KR101004414B1 - load lock chamber for liquid crystal display device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention distinguishes these different environments between a platform in an atmospheric pressure area divided into a loader and an unloader and a process module such as a sputter provided in a vacuum area. A load lock chamber for intermediately loading a substrate to be processed, comprising: a chamber body defining an internal region in which an atmospheric pressure or a vacuum environment is formed; A chuck provided in the inner region to seat the insulating substrate; And an up-down system for elevating the substrate up to a height of 55-65 mm from the chuck.

This provides a detailed structure that enables smooth substrate transfer while minimizing the lift drive width of the up-down system, enabling efficient and rapid board transfer without burdening the up-down system.

Up-down system, cylinder, lifting shaft, moving plate, shaft pin, bellows

Description

Load lock chamber for manufacturing liquid crystal display device             

1 is a block diagram of a general cluster tool.

Figure 2 is a side cross-sectional view of a typical load lock chamber.

Figure 3 is a side cross-sectional view of the load lock chamber according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a part of the up-down system of the load lock chamber according to the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

2: insulated substrate 100: load lock chamber

112: chamber body 114, 116: first and second slot shutter

118: Chuck 120: up-down system

122: cylinder 124: lifting shaft

126: moving plate 128: shaft pin

129: pinhole 130: bellows

162, 166: first and second robot 164,168: first and second blade

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a load lock chamber for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly, a sputter provided in a platform and a vacuum area of an atmospheric pressure area divided into a loader and an unloader. In a load lock chamber for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device which intermediately loads a substrate to be processed and distinguishes these different environments between process modules such as a sputter, in particular, the intermediate stacked substrate is lifted and brought in from the outside. It relates to an up-down system that facilitates the export.

A general liquid crystal display device (LCD) is an essential component and includes a liquid crystal panel including a pair of first and second substrates bonded to each other with a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween. On the opposite inner surfaces of the two substrates, field generating electrodes are formed. Accordingly, the liquid crystal panel artificially adjusts the arrangement direction of liquid crystal molecules having optical anisotropy and polarization property by changing the electric field between these field generating electrodes, and displays various images externally by using the changed light transmittance. do.

Recently, in particular, an active matrix method in which pixels, which are basic units of image expression, are arranged in a matrix manner, and each pixel is independently controlled using a thin fir transistor (TFT) corresponding to each one of them. matrix type) Liquid crystal displays are attracting attention because of their excellent resolution and ability to implement video. In this case, the first and second substrates of the liquid crystal panel include a thin film transistor and pixel electrodes including pixels, a color filter layer and a common electrode. The components are provided.

In addition, the components of the liquid crystal panel are generally implemented by repeatedly depositing a conductor, a semiconductor or a non-conductor thin film on a transparent insulating substrate such as glass, and then etching and patterning the thin film. A manufacturing apparatus for a liquid crystal display device for depositing a film is a sputter.

A typical sputtering configuration simply includes an insulating substrate which is a deposition target, a target of a metal material facing it, a first electrode on the side of the insulating substrate facing each other, and a second electrode on the target side between them. After forming a reaction region in which an insulating substrate and a target exist in a vacuum, inert gas such as argon (Ar) is injected, and positive and negative voltages are applied to the first and second electrodes, respectively, to bring the inert gas into a plasma state. By excitation, the double cation particles accelerate in the direction of the second electrode and collide with the target to scatter metal particles from the base material, and the scattered metal particles are accelerated in the direction of the first electrode and deposited on the surface of the insulating substrate.

On the other hand, such a sputtering process is generally carried out in a cluster tool (claster tool) is provided with a plurality of sputters in order to reduce the time, cost and processes, the accompanying Figure 1 is a general cluster tool for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device A schematic block diagram.

As shown in the drawing, a general cluster tool includes a platform 40 in which a plurality of load lock chambers 10 separate an atmospheric pressure region from a vacuum region, and a double atmospheric pressure region includes an insulator substrate loaded thereon, and a vacuum chamber includes a transfer chamber 50 and Process modules 60, such as a plurality of sputters are arranged arranged around this. The first robot 62 carrying the insulating substrate between the platform 40 and the load lock chamber 10 in the atmospheric pressure region, and the load lock chamber 10 and the process module 60 in the transfer chamber 50 of the vacuum region. There is provided a second robot 66 which carries an insulating substrate between the layers.

More specifically, first, the platform 40 placed in an atmospheric pressure environment is divided into a loader 42 on which an insulating substrate for thin film deposition is loaded and an unloader 44 on which an insulating substrate on which thin film deposition has been completed are loaded. The insulating substrate transported from the outside for deposition is loaded into the loader 42 in the platform 40, while the insulating substrate on which the thin film deposition is completed in the process module 60 described later is loaded into the unloader 44 and taken out to the outside. Wait.

Hereinafter, for convenience of description, an insulating substrate for thin film deposition is referred to as a first insulating substrate, and an insulating substrate on which thin film deposition is completed is briefly referred to as a second insulating substrate.

In addition, the first robot 62 transports the first and second insulating substrates between the platform 40 and the plurality of load lock chambers 10, by which the first insulating substrate is removed from the loader 42. One of the plurality of load lock chambers 10 is carried in, and the second insulating substrate is carried out from the plurality of load lock chambers 10 and loaded into the unloader 44.

Next, the plurality of load lock chambers 10 are portions in which the first and second insulated substrates are stacked in the middle, so that the different environments are distinguished between the atmospheric pressure region and the vacuum region. It consists of a chamber body defining an inner region where each of the different environmental conditions can be changed, and the first and second slot shutters (14, 16, etc.) at the front end of the atmospheric pressure region and the rear end of the vacuum region, respectively. Opening and closing means are installed.

In addition, the transfer chamber 50 and the second robot 66 provided in the vacuum environment carry the first insulating substrate intermediately loaded in the plurality of load lock chambers 10 into the corresponding process module 60, and each process module ( In step 60, the second insulating substrate, which has been processed, is taken out and loaded again into the plurality of load lock chambers 10.

Lastly, the plurality of process modules 60 collectively arranged around the transfer chamber 50 are portions in which a process for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device for direct liquid crystal display is performed by processing the first insulating substrate and forming the second insulating substrate, respectively. As a specific example, the sputter may be the aforementioned sputter, and at least one may be a heating chamber for preheating the first insulating substrate.

To simplify the processing sequence, the plurality of load lock chambers 10 having an atmospheric pressure atmosphere created by the first robot 62 after being loaded into the loader 42 of the platform 40 are provided. The load lock chamber 10 is loaded into one of the selected ones, and a vacuum atmosphere is formed in the load lock chamber 10. Next, the first insulating substrate inside the load lock chamber 10 in which the vacuum atmosphere is formed is introduced into one of the plurality of process modules 60 by the second robot 66, and the processing is completed. The second insulating substrate is loaded into the selected one of the plurality of load lock chambers 10 in which the vacuum atmosphere is formed by the second robot 66. When the inside of the load lock chamber 10 is formed in an atmospheric pressure atmosphere again, the second insulating substrate is loaded on the unloader 44 of the platform 40 by the first robot 62.

On the other hand, each of the load lock chamber 10 is provided with an up-down system for elevating the insulating substrate to facilitate the exchange of the insulating substrate with the first and second robots (62, 66), the general load lock chamber A description will be given with reference to FIG. 2, which is a schematic side cross-sectional view of (10).

As shown, the general load lock chamber 10 is provided with first and second slot shutters 14 and 16 which can be opened and closed at the front and rear ends of the chamber body 12 in which an internal region of an atmospheric pressure or vacuum environment is defined. The main body 12 is provided with a chuck 18 on which the insulating substrate 2 can be seated.

In addition, an up-down system 20 capable of elevating the insulating substrate 2 seated on the chuck 18 is provided, which is a cylinder 22 outside the chamber body 12 having the lifting shaft 24 and This includes a moving plate 26 that is moved up and down, and a plurality of shaft pins 28 protruding from the moving plate 26 and penetrating the bottom surface and the chuck 18 of the chamber body 12, such shaft pins (28) It includes a plurality of flexible bellows (30) sandwiched between the moving plate 26 and the bottom of the chamber body 12 to surround each outer portion.

Accordingly, when the first robot 62 enters the chamber main body 12 in the atmospheric pressure state while holding the first insulating substrate and is positioned on the chuck 18, the moving plate 26 is maximized by the cylinder 22. As a result, the shaft pin 28 is raised higher than the first blade 64 of the first robot 62, and as a result, the first insulating substrate is moved from the first blade 64 to be supported. Subsequently, when the first robot 62 exits to the outside, the plurality of shaft pins 28 descend to seat the first insulating substrate on the chuck 18.

Next, when the inside of the chamber body 12 is formed in a vacuum, the plurality of shaft pins 28 are raised to the maximum to lift the first insulating substrate from the chuck 18 again, and then the first insulating substrate and the chuck 18 are removed. When the second blade 68 of the second robot 66 is inserted, the plurality of shaft pins 28 are lowered again to transfer the first insulating substrate to the second blade 68.

The above sequence is changed only in the role of the first and second robots 62 and 66, but also in the case of the second insulating substrate.

Therefore, the cylinder 22, the moving plate 26, and the plurality of shaft pins 28 per one insulating substrate are respectively lifted four times, twice before and twice after the treatment. It is contracted and expanded four times. Usually, the driving range of the cylinder 22 lifting shaft 24 is about 75 mm, and the length of the shaft pin is about 245 mm.

However, the general load lock chamber described above presents several problems. One typical example is a phenomenon in which the up-down system has a high probability of failure and the bellows are easily broken.

That is, in the manufacturing process of a general liquid crystal display device, since the insulated substrate transferred through the load lock chamber generally has tens or hundreds of sheets per process, the up-down system moves up and down by four times. Excessive burden is applied to the high temperature generation or failure frequently observed. Likewise, the bellows is easily contracted and elongated because the shrinkage and elongation are repeated too many times. In addition, because the maximum extension length is large, excessive bellows tensile stress is applied, and as a result, frequent repair or maintenance is required.

In particular, if a leak occurs due to rapid compression in the bellows that repeats contraction and elongation for a short time, it is difficult to establish a rapid atmospheric pressure or vacuum environment inside the load lock chamber, and foreign matter penetrates into the chamber body to allow for process environment. It acts as a cause of serious harm. In addition, in recent years, the size of the insulating substrate is also gradually increased according to the large area of the liquid crystal display device, which gives more stress to the up-down system.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and specifically, the purpose of the present invention is to reduce the load on the cylinder or the bellows by reducing the lifting range of the up-down system as much as possible and providing an optimized detailed structure therefor.

The present invention provides a chamber body for defining an internal region in which an atmospheric pressure or a vacuum environment is formed to achieve the above object; A chuck provided in the inner region to seat the insulating substrate; It provides a load lock chamber for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device comprising an up-down system for elevating the insulating substrate to a maximum height of 55 to 65mm from the chuck.

At this time, both sides of the chamber body facing each other is characterized in that the first to second slot shutter in the transverse direction for loading and unloading the insulating substrate is provided.

The up-down system includes a cylinder outside the chamber body having a vertical lift shaft; A moving plate coupled to the lifting shaft in a state in which the chamber body is faced at a predetermined distance from the outside of the chamber body to move up and down; A plurality of shaft pins protruding from the moving plate and penetrating the chamber body bottom surface and the chuck; And a plurality of contracting and extending bellows interposed between the chamber body bottom surface and the moving plate to surround each shaft pin.

In addition, the lifting shaft is characterized in that the lifting up to a maximum of 55 to 65mm, the predetermined distance is characterized in that the maximum 133 to 142mm, the minimum 75 to 82mm, the maximum extension length of the bellows is 133 to 142mm, the minimum contraction length Characterized in that it is 75 to 82mm.

In addition, the length of the shaft pin is characterized in that 230 to 240mm, with reference to the drawings will be described in more detail the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side cross-sectional view of the load lock chamber 100 according to the present invention, in particular the up-down system 120 for elevating the insulating substrate.

The load lock chamber 100 according to the present invention is a portion for intermediate loading the insulating substrate proceeding toward each while separating the atmospheric pressure environment and the vacuum environment, the chamber body 112 is sealed that the insulating substrate can be seated The internal zone is defined, and this internal zone can be changed to atmospheric pressure or vacuum environment through a separate exhaust system.

And both sides of the chamber body 112, that is, the front end to the atmospheric pressure environment and the rear end toward the vacuum environment are provided with first and second slot shutters (114, 116) for carrying in and out of the insulating substrate, respectively, as shown Installed in the horizontal direction, the insulating substrate can be carried in and out in parallel.

In addition, the chamber body 112 is provided with a chuck 118 on which an insulating substrate is mounted, which may be rotated at a predetermined angle according to the purpose.

The load lock chamber 100 according to the present invention having the above configuration has a role of distinguishing these different environments between a plurality of process modules, such as a sputter placed in a vacuum environment and a platform placed in an atmospheric environment, similar to a general case. Cooling the insulating substrate to be loaded in the middle of the furnace, the first robot 162 provided between the platform and the first slot shutter 114, the second slot shutter 116 and the second provided between the plurality of process modules The insulating substrate is carried in and out through the robot 166.

That is, for example, the first insulating substrate loaded on the loader of the platform for thin film deposition is positioned in front of the first slot shutter 114 in a state of being seated on the first blade 164 of the first robot 162. Accordingly, the first slot shutter 114 is opened after the inner region of the load lock chamber 100 and the chamber body 112 according to the present invention is formed in an atmospheric pressure environment. Then, the first robot 162 enters and seats the first insulating substrate on the chuck 118. Subsequently, after the first slot shutter 114 is sealed, when the inner region of the chamber body 112 of the load lock chamber 100 is formed in a vacuum environment, the second slot shutter 116 is opened to open the second robot 166. The second blade 168 grips and carries the first insulating substrate on the chuck 118 to the corresponding process module.

Through this process, the second insulating substrate on which the process such as thin film deposition is completed in each process module is positioned on the second blade shutter 116 again in the state of being seated on the second blade 168 of the second robot 166. When a vacuum environment is formed in the inner region of the load lock chamber 100 and the chamber body 112 according to the present invention, the second slot shutter 116 is opened so that the second robot 166 chucks the second insulating substrate. It will rest on the table. Subsequently, after the second slot shutter 116 is sealed, when the inner region of the chamber body 112 of the load lock chamber 100 is formed in an atmospheric pressure environment, the first slot shutter 114 is opened, and the first robot 162 of the first robot 162 is closed. The first blade 164 grips the second insulating substrate on the chuck 118 to be transported to a predetermined position of the platform, that is, to the unloader.

In this case, in particular, the load lock chamber 100 according to the present invention is provided with an up-down system 120 to facilitate the exchange of the insulating substrate 2 between the first and second robots 162 and 166 and the chuck 118.

In detail, the up-down system 120 of the load lock chamber 100 according to the present invention includes a cylinder 122 provided outside the chamber body 112, a moving plate 126 that is lifted and the chamber body protruding therefrom. (112) a plurality of shaft pins 128 penetrating the bottom surface and the chuck 118, a plurality of between the moving plate 126 and the chamber body 112 bottom surface surrounding each shaft pin 128 The bellows 130 is interposed elastically.

In more detail, first, the cylinder 122 has a lifting shaft 124, which is lifted up and down using, for example, air pressure, which may be located at the bottom of the chamber body 112.

And the moving plate 126 is coupled to the lifting shaft 124 to move up and down, which is moved in a manner that is far or near while maintaining parallel to the bottom of the chamber body 112.

Next, the plurality of shaft pins 128 protruding from the upper surface of the moving plate 126 penetrate the bottom surface of the chamber body 112 and the chuck 118. A plurality of pinholes 129 may penetrate up and down in the 118. Thus, the insulating substrate 2 seated on the chuck 118 is raised or lowered by the plurality of shaft pins 128.

Finally, a plurality of bellows 130 surrounding each of the shaft pins 128 are interposed between the bottom of the chamber body 112 and the moving plate 126, thereby blocking foreign matter penetration through the pinhole 129. It provides a sealed environment for the atmospheric pressure or a vacuum environment inside the chamber body 112. Such bellows 130 may have a tubular shape in which a plurality of corrugations are formed along the outer surface.

Therefore, when the lifting shaft 124 of the cylinder 122 rises, the moving plate 126 and the plurality of shaft pins 128 protruding therefrom rise together, and the plurality of shaft pins 128 rise from the upper surface of the chuck 118. At the same time ascending, each bellows 130 is contracted while the lifting shaft 124 of the cylinder 122 is lowered, the moving plate 126 and the plurality of shaft pins 128 protruding therefrom are lowered together to chuck 118 Each end of the bellows 130 is extended at the same time as the end is hidden inside.

In this case, in the load lock chamber 100 according to the present invention, the insulating substrate 2 is lifted to be spaced apart from the chuck 118 by a maximum of 55 to 65 mm. For this purpose, the lifting shaft 124 is also a cylinder 122. ) To a maximum of 55 to 65 mm.

In addition, the length of the plurality of shaft pins 128 is 230 to 240mm and the interval between the bottom of the chamber body 112 and the moving plate 126 is maintained at a maximum, that is, about 133 to 142mm when the moving plate 126 descends. The bellows 130 also has a maximum extension length of about 133 to 142 mm.

This will be described with reference to FIG. 4, which shows a part of FIG. 3 in more detail.

As mentioned above, the maximum height of the lifting shaft 124 of the cylinder 122 lifting shaft 124 of the load lock chamber 100 up-down system 120 according to the present invention is 55 to 65 mm, most suitably about 60 mm, so the moving plate 126 The elevating range of) is also elevated to this same range.

And the interval between the bottom of the chamber body 112 and the moving plate 126 is 133 to 142mm, most preferably 138mm when the maximum descending of the moving plate 126, so the distance between them at the maximum rise is 75 to 82mm most suitably It is about 78mm. In addition, the bellows interposed between the moving plate 126 and the bottom of the chamber body 112 to surround each shaft pin 128 is 133 to 142 mm at the maximum elongation, and most suitably, the chamber bottom 112 and the moving plate ( 126 mm, which is equal to the maximum spacing of 126 mm, and at the maximum contraction is also equal to the minimum distance between the bottom of the chamber body 112 and the moving plate 126 is 75 to 82 mm, most suitably about 78 mm, each bellows ( 130 is a result that the upper and lower ends are contracted and elongated in a state in which the upper and lower ends are completely in contact with the bottom surface of the chamber body 112 and the moving plate 126.

And the length of the shaft pin 128 is 230 to 240mm, most preferably 235mm, so the length of the shaft pin is about 10mm lower than the general case, the lifting range of the cylinder 122, the lifting shaft 124 is common In consideration of the 10 to 20mm, and most preferably 15mm lower than the end, the insulating substrate (2) is raised only about 60mm in the state of a maximum 25mm lower than the general case.

In addition, as the length of the shaft pin 128 is reduced, the height of the moving plate 126 is lowered as well as the height of the moving plate 126 is increased. The length at which the 130 is stretched to the maximum is also reduced to reduce the tensile stress.

These values are specifically measured by the Applicant's careful observation of the load lock chamber 100 and the first and second blades 164 and 168 of the first and second robots 62 and 64 and the plurality of shaft pins 128. Bar is a minimum value that does not interfere with the transfer of the insulating substrate (2), through which the lifting range of the cylinder 122 lifting shaft 124 can be shortened to minimize the force even in repeated operation.

In addition, within the above-described numerical value, the bellows 130 is contracted and stretched in a state in which the bellows 130 is in close contact with the bottom surface of the chamber body 112 and the moving plate 126, respectively, and the width thereof is reduced by about 15 mm. While preventing the penetration of reliably, the shrinkage width becomes smaller, so that leakage and other defects are greatly reduced even in repeated operation.

Therefore, the load lock chamber according to the present invention has an advantage of minimizing the failure of the up-down system despite the long time use. Therefore, the time and effort required for repair or maintenance are greatly reduced.

In addition, in particular, it is possible to reduce the leakage and tensile stress of the bellows, and therefore, there is an advantage of easily infiltrating foreign matter or creating a unique environment inside the chamber body.

Claims (7)

A chamber body defining an inner region in which an atmospheric pressure or a vacuum environment is formed; A chuck provided in the inner region to seat the insulating substrate; And an up-down system for elevating the insulating substrate up to a height of 55 to 65 mm from the chuck. The method of claim 1, Both sides of the chamber body facing each other, the load lock chamber for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, characterized in that the first to second slot shutter in the horizontal direction for loading and unloading the insulating substrate is provided. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein The up-down system includes a cylinder outside the chamber body having a vertical lifting shaft; A moving plate coupled to the lifting shaft in a state in which the chamber body is faced at a predetermined distance from the outside of the chamber body to move up and down; A plurality of shaft pins protruding from the moving plate and penetrating the chamber body bottom surface and the chuck; And a plurality of contracting and extending bellows interposed between the chamber body bottom surface and the moving plate to surround each of the shaft pins. The method of claim 3, wherein The lifting shaft is a load lock chamber for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, characterized in that the lifting up to 55 to 65mm in height. The method of claim 4, wherein The predetermined distance is a load lock chamber for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, characterized in that the maximum 133 to 142mm, the minimum 75 to 82mm. The method of claim 5, The maximum extension length of the bellows is 133 to 142mm, the minimum shrinkage length is 75 to 82mm, the load lock chamber for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device. The method of claim 6, The length of the shaft pin is a load lock chamber for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device, characterized in that 230 to 240mm.

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