KR101124485B1 - Processing system for substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

A substrate processing system is disclosed. The substrate processing system includes a loading unit to which a tray on which a substrate is mounted is supplied; An unloading part spaced apart from the loading part; A transfer unit including a first arm unit configured to transfer the tray through linear motion and rotational motion, the transfer part being interposed between the loading part and the unloading part; Wherein the loading part, the conveying part and the unloading part form a first path. The second arm unit receives the tray from the conveying part, and is disposed on a second path intersecting the first path. A load lock chamber; And a plurality of process chambers disposed on a third path crossing the second path and receiving the tray from the load lock chamber to process the substrate. At this time, the tray which has been processed in the process chamber is transferred to the unloading unit through the load lock chamber and the transfer unit.

Description

Processing system for substrate

The present invention relates to a substrate processing system.

An anti-reflection coating is used to reduce light reflection on the surface of a solar cell and increase selectivity of a specific wavelength region by causing the light reflected from the upper layer and the light reflected from the lower layer to cancel each other. Such an antireflection film is formed by coating SiNx on the surface of a substrate in a chamber, for example, by vapor deposition.

1 shows a substrate processing system according to the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, according to the prior art, the loading part 1, the heating part 2, the process part 3, the cooling part 4 on the transfer path while continuously feeding the substrate in an inline manner. And the unloading part 5 was arrange | positioned in series. Arrows in FIG. 1 indicate the transfer path of the substrate.

In the case of such a substrate processing system having a serial arrangement structure, there is a problem that space operation is not efficient due to the large space occupied by the substrate processing system. There is a limit to the amount of substrate that can be made.

Accordingly, it is necessary to develop a substrate processing system capable of optimizing a facility used to process and transfer a substrate, to reduce the amount of space occupied by the processing system, and to increase the price competitiveness.

The present invention is to provide a substrate processing system that can reduce the occupied space and scale.

According to an aspect of the invention, the loading unit is supplied with a tray on which the substrate is mounted; An unloading part spaced apart from the loading part; A transfer unit including a first arm unit configured to transfer the tray through linear motion and rotational motion, the transfer part being interposed between the loading part and the unloading part; Wherein the loading part, the conveying part and the unloading part form a first path. The second arm unit receives the tray from the conveying part, and is disposed on a second path intersecting the first path. A load lock chamber; And a plurality of process chambers disposed on a third path crossing the second path and receiving the tray from the load lock chamber to process the substrate. The tray is transferred to the unloading part through the load lock chamber and the transfer part.

Here, a plurality of substrates may be seated and transferred to the tray.

The transfer unit may further include: a first guide rail formed along the first path to guide the movement of the first arm unit; A second guide rail formed along the second path to guide movement of the first arm unit; And rotating means for rotating the first arm unit to change a path of the first arm unit.

The loading unit includes a first conveyor belt for continuously supplying the tray; And a first buffer unit for temporarily storing the supplied tray, and the first arm unit may include a plurality of support arms to simultaneously transfer the plurality of trays. In this case, the plurality of support arms may be disposed up and down.

On the other hand, the first arm unit may further include an arm head to which one end of the plurality of support arms are all coupled, whereby the plurality of support arms may be integrally behaved.

The first path, the second path, and the third path may be disposed in a '工' shape, and the plurality of process chambers may be symmetrically disposed about the load lock chamber.

The second arm unit may be plural, wherein the number of the second arm units may be equal to the number of the process chambers. Meanwhile, the plurality of second arm units may be disposed up and down.

The unloading unit may include: a second conveyor belt configured to transfer a tray which has been processed in the process chamber to a subsequent process; And a second buffer unit temporarily storing the tray which has been processed in the process chamber.

The process chamber may perform a function of forming an anti-reflection film on the surface of the substrate.

On the other hand, the second arm unit, the rotating shaft portion which is the center of the rotational movement; A pair of support bars spaced apart from each other to support lower ends of the trays; And it may include a connecting portion for connecting the rotating shaft portion and the pair of support bars. At this time, of the pair of support bars, the support bar located on the side of the process chamber to which the tray is supplied, may be shorter than the remaining support bar.

On the other hand, the loading unit may be preheated to the substrate.

In addition, the load lock chamber may be maintained at a temperature higher than that of the loading unit and the unloading unit, and lower than the process chamber.

In addition, the unloading unit may include cooling means for cooling the substrate.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to increase the price competitiveness by reducing the space and the size occupied by the substrate processing system.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a substrate processing system according to the prior art.
2 is a block diagram illustrating a substrate processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a perspective view showing a substrate processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a plan view showing a substrate processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a side view of the first arm unit.
6 is a view showing a tray seated on the first arm unit.
7 is a view showing a state in which the first arm unit rotates and faces the load lock chamber.
8 shows a second arm unit.
9 is a view showing a state in which the first arm unit faces the unloading part.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention is capable of various modifications and various embodiments, and specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the detailed description. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, it should be understood to include all transformations, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention. In the following description of the present invention, if it is determined that the detailed description of the related known technology may obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In this application, the terms "comprise" or "have" are intended to indicate that there is a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification, and one or more other features. It is to be understood that the present invention does not exclude the possibility of the presence or the addition of numbers, steps, operations, components, components, or a combination thereof.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a substrate processing system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, the same or corresponding components are given the same reference numerals and duplicated thereto. The description will be omitted.

First, a flow of the substrate processing system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 2. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a substrate processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the substrate processing system according to the present embodiment includes a loading unit 10, a transfer unit 20, a load lock chamber 30, a plurality of process chambers 40 and an unloading unit 50. It includes.

The transfer unit 20 is located between the loading unit 10 and the unloading unit 50 to perform a function of exchanging a tray (see T in FIG. 3). In this case, the loading unit 10, the transfer unit 20, and the unloading unit 50 form the first path P1. In the present embodiment, the first path P1 is in-line of the tray T. The conveying direction, more specifically, is the same as the in-line conveying direction of the substrate.

When the tray T is supplied to the loading unit 10, the transfer unit 20 receives the tray T supplied to the loading unit 10 and transmits the tray T to the load lock chamber 30. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, the second path P2 formed by the transfer unit 20 and the load lock chamber 30 crosses the first path P1. This is in contrast to the point where the substrate processing system according to the prior art, as shown in FIG. 1, performed the process and transfer of the substrate on a single path. To this end, the transfer unit 20 may be made of a configuration capable of both linear and rotational movement.

Meanwhile, in the loading unit 10, preheating of the substrate seated on the tray may be performed. To this end, the loading unit 10 may be provided with a separate heating means (not shown) for heating the substrate, so that the temperature of the substrate resulting from the previous process is maintained without falling by surrounding the outer surface with a heat insulating material. It may be structured. For example, when the temperature in the process chamber 40 to be described later is about 450 ℃, the loading unit 10 may maintain about 200 ℃. Through this, it is possible to expect the effect of shortening the processing time in the process chamber 40 later.

The load lock chamber 30 transfers the tray T received from the transfer unit 20 to the plurality of process chambers 40 disposed adjacent thereto. To this end, the load lock chamber 30 may be provided with a second arm unit 32 capable of rotating around a predetermined rotation axis. At this time, the third path P3 formed by the load lock chamber 30 and the process chamber 40 crosses the second path P2. In FIG. 2, although the first path P1, the second path P2, and the third path P3 are formed to have a '工' shape orthogonal to each other, the first path P1, the second path P2, and the third path P3 may be inclined by a predetermined angle. It is not limited to a shape.

Secondary preheating of the substrate may be performed in the load lock chamber 30. To this end, the load lock chamber 30 may be provided with a separate heater (not shown) for heating the substrate. At this time, the temperature in the load lock chamber 30 has a value between the temperature of the loading unit 10 and the temperature in the process chamber 40.

Meanwhile, in the above description, a case in which the primary preheating is performed in the loading unit 10 and the secondary preheating in the load lock chamber 30 has been described, but the preheating in the loading unit 10 is omitted and the load lock chamber 30 is omitted. Of course, preheating may only occur.

In the process chamber 40, a semiconductor process on a substrate seated on the transferred tray T is performed. For example, in the process chamber 40, a process of forming an anti-reflection film on the surface of the substrate during the solar cell manufacturing process may be performed. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various semiconductor processes that need to be performed in the chamber may be performed in the process chamber 40.

When the process in the process chamber 40 is completed, the second arm unit 32 provided in the load lock chamber 30 receives the tray T from the process chamber 40 and delivers it to the transfer unit 20. Then, the transfer unit 20 is to transfer it to the unloading unit 50 again. This allows the processing and transfer to the substrate to be completed.

At this time, when the load lock chamber 30 performs the preheating function as described above, the load lock chamber 30 can perform the primary cooling function for the substrate at the same time. This is because the load lock chamber 30 is maintained at a lower temperature than the process chamber 40. In other words, the load lock chamber 30 may perform a heating function on the substrate supplied to the process chamber 40, and perform a cooling function on the substrate exiting from the process chamber 40.

Meanwhile, in the unloading unit 50, cooling of the substrate seated on the tray T may be performed. To this end, the unloading unit 50 may have a separate cooling means such as an air cooler (not shown) for cooling the substrate. For example, when the temperature in the process chamber 40 is about 450 ° C, the unloading part 50 may maintain about 100 ° C.

As described above, when the load lock chamber 30 performs the primary cooling function with respect to the substrate, the substrate on which the process is completed in the process chamber 40 is connected to the load lock chamber 30 and the unloading unit 50. Through this, two cooling cycles can be performed.

In the above, the flow of the substrate processing system according to the present embodiment is briefly described with reference to FIG. 2, and the detailed configuration will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 9. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a substrate processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating a substrate processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The loading unit 10 is where the substrate is supplied. At this time, the substrate is supplied in a state seated on the tray (T). A plurality of substrates may be mounted on the tray T to allow simultaneous processing of the plurality of substrates. Here, the substrate means a material that is subject to various semiconductor processes, such as a material used for manufacturing a solar cell, such as a silicon wafer.

On the other hand, as shown in Figure 3, the loading unit 10 may include a first conveyor belt 12 for continuously supplying the tray (T). As such, when the in-line type of supplying the tray T is applied using the conveyor belt 12, the throughput per unit time can be improved by enabling continuous processing.

On the other hand, in the case where the amount of the tray T supplied through the conveyor belt 12 becomes larger than the number of trays T processed in the process chamber 40, the loading belt 10 has a conveyor belt 12 The first buffer unit 14 may be provided to temporarily store the tray (T) supplied through the (). The over-supplied tray T is temporarily stored in the empty space of the first buffer unit 14 by the transfer unit 20 which will be described later, and can be supplied to the process chamber 40 later. As shown in FIG. 3, the first buffer unit 14 may have a multilayer structure.

The transfer unit 20 transfers the tray T supplied to the loading unit 10 to the load lock chamber 30. To this end, the transfer unit 20 is configured such that the first arm unit (see 22 of FIGS. 4 and 5) supporting the substrate can perform a linear motion and a rotational motion. That is, the transfer part 20 may include a first guide rail (see 23 in FIG. 7) that guides the first arm unit 22 to move along the first path P1. A second guide rail (see 24 of FIG. 4) for guiding the movement along the path P2 and the first arm unit 22 may be rotated to change the path. At this time, the rotating means 26 may be used a geared motor located below the intersection of the first guide rail 23 and the second guide rail 24, it is also possible to use a variety of other power transmission system. There will be.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, the lifting unit 28 may be provided to move the first arm unit 22 up and down. Due to the lifting unit 28, the first arm unit 22 may store the tray T in the first buffer unit 14 of the multilayer structure, or may receive the stored tray T.

An example of the first arm unit 22 is shown in FIG. 5. Referring to FIG. 5, the first arm unit 22 may include a plurality of support arms 22b and 22c. As such, when the first arm unit 22 includes the plurality of support arms 22b and 22c, the plurality of trays T can be delivered at the same time, thereby improving throughput per unit time. In this case, the plurality of support arms 22b and 22c may be disposed up and down, and in this case, it is advantageous to simultaneously deliver the trays T stored in the first buffer part 14 of the multilayer structure.

Meanwhile, both ends of the plurality of support arms 22b and 22c may be coupled to the arm head 22a. In this case, the plurality of support arms 22b and 22c may be integrally behaved, so that the plurality of trays T may be simultaneously delivered in one operation.

FIG. 6 shows a state in which the first arm unit 22 supports the tray T in a state in which the first arm unit 22 faces the loading unit 10. In FIG. 7, the first arm unit 22 rotates to load the chamber. The figure facing 30 is shown.

The load lock chamber 30 receives the tray T from the transfer unit 20, more specifically, the first arm unit 22, and the second arm units 32-1, 32-2, Hereinafter, the tray T is supplied into the process chamber 40 through the rotational movement of '32'. At this time, in order to more efficiently supply the trays T to the plurality of process chambers 40, a plurality of second arm units 32 may be provided. Preferably, the number of process chambers 40 The same number of second arm units 32 may be provided. Meanwhile, similarly to the case of the first arm unit 22, the second arm units 32 may be disposed up and down.

FIG. 8 shows a second arm unit 32-1 located relatively upward of the two second arm units 32-1 and 32-2 shown in FIG. 7. The structure and function of the second arm unit 32-1 described below can also be applied to the second arm unit 32-2 positioned relatively downward in FIG. 7.

As shown in FIG. 8, the second arm unit 32-1 is provided with a pair of support bars 32c spaced apart from each other so as to support lower ends of both ends of the tray T, which is the center of the rotary shaft 32a. 32d) includes a connecting portion 32b for connecting the rotating shaft portion 32a and the pair of support bars 32c and 32d. At this time, the distance between the pair of support bars 32c and 32d is larger than the width of the support arm 22b of the first arm unit 22. As a result, when the first arm unit 22 moves forward while the first arm unit 22 rotates to face the load lock chamber 30, the tray supported on the first arm unit 22 ( T) can be delivered on the second arm unit 32-1.

When the tray T is transferred to the second arm unit 32-1, the tray T rotates around the rotation shaft part 32a to supply the tray T to the adjacent process chamber 40. At this time, the support bar 32d positioned on the side of the process chamber 40 to which the tray T is to be supplied is formed to be shorter than the remaining support bars 32c, thereby providing a tray T for supplying the tray T into the process chamber 40. It is possible to solve the problem that the support bar 32d causes interference with the process chamber 40 when the two arm unit 32-1 is rotated.

Meanwhile, the plurality of process chambers 40 may be symmetrically disposed about the load lock chamber 30. In this case, there is an advantage that the rotation control of the second arm unit 32 provided in the load lock chamber 30 can be simplified.

In the process chamber 40, a semiconductor process for the substrate seated on the transferred tray T, for example, a process of forming an anti-reflection film on the surface of the substrate during a solar cell manufacturing process is performed. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various semiconductor processes that need to be performed in the chamber may be performed in the process chamber 40.

When the process in the process chamber 40 is completed, the second arm unit 32 receives the tray T from the process chamber 40 and delivers the tray T to the first arm unit 22. The process of transferring the tray T from the second arm unit 32 to the first arm unit 22 is the same as the inverse of the transfer process from the first arm unit 22 to the second arm unit 32.

The first arm unit 22, which has received the tray T after the process processing is completed, moves backward, returns to the rotatable state, and then faces the unloading unit 50 as illustrated in FIG. 9. Thereafter, when the first arm unit 22 goes straight toward the unloading part 50, the tray T supported on the first arm unit 22 may be transferred to the unloading part 50. Will be.

At this time, as in the case of the loading unit 10, as shown in FIG. 3, the unloading unit 50, as shown in FIG. The second conveyor belt 52 and the second buffer unit 54 for temporarily storing the tray T which has been processed in the process chamber 40 may be included.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. It will be understood that the invention may be varied and varied without departing from the scope of the invention.

Many embodiments other than the above-described embodiments are within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

10 loading portion 12 conveyor belt
14: buffer portion 20: transfer portion
22: first arm unit 30: load lock chamber
32: second arm unit 40: process chamber
50: unloading unit 52: conveyor belt
54 buffer area

Claims (19)

A loading unit to which a tray on which a substrate is mounted is supplied;
An unloading part spaced apart from the loading part;
A transfer unit including a first arm unit configured to transfer the tray through linear motion and rotational motion, the transfer part being interposed between the loading part and the unloading part; Wherein the loading part, the conveying part and the unloading part form a first path.
A load lock chamber including a second arm unit receiving the tray from the transfer unit and disposed on a second path crossing the first path; And
And a plurality of process chambers disposed on a third path crossing the second path and receiving the tray from the load lock chamber to process the substrate.
The tray which has been processed in the process chamber is transferred to the unloading part through the load lock chamber and the transfer part,
The transfer unit
A first guide rail formed along the first path to guide movement of the first arm unit;
A second guide rail formed along the second path to guide movement of the first arm unit; And
And rotating means for rotating the first arm unit to change a path of the first arm unit. The method of claim 1,
A substrate processing system, characterized in that a plurality of substrates are seated and transferred to the tray.
delete The method of claim 1,
The loading unit,
A first conveyor belt for continuously feeding the tray; And
And a first buffer unit for temporarily storing the supplied tray.
The method of claim 4, wherein
And the first arm unit comprises a plurality of support arms to simultaneously deliver a plurality of trays.
The method of claim 5,
The plurality of support arms are disposed up and down.
The method of claim 6,
The first arm unit further includes an arm head to which one end of the plurality of support arms are all coupled, wherein the plurality of support arms be integrally behaved.
The method of claim 1,
The first path, the second path, and the third path are disposed in a '工' shape, substrate processing system, characterized in that.
The method of claim 1,
And the plurality of process chambers are symmetrically disposed about the load lock chamber.
The method of claim 1,
The second arm unit is a plurality of substrate processing system, characterized in that.
The method of claim 10,
And the number of the second female units is equal to the number of the process chambers.
The method of claim 10,
The plurality of second arm units are disposed up and down.
The method of claim 1,
The unloading unit,
A second conveyor belt which transfers the tray which has been processed in the process chamber to a subsequent process; And
And a second buffer unit configured to temporarily store the tray which has been processed in the process chamber.
The method of claim 1,
And the process chamber performs a function of forming an anti-reflection film on the surface of the substrate.
The method of claim 1,
The second arm unit,
A rotating shaft unit which is a center of the rotating movement;
A pair of support bars spaced apart from each other to support lower ends of the trays; And
And a connecting portion connecting the rotating shaft portion and the pair of support bars.
16. The method of claim 15,
Among the pair of support bars, the support bar located on the side of the process chamber to which the tray is to be supplied is shorter than the other support bar substrate processing system.
The method of claim 1,
And the loading part performs preheating of the substrate.
The method of claim 1,
The load lock chamber,
And a temperature higher than that of the loading and unloading portions, and maintained at a lower temperature than the process chamber.
The method of claim 1,
And said unloading portion comprises cooling means for cooling said substrate.

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