KR20100011539A - Plasma processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A plasma processing device for easily operating a maintenance task for a gate valve is provided to secure enough work space for separating a blade and connecting arm each other by interlinking a blade and a connecting arm at the side facing a transfer chamber. CONSTITUTION: A transfer chamber is separated with a loadlock chamber. A gate valve interlinks the loadlock chamber and the transfer chamber. The gate valve includes one or more first slot. The substrate transferred between the loadlock chamber and the transfer chamber passes through the first slot. One or more second slot is formed in the side of a valve housing facing the transfer chamber. A blade(120) is installed in the inside of the valve housing to be rotatable in order to open and close the second slot. A hinge shaft is installed inside of valve housing. One or more connecting arm interlinks the blade and the hinge shaft. One or more connecting member(150) connects the blade and the connecting arm.

Description

Plasma Processing Equipment {PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS}

The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a plasma processing apparatus that can improve the ease of maintenance work for a gate valve connecting a load lock chamber and a transfer chamber.

Flat panel displays are widely used in personal handheld terminals, as well as in TVs and computers. Such flat displays include liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs).

Among them, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) inject liquid crystals, which are solid and liquid intermediates, between two thin upper and lower glass substrates, and generate contrast by changing the arrangement of liquid crystal molecules by the electrode voltage difference between the upper and lower glass substrates. It is a device using a kind of optical switch phenomenon to display an image. LCDs are now widely used in electronic clocks, electronic calculators, TVs, notebook PCs, electronic products, automobiles, aircraft speed displays and driving systems.

Previously, LCD TVs had a size of about 20 inches to 30 inches, and most monitors had a size of 17 inches or less. However, in recent years, large TVs of 40 inches or more and large monitors of 20 inches or more have been released and sold, and the preference for them is increasing day by day.

Therefore, manufacturers of LCDs are researching to produce wider glass substrates. Currently, glass substrates called 8 generations are being mass-produced with widths and widths of about 2 meters.

Such LCD is a TFT process in which deposition, photolithography, etching, chemical vapor deposition, etc. are repeatedly performed, a cell process for bonding upper and lower glass substrates, and an apparatus It is released as a product through a module process that completes the process.

The chemical vapor deposition process, which is one of the above-described TFT processes, is performed by a chemical vapor deposition apparatus, which is one of plasma processing apparatuses.

A typical chemical vapor deposition apparatus includes a plurality of process chambers for performing a chemical vapor deposition process and a load lock chamber for creating an environment in which a substrate can enter a process chamber before the substrate enters the process chamber. (transfer chamber) is connected to the loadlock chamber, and the robot arm is installed to transfer the substrate in the load lock chamber to the process chamber or transfer the substrate in the process chamber to the load lock chamber It is provided.

The process chamber generally performs a chemical vapor deposition process on a substrate in an environment of high temperature and low pressure. At this time, it is difficult to directly enter the substrate at atmospheric pressure into the process chamber of high temperature and low pressure. Therefore, it is necessary to create the same environment as the process chamber before transferring the substrate to the process chamber. Load lock chamber. That is, the load lock chamber provides a chamber for receiving the substrate in a state substantially the same as the environment of the process chamber or the environment outside before the substrate is drawn from the outside into the process chamber or before the substrate is drawn out from the process chamber.

In recent years, the size of the load lock chamber has increased due to the increase in the size of the substrate, and in consideration of the improvement of the process efficiency and the productivity, the 'multi load lock chamber' having a three-stage stack structure having three unit chambers has been used.

Meanwhile, a gate valve connecting the load lock chamber and the transfer chamber is disposed between the load lock chamber and the transfer chamber, the gate valve connecting the load lock chamber and the transfer chamber, and a substrate between the load lock chamber and the transfer chamber. When it is moved, it plays a role of repeating the opening and closing operation as needed to stably preserve the vacuum state in the load lock chamber or the transfer chamber and to facilitate the process.

Such a gate valve may be an up-down valve, but a valve of a flapper type may not be applied to the above-described 'multi load lock chamber' due to its structure. It is common to apply.

1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional gate valve in a rotational manner connecting the load lock chamber and the transfer chamber.

Referring to FIG. 1, the gate valve 10 is applied to a load lock chamber having three unit chambers as described above, and is divided into three inner spaces by two partition walls 11a and 11b. And a valve housing 11 having a first slot 12 and a second slot 13 formed at a side facing the load lock chamber and a side facing the transfer chamber so that the substrate can pass therethrough, and respective internal spaces. Three blades 14 which are rotatably provided to open and close the second slot 13, three hinge shafts 16 provided in the inner space of the valve housing 11 one by one, and the blades 14. ) And a connecting arm (15) for connecting the hinge shaft (16) and a cylinder (not shown) as an actuator for driving the blade (14).

In general, while a series of chemical vapor deposition process is continuously performed, the gate valve 10 is repeated a lot of opening and closing operations between the load lock chamber and the transfer chamber. Accordingly, parts such as the hinge shaft 16 and the bearing (not shown) that are in charge of opening and closing operations in the gate valve 10 of the flapper type are frequently required to be replaced by wear or damage. In addition, the gate valve 10 is required to clean the glass particles (glass particles), etc. that are generated due to a part of the substrate is broken during the process is stacked. On the other hand, in order to facilitate the maintenance work including the replacement of parts and cleaning, the work of taking out the blade 14 from the valve housing 11 to the outside prior to the maintenance work is preceded.

However, in the conventional gate valve 10, as shown in FIG. 1, the fastening of the blade 14 and the connecting arm 15 is performed inside the valve housing 11 (the side opposite to the load lock chamber). Since it is made by the fastening member 18 penetrating the connecting arm 15, there is a problem that the working space for separating the blade 14 and the connecting arm 15 is not secured. In particular, this problem is more prominent in the gate valve 10 applied to the multi load lock chamber, which is divided into three internal spaces, and the work space for the replacement and cleaning parts is relatively small. This is because the worker's access to the blade 14 or the like is inferior.

As a result, the conventional gate valve 10 is substantially impossible to take out only the blade 14 when the blade 14 needs to be taken out of the valve housing 11 for maintenance work, so that the connecting arm 15 There is no choice but to take out the blade 14 in a state where the) and the like are coupled to each other. In addition, in view of the fact that the size of the gate valve 10 is also enlarged due to the enlargement of the substrate in recent years, the weight of the connecting arm 15 coupled to the blade 14 is also negligible, so that the blade 14 Conventional gate valve 10 in which the connecting arm 15 is fastened to the above structure, there is a problem that causes a lot of inconvenience in terms of maintenance work.

An object of the present invention is to provide a plasma processing apparatus that can improve the ease of maintenance work for the gate valve connecting the load lock chamber and the transfer chamber.

The object is, according to the present invention, a load lock chamber; A transfer chamber spaced apart from the load lock chamber; And a gate valve connecting the load lock chamber and the transfer chamber, wherein the gate valve has at least a side surface facing the load lock chamber so that a substrate transferred between the load lock chamber and the transfer chamber can pass therethrough. A valve housing in which one first slot is formed and at least one second slot is formed on a side facing the transfer chamber; A blade rotatably provided in the valve housing to open and close the second slot; A hinge shaft provided in the valve housing; At least one connecting arm connecting the blade and the hinge axis; And at least one fastening member penetrating the blade from the side of the blade toward the transfer chamber to fasten the blade and the connecting arm.

Here, the blade is formed with a fastening hole through which the fastening member penetrates, and the gate valve further includes a sealing cover covering the fastening hole to prevent a decrease in the sealing performance of the blade by the fastening hole. Can be.

The blade may be formed with a cover receiving groove for receiving the sealing cover.

An O-ring may be interposed between the blade and the sealing cover.

The sealing cover may have a circular plate shape and may be fastened to the blade by a plurality of bolts spaced apart from each other in the circumferential direction.

The valve housing includes an upper wall constituting an upper surface of the valve housing, a lower wall constituting a lower surface of the valve housing, and at least one partition wall partitioning an interior of the valve housing into a plurality of spaces. The upper wall and the partition wall may have a tapered shape of a lower surface within a range that does not interfere with rotation of the blade so that the thickness increases from the second slot side toward the first slot side.

The connecting arm comprises: a first arm coupled to the blade at the side facing the load lock chamber of the blade by the at least one fastening member; And a second arm connecting the first arm and the hinge axis.

An end coupled to the hinge axis of the second arm may have a shape surrounding the hinge axis, but one side may be open to facilitate engagement and disassembly of the hinge axis.

The at least one connecting arm may be provided in plural at predetermined intervals along the longitudinal direction of the blade.

The present invention provides a gate valve for connecting a load lock chamber and a transfer chamber, wherein the engagement of the blade and the connecting arm is made on the side facing the transfer chamber, thereby providing sufficient separation between the blade and the connecting arm during maintenance work. The working space is secured, which improves the convenience of maintenance work on the gate valve.

In order to fully understand the present invention, the operational advantages of the present invention, and the objects achieved by the practice of the present invention, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention and the contents described in the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, in describing the present invention, descriptions of functions or configurations already known will be omitted to clarify the gist of the present invention.

For reference, the substrate to be described below refers to a flat panel display (FPD) including a liquid crystal display (LCD) substrate, a plasma display panel (PDP) substrate, an organic light emitting diodes (OLED) substrate, and the like. For the convenience of description, these will be referred to as substrates without being divided.

2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a plasma processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2, the plasma processing apparatus 1000 according to the present embodiment is a chemical vapor deposition apparatus for manufacturing an LCD substrate, and includes a plurality of process chambers 300 for performing a chemical vapor deposition process, and a corresponding process chamber. The loadlock chamber 200, which forms an environment in which the substrate may enter the process chamber 300, is connected to the process chamber 300 and the load lock chamber 200 before the substrate enters the substrate 300. A transfer chamber 400 is provided. The transfer chamber 400 is provided with a robot arm 410 for transferring a substrate in the load lock chamber 200 to the process chamber 300 or for transferring a substrate in the process chamber 300 to the load lock chamber 200. do.

Meanwhile, although the plasma processing apparatus 1000 illustrated in FIG. 2 is a chemical vapor deposition apparatus, the present invention may be applied to various apparatuses using plasma processing, such as a chemical vapor etching apparatus (Chemical Vapor Etching Apparatus). Of course it can. That is, in this specification, "plasma treatment" includes the meanings of plasma etching and plasma deposition.

The process chamber 300 performs a chemical vapor deposition process on a substrate in an environment of high temperature and low pressure. At this time, since it is difficult to directly enter the substrate at atmospheric pressure into the process chamber 300 of the high temperature and low pressure, the same environment as the process chamber 300 should be created before the substrate is transferred to the process chamber 300. In this role, the load lock chamber 200 plays a role.

Specifically, when the load lock chamber 200 receives a substrate to be subjected to a chemical vapor deposition process from the outside by a transfer robot (not shown), the interior environment is substantially the same temperature and pressure as the process chamber 300. To create. As such, the substrate in the load lock chamber 200 having the same environment as the process chamber 300 is drawn out by the robot arm 410 provided in the transfer chamber 400 and transferred to the process chamber 300. The deposition process is performed. On the contrary, the substrate in which the deposition process is completed in the process chamber 300 is drawn out by the robot arm 410 provided in the transfer chamber 400 to the load lock chamber 200 which maintains substantially the same temperature and pressure as the outside. After being transferred, it is finally taken out by a transfer robot (not shown).

As such, the load lock chamber 200 may be substantially different from the environment of or outside of the process chamber 300 before the substrate is drawn from the outside into the process chamber 300 or before the substrate is drawn out from the process chamber 300. To provide a chamber for receiving the substrate in the same state.

Although not shown in detail in the accompanying drawings in this embodiment, the load lock chamber 200 is a so-called 'multi load lock having three unit chambers consisting of a three-stage stacked structure in order to increase process efficiency and improve productivity Chamber '. Accordingly, three slots (not shown) are formed at both sides of the load lock chamber 200 for introducing or withdrawing the substrate.

2, the plasma processing apparatus 1000 according to the present embodiment is disposed between the load lock chamber 200 and the transfer chamber 400 to connect the load lock chamber 200 and the transfer chamber 400. A gate valve 100 is further provided. The gate valve 100 may also be referred to as a 'slot valve' or 'flapper valve', and the like, and may be referred to as a load lock chamber when a substrate is moved between the load lock chamber 200 and the transfer chamber 400. The 200 or the transfer chamber 400 plays a role of repeating the opening / closing operation as necessary to stably preserve the vacuum state and to facilitate the process. For reference, a door valve (not shown) for opening and closing a slot (not shown) through which the substrate is drawn from the outside is provided at a side opposite to the side of the load lock chamber 200 coupled with the gate valve 100. .

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the gate valve shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a cutaway perspective view of the gate valve according to line IV-IV of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a blade to which the connecting arm shown in FIG. 3 is coupled. 6 is a perspective view from another side of the blade to which the connecting arm of FIG. 5 is coupled, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VII-VII of FIG. 5.

3 to 7, the gate valve 100 according to the present embodiment is applied to the load lock chamber 200 having three unit chambers as described above, and is divided into three internal spaces. Valve housing 110, three blades 120, which are rotatably provided in respective internal spaces, and which open and close the gate valve 100, and each internal space of the valve housing 110 are provided. Three hinge shafts 140, one connecting arm 130 connecting the blades 120 and the hinge shaft 140, and a cylinder 180 as an actuator for driving the blades 120. It is provided.

However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be configured as a gate valve partitioned into a single inner space to be applicable to a load lock chamber having a single chamber, and further, to two inner spaces or four or more inner spaces. Of course, it can be configured as a partitioned gate valve.

3 and 4, the valve housing 110 is partitioned into three inner spaces, the upper wall 115 constituting the upper surface of the valve housing 110 and the lower surface of the valve housing 110. A first partition wall 116 and a second partition disposed between the lower wall 118 and the upper wall 115 and the lower wall 118 to partition the valve housing 110 into three inner spaces. With a wall 117.

In addition, the slots 112 and 114 respectively correspond to three internal spaces so that the substrate transferred between the load lock chamber 200 and the transfer chamber 400 can pass through one side and the other side of the valve housing 110. The slots are formed one by one, and for convenience of description, the three slots 112 formed on the side facing the load lock chamber 200 (the side in the A direction in FIG. 2) are referred to as “first slots”, and the transfer chamber 400 is referred to. The three slots 114 formed in the side surface facing (the B direction side in FIG. 2) are called "second slot."

Meanwhile, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the upper wall 115 of the valve housing 110 has a tapered shape of a lower surface of the upper wall 115 so as to increase in thickness from the second slot 114 side to the first slot 112. Has At this time, the tapered angle of the lower surface is determined in a range that does not interfere with the rotation of the blade (120). In addition, like the upper wall 115 described above, the first partition wall 116 and the second partition wall 117 that define the upper surfaces of the respective inner spaces of the valve housing 110 also have the second slot 114. The lower surfaces of each of the lower surfaces have a tapered shape so as to increase in thickness from the side to the first slot 112. Accordingly, the gate valve 100 according to the present embodiment, the upper wall 115, the first partition wall 116 and the second partition wall 117 within a range that does not interfere with the rotation of the blade 120. Since the average thickness of is increased, it is possible to improve the mechanical strength of the valve housing 110 against the bending stress caused by the pressure difference during the process.

4 and 5, the blade 120 is rotatably provided in the valve housing 110 to open and close the second slot 114 facing the transfer chamber 400. At this time, three second slots 114 are formed on the side of the valve housing 110 facing the transfer chamber 400, so that the blade 120 can also open and close each second slot 114 independently. Three are prepared. 3 and 4, the first and second blades 120 from above are shown with the second slot 114 closed and the third blade 120 with the second slot 114 open.

The hinge shaft 140, which provides the center of rotation of the blade 120, is installed at a position adjacent to the second slot 114 through the left and right sides of the valve housing 110, and as shown in FIG. It is rotatably supported by a plurality of bearings 144 arranged at intervals of. At this time, each bearing 144 is supported by a bearing support 142.

The connecting arm 130 is a means for connecting the blade 120 and the hinge shaft 140 so that the blade 120 can rotate in the valve housing 110, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. A first arm 132 and a second arm 134.

The first arm 132 of the connecting arm 130 is coupled to the side 120a facing the load lock chamber 200 of the blade 120, as shown in FIG. 5.

The second arm 134 of the connecting arm 130 interconnects the first arm 132 and the first arm 132, as shown in FIG. 5. One end 134a of the second arm 134 is formed in a 'c' shape opened upward in FIG. 5 and rotatably coupled to the first arm 132 by a fixing pin 136 or the like. In addition, the other end portion 134b of the second arm 134 has a shape surrounding the hinge shaft 140, but facing the load lock chamber 200 in FIG. 5 to facilitate engagement and disassembly of the hinge shaft 140. One side of the view is coupled to the hinge shaft 140 in the '' 'shape is open. That is, the end 134b of the second arm 134 engaging with the hinge shaft 140 has one open side facing downward when the second slot 114 is in an open state. At this time, holes 134c (holes) into which fixing pins or fixing screws are inserted to be fixed to the hinge shaft 140 are formed at opposite sides of one side opened from the second arm 134.

In the present embodiment, four connecting arms 130 are arranged at predetermined intervals along the length direction of the blade 120 to open and close the blade 120 in a stable and reliable manner. Of course, may be appropriately selected according to the size of the blade 120.

Although the cylinder 180 is an actuator for driving the blade 120, all of which are not shown in FIG. 3, three cylinders 180 are disposed on the left and right sides of the valve housing 110 to independently open and close the blade 120. To run.

To this end, a pair of cylinders 180 are provided on the left and right sides with respect to one blade 120, and the pair of cylinders 180 are connected to each other via a hinge shaft arm 183 as shown in FIG. 3. It is connected to both ends of the hinge shaft 140 to provide a center of rotation of the 120. That is, the cylinder 180 has a fixed end 184 is fixedly coupled to the support 186 provided on the side of the valve housing 110 through a fixing bar 185, and stretched relative to the body 181 of the cylinder 180 Possible ends of the rod 182 are coupled to the hinge axis arm 183.

Here, the hinge shaft arm 183 is coupled to the end of the hinge shaft 140, the portion of the end of the rod 182 is coupled as shown in Figure 3 so that the linear movement of the cylinder 180 can be converted into rotational movement It has a shape eccentric from this rotation center. Accordingly, the linear movement in which the rod 182 of the cylinder 180 extends and contracts is converted into a rotational movement in the range of approximately 90 ° by the hinge shaft arm 183, and is transmitted to the hinge shaft 140. The rotational force transmitted to the shaft 140 drives the opening and closing operation of the blade 120.

On the other hand, the actuator of the present invention is not limited to the above-described cylinder 180, if the configuration capable of driving the rotation of the blade 120 may be applied to the actuator of various methods, of course.

Referring to FIG. 7, the gate valve 100 according to the present embodiment passes through the blade 120 from the side surface 120b of the blade 120 toward the transfer chamber 400 and connects the blade 120 with the connecting arm ( Further provided with a fastening member 150 for fastening 130.

Meanwhile, the fastening hole 122 through which the fastening member 150 penetrates the blade 120 as shown in FIG. 7 so that the blade 120 and the connecting arm 130 can be fastened by the fastening member 150. Is formed, and the first arm 132 of the connecting arm 130 is formed with a fastening groove 132a into which an end of the fastening member 150 is inserted and fixed. In the present embodiment, two fixing screw type locking members 150 are used for one connecting arm 130, but the shape and number of the fastening members may be appropriately changed.

In general, while a series of chemical vapor deposition processes are continuously performed, the gate valve 100 repeats the opening and closing operations between the load lock chamber 200 and the transfer chamber 400 innumerable. Accordingly, parts such as the hinge shaft 140 and the bearing 144 which are in charge of opening and closing operations in the gate valve 100 of the flapper type are frequently required to be replaced by wear or damage. In addition, the gate valve 100 is required to clean the glass particles (glass particles), etc. that are generated due to a part of the substrate is broken during the process is stacked. On the other hand, in order to facilitate the maintenance work, such as replacement parts and cleaning work, the operation of taking out the blade 120 from the valve housing 110 to the outside prior to the maintenance work is preceded.

In the above maintenance aspect, the gate valve 100 according to the present embodiment, penetrating the blade 120 from the side 120b side toward the transfer chamber 400 of the blade 120 and the connecting arm 120 By providing the fastening member 150 for fastening the 130, a valve housing in which the connecting arm is coupled to the valve arm during maintenance work is not secured because a working space for separating the blade and the connecting arm from each other is not secured in the conventional gate valve. The inconvenience of having to take out from the outside can be solved.

That is, the gate valve 100 according to the present embodiment is configured such that the fastening of the blade 120 and the connecting arm 130 is made at the outer side (the side opposite to the transfer chamber 400) of the valve housing 110. As a result, unlike the conventional gate valve in which the coupling between the blade and the connecting arm is performed inside the valve housing, the connecting arm 130 and the blade 120 are released by releasing the fastening member 150 while the operator is positioned in the transfer chamber 400. ) Can be separated from each other. Accordingly, since the gate valve 100 according to the present embodiment can take out only the blade 120 from the valve housing 110 to the outside during the maintenance work, the weight of the object to be taken out for the maintenance work. Since it is easier to take out work such as to reduce than the conventional, as a result, it is possible to improve the convenience of the maintenance work for the gate valve (100).

6 and 7, the gate valve 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment covers the fastening hole 122 of the blade 120 at the side surface 120b facing the transfer chamber 400 of the blade 120. A sealing cover 160 is further provided.

As described above, the gate valve 100 according to the present embodiment has a structure in which the blade 120 and the connecting arm 130 are fastened outside the valve housing 110 in order to facilitate the maintenance work. That is, since the fastening member 150 for fastening the blade 120 and the connecting arm 130 passes through the blade 120, the second slot 114 is formed by the fastening hole 122 formed in the blade 120. There is a possibility that the degradation of the sealing performance of the blade 120 to open and close the door. That is, there is a risk that a pressure leak occurs between the gate valve 100 and the transfer chamber 400 through a gap between the fastening hole 122 formed in the blade 120 and the fastening member 150.

The sealing cover 160 is a means for preventing degradation of the sealing performance of the blade 120 by the fastening hole 122 formed in the blade 120 as described above. The sealing cover 160, as shown in FIG. 7, in a state in which the fastening member 150 penetrates the fastening hole 122 of the blade 120 to fasten the blade 120 and the connecting arm 130. The blade 120 covers a predetermined region including the fastening hole 122 to seal the gap between the fastening hole 122 and the fastening member 150. At this time, the blade 120 has a cover receiving groove 124 to accommodate the sealing cover 160 is sealed to cover the gap between the fastening hole 122 and the fastening member 150 more stably. 160 is formed in a shape corresponding to.

In order to ensure a more stable sealing performance, the sealing cover 160 has a circular plate shape as shown in Figure 6, between the blade 120 and the sealing cover 160 as shown in Figure 7 O-ring is also interposed. The sealing cover 160 is formed with six bolt holes 162 spaced apart from each other in the circumferential direction is fastened to the blade 120 by six bolts (not shown). However, the shape and the fastening method of the sealing cover in the present invention is not limited to those shown in Figures 6 and 7 can be variously selected.

As such, the gate valve 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes a sealing cover 160 covering the fastening hole 122 of the blade 120 at the side surface 120b facing the transfer chamber 400 of the blade 120. By providing a, it is possible to take out only the blade 120 from the valve housing 110 to the outside during the maintenance work, it is possible to ensure a stable sealing performance of the blade 120.

However, in the present invention, when the pressure leak between the gate valve 100 and the transfer chamber 400 generated by the gap between the fastening hole 122 and the fastening member 150 is negligible, the above sealing The lid 160 may be omitted.

It is apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, such modifications or variations will have to be belong to the claims of the present invention.

1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional gate valve in a rotational manner connecting the load lock chamber and the transfer chamber.

2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a plasma processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a perspective view of the gate valve shown in FIG.

4 is a perspective view of the gate valve taken along the line IV-IV of FIG. 3.

5 is a perspective view of a blade coupled to the connecting arm shown in FIG.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the blade coupled to the connecting arm of Figure 5 seen from another side.

7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VII-VII of FIG. 5.

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

1000: plasma processing apparatus

100: gate valve 110: valve housing

120: blade 130: connecting arm

140: hinge axis 150: fastening member

160: sealing cover 170: O-ring

180: actuator (cylinder) 200: load lock chamber

300: process chamber

400: transfer chamber

Claims (9)

A load lock chamber; A transfer chamber spaced apart from the load lock chamber; And A gate valve connecting the load lock chamber and the transfer chamber; The gate valve, At least one first slot is formed on a side facing the load lock chamber and at least one second slot is formed on a side facing the transfer chamber so that a substrate transferred between the load lock chamber and the transfer chamber can pass therethrough. A valve housing; A blade rotatably provided in the valve housing to open and close the second slot; A hinge shaft provided in the valve housing; At least one connecting arm connecting the blade and the hinge axis; And And at least one fastening member penetrating the blade from the side of the blade toward the transfer chamber to fasten the blade and the connecting arm. The method of claim 1, The blade has a fastening hole through which the fastening member is formed, The gate valve further comprises a sealing cover covering the fastening hole so as to prevent a decrease in the sealing performance of the blade by the fastening hole. The method of claim 2, Plasma processing apparatus, characterized in that the blade receiving groove is formed in the blade is accommodated for the sealing cover. The method of claim 2, An O-ring is interposed between the blade and the sealing cover. The method of claim 2, The sealing cover, Has a circular plate shape, Plasma processing apparatus characterized in that fastened to the blade by a plurality of bolts are spaced apart from each other in the circumferential direction. The method of claim 2, The valve housing, An upper wall constituting an upper surface of the valve housing, a lower wall constituting a lower surface of the valve housing, and at least one partition wall partitioning an interior of the valve housing into a plurality of spaces, The upper wall and the partition wall, Plasma processing apparatus characterized in that the lower surface has a tapered shape in the range that does not interfere with the rotation of the blade so that the thickness increases from the second slot side toward the first slot side. The method of claim 1, The connecting arm is A first arm coupled to the blade at the side facing the load lock chamber of the blade by the at least one fastening member; And And a second arm connecting the first arm and the hinge axis. The method of claim 7, wherein An end coupled to the hinge axis of the second arm, Plasma processing apparatus characterized in that it has a shape surrounding the hinge axis, but one side is opened to facilitate the coupling and disassembly of the hinge axis. The method of claim 1, The at least one connecting arm is Plasma processing apparatus characterized in that a plurality is provided at a predetermined interval along the longitudinal direction of the blade.

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