JPH10296071A - Treatment device equipped with treatment vessel having direct-acting mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a treatment device equipped with a treatment vessel in which it is difficult that receives effect of thermal strain caused by heating a treatment object and fine refuse is inhibited from being generated therein. SOLUTION: Both ends of two pieces of supporting shafts 2a, 2b for driving perforate the wall of a treatment vessel 1 and reach the outside. Linear motors 4a, 4b are provided on both sides thereof to translationally move the supporting shafts 2a, 2b in the vessel. A holding stand 6 of a base plate is supported by the supporting shafts 2a, 2b for driving in the vessel. Vacuum bellows 5a, 5b are provided so as to hold airtightness in the inside of the vessel 1 in the part in which the supporting shafts 2a, 2b for driving perforate the wall of the vessel 1. The holding stand 6 is supported by supporting members provided in two pieces of supporting shafts 2a, 2b for driving in one end part in the moving direction and in the other end part on the opposite side. Moreover, the supporting member in one end part is supported so that the holding stand 6 is freely moved on the supporting face thereof. The supporting member in the other end part is fitted to the holding stand 6 through a bearing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing apparatus provided with a processing container having a linear motion mechanism for moving a holding table for holding an object to be processed in the processing container. 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.

Further, depending on the form of processing on the object to be processed, it may be necessary to perform precise positioning by slightly rotating the object to be processed horizontally in a vacuum vessel. However, the conventional processing apparatus does not have such a minute rotation function, and there is a limitation in 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 provided with a processing container in which a holding table can be horizontally rotated by a small angle in the processing container.

[0009]

According to the present invention, a processing vessel maintained in an airtight state, and disposed inside the processing vessel, both ends of which are led out through the wall of the processing vessel to the outside. Two driving spindles, and at a location where the two driving spindles penetrate the wall of the processing container,
So that the drive shaft can be translated in the axial direction,
And an airtight mechanism for isolating the inside of the processing container from the outside so that airtightness in the processing container is maintained, and an airtight mechanism attached to at least one end of the two driving support shafts, Two drive mechanisms capable of moving the support shafts independently in the axial direction with respect to the processing container, and in the processing container, the two support mechanisms are supported by the two drive support shafts, and the processing object is supported. And a support for holding the support, wherein the support is supported at one end and the other end in the movement direction by a support member provided on the two drive shafts, and The support member at the portion supports the holding table so that it can move freely on its support surface, and the support member at the other end is attached to the holding table via a bearing. By having the above two Processing apparatus including a processing container having a linear motion mechanism, characterized in that the differential operation of the rotation mechanism to allow for fine adjustment of the rotation angle of the holder is provided.

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

Further, it is preferable that each of the two driving mechanisms is constituted by a linear motor.

[0012]

The driving shaft can be translated in the axial direction by the two driving mechanisms, and the holding table fixed to the driving shaft also moves. Since there is no sliding part in the processing container,
It is possible to prevent the inside of the processing container from being contaminated by minute dust caused by friction in the sliding portion. Further, even if the holding table 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. Therefore, even if the holding table is heated, the holding table can be moved smoothly.

[0013]

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

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
Both ends of b are led out to the outside through the side wall of the processing container 1. The processing vessel 1 is evacuated, and after that, an inert gas may be introduced in some cases.

Both ends of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b are connected to linear motors 4a and 4b having a linear guide mechanism via a supporting structure 3, respectively. The drive shafts 2a and 2b are driven by these linear motors 4a and 4b.
Are driven independently of each other in the axial direction.

A portion of each of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b extended out of the processing container 1 is covered with a vacuum bellows 5a, 5b as an airtight mechanism. Vacuum bellows 5a,
One end of 5 b is attached to the side wall of the processing container 1, and the other end is attached to the structure 3. The airtightness of the processing container 1 is maintained by such vacuum bellows 5a and 5b.

A holding table 6 is arranged in the processing vessel 1. The holding table 6 is supported by the driving support shafts 2a and 2b, and the supporting structure will be described later. Holder 6
A plurality of pins 7 protrude from the upper surface of the substrate, and a substrate 8 made of glass or the like to be annealed is placed on the pins 7. A heater 9 is embedded in the holding table 6. The substrate 8 is heated by the heater 9. Note that the heater may be provided on the inner wall of the processing container 1, for example, on the inner wall of the ceiling.
May be arranged in the lower area where the robot moves. A quartz window 1-1 is provided on the upper surface of the processing chamber 1, and laser light from an optical system is introduced into the processing chamber 1 through the quartz window 1-1.

By driving the linear motors 4a and 4b to translate the driving support shafts 2a and 2b in the axial direction, the substrate 8 can be moved together with the holding table 6 in the processing container 1. Although detailed description of the drive control of the linear motors 4a and 4b for moving the holding table 6 is omitted, linear encoders 11a and 11b are provided on 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, and control is performed so as to follow the position target value of the holding table 6.

In this embodiment, the driving support shafts 2a and 2a
b, on each side thereof, a linear motor 4a,
4b, but the linear motor 4
a and 4b may be provided only on one end side of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b. In this case, a linear guide mechanism is provided on the other end of the driving support shafts 2a and 2b, and it is not necessary to install the linear encoders 11a and 11b on the other end.

Next, a support structure of the holding table 6 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6, for convenience, the holding table 6 is shown as a single plate. The holding table 6 is supported at one end in the movement direction and the other end on the opposite side by support mechanisms 15a, 15b, and 16a, 16b provided on the two driving support shafts 2a, 2b. Moreover, the support mechanisms 15a, 15b at one end are provided.
Supports the holding table 6 so that it can move freely on the supporting surface. On the other hand, the support mechanism 16 at the other end
a and 16b are attached to the holding base 6 via bearings.

The supporting mechanisms 15a and 15b are respectively movably movable with the driving support shafts 2a and 2b.
b, and a ceramic ball is freely rotatably provided on a support portion thereof via a ball support. Thereby, the holding table 6 can freely move on the support surface, that is, on the ceramic balls.

As for the support mechanism 16a, referring also to FIG. 6, an attaching portion 16a attached to the driving support shaft 2a.
-1 and a support shaft portion 16 connecting the mounting portion 16a-1 and the holding base 6 via a deep groove ball bearing 16a-3.
a-2. That is, the support shaft 16a-2 has the support shaft 16a-4 extending upward, and the support shaft 16a-4.
Is inserted into a deep groove ball bearing 16a-3 housed in a cylindrical body 16a-5 fixed to the holding table 6. Thus, the support shaft 16a-4 is rotatable within the deep groove ball bearing 16a-3. This is the same for the support mechanism 16b.

The linear motors 4a, 4a, 4b are supported by the support mechanisms 15a, 15b and the support mechanisms 16a, 16b as described above.
b, that is, by finely adjusting the rotation angle of the holding table 6 by giving a small difference in the amount of displacement between the driving support shafts 2a and 2b. Such fine adjustment of the rotation angle is necessary when the substrate 8 on the holding table 6 is positioned at a predetermined position in the processing container 1. Incidentally, the distance L1 between the driving support shafts 2a and 2b shown in FIG.
m, when the distance L2 between the support center points of the two support mechanisms 16b is 150 mm, ± 0.5 mm in the differential operation of ± 1.5 mm
Degree rotation angle can be obtained.

The support mechanisms 15a, 15b and 16
A and 16b can take various forms. For example, the support mechanisms 16a and 16b may use an angular ball bearing, a cross roller bearing, or the like instead of the deep groove ball bearing.

FIG. 7 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 for laser light irradiation is a homogenizer 4
1. It comprises 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, the laser beam output from the excimer laser device 44 that has emitted a 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
The substrate in the processing chamber 1 is irradiated through the elongated quartz window 1-1 corresponding to the sectional shape of the laser beam. The relative position between the homogenizer 41 and the substrate is adjusted so that the surface of the substrate coincides with the homogenized surface.

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.

Linear motors 4a, 4b, gate valve 2
The operations of 5 to 27, the transfer robot 28, the homogenizer 41, and the excimer laser device 44 are controlled by the control device 40.

Returning to FIGS. 1 and 2, the substrate 8 is moved while irradiating a laser beam having a long cross-sectional shape in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the substrate 8 so that 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 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 generates thermal distortion, the guide mechanism is provided in the linear motors 4a and 4b and is outside the processing container 1 and is not affected by the thermal distortion. Therefore, the holding table 6 can be stably moved even when the holding table 6 is heated. In particular, the linear motor can drive the holding table 6 at high speed, and can also perform positioning with high accuracy. In addition, since the holding table 6 can be rotated by a small angle, precise positioning of the substrate 8 on the holding table 6 can be performed.

In the above embodiment, a linear motor is used as a 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 and 2 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.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Because a linear motion mechanism without sliding parts is obtained in the processing container,
Contamination in the processing vessel can be suppressed. Further, even if thermal distortion occurs due to heating of the holding table that holds the processing object, the sliding portion is hardly affected by the thermal distortion, so that stable movement can be performed. Furthermore, since the holding table can be positioned with high speed and high accuracy, and the substrate can be rotated by a minute angle according to the processing mode by the minute angle rotation function of the holding table, the processing can be adapted to various processing modes. The device 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 view for explaining two support mechanisms of the holding table shown in FIG. 1;

4 is a view of one of the support mechanisms shown in FIG. 3 as viewed from an axial direction of a driving support shaft.

5 is a view of the other of the support mechanisms shown in FIG. 3 as viewed from an axial direction of a driving support shaft.

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view showing an enlarged view of the other support mechanism shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 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 support shaft 3 Structure 4a, 4b Linear motor 5a, 5b, 16 Vacuum bellows 6 Holder 7 Pin 8 Substrate 9 Heater 11a, 11b Linear encoder 15a, 15b Supporting mechanism 16a , 16b support mechanism 22 transfer chamber 23 carry-in chamber 24 carry-out chamber 25-27 gate valve 28 transfer robot 31-33 vacuum pump 40 controller 41 homogenizer 42 CCD camera 43 video monitor 44 excimer laser device 45 attenuator

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A processing container maintained in an airtight state, two driving spindles disposed in the processing container, both ends of which are led out to the outside through respective walls of the processing container, At a position where the two driving support shafts penetrate the wall of the processing container, the two driving support shafts can be translated in the axial direction, and the airtightness in the processing container is maintained. An airtight mechanism for isolating the inside and the outside of the processing container, and attached to at least one end of the two driving shafts, and the two driving shafts are respectively disposed with respect to the processing container. Two holding mechanisms that can be independently moved in the axial direction; and a holding table that is supported by the two driving spindles in the processing container and holds an object to be processed. Is a support member provided on the two drive shafts. The supporting member at one end in the moving direction and the other end on the opposite side, and the supporting member at the one end supports the holding table so that the holding table can move freely on the supporting surface. The support member at the other end is attached to the holder via a bearing, thereby enabling fine adjustment of the rotation angle of the holder by a differential operation of the two drive mechanisms. A processing apparatus provided with a processing container having a linear motion mechanism. 2. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the inner wall of the processing container and the holding table is provided with a heating unit for heating the object to be processed. . 3. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the two driving mechanisms is configured by a linear motor.