JPH10286452A - Treating device equipped with treating container having direct action mechanism and rotational drive mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a treating device equipped with a treating container which hardly receives the influence of the thermal distortion by heating of an object to be treated and is capable of supplying the generation of the microdust within the treating container. SOLUTION: This treating device has two pieces of driving support shafts 2a, (2b) reaching the outside through the wall of the treating container 1 and is provided with linear motors 4a, (4b) for translational movement of these shafts within the container on their one end side. The holding table 6 of a substrate 8 is cantilever supported on the other end side of these driving support shafts. The container is provided with vacuum bellows 5a, (5b) so as to maintain the airtightness in the container at the point where the driving support shaft penetrates the container. The lower side of the holding base is provided with a rotational drive shaft 12, which vertically moves at its one end side through an opening 6a disposed at the holding base, is capable of vertically moving the substrate and is rotatable and passes at the other end side through the bottom wall of the container to the outside and reaches the outside. The container is provided with a cylinder 13 and a motor 14 for vertically moving and rotationally driving this rotational drive shaft.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing apparatus having a processing container having a linear motion mechanism for moving a holding member for holding a processing object in a processing container and a rotation driving mechanism for rotating the processing object. . This type of processing apparatus is particularly suitable for an apparatus that performs processing with a laser beam on a processing target such as glass in a vacuum or an inert gas atmosphere in a processing container, such as a laser annealing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A laser annealing apparatus will be described as an example of this type of processing apparatus. When performing laser annealing by a laser annealing apparatus, an object to be processed is held in a holding table and placed in a vacuum vessel, and the surface of the object to be processed is irradiated with laser light through a quartz window. By moving the holding table in the vacuum vessel, a large area on the surface of the processing object can be sequentially irradiated with laser light.

A drive shaft extending to the outside of the vacuum vessel is attached to the holding table, and can be moved by a linear guide mechanism arranged in the vacuum vessel. The holding table can be moved by reciprocating the drive shaft in the axial direction. In addition, a bellows is attached as an airtight mechanism between the drive shaft outside the vacuum vessel and the wall of the vacuum vessel, and the airtightness of the vacuum vessel is maintained.

[0004]

In order to stably obtain the effect of laser annealing, an object to be processed may be heated. For this reason, a heater is embedded in the holding table.
When the holding table is heated, an extra force is applied to the sliding portion of the linear guide mechanism due to thermal strain. This extra force makes it difficult for the holder to move, and in extreme cases, makes it immovable.

[0005] Further, since the sliding portion of the linear guide mechanism is disposed in the vacuum container, minute dust is generated from the sliding portion due to friction, and the inside of the vacuum container is contaminated.

[0006] Further, depending on the form of processing on the object to be processed, it may be necessary to rotate the object to be processed in a vacuum vessel in a horizontal state. However, the conventional processing apparatus does not have such a rotation driving function,
There are restrictions on the form of processing.

An object of the present invention is to provide a processing container which can omit the guide mechanism in the processing container, is less susceptible to thermal distortion due to heating of the processing object, and can suppress generation of minute dust in the processing container. The object of the present invention is to provide a processing device provided with the same.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a processing apparatus having a rotation driving mechanism for horizontally rotating an object to be processed in a processing container, and further having a processing container capable of finely adjusting the rotation angle. It is in.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a processing container maintained in an airtight state, and at least one end disposed inside the processing container and one end of which is led out to the outside through a wall of the processing container. Two driving spindles, and at a position where the driving spindle penetrates the wall of the processing container, the driving spindle can be translated in the axial direction thereof, and airtightness in the processing container. An airtight mechanism that separates the inside and the outside of the processing container, and the driving support shaft is provided outside the processing container so that the driving shaft can be translated in the axial direction with respect to the processing container so that the property is maintained. A guide mechanism that supports the driving spindle, and a first driving mechanism that is attached to one end of the driving spindle and that translates the driving spindle in the axial direction with respect to the processing container. In the processing container, a support is provided at the other end of the driving support shaft. A holding member for holding the object to be processed, and a lower side of the holding member, one end of which is vertically moved through an opening provided in the holding member to move the object to be processed vertically and rotatable. A rotating drive part whose other end penetrates through the wall of the processing container and is led to the outside, and a second drive mechanism for vertically moving and rotating the rotation drive part. A processing apparatus including a processing container having a linear motion mechanism and a rotation drive mechanism is provided.

The rotation drive section includes a first shaft that can only move up and down by a cylinder disposed outside the processing container, and a rotation shaft disposed around the first shaft and disposed outside the processing container. A cylindrical second rotary drive driven by an arranged motor
A support plate for vertically moving the object to be processed by moving up and down by an upper end of the first shaft;
And a bellows mechanism that is provided between the upper end of the shaft and expands and contracts by the vertical movement of the support plate and rotates the support plate by rotation of the second shaft.

A heating means for heating the object to be processed is provided on at least the inner wall of the processing container among the inner wall of the processing container and the holding member.

Further, it is preferable that the guide mechanism and the first drive mechanism are constituted by a linear motor having a linear guide mechanism.

The second drive mechanism is used for coarsely adjusting the rotation angle of the object to be processed, and the rotation angle of the object to be processed is obtained by differential operation of two linear motors in the first drive mechanism. Can be fine-tuned.

[0014]

With the first drive mechanism, the drive shaft can be translated in the axial direction, and the holding member fixed to the drive shaft also moves. Since there is no sliding portion in the processing container, contamination in the processing container due to minute dust caused by friction in the sliding portion can be prevented. Further, even if the holding member is heated and generates thermal strain, the sliding portion is not affected by the thermal strain because there is no sliding portion in the processing container. For this reason,
Even if the holding member is heated, the holding member can be moved smoothly.

By the second drive mechanism, the object to be processed can be rotated to a desired rotation angle in accordance with the form of processing, and after the second drive mechanism is driven to rotate, the two drive mechanisms in the first drive mechanism are used. Fine adjustment of the rotation angle of the processing object is performed by the differential operation of the linear motor.

[0016]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan sectional view of a processing container according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1, and FIG. Line 1-
B shows a schematic sectional view respectively.

Driving support shafts 2a and 2b for forming a linear motion mechanism are provided in a processing container 1 capable of evacuating the inside.
Are arranged parallel to each other. Driving spindles 2a and 2
One end of “b” extends through the side wall of the processing container 1 to the outside. The processing vessel 1 is evacuated, and after that, an inert gas may be introduced in some cases.

One end of each of the drive shafts 2a and 2b is connected to linear motors 4a and 4b having a linear guide mechanism via a supporting structure 3, and driven by these linear motors 4a and 4b. It is driven in the axial direction of the support shafts 2a and 2b. By driving the linear motors 4a and 4b, the driving support shafts 2a and 2b can be translated in the axial direction.

The portions of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b that are led out of the processing vessel 1 are covered with vacuum bellows 5a and 5b as an airtight mechanism. Vacuum bellows 5a,
One end of 5b is attached to the side wall of the processing container 1, and the other end is attached to the linear motors 4a and 4b. The airtightness of the processing container 1 is maintained by such vacuum bellows 5a and 5b.

A holding table 6 is disposed in the processing container 1. The holding table 6 is fixed to the other end side of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b, and is supported by a so-called cantilever support structure. An opening 6a is provided at the center of the holding table 6, and a plurality of pins 7 protrude from the upper surface around the opening 6a. A substrate 8 such as glass to be annealed is placed on the pins 7. . A heater 9a is provided in a lower area where the holding table 6 moves.
Heaters 9 b are arranged on the inner wall of the ceiling of the processing container 1. The substrate 8 is heated by these heaters 9a and 9b. The heater may be provided only on the inner wall of the ceiling of the processing container 1. A quartz window 1-1 is provided on the upper surface of the processing chamber 1, and laser light from the optical system 10 is introduced into the processing chamber 1 through the quartz window 1-1.

The substrate 8 can be moved in the processing chamber 1 by driving the linear motors 4a and 4b to translate the driving support shafts 2a and 2b in the axial direction. Linear motors 4a and 4 for moving the holding table 6
Although a detailed description of the drive control of b is omitted, linear encoders 11a and 11b are provided on the side surfaces of the linear motors 4a and 4b, respectively. The position detection signals from the linear encoders 11a and 11b are fed back to the drive control systems of the linear motors 4a and 4b,
Is controlled so as to follow the target position value.

In this embodiment, a rotation drive mechanism for rotating the substrate 8 in a horizontal state is provided in addition to the above-described linear movement mechanism. This rotation drive mechanism is located below the holding table 6, and one end moves up and down and rotates through an opening 6 a provided in the holding table 6 to move the substrate 8 up and down and rotates, and the other end side holds the processing vessel 1. And a rotary drive shaft 12 extending to the outside through the bottom wall of the motor.

In particular, in the present embodiment, the rotary drive shaft 12
To a first shaft 12-1 that can be moved up and down by a cylinder 13.
And the motor 1 disposed around the first shaft 12-1.
4 and a cylindrical second shaft 12-2 driven to rotate. That is, the first shaft 12-1 can only move up and down, and the second shaft 12-2 can only rotate. A support plate 15 for mounting the substrate 8 is provided on the upper end side of the first shaft 12-1. A vacuum bellows 16 is provided between the support plate 15 and the upper end of the second shaft 12-2. Is provided. The support plate 15 is smaller in size than the opening 6 a provided in the holding table 6, moves up through the opening 6 a of the holding table 6 together with the upward movement of the first shaft 12-1, and separates the substrate 8 from the holding table 6. Let it. The support plate 15 also rotates together with the vacuum bellows 16 when the second shaft 12-2 rotates to rotate the substrate 8. The vacuum bellows 16 is attached to the first shaft 1
It suppresses minute dust generated by friction between the 2-1 and the second shaft 12-2 from flowing out into the processing container 1.

The rotational force of the motor 14 is transmitted to the second shaft 12-2 via the steel belt 17 here. A rotation introducing member 18 made of a magnetic fluid is provided between the second shaft 12-2 and the bottom wall of the processing chamber 1.

This rotation drive mechanism rotates the substrate 8 by a desired angle according to the processing mode of the substrate 8. That is,
The support plate 15 is usually below the holding table 6. When the substrate 8 needs to be rotated, the rotation is performed in a state where the opening 6 a of the holding table 6 is directly above the support plate 15. First, first
Is moved upward to separate the substrate 8 from the holding table 6,
Next, the second shaft 12-2 is rotated to rotate the substrate 8 by a desired angle. When the rotation is completed, the first shaft 12-1 is moved down, and the substrate 8 is mounted on the holding table 6 again.

In the rotation by the rotation drive mechanism,
In principle, it is difficult to position an angle on the order of several microns, and minute rotation angle correction is performed by the differential operation of the two linear motors 4a and 4b in the linear motion mechanism. That is, by giving a minute difference to the displacement by the two linear motors 4a and 4b, the holding table 6 can be rotated by a minute angle.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the entire laser annealing apparatus provided with the above-mentioned processing container. The laser annealing apparatus has, in addition to the processing container 1, a transfer chamber 22 for the substrate 8, a carry-in chamber 23, and a carry-out chamber 24. The optical system 10 includes a homogenizer 41, a CCD camera 42, and a video monitor 43.

The processing chamber 1 and the transfer chamber 22 are connected via a gate valve 25. Similarly, the transfer chamber 22 and the carry-in chamber 23, and the transfer chamber 22 and the carry-out chamber 24 are connected via gate valves 26 and 27, respectively. Vacuum pumps 31, 32 are provided in the processing container 1, the carry-in chamber 23 and the carry-out chamber 24, respectively.
And 33 are provided, and the inside of each chamber is evacuated when the substrate 8 is transferred.

A transfer robot 28 is housed in the transfer chamber 22. The transfer robot 28 transfers the processed substrate or the unprocessed substrate between the processing container 1, the loading chamber 23, and the unloading chamber 24.

In the optical system 10, the laser beam output from the excimer laser device 44 that has oscillated the pulse is incident on the homogenizer 41 through the attenuator 45.
The homogenizer 41 changes the cross-sectional shape of the laser beam into an elongated shape. The laser beam that has passed through the homogenizer 41 is an elongated quartz window 1-1 corresponding to the cross-sectional shape of the laser beam.
And irradiates the substrate in the processing container 1 with the light. Homogenizer 41 so that the surface of the substrate coincides with the homogenized surface.
The relative position between the substrate and the substrate is adjusted.

The substrate is moved in a direction orthogonal to the long axis direction of the quartz window 1-1 by the linear motion mechanism described with reference to FIG. By moving the substrate at such a speed that part of the irradiation area for one shot overlaps part of the irradiation area in the previous shot, a large area on the substrate surface can be irradiated. The substrate surface is photographed by the CCD camera 42, and the substrate surface being processed can be observed on the video monitor 43.

The linear motors 4a, 4b, the cylinder 13,
Motor 14, gate valves 25 to 27, transfer robot 28, homogenizer 41, and excimer laser device 44
Is controlled by the control device 40.

Returning to FIGS. 1 to 3, the substrate 8 is moved while irradiating a laser beam having a long sectional shape in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the substrate 8 to thereby move the substrate 8.
Can be annealed over a wide area of the surface. Especially,
By heating the substrate 8, the effect of laser annealing can be stabilized.

In the linear motion mechanism and the rotary drive mechanism according to the present embodiment, there is no sliding portion in the processing container 1. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the inside of the processing container 1 from being contaminated by minute dust caused by friction in the sliding portion. Further, even if the holding table 6 is heated and thermal distortion occurs, the linear guide mechanism is provided in the linear motors 4a and 4b and is outside the processing vessel 1 and is not affected by thermal distortion. Therefore, the holding table 6 can be stably moved even when the holding table 6 is heated.

In the above embodiment, a linear motor is used as the drive source, but another linear drive source may be used.
For example, a combination of a rotary motor and a ball screw may be used. In the above embodiment, the laser annealing apparatus has been described as an example. However, the processing container shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 can be applied to other apparatuses. For example, the present invention is also effective for a processing container that requires a linear motion mechanism and a rotary drive mechanism in an environment that needs to be isolated from the outside, such as when a special chemical is used.

In the above-described embodiment, the holding table 6 is supported in a cantilever manner by the driving support shafts 2a and 2b. However, the present invention is not limited to such a form, and the holding table is not limited thereto. The present invention is also applicable to a form in which two driving support shafts support like a so-called pestle. Briefly speaking of this structure, the processing vessel, two driving spindles disposed in the processing vessel, both ends of which are penetrated to the outside through the wall of the processing vessel, and At a point penetrating through the wall of the processing container, so that the driving support shaft can be translated in the axial direction, and so that the inside of the processing container is kept airtight, an airtight mechanism that separates the inside from the outside, A linear guide mechanism that is attached to one end of the driving support shaft and supports the driving support shaft so that the driving support shaft can translate in the axial direction with respect to the processing chamber; A driving mechanism attached to the other end for axially translating the driving support shaft relative to the processing container; and a holding unit mounted on the driving support shaft in the processing container for holding the processing object And Such an apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 8-32349 filed by the present applicant. However, in this device, since the two driving support shafts are driven integrally by a common driving mechanism, it is difficult to make minute rotation angle corrections. As shown in FIG. 1, this can be realized by separately driving the two drive shafts with separate drive sources, that is, linear motors.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since a linear motion mechanism and a rotation drive mechanism without a sliding portion are obtained in the processing container, contamination in the processing container can be suppressed. Further, even if thermal strain is generated by heating the holding member that holds the processing target, the sliding portion is hardly affected by the thermal strain, so that stable movement can be performed. Furthermore, since the substrate can be rotated according to the processing mode by the rotation drive mechanism, a processing apparatus adaptable to various processing modes can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a processing container according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration when the processing container of FIG. 1 is applied to a laser annealing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Processing container 1-1 Quartz window 2a, 2b Driving spindle 3 Structure 4a, 4b Linear motor 5a, 5b, 16 Vacuum bellows 6 Holder 7 Pin 8 Substrate 9a, 9b Heater 10 Optical system 11a, 11b Linear encoder 12 Rotary drive shaft 12-1 First shaft 12-2 Second shaft 13 Cylinder 14 Motor 15 Support plate 17 Steel belt 22 Transfer chamber 23 Load-in chamber 24 Load-out chamber 25-27 Gate valve 28 Transfer robot 31-33 Vacuum pump 40 Control device 41 Homogenizer 42 CCD camera 43 Video monitor 44 Excimer laser device 45 Attenuator

Claims (5)

[Claims] A processing container maintained in an airtight state, at least two driving shafts disposed in the processing container, one end of which is led out to the outside through a wall of the processing container; At a point where the driving support shaft passes through the wall of the processing container, the driving support shaft can be translated in the axial direction thereof, and the hermeticity in the processing container is maintained.
An airtight mechanism for isolating the inside and the outside of the processing container, and a driving support shaft provided outside the processing container and supporting the driving support shaft so that the driving support shaft can translate in the axial direction with respect to the processing container. A first guide mechanism which is attached to one end of the driving support shaft and which translates the driving support shaft in the axial direction with respect to the processing container.
And a holding member that is supported by the other end of the driving support shaft in the processing container and holds the object to be processed. A rotation drive unit, which is vertically movable through the provided opening to vertically move the object to be processed and is rotatable, and the other end of the rotation drive unit extends to the outside through a wall of the processing container; and And a second drive mechanism for vertically moving and rotating the apparatus. A processing apparatus comprising a processing container having a linear movement mechanism and a rotation drive mechanism. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the rotation driving unit includes a first shaft that can only move up and down by a cylinder disposed outside the processing container, and a rotation shaft disposed around the first shaft and outside the processing container. A cylindrical second shaft that is rotationally driven by an arranged motor; a support plate that moves up and down by the upper end of the first shaft to move the processing object up and down; The bellows mechanism provided between the upper end of the shaft and extending and contracting by the vertical movement of the support plate and rotating the support plate by rotation of the second shaft is provided. Processing equipment. 3. A heating means for heating the object to be processed is provided on at least an inner wall of the processing container among the inner wall of the processing container and the holding member. Processing equipment. 4. The guide mechanism and the first drive mechanism,
4. The processing apparatus according to claim 3, comprising a linear motor having a linear guide mechanism. 5. The second drive mechanism is capable of roughly adjusting the rotation angle of the processing object, and the rotation angle of the processing object is obtained by differential operation of two linear motors in the first drive mechanism. The processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the fine adjustment is performed.