KR100773264B1 - Apparatus for fabricating flat panel display - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus including a plurality of chambers to perform a predetermined process on a substrate, the apparatus comprising: a mounting table provided under the chamber to load a substrate; A substrate sensing means provided in a state where the substrate is inserted into each corner region of the mounting table on which the substrate is seated, and sensing the weight of the substrate loaded thereon to detect whether the substrate is damaged or not; It provides a manufacturing apparatus.

Flat Panel Display, Load Lock Chamber, Substrate Sensing, Electric

Description

Apparatus for fabricating flat panel display

1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a load lock chamber in a conventional flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus.

2 is a cross-sectional view showing a load lock chamber of the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3A and 3B are enlarged cross-sectional views illustrating an operating state of a substrate sensing means provided in a mounting table of the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings>

110: load lock chamber 112: loading table

120: substrate sensing means 122: housing

124: vertical axis of movement 126: contact member

128: elastic member 130: conductive member

O: airtight member

The present invention relates to a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus, and more particularly to a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus that can detect whether the edge of the substrate is loaded in the load lock chamber.

In general, a process of performing plasma etching on a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal substrate will be described. First, a plurality of semiconductor wafers or liquid crystal substrates (hereinafter referred to as "substrates") stacked in a substrate storage device (hereinafter referred to as "cassette") are transported. The robot is brought into a load lock chamber that circulates vacuum and atmospheric pressure by a robot, and pumped to make a vacuum inside the load lock chamber to make a vacuum, and then a transfer chamber. The conveying chamber described above is in communication with a plurality of process chambers maintaining a vacuum state, and the conveying chambers can be carried in and out of each process chamber through a transport apparatus. The substrate brought into the process chamber is placed on the mounting table located on the upper part of the lower electrode, and the process gas flows through the micro holes formed in the lower part of the upper electrode. When the external gas is applied to the gas supplied and introduced, the electric discharge is caused by the lower electrode and the plasma process is performed on the surface of the substrate.

As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional load lock chamber includes a load lock chamber 10 which circulates vacuum and atmospheric pressure, and a substrate S provided at the lower side of the load lock chamber 10 to be loaded therein. (12) and the light emitting portion and the light receiving portion so as to detect whether or not each of the damages to the corner region of the substrate S before moving the substrate S positioned on the mounting table 12 to the transfer chamber Displacement sensor unit 20 having a through is provided through the load lock chamber 10, the control unit for determining whether the substrate (S) is damaged by the signal output from the above-described sensor unit 20 (not shown in the drawing) It is composed of

In the above-described displacement sensor unit 20, the light emitted from the light emitting unit passes through the substrate S and is refracted by the reflecting member provided below the light. The refracted light is received by the light receiving unit and the light is reflected by the light receiving unit. The damage was determined by the control unit.

However, the above-described displacement sensor unit 20 has a problem in that accurate inspection is not performed because the light transmittance of each substrate S is minutely incorrect.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus capable of determining whether a substrate is damaged by operating the substrate sensing means with the weight of the substrate.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus consisting of a plurality of chambers to perform a predetermined process on the substrate, the mounting table is provided on the lower side inside the chamber; It is provided in a state inserted into each corner region of the mounting table on which the substrate is seated, the substrate sensing means for detecting the damage of the substrate by detecting the weight of the substrate loaded on the upper; When the corner region is loaded in a damaged state, the weight of the substrate is sensed by the substrate sensing means inserted into each corner region of the mounting table.

In addition, the substrate sensing means in the present invention, the vertical movement shaft is provided so as to move in the vertical direction; A contact member provided at an upper end of the vertical movement shaft and provided with a substrate in contact with an upper surface thereof; A conductive member provided at a lower end of the vertical movement shaft and moved together with the vertical movement shaft; A terminal unit provided below the conductive member and contacting the conductive member to energize power applied from the outside; An elastic member provided on one side of the vertical moving shaft to provide a restoring force to move the vertical moving shaft to its original position when the substrate is separated from the mounting table. Since the substrate is in contact with the contact member of each substrate sensing means, the vertical movement shaft is lowered, and the conductive member provided at the lower end of the vertical movement shaft is energized in contact with the terminal part spaced apart from it. When the board with the broken edge is loaded on the mounting table, it is not contacted with the contact member connected to the vertical moving shaft. Therefore, the conductive member provided on the vertical moving shaft is determined to be damaged as the substrate is separated from the electrode without being energized. It is preferable because it is easy to detect whether or not the substrate is broken.

In addition, the contact member in the present invention is preferably formed of Teflon (Teflon) material.

In addition, the elastic member in the present invention is a spring surrounding the vertical movement shaft, it is preferably interposed between the enlarged portion formed in the middle portion of the vertical movement shaft and the ring member fixed in the housing.

In addition, according to the present invention, a control unit for stopping the operation of the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus is further provided according to whether the terminal unit is energized, so that the operation of the manufacturing apparatus is performed when the conductive member and the terminal unit are energized. If not, since the operation of the manufacturing apparatus is stopped by the control unit is preferable because it prevents the malfunction of the manufacturing apparatus.

In addition, the present invention is provided by being electrically connected to the control unit, and further includes a voice output unit for outputting a specific voice signal when the damaged substrate is loaded, when the damaged substrate is loaded on the mounting table, the operator is audibly recognized It is preferable because it can be done.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus including a load lock chamber 110 in which a transport robot is provided at an inlet, a transfer chamber (not shown) in communication with the load lock chamber 110 described above, and It consists of a number of process chambers (not shown in the figure) in communication with one transfer chamber. Here, each of the load lock chamber 110, the transfer chamber and the process chamber is in communication with each other and provided with a gate valve (not shown in the figure) for connecting or closing the communicated space.

That is, the gate valve for opening and closing the transfer passage is formed on one side so that each substrate (S) loaded in the cassette (not shown in the drawing) can be carried into the manufacturing apparatus by a transport robot (not shown in the drawing). The load lock chamber 110 and the load lock chamber 110 and the transfer chamber communicate with each other by a transfer passage, and the substrates are brought in and out of each process chamber by a transfer device installed inside the transfer chamber. The plasma process is performed in this process chamber.

As described above, the load lock chamber circulates the atmospheric pressure and the vacuum state as shown in FIG. 2, and is provided with a mounting table 112 on which the substrate S is loaded on the lower side thereof, and corresponds to the corner portion of the substrate S described above. The substrate detecting means 120 for detecting whether the substrate S loaded on the mounting table 112 is damaged is provided to protrude by an appropriate height, and is electrically connected to the substrate detecting means 120 described above. A control unit (not shown) is provided to determine whether the substrate S is broken according to the value and to stop the manufacturing apparatus when it is determined that the substrate S is broken.

3A and 3B, the above-described substrate sensing means is inserted into the mounting table 112 and is provided in the corner regions where the edge regions of the substrate S come into contact with each other, and a stepped portion is formed in the middle of the outer circumferential surface in a cylindrical shape. The substrate 122 provided inside the housing 122 through which the inside is penetrated, the vertical movement shaft 124 which is provided in the housing 122, and moves up and down, and the upper end of the vertical movement shaft 124. ) Is a contact member 126 that is in contact with, the conductive member 130 provided on the lower end of the vertical movement shaft 124 described above, and the terminal portion of the positive and negative electrodes provided on the lower side separated from the conductive member 130 described above ( 132, and the elastic member 128 to provide a restoring force to return to the original position when the vertical movement shaft 124 described above is lowered.

The above-described mounting table 112 is separated up and down, and the female screw portion is formed at a position corresponding thereto so that the male screw portion formed at the lower side of the housing 122 is provided at the lower side. When the lower end of the housing 122 is coupled to the lower loading stand 112, the airtight member O which maintains airtightness is interposed on the bottom surface of the stepped portion of the housing 122 and the upper surface of the lower loading stand 112. do. Here, a ring member for restricting the position of the elastic member 128 is interposed in the penetrating interior of the housing 122 described above.

The above-described vertical movement shaft 124 has a pin-shaped enlarged portion in which a diameter larger than the middle diameter is formed in the middle portion and the lower portion.

The contact member 126 described above is provided at the upper end of the vertical movement shaft 124 described above, and its cross-sectional shape is semi-elliptical so as to contact the upper surface center and prevent the substrate S from being scratched during contact. Teflon).

The elastic member 128 described above is a compression spring and is interposed between the enlarged portion provided in the middle of the vertical movement shaft 124 and the ring member provided in the housing 122 to press the vertical movement shaft 124. If the lower side is lowered and the pressing force is removed, it is provided to return to the original position by the restoring force.

The conductive member 130 described above is a conductor, and is fixed to an enlarged portion formed at the lower end of the vertical movement shaft 124 described above.

The above-described terminal portion 132 is composed of a (+) pole and a (-) pole, and each pole is an electric circuit in which an externally applied power source is disconnected, and the current is energized when the conductive member 130 provided on the upper side contacts. .

The controller described above is electrically connected to the terminal unit 132 described above and determines whether the substrate S is damaged according to whether the conductive member 130 is in contact with the terminal unit 132 and is energized, and the terminal unit 132 described above. ) And the above-mentioned conductive member 130 are not energized, and if it is determined to be damaged, the operation of the manufacturing apparatus is stopped to prevent malfunction.

If the controller S determines that the substrate S is broken by the controller, the controller may output a specific voice signal by an electrically connected voice output unit (not shown) to recognize that the substrate S is broken. Can be.

In addition, the above-mentioned control unit C determines whether or not the substrate S is damaged by the above-described substrate detecting unit 120, and transmits the result value to the next manufacturing apparatus (not shown in the drawing) which performs the subsequent process. If the above-mentioned substrate S is detected as damaged, the post-processing equipment is controlled to not operate. If the above-mentioned substrate S is detected as not broken, the post-processing equipment is controlled to operate so that the execution of unnecessary work processes is stopped. .

Therefore, the process of determining whether the substrate loaded by an external transport robot in the load rack of the load lock chamber according to the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus of the present invention is damaged or not as shown in Figs. 3a and 3b. When the substrate S loaded on the 112 is not damaged, the above-described vertical movement is performed when the above-mentioned substrate S presses the contact member 126 provided on the upper end of the vertical movement shaft 124 by its own weight. When the conductive member 130 provided at the lower end of the shaft 124 is lowered and in contact with the terminal portion 132 of the positive electrode provided in a state spaced below the conductive member 130 is energized by the conductive member 130 When the power is applied to the control unit electrically connected to the above-described terminal unit 132 and the applied power is applied to each of the substrate sensing means 120 for the corner portion of the substrate S, it is determined that it is not broken. Will proceed.

In addition, when seated on the mounting table 112 in a state in which at least one of the corner regions of the substrate (S) described above is broken, the vertical moving shaft 124 is pressed on the corner portion where the substrate (S) is broken. Since the conductive member 130 does not come into contact with the terminal portion 132, the applied power is not energized at the damaged part and energized at the undamaged part, thereby determining that the substrate S is damaged by the control unit. By operating the voice output unit that outputs the operator can recognize the current situation.

Therefore, in order to inspect whether the edge portion of the seated substrate (S) is damaged, it is provided at the corner portion of the mounting table 112 opposite to the edge portion of the substrate (S), and the weight of the substrate (S) The substrate sensing means 120 which operates by energizing the applied power source is provided to simplify the structure, reduce the error occurrence rate, and determine whether the damage is more accurate.

Such a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus of the present invention is provided with a substrate sensing means which is inserted into the mounting table on which the substrate is loaded and protruded to an appropriate height from the upper surface, the substrate sensing means is in contact with the conductive member spaced apart terminal When the substrate is loaded, it is determined whether the substrate is damaged by the weight applied to the substrate sensing means when the substrate is loaded, and thus the structure is simple and accurate according to the mechanical sensing substrate. It has the effect of making judgment.

Claims (6)

In the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus, A mounting table provided under the chamber to load a substrate; It is provided in a state inserted into each corner region of the mounting table on which the substrate is seated, substrate sensing means for detecting the damage of the substrate by detecting the weight of the substrate loaded on the upper; The substrate sensing means, A vertical moving shaft provided to move in the vertical direction; A contact member provided at an upper end of the vertical movement shaft and provided with a substrate in contact with an upper surface thereof; A conductive member provided at a lower end of the vertical movement shaft and moved together with the vertical movement shaft; A terminal unit provided below the conductive member and contacting the conductive member to energize power applied from the outside; And an elastic member provided on one side of the vertical moving shaft to provide a restoring force to move the vertical moving shaft to its original position when the substrate is separated from the mounting table. delete The method of claim 1, wherein the contact member, Flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus characterized in that formed of Teflon (Teflon) material. The method of claim 1, wherein the elastic member, And a spring surrounding the vertical movement shaft, the spring being interposed between an enlarged portion formed at an intermediate portion of the vertical movement shaft and a ring member fixed in the housing. The method of claim 1 , And a control unit for stopping the operation of the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus according to whether the terminal is energized. The method of claim 5, And a sound output unit electrically connected to the control unit and outputting a specific sound signal when the damaged substrate is loaded.

Images