the sneak of the discharge into the pin hole can be effectively prevented.

Although the mechanism for raising and lowering the pin 19 and the mechanism for driving the lower electrode 3 are mechanically connected in the above description,
The same effect can be obtained even if the lifting mechanism of the pin 19 and the driving mechanism of the lower electrode 3 are independently controlled and synchronized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing a substrate pushing-up mechanism using a swing link in a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view showing a substrate push-up mechanism in which a pin and an electrode are vertically moved in a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory view of a conventional substrate push-up mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 chamber 2 heater 3 lower electrode 4 upper electrode 17 mounting flange 18 guide 19 pin 20 pin hole 21, 26, 29 lever 22, 25a, 29a roller 23 boss 24 connecting rod 25 pusher 27 spring

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H01L 21/68 H01L 21/205 // H01L 21/205 21/302 B (72) Inventor Hiroshi Tanabe 1006 Odakadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Address Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A substrate heating means (2) and an electrode lifting / lowering means (16) for mounting said substrate in a reaction chamber (1) for processing a substrate (10) by plasma of a processing gas in a vacuum state.
A substrate push-up mechanism that raises and lowers the substrate with respect to the electrode (3) having: a substrate push-up pin (19) penetrating through the through-hole (20) of the electrode; and a through-hole provided in the electrode. A pin elevating guide (18) for guiding the elevating and lowering of the pin by concentrically raising and lowering the pin in the through hole; and moving integrally with the pin in the elevating direction of the pin. On the other hand, a drive unit (23, 2) movably connected in a direction different from the elevating direction according to the thermal expansion of the electrode when the electrode is heated by the substrate heating means.
2) a pin lifting drive mechanism (21, 42) for driving the pins up and down by driving the pins up and down. 2. The pin lifting / lowering drive mechanism includes a pin lifting / lowering means (42) and a swing shaft (21) driven by the pin lifting / lowering means.
c) a pin raising / lowering lever (21) swinging around; and the driving unit includes a roller (22) rotatably provided at one end of the pin lifting / lowering lever, and a lower end of the pin. The pin has a groove (23d) extending in a direction perpendicular to the elevating direction of the pin, and the electrode of the pin elevating drive mechanism is heated by the substrate heating means in the groove in the roller of the driving unit. The pin is moved movably along a direction perpendicular to the elevating direction according to the thermal expansion of the electrode when the electrode is moved, and the pin elevating means is swung by the driving of the pin elevating means, whereby the roller is rotated. The pin having the groove fitted to the roller is moved up and down to move up and down.
2. The substrate push-up mechanism according to 1. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an electrode lifting mechanism (16, 26, 27, 100) for raising and lowering the electrode and raising and lowering the pin in synchronization with the raising and lowering operation of the electrode. The substrate push-up mechanism described in the above. 4. An electrode raising / lowering mechanism (16, 26, 27) for raising / lowering the electrode and raising / lowering the pin in synchronization with the raising / lowering operation of the electrode, wherein the electrode raising / lowering mechanism raises / lowers the electrode. An electrode elevating means (16) for rotating the pin elevating means by rotating it around a fulcrum when the electrode elevating means elevates and lowers the electrode and when the pin elevating mechanism is driven up and down.
3. The substrate push-up mechanism according to claim 2, further comprising: (6).