KR100934772B1 - Vacuum pad and substrate adsorption device having same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a vacuum pad for adsorbing and fixing a substrate using a vacuum suction force and a substrate adsorption device provided with a plurality of the vacuum pads.

The present invention provides a suction pad for contacting and fixing a substrate to a substrate; An intake pipe whose one end is connected to the adsorption pad and through which gas sucked from the adsorption pad passes; A blocking plate provided inside the intake pipe and moving along the intake pipe while blocking the intake pipe; A barrier plate restoring unit for pulling the barrier plate toward the suction pad to restore the barrier plate; It is connected to the other end of the intake pipe to provide a vacuum pad comprising a vacuum hose line for sucking the gas in the intake pipe.

Board, Vacuum Adsorption, Vacuum Pad, Blocker

Description

VACUUM PAD AND SUBSTRATE SUCTION APPARATUS HAVING THEREOF

1 is a side view showing the structure of a conventional substrate adsorption device.

2 is a diagram showing a problem of the conventional vacuum pad.

3 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a vacuum adsorption pad according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a view illustrating a structure of a block restoring unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a view for explaining the normal operation of the vacuum adsorption pad according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 and 7 are views illustrating the movement of the blocking plate when a leak occurs in the vacuum suction pad according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a vacuum pad for adsorbing and fixing a substrate using a vacuum suction force and a substrate adsorption device provided with a plurality of the vacuum pads.

In general, a large area glass substrate is handled in the process of manufacturing flat panel display devices such as LCD, PDP and OLED. Therefore, in such a movement process or inspection process of the glass substrate, the operation of moving or rotating the large-area glass substrate in a fixed state is in progress. In this operation, a substrate adsorption device that uses a vacuum adsorption force to fix a substrate is frequently used.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of a vacuum pad taking a substrate adsorption device for defect inspection of the substrate surface as an example.

Generally, a board | substrate inspection apparatus is comprised from a top illumination part, a back illumination part, and a board | substrate adsorption apparatus.

The upper lighting unit is installed above the substrate adsorption device, and is a component that irradiates light on the surface of the substrate to inspect whether there is a defect on the surface of the substrate, and the rear lighting unit is located behind the substrate adsorption device, and is located inside the substrate. It is a component that irradiates the transmitted light from the back of the substrate to check for defects, and the substrate adsorption device can inspect all surfaces of the substrate by placing and swinging the substrate in a predetermined portion thereof.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, the substrate adsorption device includes a base 12, an extension part 14 provided in an upright state at both centers of the base 12, and the extension part 14 described above. A vacuum pump (FIG. 1) rotates by a hinge at a top of the substrate chuck 16 to fix the substrate S, and a plurality of substrate chucks 16 are arranged in the substrate chuck 16 and seated on the upper side. It is composed of a plurality of vacuum pad 20 is provided to provide a suction force to the substrate (S) in a vacuum state (not shown).

The above-described vacuum pad 20, as shown in Figure 2, the suction pad 22; Intake pipe 24; Vacuum hose line 26; Here, the suction pad 22 is a component that directly contacts the substrate S and fixes the substrate. In addition, one end of the intake pipe 24 communicates with the adsorption pad 22, and is a component through which gas sucked by the adsorption pad passes. In addition, the vacuum hose line 26 is connected to the other end of the intake pipe 24 is a component for sucking the gas inside the intake pipe. The vacuum hose line 26 is provided for each vacuum pad 20_, and a plurality of vacuum hose lines provided in each vacuum pad are collected and connected to one vacuum pump (not shown). The reason for the provision is that the unit price of the vacuum pump is high, and the provision of a plurality of vacuum pumps increases the unit price of the device and also complicates the structure of the device.

However, as described above, a structure in which a plurality of vacuum hose lines are gathered into one tube and connected to one vacuum pump, when leakage occurs in one of the vacuum pads, the vacuum pressure drops in the other vacuum pads. There is a problem. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, when the substrate is spaced apart by an external force in a specific vacuum pad 20 and leak occurs, the outside air is sucked through the vacuum pad, and the other vacuum pad (which is entirely connected) The vacuum suction input of 20a is also dropped. In this case, the adsorption force of all the vacuum pads provided in the substrate adsorption device is weakened, resulting in a problem that the substrate falls.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a vacuum pad in which the vacuum pressure inside the vacuum pad does not increase even when the substrate having been adsorbed is separated by an external force and leaks.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a substrate adsorption device in which a leak phenomenon generated in one vacuum pad does not affect the other vacuum pad while using a plurality of vacuum pads connected to one vacuum pump.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a suction pad for adsorbing and fixing a substrate in contact with the substrate; An intake pipe whose one end is connected to the adsorption pad and through which gas sucked from the adsorption pad passes; A blocking plate provided inside the intake pipe and moving along the intake pipe while blocking the intake pipe; A barrier plate restoring unit for pulling the barrier plate toward the suction pad to restore the barrier plate; It is connected to the other end of the intake pipe to provide a vacuum pad comprising a vacuum hose line for sucking the gas in the intake pipe.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a substrate adsorption device is provided with a plurality of the vacuum pad adsorption fixed to the substrate.

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

First, as shown in FIG. 3, the vacuum suction pad 100 according to the present embodiment includes a suction pad 110; Intake pipe 120; Blocking plate 130; Block plate restoring unit 140; It is configured to include a; vacuum hose line (150). Here, the adsorption pad 110, the intake pipe 120, and the vacuum hoseline 150 have the same structure and function as those of the conventional art, and thus will not be repeated.

Unlike the related art, the vacuum adsorption pad 100 according to the present embodiment is provided with a blocking plate 130. As shown in FIG. 3, the blocking plate 130 is provided inside the intake pipe 120 to move along the intake pipe while blocking the intake pipe 120. Therefore, the internal space of the intake pipe is separated by the blocking plate 130. Herein, 'the space inside the intake pipe is separated' means that the gas does not move between the spaces separated by the blocking plate 130. Therefore, the blocking plate 130 should be made of a soft material to be in close contact with the inner surface of the intake pipe, and particularly preferably made of PTFE or rubber.

In addition, in order to prevent leakage from occurring on the contact surface between the blocking plate 130 and the intake pipe 120, an oil film may be formed on the contact surface between the blocking plate and the intake pipe inner surface. That is, when the oil film is formed on the inner surface of the intake pipe 120, the oil film is naturally formed on the contact surface of the blocking plate and the intake pipe to effectively block the gas.

Next, the blocking plate restoring unit 140 is further provided in the vacuum adsorption pad 100 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the blocking plate restoring unit 140 is a component that pulls the blocking plate 130 toward the suction pad 110 to restore the blocking plate 130. In the vacuum adsorption pad 100 according to the present embodiment, when the blocking plate 130 moves to the suction pad direction as much as possible while waiting for vacuum suction, the blocking plate moves downward, and the suction pad is sealed ( The space between the 110 and the blocking plate 130 is expanded and the substrate is adsorbed by the pressure drop. Therefore, when the substrate adsorption starts, the blocking plate 130 should always approach the adsorption pad 110 as much as possible. As long as the blocking plate restoring unit 140 does not apply an external force, the blocking plate restoring unit 140 restores the blocking plate 130 toward the adsorption pad 110.

In this embodiment, the blocking plate restoring unit 140 is configured of an elastic member having one end coupled to a bottom surface of the suction pad 110 and the other end coupled to an upper surface of the blocking plate 130. At this time, the elastic member is preferably a spring. Therefore, when the blocking plate moves downward by vacuum suction, the spring is extended and the elastic force is stored. Then, when the vacuum suction input is blocked for the detachment of the substrate, the blocking plate returns to its original position by the elastic force stored in the spring.

On the other hand, the blocking plate 130 must be moved while maintaining the horizontal state in the process of moving in the intake pipe can effectively block the internal space of the intake pipe. If the blocking plate 130 is moved in an inclined state, the contact area between the side surface of the blocking plate and the intake pipe becomes small, so that the blocking effect may not be sufficient. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the block restoring unit 140 is disposed in such a manner that a plurality of points are provided to balance the force at the plurality of points of the block to prevent the plate from being inclined during the movement of the block. It is preferable not to incline any one side of.

And the vacuum suction pad 100 according to this embodiment is preferably provided with a separation prevention step 160. As shown in FIG. 3, the departure preventing jaw 160 is provided to protrude inward in the inside of the intake pipe 120 and prevents the blocking plate 130 from excessively moving away from the intake pipe. It is a component. In particular, the separation prevention jaw 110 serves to prevent sudden movement of the blocking plate 130 when leakage occurs in the vacuum pad.

Hereinafter will be described the operation of the vacuum adsorption pad 100 according to the present embodiment.

First, a process of adsorbing and detaching a substrate normally with reference to FIG. 5 will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 5A, the substrate S is in contact with the adsorption pad in a state where the blocking plate 130 is approached in the direction of the adsorption pad 110 by the blocking plate restoring unit 140.

Then vacuum suction is started for substrate adsorption. Then, as shown in Figure 5b, while the pressure of the lower side of the blocking plate 130 is lowered, the blocking plate 130 is pulled down. As the blocking plate 130 moves downward, the pressure inside the space between the blocking plate and the suction pad is lowered. When the pressure between the blocking plate and the adsorption pad is lowered in this way, the substrate S is adsorbed due to the pressure difference from the outside of the substrate.

In this way, the process of processing the process in the adsorbed state and the process of detaching the substrate, as shown in Figure 5c, to block the vacuum suction force. Then, the air pressure in the lower space of the blocking plate 130 returns to atmospheric pressure, and the pressure between the blocking plate and the suction pad becomes smaller than the pressure of the lower space of the blocking plate, so that the blocking plate 130 moves upward. Of course, the elastic force of the blocking plate restoration unit 140 also works together.

When the blocking plate is moved to the suction pad direction as far as possible, the substrate is separated from the vacuum pad because the pressure between the blocking plate and the suction pad is reduced to atmospheric pressure.

Next, with reference to Figs. 6 and 7, the operation in the case where leakage occurs in the vacuum pad will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 6, when the substrate is separated from the adsorption pad 110 by an external force in the process of adsorbing the substrate S, external air is supplied to the space between the adsorption pad 110 and the blocking plate 130. As it enters, it is at atmospheric pressure. When the space between the blocking plate and the suction pad is in the atmospheric pressure state, the force that resists the downward movement of the blocking plate is weakened, so that the blocking plate moves downward as much as possible by the vacuum suction force. In this case, the blocking plate 130 is lowered until it is caught by the movement preventing step 160. However, after being caught by the movement stopper 160, the movement is no longer possible. At this time, even if the blocking plate 130 is caught by the movement preventing jaw 160, since the internal space of the intake pipe 120 is completely blocked, the vacuum state is maintained in the space below the blocking plate.

Therefore, since the lower part of the leaked vacuum pad maintains the vacuum state, it does not affect the neighboring vacuum pads at all, and the substrate is not sufficiently dropped because the substrate is sufficiently adsorbed and fixed by the other vacuum pads.

In the process of detaching the substrate, as shown in FIG. 7, the vacuum suction input is blocked, and when the pressure in the lower space of the blocking plate 130 changes to atmospheric pressure, the force pulling the blocking plate downward disappears. If there is no vacuum suction input to pull the blocking plate downward, the pressure of the upper and lower blocking plate is equal to the atmospheric pressure, so that the blocking plate approaches the suction pad direction by the elastic force of the blocking plate restoring unit. Then the preparation process for the next substrate adsorption is completed.

According to the present invention, even if the adsorbed substrate is transferred and a leak occurs, the vacuum state of the vacuum pad itself is maintained and does not affect the vacuum suction force of the neighboring vacuum pads at all. Therefore, since a plurality of vacuum pads connected to each other have a vacuum suction force independently, there is an advantage that the substrate can be stably adsorbed and fixed by the remaining vacuum pads even when an abnormality occurs in any one of the vacuum pads.

Claims (10)

An intake pipe having an inner space; A blocking plate that separates the inner space of the intake pipe into a suction space and a pressurized space, and moves along the inner space of the intake pipe according to a pressure difference between the suction space and the pressurized space; An adsorption pad connected to one end of the intake pipe and in contact with a substrate, the adsorption pad communicating with the pressure space to adsorb and fix the substrate by the pressure of the pressure space; And And a vacuum hose line connected to the other end of the intake pipe and configured to suck the gas in the suction space to adjust the pressure in the suction space. An intake pipe having an inner space; A blocking plate that separates the inner space of the intake pipe into a suction space and a pressurized space, and moves along the inner space of the intake pipe according to a pressure difference between the suction space and the pressurized space; An adsorption pad connected to one end of the intake pipe and in contact with a substrate, the adsorption pad communicating with the pressure space to adsorb and fix the substrate by the pressure of the pressure space; And And a vacuum hose line connected to the other end of the intake pipe and moving the blocking plate to suck the gas inside the suction space to increase the volume of the pressurized space. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The vacuum suction pad further comprises a barrier plate restoring unit for moving the barrier plate to reduce the volume of the pressurized space. The method of claim 3, The blocking plate restoring portion is a vacuum suction pad, characterized in that one end is connected to the intake pipe and the other end is an elastic member connected to the block. The method of claim 4, wherein The elastic member is a vacuum suction pad, characterized in that the spring. The method of claim 4, wherein The blocking plate restoring unit is a vacuum suction pad, characterized in that a plurality of elastic members are coupled to balance a plurality of points of the blocking plate. The method according to claim 1 or 2, An oil film is formed between the blocking plate and the inner surface of the intake pipe to maintain the airtightness between the suction space and the pressurized space. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The blocking plate is a vacuum adsorption pad, characterized in that the material of the soft material. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The suction pipe is provided in the lower portion of the inside, the vacuum suction pad, characterized in that the separation prevention jaw for preventing the separation of the blocking plate is further provided. A plurality of vacuum bonding pads according to claim 1 or 2 are uniformly distributed.

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