KR20010000900A - Automatic Gate Valve in Semiconductor Fabrication Equipments - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An automatic gate valve for a semiconductor processing equipment is provided to increase a space usage percentage as the number of chambers increase by establishing the gate valve inside a housing of an automatic transfer apparatus, and to simplify maintenance of the equipment by simplifying a complicated operating structure of the gate valve while satisfying the function of the valve itself by a compact structure of the overall equipment. CONSTITUTION: An automatic gate valve for a semiconductor processing equipment comprises a driving shaft, a shutter, a link and an arm. The driving shaft transforms a straight line motion to a rotational motion, established inside a housing of an automatic transfer apparatus. The shutter is driven as one body with the driving shaft. The link presses the shutter by a revolving power of the driving shaft. The arm maintains a rotational center of the shutter.

Description

Automatic Gate Valve in Semiconductor Fabrication Equipments

The present invention relates to a gate valve used to open and close a port between a wafer automatic transfer device and a chamber of an automated semiconductor fabrication equipment.

In general, a semiconductor wafer fabrication process needs to form a special atmosphere such as argon gas or a vacuum in a chamber, and a predetermined passage must be provided to load and unload the wafer into the chamber. It is to be provided with a gate valve which is an opening and closing means. Conventional gate valves are fastened between the housing of the wafer going chamber and the housing of the transfer device. This type of gate valve ensures efficient sealing, but the number of gate valves required for opening and closing of ports has increased as the cluster-type transfer device having three or more chambers installed around the automatic transfer device becomes a general model. The space required for installation of the valve is increased. Therefore, conventional gate valves require a lot of space for their housings and drives to be individually exposed to each port, which increases the overall volume of the equipment, lengthens the transfer distance of the wafer transfer device, and increases the installation cost. There was a disadvantage that was not economic.

In the present invention, the conventional gate valve is installed in the housing of the automatic transfer device in order to compensate for the disadvantage that the installation requires a large amount of semiconductor production equipment and the price increases accordingly. Installing a gate valve inside the automatic transfer device has the advantage of using the space inside the transfer device to reduce the volume of the equipment and short the transfer distance of the wafer transfer device. In addition, when the automatic transfer device is in the form of a cluster having three or more chambers in the periphery, space utilization is increased, the equipment becomes compact, the initial investment required for the configuration of the equipment is reduced, and the maintenance and repair of the equipment can be simplified. It has advantages

The present invention is to solve the problems as described above, the installation of the gate valve inside the automatic transfer device to increase the utilization of space, and the type of equipment that requires multiple chambers has a higher space utilization rate and economical savings And the purpose is to simplify the structure complicated by the structure of the gate valve is installed outside the equipment.

1 is a perspective view of a conventional gate valve and a chamber coupled state

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a state in which the shutter opening and closing device of the present invention coupled

3 is a perspective view of a shutter according to the present invention;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the shutter opening and closing device constituting the present invention is closed

5 is a perspective view when the shutter opening and closing device of the present invention is closed;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the shutter opening and closing device constituting the present invention opened

Figure 7 is a combination of the shutter opening and closing device and the transfer device according to the present invention

1 illustrates a conventional gate valve installed in a semiconductor fabrication apparatus having two chambers, and FIG. 2 illustrates a form in which a gate valve according to the present invention is installed inside a transfer device. As can be seen in the comparison between FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the gate valve according to the invention reduces the space between the chambers and the volume of the drive required for the operation of the shutter. 3 to 6 are partial perspective views for showing the overall perspective view of the opening and closing device according to the present invention and the operation sequence of the shutter. The operation and structure of the apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6 as follows.

The opening and closing device according to the present invention is installed so as to rotate integrally to the drive shaft (6), the drive shaft (6) rotated by the power source (5), one end and the drive shaft (6) and the other end of the shutter ( Link mechanisms 7 and 8 connected to 4 to operate the shutter 4, and guide grooves 14 of the housing 1, one end of which is connected to the shutter 4 and the other end of which is directed toward the ports 18 and 19. (4) coupled to the arm (9), which maintains the center of rotation of the shutter (4), and one end of the link mechanism (7,8) and one end of the arm (9), which has a sealing function by crimping. It is composed of

The shutter 4 is installed in the ports 18, 19 of the housing 1, the rear opening and closing means is connected to the shutter 4 is configured to open and close while the shutter 4 is rotated downward into the housing (1). Pneumatic cylinder (5) is used as the power source (5) of the opening and closing means, the operating rod of the pneumatic cylinder (5) is provided with a rack gear 10 and rotates integrally with the drive shaft (6) configured in the housing (1) Engagement with the pinion gear 11 is configured to convert the linear movement of the actuating rod into the rotational movement of the drive shaft 6. The drive shaft 6 in which the pinion gear 11 is constituted is provided with a pair of two-section links 7 and 8 at both ends thereof, and the two-section links 7 and 8 are rotated on the rear surface of the shutter 4. Possibly connected. In addition, one end of the arm 9 is fixed to the rear surface of the shutter 4, and the other end of the arm 9 is configured such that the slide rods 17 protrude to both sides, and the slide rods 17 have both ends thereof. It is slidably coupled to the guide groove 14 of the housing 1 formed toward the ports 18, 19 so that the shutter 4 can be opened and closed in a hermetic manner while being forward and backward toward the ports 18, 19. .

The power source 5 of the shutter opening and closing is installed on the outside of the housing 1, and only the operating rod penetrates the housing 1 and is located inside the housing 1, and the operating rod of the power source 5 includes a rack gear. 10 is provided to engage the pinion gear 11 configured at one end of the drive shaft 6 and the drive shaft 6 is configured to rotate integrally with the pinion gear 11. The drive shaft 6 is provided with a pair of two-section links 7 and 8 for opening and closing the shutter 4, one end of the first link 7 being fixed to the drive shaft 6 to drive shaft 6. It is fixed to be rotated integrally with and the other end is connected to the second link (8) by a hinge is configured to be rotatable. The other end of the second link 8 is connected to the inner rear surface of the shutter 4 by a hinge and fixed to be rotatable. On the rear of the shutter 4, a pair of arms 9 are configured to maintain the center of rotation of the shutter 4, one end of which is fixed to the shutter 4, and the other end of which is a sliding rod. (17) is configured, the bearing 15 is provided at both ends of the sliding rod 17 is configured to enable smooth sliding. The slide rod 17 with the bearing 15 is provided with one spring 16 to move or maintain the center of rotation of the arm 9. And the slide rod 17 with the bearing 15 is configured to operate in a direction perpendicular to the contact surface of the shutter (4) between the two plates 13 fixed to the bracket 12 of the drive shaft (6) It moves along the guide groove 14 formed in the. Therefore, the shutter opening and closing device is such that when the pneumatic cylinder 5 is contracted and operated in the state in which the shutter 4 is closed as shown in FIG. 4, the pinion gear 11 rotates and rotates integrally with the pinion gear 11. As the combined drive shaft 6 is rotated, the two-section links 7 and 8 are folded, and the slide rod 17 at the end of the arm 9 is caught by the end of the guide groove 14 in the form shown in FIG. The arm 9 and the shutter 4 are spaced apart from the ports 18 and 19 by the contracting force of the spring 16 until it is lost. Then, when the drive shaft 6 continues to rotate, the first link 7 fixed to the drive shaft 6 rotates integrally with the drive shaft 6. At this time, the shutter 4 and the second link 8 Rotation about the slide rod 17 causes the ports 18 and 19 to be opened as shown in FIG. On the contrary, when the pneumatic cylinder 5 is extended, the pinion gear 11 and the drive shaft 6 are rotated so that the two-section links 7 and 8 are unfolded, and the shutter 4 is placed at the end of the arm 9. It is rotated upward about the slide rod 17. Subsequently, when the two-segment links 7 and 8 are further unfolded, the upper end of the arm 9 is caught at an end configured on the wall surface of the wafer transfer device so that the rotational movement is stopped and a linear movement is induced to cause the arm ( 9) As the slide rod 17 at the end is advanced along the guide groove 14 toward the ports 18 and 19, the ports 18 and 19 are hermetically sealed by pressing the O-rings formed on the outer surface of the shutter 4. It will be sealed.

In the gate valve according to the above configuration, when the work of any of the chambers 2 and 3 of the plurality of connected chambers 2 and 3 is completed, the ports 18 and 19 communicating with the completed chambers 2 and 3 are opened. When the ports 18 and 19 are opened, the shutter 4 is folded while being rotated downward toward the bottom inside the housing 1 so as not to interfere with the operation of the robot. This operation is performed sequentially according to the working state in the chamber.

As described above, according to the present invention, the gate valve is installed inside the housing of the automatic transfer device, and thus the utilization rate of the space is increased as the number of chambers increases, and the function of the valve itself is reduced in a compact structure that reduces the volume of the entire equipment. At the same time, it is possible to simplify the maintenance and repair of the equipment by simplifying the complicated operation structure of the gate valve, thereby reducing the initial cost required for the installation and the cost of maintenance and repair. have.

Claims (1)

In the gate valve that isolates and seals the automatic transfer from the outside, the shutter is installed inside the housing of the automatic transfer and the shutter rotates integrally with the drive shaft and the drive shaft to convert linear motion into rotation. A gate valve of a semiconductor wafer automatic transfer device comprising a crimped link and an arm for maintaining a center of rotation of a shutter.