KR100934765B1 - Apparatus for manufacturing flat panel display - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus for generating a plasma in a vacuum state to perform a predetermined treatment on a substrate.

The present invention is a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus comprising a load lock chamber, a transfer chamber, and a process chamber to perform a predetermined process on a substrate, wherein the load lock chamber, the transfer chamber, and the process chamber are capable of simultaneously processing a plurality of substrates. Provided is a structure capable of providing a flat panel display device, characterized in that for processing a plurality of substrates at the same time.

Flat Panel Display, Plasma, Flat Panel Display Manufacturing Device, Cluster

Description

Flat panel display device manufacturing device {APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING FLAT PANEL DISPLAY}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus for generating a plasma in a vacuum state to perform a predetermined treatment on a substrate.

In general, a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus used for manufacturing a flat panel display device such as a liquid crystal display (PDP) or a PDP is composed of a load lock chamber, a transfer chamber, and a process chamber.

As shown in FIG. 1, the load lock chamber 10, the transfer chamber 20, and the process chamber 30 are connected side by side in parallel and provided with a gate valve G for maintaining airtightness between the chambers. Is provided, so that the vacuum atmosphere and the like between each chamber can be maintained independently.

At this time, the load lock chamber 10 is connected to the outside, and serves to bring in a new substrate to be processed from the outside, or to take out the processed substrate in the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus to the outside, the inside of the vacuum It keeps in contact with the outside while repeatedly maintaining its state and atmospheric pressure. Therefore, a buffer 12 for loading a substrate is provided therein, and one or more substrates may be stacked and stacked in the buffer 12. The load lock chamber 10 is provided with a lift pin 18 for loading the substrate S on the buffer 12. As shown in FIG. 2A, the lift pin 18 lifts the substrate S carried by the loader from the outside of the load lock chamber 10 by a predetermined height, and then the loader retracts out of the load lock chamber. As shown in FIG. 6, the substrate S is lowered to load the buffer 12.

Outside the buffer 12, an aligner 16 for correcting the position of the substrate S loaded on the buffer 12 is provided, as shown in FIG. The aligner 16 corrects the position of the substrate by pushing the side surface of the substrate S loaded in the buffer in a diagonal direction. In addition, the load lock chamber 10 is also provided with an exhaust device (not shown) and a gas supply device (not shown) for changing the interior thereof into a vacuum atmosphere and an atmospheric atmosphere.

In addition, the transfer chamber 20 is connected to the load lock chamber 10 and the process chamber 30, the transfer robot 22 is provided therein, between the load lock chamber 10 and the process chamber 30 The substrate can be loaded or unloaded, and the transfer chamber itself serves as an intermediate passage in the process of loading and unloading the substrate. The interior of the transfer chamber 20 is always maintained in a vacuum atmosphere so that the vacuum atmosphere inside the process chamber 30 is not released even when the substrate in the process chamber 30 is taken out or brought into the process chamber 30. To be maintained. Of course, the conveying chamber is also provided with an exhaust device for maintaining the vacuum atmosphere inside the chamber.

In addition, the process chamber 30 is provided with a mounting table 32 on which a substrate S can be mounted, and a processing apparatus (not shown in the drawing) capable of performing a predetermined process on the substrate, under a vacuum atmosphere. Etching or the like is performed on the substrate. The processing apparatus used herein includes a power supply unit for supplying RF power to a mounting table, a process gas supply section for introducing a process gas into a process chamber, an upper electrode provided to face the mounting table used as a lower electrode, and a substrate. Lift pin to help carry in and out.

In addition, the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus 1 is further provided with a loader (40) for supplying the substrate (S) to the load lock chamber 10, receives the substrate from the load lock chamber 10 to be carried out to the outside. The loader 40 is disposed adjacent to the load lock chamber 10, receives a single substrate from the cassette C on which a plurality of substrates are loaded, carries it into the load lock chamber 10, and the substrate has been processed. It receives from the load lock chamber 10 serves to load in the cassette (C). Therefore, the loader 40 is disposed between the load lock chamber 10 and the cassette C, as shown in FIG. 1, and has a structure in which the robot arm can rotate and move horizontally for carrying in and out of the substrate.

Recently, in the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus, the size of the substrate to be processed to increase the yield of the flat panel display device to be manufactured continues to expand. The increase in the size of the substrate is to increase the yield by producing a plurality of panels by a single treatment process. However, as the size of the substrate is enlarged, it is difficult to perform uniform processing over the entire surface of the large area substrate. In other words, the wide substrate is processed at one time to increase the yield, whereas the wide substrate is not uniformly processed, resulting in defective products resulting in low yield.

Accordingly, there is a need for a new concept flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus capable of increasing yields and reducing defect rates.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus in which a plurality of substrates are processed simultaneously and each substrate is uniformly processed while the yield rate is lowered.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus comprising a load lock chamber, a transfer chamber and a process chamber to perform a predetermined process on the substrate, wherein the load lock chamber, the transfer chamber and the process chamber Provided is a structure that can process a plurality of substrates at the same time, to provide a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus characterized by processing a plurality of substrates at the same time.

The process chamber according to the present invention is provided with a lower electrode having a plurality of divided electrodes which are individually driven so that the plurality of substrates do not overlap and can be processed at the same time, so that the yield can be increased by independently treating the plurality of substrates. desirable.

In addition, it is preferable that a transfer robot capable of simultaneously transferring a plurality of substrates is provided in the transfer chamber according to the present invention, and transfers a plurality of substrates in one operation to significantly cut the time required for substrate transfer.

At this time, the transfer robot can simultaneously transfer a plurality of substrates in a state in which a plurality of substrates are arranged in the same shape as the arrangement shape of the split electrodes formed on the lower electrode, without the need for a separate substrate position shifting operation. Is preferable because it can be mounted on a lower electrode.

In addition, in the load lock chamber according to the present invention, it is preferable that two buffers are arranged in parallel with the substrate traveling direction so that a plurality of substrates can be simultaneously loaded to the outside and carried in from the outside. .

In addition, an apparatus for manufacturing a flat panel display device according to the present invention includes an etching apparatus for etching a thin film on a substrate using a plasma, and a chemical vapor deposition apparatus for forming a predetermined thin film on a substrate using a chemical vapor deposition method. All are applicable. The etching apparatus may also apply two RF power sources having different frequencies to any one of a multi-type etching apparatus, an upper electrode, or a lower electrode, which simultaneously applies RF power to an upper electrode and a lower electrode. Various etching apparatuses such as a dual RF-type etching apparatus, a reactive ion etching type etching apparatus for applying RF power to the lower electrode, and a plasma enhanced type etching apparatus are all possible. .

According to the present invention, by dividing the large-area substrate into a plurality of sheets of small area, it is possible to obtain a uniform treatment and to lower the defective rate while increasing the yield.

In addition, compared to the conventional cluster type flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus, the amount of process gas, RF power, lower electrode, and number of operations of the transfer robot required for the process can be drastically reduced, which significantly reduces the operation cost and the tact time. There is this.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail specific embodiments of the present invention.

<Example 1>

The flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes a process chamber 110, as shown in FIG. Conveyance chamber 120; Load lock chamber 130; The loader 140; is configured to include.

First, the process chamber 110 is a component that performs a predetermined process on a substrate by generating a plasma in a state in which the inside of the chamber is made in a vacuum atmosphere, similar to the conventional process chamber 30. However, the process chamber 110 according to the present exemplary embodiment is different from that provided in a structure capable of simultaneously processing a plurality of substrates at one time.

Therefore, in the process chamber 110 according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, a lower electrode 112 having a plurality of split electrodes 112a is provided. Herein, the divided electrode refers to a divided electrode in which a plurality of substrates are placed on a large lower electrode so that the substrates can be independently disposed. In this embodiment, four split electrodes 112a are formed on one lower electrode 112 to process four substrates in one process. RF power is separately applied to each of the divided electrodes 112a and driven separately.

Since each of the divided electrodes 112a is provided with one substrate, a lift pin 114 capable of receiving a separate substrate for each divided electrode is provided. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the lift pin 114 is provided to move up and down through the edge region of each split electrode 112a. The lift pins 114 support the edges of the substrates mounted on the respective split electrodes 112a to assist in the removal of the substrates.

Meanwhile, in the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 2, one transfer chamber 120 is provided, and a plurality of process chambers 110 are disposed outside the transfer chamber 120. It is preferable that the substrate processing efficiency is increased by operating a plurality of process chambers using one transfer chamber.

Next, the transfer chamber 120 functions as a space for transferring the substrate between the process chamber 110 and the load lock chamber 130 like the conventional transfer chamber 20. However, the transfer chamber 120 according to the present embodiment is provided in a structure capable of carrying a plurality of substrates in one operation. Therefore, the transfer chamber 120 according to the present embodiment is provided with a transfer robot 122 provided with a robot arm having a structure capable of simultaneously transferring a plurality of substrates. That is, as shown in Figure 4, the robot arm 122b of the robot arm is provided in a long straight form, four or more robot hands in parallel to one robot arm 122a is provided to move the four substrates at a time To be.

Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the robot arm has a double arm structure in order to smoothly exchange the processed substrate and the unprocessed substrate in the process chamber 110. That is, the robot hand 122b has a structure in which the robot hands 122b are vertically spaced apart from each other to be stacked on the substrate. Therefore, the upper robot hand is able to carry the unprocessed substrate into the process chamber while temporarily loading the processed substrate, thereby facilitating the replacement process of the substrate. Is a pad.)

Next, the load lock chamber 130 is a component which carries out a board | substrate into a flat panel display element manufacturing apparatus from the outside, communicating with the exterior of atmospheric pressure atmosphere, and carries out the processed board | substrate to the outside. Unlike the related art, the load lock chamber 130 according to the present embodiment is provided with a structure capable of simultaneously carrying in and carrying out a plurality of substrates at the same time. Therefore, in the load lock chamber 130 according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, buffers 132 on which two substrates may be placed in a line are arranged in parallel. At this time, each buffer 132 is provided in parallel with the traveling direction of the substrate. Therefore, the substrate entered into the load lock chamber 130 may be received in the buffer 132 without any movement in the direction in which the substrate enters the load lock chamber 130. Of course, the load lock chamber 130 according to the present embodiment is provided with a lift pin and an aligner as in the prior art. However, in the load lock chamber 130 according to the present embodiment, since a plurality of substrates are carried in and out, as shown in FIG. 6, two sets of lift pins 134 are provided to raise and lower the plurality of substrates. That is, two buffers on one side become a set, two adjacent buffers on the other side become a set, and each buffer is provided with a lift pin driven separately. Therefore, a separate substrate can be received in each pair of buffers.

In addition, the aligner 136 is separately provided at the position where each board | substrate is mounted so that 4 board | substrates can be aligned simultaneously. These aligners 136 are driven separately and correct the position of the substrate placed in the buffer 132. And the aligners 136 provided in the load lock chamber 130 according to the present embodiment are driven separately in the vertical direction. Therefore, while the substrate S is placed on the buffer 132 and moved horizontally, the aligner 136 is lowered to prevent movement of the substrate, and after the substrate is completely moved, the substrate S is raised to proceed with the repositioning of the substrate. .

On the other hand, the load lock chamber 130 according to the present embodiment is preferably further provided with a substrate moving means (not shown in the figure) for moving the substrate placed on the buffer 132 in the horizontal direction. The substrate moving means is provided to move the substrate S horizontally on the buffer 132. As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the substrate placed on one end of the buffer 132 is moved to the other end of the buffer 132. You can move it. Accordingly, when the substrate is loaded into the load lock chamber 130, when the substrate is placed at one end of the buffer 132, the substrate may be moved to another position on the buffer. When the substrate on the buffer 132 in the load lock chamber 130 can be easily moved in this way, the configuration of the loader 140 for loading and unloading the substrate into the load lock chamber from the outside of the load lock chamber 130 is very diverse. There is an advantage that can be changed.

Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, a stacked load lock chamber may be employed to increase the efficiency of loading and unloading the substrate into the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus 100. In the stacked load lock chamber, load lock chambers having the same structure are stacked up and down, and each load lock chamber is connected to the transfer chamber. When using the stacked load lock chamber as described above, there is an advantage that the loading and unloading of the substrate can be more efficiently performed by using one load lock chamber for carrying in and using the other for carrying out.

Next, in the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, provided on the outside of the load lock chamber 130, the substrate is loaded into the load lock chamber 130, the inside of the load lock chamber 130 A loader 140 for further carrying out the substrate is further provided. In the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment, since two buffers 132 are present in the load lock chamber 130, a substrate may be separately loaded into and taken out of each buffer, as shown in FIG. 2. Likewise, the two loaders 140 are preferably arranged side by side. When two loaders are arranged as described above, as shown in FIG. 7A, one substrate may be loaded into each buffer at the same time. In this case, a separate cassette C in which a plurality of substrates are stacked is provided at a position adjacent to each loader 140 to supply a substrate to each loader 140 and to store the substrate to be taken out.

Meanwhile, the buffer 132 provided in the load lock chamber 130 according to the present exemplary embodiment may not be mounted on only one substrate, but a plurality of substrates may be arranged side by side. Therefore, it is preferable that the structure of the loader 140 has a structure in which the operation widths of the front, rear, left, and right sides are large so that the substrate can be easily placed at various positions of the buffer 132.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 8, the loader may be configured in a structure capable of moving in a state in which a plurality of substrates are simultaneously loaded in one loader 140. In this case, the length of the robot hand on which the substrate is loaded is extended so that two substrates can be positioned in one robot hand. When two substrates are positioned in one robot hand as described above, it is not necessary to provide substrate moving means in the load lock chamber. In this case, however, the structure of the cassette should be changed to a structure in which two substrates are arranged in one layer in a single layer unlike in the related art.

<Example 2>

As shown in FIG. 9, the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment includes: a process chamber 210; Conveying chamber 220; Load lock chamber 230; Loader 240; is configured. However, in the present embodiment, unlike the first embodiment described above, each chamber is provided in a structure capable of processing two substrates in one process.

Therefore, the process chamber 210 according to the present embodiment is provided with a lower electrode 212 provided with two split electrodes 212a, and the transfer chamber 220 has a robot hand capable of simultaneously carrying two substrates. The transfer robot 222 is provided. In addition, two buffers 232 are provided in the load lock chamber 230 so that two substrates can be simultaneously loaded in and out. However, in the case of the loader 240, two loaders may be provided at the same time, or the loading and unloading of the substrate may be performed by using one loader.

1 is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of a conventional flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus.

2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a configuration of a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a perspective view illustrating a structure of a lower electrode according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a plan view of a carrier robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a side view of a transport robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a load lock chamber according to an embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a view for explaining a method of operating the load lock chamber according to an embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a view for explaining the structure of a loader according to an embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a configuration of a flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (10)

In the flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus having a load lock chamber, a transfer chamber, and a process chamber, A lower electrode disposed inside any one of the load lock chamber, the transfer chamber, and a process chamber, and a plurality of substrates disposed side by side; And A plurality of lift pins installed on the lower electrode to support edges of the substrates, respectively; The load lock chamber includes a buffer in which the substrates are loaded and arranged in parallel with a traveling direction of the substrates. And the buffer is provided with a substrate moving means for transferring the substrate loaded on one side to the other side toward the transfer chamber. The method of claim 1, The lift pins may include center lift pins disposed in a central region of the lower electrode and edge lift pins disposed along an edge of the lower electrode. And the center lift pins and the edge lift pins are driven separately. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the buffer, Flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus characterized in that provided with a length that can be arranged in a line of a plurality of substrates. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And a plurality of buffers. The said conveyance chamber of Claim 1 or 2, A flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus, characterized in that a transfer robot capable of simultaneously carrying a plurality of substrates is provided. The method of claim 5, wherein the transfer robot, And a plurality of substrates are simultaneously transported in a state in which a plurality of substrates are arranged in the same shape as that of the divided electrodes formed on the lower electrode. The transfer robot according to claim 5, wherein Flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus characterized in that provided with a double arm (double arm) that can be mounted on the upper and lower substrates, respectively. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And a loader configured to be adjacent to the load lock chamber and to bring a substrate into the load lock chamber and to carry out a substrate inside the load lock chamber to the outside. The method of claim 8, Flat panel display device manufacturing apparatus characterized in that the two loaders are arranged side by side to individually import and export the substrate. The method of claim 8, The loader has a robot hand in which a plurality of substrates placed along one direction and parallel to one direction are placed. And the robot hand has a length greater than a sum of sides of the substrates parallel to the one direction.

Images