JPH11204428A - Thermal treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a thermal treating device wherein, even when a large object is thermally treated in-plane uniformity of processing temperature of the object to be processed is improved. SOLUTION: A thermal treating device comprises a hot plate 32 on which a substrate G is placed, a heater 33 which, being press-fitted to the hot plate 32, heats the substrate G through the hot plate 32, and a reflection plate 60 which, provided on the rear surface and the side surface of the hot plate 32 while facing each other with an interval, reflects the heat radiated from the hot plate 32. In a placement surface 32c of the hot plate 32, an outside frame 62 enclosing the substrate G is provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heat treatment apparatus for heating and processing a large substrate such as an LCD substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In manufacturing a liquid crystal display (LCD), a photoresist liquid is applied to a glass LCD substrate to form a resist film, the resist film is exposed in accordance with a circuit pattern, and developed. That is, a circuit pattern is formed by a so-called photolithography technique.

More specifically, for example, after cleaning an LCD substrate with a cleaning device, the LCD substrate is subjected to a hydrophobic treatment by an adhesion treatment device, and then cooled by a cooling treatment process, and then a photoresist film is applied by a resist coating device. On the surface of the LCD substrate. After that, the photoresist film is heated by a heat treatment device to perform a baking process, a predetermined pattern is exposed by an exposure device, and a developing solution is applied to the exposed LCD substrate by a developing device and developed. The developing solution is washed away with the rinse solution to perform the developing process.

As a heat treatment apparatus for heating an LCD substrate in the above-described development processing, for example, a hot plate for mounting an LCD substrate, a heater for heating the LCD substrate through the hot plate, and a hot plate And an exhaust cover having an exhaust port at the center of the ceiling, and a shutter for opening and closing the processing space are used.

[0005]

Meanwhile, the demand for larger LCD substrates has recently been increasing, and the conventional 650 LCD substrate has been required.
There is a demand for a remarkably large size from 550 mm to 840 mm for example. Thus L
When the size of the CD substrate is increased, the in-plane uniformity of the processing temperature of the LCD substrate tends to deteriorate when the LCD substrate is heated and heat-treated as described above. For example, as the size of the LCD substrate increases, the temperature difference between the center and the periphery of the LCD substrate tends to increase.

Therefore, with the enlargement of the LCD substrate,
It is necessary to more strictly control the influence on the processing temperature in the heat treatment apparatus. There are various possible causes of the variation in the temperature distribution of the LCD substrate, and one of the causes is heat radiation from the hot plate. That is, since the bottom surface and the side wall of the hot plate are exposed to the atmosphere in the processing space, heat is easily generated, so that a temperature difference is easily generated between the central portion and the peripheral portion of the hot plate. Due to the temperature difference of the hot plate, the LCD
A temperature difference occurs between the center and the periphery of the substrate,
The thermal uniformity of the substrate decreases.

[0007] Exhaust during heat treatment is also a factor. In the above-described baking process for heating the photoresist film formed on the LCD substrate, the solvent (eg, thinner) in the photoresist film is volatilized by heating,
In order to remove this from the processing space, exhaust is performed through an exhaust port provided in the exhaust cover. The temperature of the outside of the hot plate or the LCD substrate decreases due to the flow of air generated by the exhaust, so-called disturbance causes a temperature difference between the central portion and the peripheral portion of the hot plate or the LCD substrate.

Heretofore, conventionally, a hot plate has been used in which a heater is built in by casting. In recent years, with the increase in size of LCD substrates, hot plates are required to have higher thermal responsiveness, thinner thickness and lighter weight. Since the thickness can be reduced only up to about 40 mm, there are drawbacks that thermal responsiveness is poor, weight reduction is difficult, and the height of the device is high.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides a heat treatment apparatus capable of improving the in-plane uniformity of the processing temperature of a processing target even when a large processing target is subjected to a heat treatment. The purpose is to do.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an object to be processed is disposed on or above the object, a heating plate for heating the object to be processed, and a heating plate for heating the heating plate. Heater, comprising a reflector that reflects the heat radiated from the heating plate, the reflector,
There is provided a heat treatment apparatus, comprising: a bottom surface portion facing the back surface of the heating plate; and a side wall portion facing the side surface of the heating plate.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the heat treatment apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the side wall portion overlaps a side surface of the heating plate with a portion that is 1/3 to 1/2 of the thickness thereof. provide.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the object to be processed is disposed above or above the object, a heating plate for heating the object to be processed, a heater for heating the heating plate, and a portion of the heating plate on which the object is disposed. A heat treatment apparatus, comprising: an outer frame provided to surround an object to be processed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, an object to be processed is disposed on or above the object, a heating plate for heating the object to be processed, a heater for heating the heating plate, and a processing space above the heating plate. An exhaust cover disposed and having an exhaust port, and a shutter disposed so as to surround the processing space and provided to be able to advance and retreat with respect to the exhaust cover, wherein the exhaust cover and the shutter during heat treatment are provided. The gap, when exhausted through the exhaust port, by the airflow supplied into the processing target space through the gap, to suppress the airflow flowing along the side surface of the heating plate, the heating plate A heat treatment apparatus characterized in that the temperature variation is set to be small.

In a fifth aspect based on the fourth aspect, the gap between the exhaust cover and the shutter at the time of heat treatment is 15 to 2 times.
A heat treatment apparatus characterized in that the heat treatment apparatus is set to 0 mm.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, an object to be processed is disposed above or above the object, a heating plate for heating the object to be processed, a heater for heating the heating plate, and reflecting heat radiated from the heating plate. A reflection plate, an outer frame provided at a portion of the heating plate on which the object is disposed so as to surround the object, and an exhaust cover disposed over the heating plate via a processing space and having an exhaust port. And a shutter disposed so as to surround the processing space, and provided so as to be able to advance and retreat with respect to the exhaust cover, wherein the reflection plate has a bottom surface portion facing the back surface of the heating plate. A side wall portion provided opposite to a side surface of the heating plate, wherein a gap between the exhaust cover and the shutter at the time of heat treatment is exhausted through the exhaust port. A heat treatment, wherein an airflow supplied along the side surface of the heating plate is suppressed by an airflow supplied into the space to be processed through the gap, so that temperature variation of the heating plate is reduced. apparatus. A heat treatment apparatus is provided.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the sixth aspect, the side wall portion of the reflection plate overlaps a side surface of the heating plate with a portion which is ３ to の of a thickness thereof. A heat treatment apparatus is provided.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the heat treatment apparatus according to the sixth or seventh aspect, wherein a gap between the exhaust cover and the shutter during heat treatment is set to 15 to 20 mm.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, an object to be processed is disposed on or above the object, and a heating plate for heating the object to be processed and a heater provided in the heating plate are provided. A heat treatment apparatus characterized in that the heat treatment apparatus is press-fitted into a concave portion formed in the heat treatment apparatus.

According to the first aspect of the invention, since the reflecting plate for reflecting the heat radiated from the heating plate is provided, the heat radiated from the heating plate can be reflected on the heating plate. And this reflection plate has a bottom surface portion arranged opposite to the back surface of the mounting table, and a side wall portion provided opposite to the side surface of the mounting table. Since a reflecting plate is provided correspondingly, heat can be reflected to a portion that dissipates a large amount of heat. Therefore, the heat uniformity of the heating plate can be improved.

As in the second aspect of the present invention, the side wall of the reflection plate is formed so that the side of the heating plate overlaps with the side surface of the heating plate at a portion of 1/3 to 1/2 of the thickness thereof. It can prevent both the temperature drop due to heat radiation and the fact that the temperature becomes too high due to the reflection plate,
The heat uniformity of the heating plate can be further improved.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the outer frame provided to surround the object to be processed is provided at the portion of the heating plate where the object to be processed is disposed, it is possible to suppress air from entering the periphery of the object to be processed. Therefore, disturbance can be suppressed, and in-plane uniformity of the processing temperature of the object can be improved.

In the fourth invention, during the heat treatment, the exhaust is performed in a so-called semi-closed state in which the shutter is brought close to the exhaust cover, and the processing space is incompletely shut off while leaving a gap between the exhaust cover and the shutter. At this time, the exhaust generates an airflow supplied into the processing space through the gap and an airflow flowing upward along the side surface of the heating plate. Of these, if there is a large amount of airflow flowing along the side surface of the plate, heat on the side surface of the heating plate is excessively taken away, and the thermal uniformity of the mounting table is impaired. Therefore, the airflow flowing along the side surface of the heating plate is suppressed by the airflow supplied into the space to be processed through the gap between the exhaust cover and the shutter, and the temperature variation of the heating plate is reduced. With such a setting, it is possible to prevent heat from being taken away from the side surface of the heating plate, and to improve the heat uniformity of the heating plate. In this case, in order to exhibit such a function, the gap between the exhaust cover and the shutter is preferably 15 to 20 mm as in the fifth invention, although it depends on the device design.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the reflecting plate for reflecting the heat radiated from the heating plate of the first aspect of the present invention and the object to be processed of the heating plate of the third aspect of the present invention are provided so as to surround the object to be processed. And a gap between the exhaust cover and the shutter at the time of heat treatment is supplied into the space to be processed through the gap when the air is exhausted through the exhaust port as in the fourth invention. Since the airflow suppresses the airflow flowing along the side surface of the heating plate and the temperature variation of the heating plate is set to be small, the heat uniformity of the heating plate can be remarkably enhanced by a synergistic effect of these. .

According to the seventh and eighth inventions, the second and fifth inventions are applied to the sixth invention, respectively, so that the heat uniformity of the heating plate can be further improved.

According to the ninth aspect, since the heater is press-fitted into the recess formed in the heating plate, it is not necessary to make the heating plate thicker as in the conventional casting type. Therefore, the heating plate can be manufactured to have a better thermal responsiveness, a lighter weight, and a thickness that is more resistant to disturbance than conventional ones.

[0026]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an LCD substrate coating / developing processing system to which the present invention is applied.

This coating / developing processing system includes a cassette station 1 on which a cassette C accommodating a plurality of substrates G is placed, and a plurality of processing units for performing a series of processes including resist coating and developing on the substrates G. And a transport mechanism 3 for transporting the LCD substrate between the cassette C on the cassette station 1 and the processing unit 2. Then, the cassette C is loaded and unloaded at the cassette station 1. The transport mechanism 3 includes a transport arm 11 movable along a transport path 12 provided along the direction in which the cassettes are arranged.
1, the substrate G is transported between the cassette C and the processing unit 2.

The processing section 2 is divided into a front section 2a and a rear section 2b.
6, and each processing unit is disposed on both sides of these transport paths. A relay unit 17 is provided between these.
Is provided.

The front section 2a is provided with a main transport unit 18 movable along the transport path unit 15,
On one side, two sets of heating processing units 21 stacked in two layers vertically, and an adhesion processing unit 22 and a cooling unit 23 provided above and below adjacent thereto are arranged, and on the other side, Cleaning unit 24
And a development processing unit 25.

On the other hand, the rear stage 2b is
The main transport device 19 that can move along the path is provided, and on one side of the transport path unit 16, three sets of heat treatment units 28 that are stacked in two stages are arranged, and the other of the transport path unit 16 is On the side, a resist coating unit 26 and a peripheral resist removing unit 27 for removing the resist in the peripheral portion of the substrate G are arranged. Heating unit 2
Reference numeral 8 denotes pre-baking for stabilizing the resist, post-exposure baking after exposure, and post-baking after development. Note that an interface unit 30 for transferring the substrate G to and from an exposure apparatus (not shown) is provided at the rear end of the rear stage unit 2b.

The relay unit 17 is provided with a cooling processing unit 29 which is two-tiered at a position adjacent to the heating processing unit 28, and at a position facing the cooling processing unit 29, A transfer device approach path 82 is provided.

The main transfer device 18 transfers the substrate G to and from the arm 11 of the transfer mechanism 3, and loads and unloads the substrate G to and from each processing unit in the former stage 2a.
Further, it has a function of transferring the board G to and from the relay section 17. The main transfer device 19 transfers the substrate G to and from the relay unit 17, and loads and unloads the substrate G to and from each of the processing units in the subsequent unit 2 b, and further transfers the substrate G to and from the interface unit 30. Has the function of performing

By consolidating and integrating the processing units in this manner, space can be saved and processing efficiency can be improved.

In the coating / developing processing system configured as described above, the substrate G in the cassette C is transported to the processing unit 2, where the substrate G is first cleaned by the cleaning unit 24, After being heated and dried in one of the components 21, it is subjected to hydrophobic treatment in an adhesion processing unit 22 in order to enhance the fixability of the resist, cooled in a cooling unit 23, and then coated with a resist in a resist coating unit 26 to remove peripheral resist. Substrate G in unit 27
Excess resist on the periphery of the substrate is removed. Then, the substrate G
Is subjected to a pre-baking process in one of the heat treatment units 28, cooled in a cooling unit 29, and then conveyed to an exposure device via an interface unit 30, where a predetermined pattern is exposed. Then, it is carried in again via the interface unit 30 and subjected to post-exposure bake processing in one of the heat processing units 28. After that, the substrate G cooled by the cooling unit 29 is developed by the developing unit 25 to form a predetermined circuit pattern. The developed substrate G is stored in a predetermined cassette on the cassette station 1 by the main transfer device 18 and the transfer mechanism 3.

Next, the heat treatment units 21 and 28 used as the heat treatment apparatus according to the present embodiment, which are used in the above-described coating and developing system, will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the heat processing units 21 and 28 include a case 31 having an opening 31a facing the transport path 16 side, and a case 3
A hot plate 32 for heating a substrate G accommodated in the hot plate 1
And an exhaust cover 41 disposed so as to cover the upper part of the case 31 in a state where the processing space 40 is formed between the processing space 40 and the hot plate 32. And a shutter 50 that can be moved forward and backward. An exhaust port 42 is provided at the center of the ceiling of the exhaust cover 41.

The hot plate 32 is made of, for example, an aluminum alloy. In this example, the thickness of the hot plate 32 is 30 mm. On the back side of the hot plate 32, a heater 3 for heating the hot plate 32 is provided.
3 are provided. The heater 33 has a pipe shape, and as shown in FIG.
By being press-fitted into the plurality of recesses 32a formed on the d side, as shown in FIG.

Further, a temperature sensor (not shown) is provided on the hot plate 32, and the processing temperature is fed back to a control unit (not shown) so that the processing temperature can be set to a predetermined processing temperature of, for example, 120 to 150 ° C.

The hot plate 32 is provided with, for example, four through holes 32b. Support pins 34 for supporting the substrate G at the time of substrate transfer are inserted through these through holes 32b. The support pin 34 is held by a holding member 35 provided below the hot plate 32. The holding member 35 is connected to a lifting mechanism (not shown). Therefore, by raising and lowering the holding member 35 by the lifting mechanism, the support pin 34
The hot plate 32 can come and go with respect to the surface 32c.

The substrate G may be placed on the hot plate 32, or a proximity type which is held above the hot plate 32 without being in contact with the hot plate 32 by support pins 34 or spacers (not shown). It may be.

In the case 31 of the heat treatment apparatus 26, there is provided a reflecting plate 60 for reflecting heat radiated from the hot plate 32.
Is provided. As shown in FIG. 4, for example, the reflecting plate 60 faces a back surface 32d of the hot plate 32 and is disposed at a predetermined distance from a bottom surface portion 60a, and faces a side surface 32e of the hot plate 32 and has a predetermined surface. And a side wall portion 60b arranged at an interval.

The reflection plate 60 is mounted on a base member 63 mounted on the bottom of the case 31, as shown in FIG. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, the hot plate 3
2 is placed. Thereby, the space between the hot plate 32 and the bottom surface portion 60a of the reflection plate 60 is separated. The distance between the hot plate 32 and the reflector 60 is not particularly limited, but is preferably selected as appropriate so that the hot plate 32 has the highest thermal uniformity.

An outer frame 62 is provided on the surface 32c of the hot plate 32 so as to surround the periphery of the substrate G at a slight interval. The height of the outer frame 62 is not particularly limited, but may be higher than the height of the surface of the substrate G, and is, for example, 5 mm.

As shown in FIG. 5, the shutter 50 has a shape in which an inward horizontal piece 50b is provided at the upper end of a rectangular cylindrical main body 50a. Blankets 51 are protrudingly provided at the lower ends at the center on both sides of the main body 50a. As shown in FIG. 6, the blanket 51 is held up and down by a guide member 52 erected on the bottom surface of the case 31. Further, the blanket 51 is connected to a piston rod 54 of an air cylinder 53 as a lifting / lowering means,
The air cylinder 53 is configured to be able to move up and down by being driven. Therefore, the shutter 50 can be moved up and down by the air cylinder 53 so as to move forward and backward with respect to the exhaust cover 40.

A stopper 55 is attached to the upper end of the guide member 52. The stopper 55 locks the blanket 51 when the blanket 51 is raised, and stops the shutter 50 at a predetermined position. The rising stop position of the shutter 50 is set such that a gap D is provided between the shutter 50 and the exhaust cover 41, as shown in FIG.

In the heat treatment using the heat treatment unit 26, the shutter 50 is raised most and the processing space 40
Is exhausted in a so-called semi-closed state, in which the gap D is left incompletely between the exhaust cover 41 and the shutter 50 and the shutter is incompletely blocked. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7, an air flow (hereinafter referred to as a supply air flow A) supplied into the processing space 40 through the gap D by the exhaust gas and the hot plate 3
2 (hereinafter, referred to as a side airflow B)
) Occurs. Of these, when the side airflow B is large, the heat of the side surface 32e of the hot plate 32 is excessively deprived, and the temperature difference between the central portion and the peripheral portion of the hot plate 32 is increased, thereby deteriorating the heat uniformity. As a result, the in-plane uniformity of the processing temperature of the substrate G deteriorates.

Since the supply airflow A and the side airflow B are generated by the exhaust gas as described above, if the exhaust gas is constant, the supply airflow A is increased and the side airflow B is reduced. Then, there is a relation that the side airflow B increases. The amount of the supply air flow A
It can be increased or decreased by changing the gap D between the shutter 50 and the shutter 50. Accordingly, the supply airflow A is relatively increased, and the gap D is set such that the side airflow B is suppressed by the supply airflow A so that the temperature difference in the hot plate 32 is reduced. Specifically, the gap D is set to 15 to 20 mm.

An exhaust means (not shown) is connected to the exhaust port 42 so that the atmosphere in the processing space 40 can be exhausted to the outside.

Since the heat treatment unit 26 having the above-described structure has the reflecting plate 60 for reflecting the heat radiated from the hot plate 32, when the substrate G is subjected to the heat treatment, The generated heat is reflected toward the hot plate 32. Since the reflecting plate 60 is provided to be spaced apart from the bottom surface 32d and the side surface 32e of the hot plate 32, heat can be reflected toward the bottom surface 32d and the side surface 32e where much heat is radiated. . This can suppress a local temperature drop of the hot plate 32, particularly, a temperature drop in a peripheral portion of the hot plate 32. As a result, hot plate 3
2 can improve the heat uniformity.

As shown in FIG. 4, the side wall portion 60b of the reflection plate 60 and the side surface 32b of the hot plate 32 may be arranged so as to partially overlap each other, so that heat radiation from the side surface 32b of the hot plate 32 can be moderately performed. This is preferable because it can be performed. In this case, the overlapping height of the two (hereinafter referred to as the overlapping height H) is
The thickness is preferably 1/3 to 1/2 (10 to 15 mm in this example) of the thickness of 2 (30 mm in this example). If the overlapping height H is too high, the temperature of the peripheral portion of the hot plate 32 becomes excessively high due to the reflection of the heat radiated from the hot plate 32, and the thermal uniformity of the hot plate 32 is rather deteriorated.

In the heat treatment unit 26, the outer frame 62 provided to surround the substrate G in the surface 32c of the hot plate 32 suppresses air from entering the periphery of the substrate G. The temperature outside the substrate G can be prevented from lowering due to the flow of air, that is, so-called disturbance, and as a result, the in-plane uniformity of the processing temperature of the substrate G can be improved.

In the heat treatment unit 26, the gap D between the exhaust cover 41 and the shutter 50 when the shutter 50 is raised most during the heat treatment reduces the side airflow B by the supply airflow A and the hot plate 32. Since the temperature difference inside the hot plate 32 is set to be small, it is possible to prevent sudden heat from being taken away from the side surface 32e of the hot plate 32 due to the sudden side airflow B, and to prevent the heat from flowing between the central portion and the peripheral portion of the hot plate 32 Can be reduced. Therefore, the thermal uniformity of the hot plate 32 is improved, and as a result, the in-plane uniformity of the processing temperature of the substrate G is improved. In this case, in order to exert such a function, the gap between the exhaust cover 41 and the shutter 50 is set to 15 to 2
Preferably, it is set to 0 mm.

Further, the hot plate 32 is
3 is buried by press-fitting, which is a so-called press-fit type.
mm or more) and can be manufactured thinner. Therefore, the thickness of the hot plate 32 can be reduced to improve the thermal responsiveness, the weight can be reduced, and the height of the heat treatment unit 26 can be reduced. As described above, the thickness of the hot plate 32 is preferably as thin as possible from the viewpoint of miniaturization of the apparatus and thermal responsiveness. However, when the thickness is 25 mm or less, the influence of disturbance is liable to occur. Therefore, from the viewpoint of both miniaturization and thermal uniformity of the apparatus, a thickness of, for example, about 30 mm is optimal.

Conventionally, it has been considered that a press-fit type hot plate deteriorates heat conduction due to a layer of air generated between a recess provided in the plate and a heater. It turned out to be practically feasible.

As described above, in the heat treatment unit 26 according to the present embodiment, the in-plane uniformity of the processing temperature of the substrate G can be generally improved by combining the above various techniques. Specifically, 840 x 650m
For a substrate G having a significantly large m, thermal uniformity can be achieved in the range of 1.5 ° C. However, it is needless to say that the in-plane uniformity of the processing temperature of the substrate G can be improved by each of the above techniques or a combination of at least two of them.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified. For example, in the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, a stopper 45 is provided on the guide member 42 to adjust the gap D between the exhaust cover 41 and the shutter 50 during heat treatment. As described above, the gap setting protrusions 80 may be provided at the four corners of the upper surface of the inward horizontal piece 50b of the shutter 50, and the gap D may be determined based on this height. Of course, the gap setting projection may be provided on the surface of the exhaust cover 41.

Further, in the present embodiment, an example is shown in which the present invention is applied to a heat treatment apparatus used in a resist coating / developing unit, but the present invention is not limited to this and may be applied to other processing. Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the LCD substrate is used as the substrate has been described, but it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to the case of processing other substrates.

[0057]

As described above, according to the first aspect, the heat radiated from the heating plate can be reflected on the heating plate, and this reflection plate is arranged opposite to the back surface of the mounting table. Since it has the bottom portion and the side wall portion provided opposite to the side surface of the mounting table, heat can be reflected to a portion where heat radiation is large. Therefore, the heat uniformity of the heating plate can be improved.

In this case, as in the second aspect of the invention, the side wall of the reflecting plate is formed so that the side of the heating plate and the portion of 1/3 to 1/2 of the thickness thereof overlap with each other.
It is possible to prevent both a decrease in temperature due to heat radiation at the peripheral portion of the heating plate and an excessive increase in temperature due to the reflection plate, and it is possible to further enhance the heat uniformity of the heating plate.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the outer frame is provided so as to surround the object to be processed at the portion of the heating plate on which the object is disposed, air is prevented from entering around the object to be processed. The in-plane uniformity of the processing temperature of the processing body can be improved.

According to the fourth aspect, the airflow flowing along the side surface of the heating plate is suppressed by the airflow supplied into the space to be processed through the gap between the exhaust cover and the shutter. Since the temperature variation of the heating plate is set to be small, it is possible to prevent the heat from being taken away from the side surface of the heating plate, and to improve the heat uniformity of the heating plate. Specifically, it is preferable to set the gap between the exhaust cover and the shutter to 15 to 20 mm as in the fifth invention, though it depends on the device design.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the reflecting plate for reflecting the heat radiated from the heating plate of the first aspect of the present invention and the object to be processed of the heating plate of the third aspect of the present invention are provided so as to surround the object to be processed. And a gap between the exhaust cover and the shutter at the time of heat treatment is supplied into the space to be processed through the gap when the air is exhausted through the exhaust port as in the fourth invention. Since the airflow suppresses the airflow flowing along the side surface of the heating plate and the temperature variation of the heating plate is set to be small, the heat uniformity of the heating plate can be remarkably enhanced by a synergistic effect of these. .

According to the seventh and eighth inventions, the second and fifth inventions are applied to the sixth invention, respectively, so that the heat uniformity of the heating plate can be further improved.

According to the ninth aspect, since the heater is press-fitted into the recess formed in the heating plate, there is no need to make the heating plate thicker as in the conventional casting type. Therefore, the heating plate can be manufactured to have a better thermal responsiveness, a lighter weight, and a thickness that is more resistant to disturbance than conventional ones.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an LCD substrate coating / developing processing system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a heat treatment apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state before and after press-fitting a heater into a hot plate.

FIG. 4 is a sectional perspective view showing a hot plate of the heat treatment apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a shutter of the heat treatment apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing an elevating mechanism of a shutter of the heat treatment apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a state of a shutter at the time of heat treatment in the heat treatment apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a modification of the gap adjusting means between the exhaust cover and the shutter.

[Explanation of symbols]

 21, 28 ... Heat treatment unit 31 ... Case 32 ... Hot plate 33 ... Heater 34 ... Support pin 35 ... Holding member 40 ... Processing space 41 ... Exhaust cover 42 ... Exhaust port 50 ... Shutter 51 ... Blanket 52 ... Guide member 53 ... Air cylinder 54 ... Piston rod 55 ... Stopper 60 ... Reflector 61 ... Spacer 62 ... Outer frame

Claims (9)

[Claims] An object to be processed is disposed on or above the object, a heating plate for heating the object, a heater for heating the heating plate, and a reflecting plate for reflecting heat radiated from the heating plate. A heat treatment apparatus, wherein the reflection plate has a bottom surface portion facing the back surface of the heating plate and a side wall portion facing the side surface of the heating plate. 2. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the side wall portion overlaps a side surface of the heating plate with a portion having a thickness of な い し to １ ／. 3. An object to be processed is disposed on or above the object, a heating plate for heating the object to be processed, a heater for heating the heating plate, and the object to be processed on a portion of the heating plate on which the object is to be processed. And an outer frame provided so as to surround the heat treatment apparatus. 4. An object to be processed is disposed above or above the object, a heating plate for heating the object to be processed, a heater for heating the heating plate, and an object disposed above the heating plate via a processing space. And an exhaust cover having an exhaust port, and a shutter disposed so as to surround the processing space and provided so as to be able to advance and retreat with respect to the exhaust cover, wherein a gap between the exhaust cover and the shutter during heat treatment is provided. When air is exhausted through the exhaust port, the airflow supplied along the side surface of the heating plate by the airflow supplied into the space to be processed through the gap is suppressed, and the temperature variation of the heating plate is reduced. A heat treatment apparatus characterized by being set to be small. 5. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a gap between the exhaust cover and the shutter during the heat treatment is set to 15 to 20 mm. 6. An object to be processed is disposed on or above the object, a heating plate for heating the object to be processed, a heater for heating the heating plate, and a reflector for reflecting heat radiated from the heating plate. An outer frame provided on the object-to-be-processed portion of the heating plate so as to surround the object to be processed; an exhaust cover disposed above the heating plate via a processing space and having an exhaust port; A shutter disposed to surround the processing space and provided so as to be able to advance and retreat with respect to the exhaust cover, wherein the reflection plate has a bottom surface portion facing a back surface of the heating plate; A side wall provided opposite to a side surface of the plate, wherein a gap between the exhaust cover and the shutter during heat treatment is formed when the air is exhausted through the exhaust port. Through said suppressing airflow flowing along the side surface of the heating plate by a gas stream supplied to the processing space, a heat treatment apparatus being characterized in that set so that the temperature variation of the heating plate is reduced. A heat treatment apparatus. 7. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the side wall portion of the reflection plate overlaps a side surface of the heating plate with a portion that is 1/3 to 1/3 of the thickness thereof. . 8. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a gap between the exhaust cover and the shutter during the heat treatment is set to 15 to 20 mm. 9. An object to be processed is disposed on or above the heating object, comprising: a heating plate for heating the object to be processed; and a heater provided in the heating plate, wherein the heater is formed on the heating plate. A heat treatment apparatus, wherein the heat treatment apparatus is press-fitted into the recessed portion.