KR20220148661A - Gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a gate valve for a semiconductor and flat panel display equipment is installed among a semiconductor and chambers of flat panel display equipment. The gate valve for a semiconductor and flat panel display equipment comprises: a valve housing installed with a gate opened in both directions; a cylinder part mounted in the valve housing; and a blade module that moves up and down in the valve housing by the cylinder part and opens and closes the gate opened in both directions by interlocking with a flow of air provided through the cylinder part.

Description

GATE VALVE FOR SEMICONDUCTOR AND FLAT PANEL DISPLAY APPARATUS

The present invention relates to a gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment, and more particularly, since the cylinder has a structure provided in the valve housing, the overall size can be reduced, thereby reducing the space and cost required for equipment construction, It relates to a gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment, which can open and close a gate by a blade module by the flow of air, thereby reliably maintaining a vacuum state.

Commonly used inline semiconductor and flat panel display equipment is, for example, a load lock chamber, a plurality of process chambers, a buffer chamber, and an unload lock chamber are connected inline to perform a plurality of processes on a substrate such as a wafer. .

Among these chambers, for example, the process chamber is a space for performing processes such as thin film deposition and etching on the substrate while maintaining a high vacuum state, and the buffer chamber is a space connecting the process chamber and other process chambers, which is also A vacuum must be maintained.

Therefore, a gate valve is installed between each chamber to maintain the vacuum of each chamber and maintain the vacuum even when the substrate is transferred.

However, in the gate valve of the conventional semiconductor and flat panel display equipment, since the cylinder part has a structure used in the atmospheric area, a bellows tube is put on the cylinder rod to create a vacuum or a separate air supply line is built, but the vacuum state is maintained There was a limit to

In addition, since the cylinder part has a structure that is mounted under the gate valve, the overall equipment is increased, and therefore there is a limit that a lot of space is required for equipment construction.

Accordingly, there is a need to develop a gate valve of a new configuration capable of maintaining a vacuum state and reducing the size of the device.

As a related prior art, there is Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-2013-0013748 (Title of the Invention: Gate valve of semiconductor production equipment) and the like.

In the embodiment of the present invention, since the cylinder has a structure provided in the valve housing, the overall size can be reduced, thereby reducing the space and cost required for equipment construction, and the gate can be opened and closed by the blade module by the flow of air. provides a gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment that can reliably maintain a vacuum state.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is not limited to the problem(s) mentioned above, and another problem(s) not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

A gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention is a gate valve provided between chambers of semiconductor and flat panel display equipment. The mounted cylinder part and the blade module ascending and descending in the valve housing by the cylinder part and opening and closing the gate opened in both directions in conjunction with the flow of air provided through the cylinder part may be included.

In addition, the cylinder unit according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a first cylinder provided on one side in the valve housing and a second cylinder disposed on the opposite side of the first cylinder in the valve housing, Both ends of the blade module may be coupled to the cylinder and the second cylinder to be liftable.

In addition, each of the first cylinder and the second cylinder according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a guide member provided in the valve housing and forming a movement guide in the height direction, and an elevating member mounted to the guide member so as to be lifted and lowered. Including, the guide member and the elevating member may be provided with an air line for supplying or exhausting air to the blade module.

In addition, in the blade module according to an embodiment of the present invention, a gate opening/closing unit for closing or opening the gate by moving in the direction of the gate according to the supply or exhaust of air in the elevating body and the elevating body elevating by the cylinder unit. may include

In addition, the gate opening/closing unit according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a linear moving member mounted to be linearly movable in the gate direction within the elevating body, and one of the two gates positioned on both sides outside the elevating body. A first gate door mounted to face the gate, connected to the linear moving member and moving together with the linear member to open and close one of the gates, and on the outer wall of the elevating body so as to be opposite to the first gate door and a second gate door interlocking with the first gate door to open and close another one of the gates, wherein the operations of the first gate door and the second gate door are This can be done in conjunction with the flow.

In addition, the air line according to an embodiment of the present invention is formed upward from the guide member to supply air, and a down line formed downward from the guide member to exhaust air. And, it may include a push line for supplying air from the elevating member into the blade module and a pull line for exhausting air from the blade module to the elevating member.

In addition, the air line according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include an exhaust line for preventing the generation of a differential pressure when air flows to the push line and the pull line.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, air is supplied to the upline and air is exhausted to the downline so that the blade module is raised together with the elevating member, and air is supplied into the blade module by the push line and When air is exhausted from the blade module to the elevating member by the pull line, the first gate door and the second gate door may block the gates by the flow of air.

In addition, as air is supplied into the blade module by the pull line according to an embodiment of the present invention and air is exhausted from the blade module to the elevating member by the push line, the first gate door and the second gate door are It is opened, and air is supplied to the down line and air is exhausted to the up line, so that the blade module may descend together with the elevating member.

In addition, a sealing member for close contact with a surface of the valve housing on which the gate is formed may be provided on surfaces of the first gate door and the second gate door facing the gate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, since the cylinder has a structure provided in the valve housing, the overall size can be reduced, thereby reducing the space and cost required for equipment construction, and opening and closing the gate by the blade module by the flow of air It is possible to reliably maintain a vacuum state.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a semiconductor and flat panel display device equipped with a gate valve for a semiconductor and flat panel display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view for explaining the operation of the gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment shown in FIG. 1 .
3 is an exploded perspective view of the gate valve shown in FIG. 2 .
Figure 4 is a partial view of the gate valve shown in Figure 3 is a view for explaining the operation of the gate valve according to the air flow.
5 is a view for explaining the operation of the cylinder unit and the blade module shown in FIG.

Advantages and/or features of the present invention and methods of achieving them will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but will be embodied in various different forms, and only these embodiments allow the disclosure of the present invention to be complete, and common knowledge in the art to which the present invention pertains It is provided to fully inform those who have the scope of the invention, and the present invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

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

1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a semiconductor and flat panel display device equipped with a gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a gate for the semiconductor and flat panel display device shown in FIG. 1 A perspective view for explaining the operation of the valve, Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of the gate valve shown in Figure 2, Figure 4 is a partial view of the gate valve shown in Figure 3 to explain the operation of the gate valve according to the air flow for, FIG. 5 is a view for explaining the operation of the cylinder unit and the blade module shown in FIG.

First, referring to FIG. 1 , a semiconductor and flat panel display device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention is an inline device that performs processes such as deposition and etching on a substrate, for example, a load lock chamber 10 . It may include a plurality of process chambers 20 , a buffer chamber 30 , and an unload lock chamber 40 , and a gate valve 100 is disposed between each chamber 10 , 20 , 30 , and 40 . can be provided.

2 to 4 , the gate valve 100 for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a valve housing 110 having a gate 111 open in both directions and , The cylinder part 120 mounted on both sides in the valve housing 110 and the cylinder part 120 elevate in the valve housing 110 by interlocking with the flow of air provided through the cylinder part 120 , It may include a blade module 150 for opening and closing the gate 111 opened in both directions.

By this configuration, the size of the gate valve 100 can be significantly reduced compared to the prior art, and thus the space and cost required for equipment construction can be reduced. In addition, while maintaining a vacuum by the structure of the cylinder unit 120, the load is not applied to the rod of the cylinder unit 120, but receives the load through the tube structure, thereby improving the reliability of operation.

When describing each configuration, the valve housing 110 of this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, forms a basic exterior, for example, the gate 111 in the chamber direction disposed on both sides. formed so that the substrate can be transferred through the gate 111 .

The valve housing 110 has a structure in which the upper and lower portions are opened, and the bottom cover 113 may be coupled to the lower end portion, and the top cover 115 may be coupled to the upper end portion. Therefore, the valve housing 110 of a rectangular parallelepiped shape can be implemented as a whole.

The bottom cover 113 may be provided with a groove 114 to which the lower end of the guide member 131 of the cylinder part 120 to be described later is coupled. As such, by having a structure in which the upper and lower sides are opened, the gate valve 100 can be easily manufactured.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 3 , the cylinder part 120 of the present embodiment may include a first cylinder 130 and a second cylinder 140 disposed on both sides within the valve housing 110 . In other words, if the first cylinder 130 is provided on the left side in the valve housing 110 , the second cylinder 140 is provided on the right side in the valve housing 110 symmetrically to this, and the blade module 150 is disposed between them. ) by being coupled, the blade module 150 moves up and down together with the first cylinder 130 and the second cylinder 140 to open and close the gate 111 .

Since the first cylinder 130 and the second cylinder 140 have the same configuration as each other, if the configuration is described with the first cylinder 130, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the first cylinder 130 of this embodiment ) is provided in the valve housing 110 and includes a guide member 131 that forms a movement guide in the height direction, and a lifting member ( 135) may be included.

Referring to FIG. 3 , the guide member 131 of this embodiment is provided in a circular bar shape having a longitudinal direction as a whole, and the lower end thereof is coupled to the bottom cover 113 , and the upper end thereof may be coupled to the top cover 115 . .

The elevating member 135 is coupled to the guide member 131 , the elevating member 135 has a cylinder structure, and an air line (see FIG. 4 ) is formed therein to supply air to the blade module 150 or By exhausting the air from the blade module 150, the opening and closing of the blade module 150 can be interlocked with the flow of air.

That is, a flow of air through the air line is formed during the operation of the elevating member 135 with respect to the guide member 131, and this air flow operates the blade module 150 to operate the blade module ( 150) so that the opening and closing can be made.

The blade module 150 of this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 , the elevating body 151 elevating by the cylinder unit 120 and the air supply or exhaust in the elevating body 151 according to It may include a gate opening/closing part that moves in the direction of the gate 111 to close or open the gate 111 .

First, the elevating body 151 may have a hollow rectangular parallelepiped shape, which is provided in a size capable of elevating from the inside of the valve housing 110 as a whole and has a length on both sides as a whole. The elevating body 151 is coupled to the elevating member 135 provided in the aforementioned cylinders 130 and 140, and the elevating member 135 and the elevating body 151 form an air flow by an air line to be described later. It can have a structure that can be

In both directions of the elevating body 151, that is, in the direction facing the gates 111 formed on both sides, the first gate door 155 and the second gate door 157 are mounted to be linearly movable, and through this The first gate door 155 may open and close one of the gates 111 on both sides, and the second gate door 157 may open and close the other gate 111b. have.

Referring to FIG. 5 , a linear moving member 152 capable of linearly moving in the direction of both gates 111 is provided in the elevating body 151 of the gate opening and closing part, and the first gate door 155 is provided on the linear moving member 152 . ) is connected by a connecting bar 153 . Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 5B , when the linear moving member 152 moves to the left, the first gate door 155 connected thereto also moves to the left to close the gate 111a.

Meanwhile, the second gate door 157 is mounted on the outer wall of the elevating body 151 so as to be opposite to the first gate door 155 , and the second gate door 157 interlocks with the first gate door 155 to provide another One gate 111b may be opened and closed.

In other words, as shown in FIG. 5C , after the gate 111a is blocked by the first gate door 155 , the lifting body 151 is moved to the right by the flow of air, at this time As the second gate door 157 mounted on the elevating body 151 linearly moves in the direction of the other gate 111b, as in FIG. 5D , the gate 111b can be blocked.

Referring to FIG. 5 , the surfaces of the first gate door 155 and the second gate door 157 facing the gate 111 are sealed for close contact with the inner surface of the valve housing 110 in which the gate 111 is formed. A member 158 may be provided, through which the vacuum state of the gate valve 100 may be reliably maintained.

As described above, the gate opening/closing unit of the blade module 150 may receive air from the air line formed in the cylinder unit 120 or exhaust the air to execute the opening/closing operation of the blade module 150 for the gate 111 . .

The air line of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4 , is formed upward from the guide member 131 of the cylinder to supply air, and the upline 161 is formed downward from the guide member 131 to exhaust air. a down line 162 to, a push line 163 for supplying air from the elevating member 135 into the elevating body 151 of the blade module 150, and air from the elevating body 151 to the elevating member 135 It may include a pull line 164 for exhausting the air, a push line 163 and an exhaust line 165 for preventing the generation of differential pressure when air flows to the pull line 164 .

In other words, air is supplied to the upline 161 and air is exhausted to the downline 162 , so that the blade module 150 together with the elevating member 135 may be raised with respect to the guide member 131 . And when air is supplied into the lifting body 151 by the push line 163 and the air is exhausted from the blade module 150 to the lifting member 135 by the pull line 164, the first gate door 155 And the second gate door 157 may block the respective gates 111 by the flow of air, as shown in the figure below in FIG. 1 .

Conversely, air is supplied into the blade module 150 by the pull line 164 and the air is exhausted from the blade module 150 to the elevating member 135 by the push line 163 to the first gate door 155 and The second gate door 157 may be spaced apart from each gate 111 to open the gate 111 . At this time, air is supplied to the down line 162 and air is exhausted to the up line 161 , so that the blade module 150 is lowered together with the elevating member 135 , as shown in the upper view of FIG. 2 .

As such, according to the embodiment of the present invention, since the cylinder part 120 has a structure provided in the valve housing 110, the overall size can be reduced, thereby reducing the space and cost required for equipment construction, and The gate 111 can be opened and closed by the blade module 150 by the flow, so that the vacuum state can be reliably maintained.

Although specific embodiments according to the present invention have been described so far, various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims described below as well as the claims and equivalents.

As described above, although the present invention has been described with reference to the limited embodiments and drawings, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, which are various modifications and Transformation is possible. Accordingly, the spirit of the present invention should be understood only by the claims described below, and all equivalents or equivalent modifications thereof will fall within the scope of the spirit of the present invention.

1: Semiconductor and flat panel display equipment
10, 20, 30, 40: chamber
100: gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment
110: valve housing
113: bottom cover
115: top cover
120: cylinder part
130: first cylinder
131: guide member
135: elevating member
140: second cylinder
150: blade module
151: elevating body
152: linear moving member
153: connecting bar
155: first gate door
157: second gate door
158: sealing member
161: Air line upline
162: down line
163: push line
164: full line
165: exhaust line

Claims (10)

A gate valve provided between chambers of semiconductor and flat panel display equipment, comprising:
a valve housing having a gate open in both directions;
a cylinder part mounted in the valve housing; and
a blade module ascending and descending within the valve housing by the cylinder unit and opening and closing the gate opened in both directions in conjunction with the flow of air provided through the cylinder unit;
A gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment comprising a.
According to claim 1,
The cylinder part,
a first cylinder provided on one side of the valve housing; and
a second cylinder disposed on an opposite side of the first cylinder in the valve housing;
The gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment, characterized in that both ends of the blade module are coupled to the first cylinder and the second cylinder to be liftable.
3. The method of claim 2,
Each of the first cylinder and the second cylinder,
a guide member provided in the valve housing and forming a movement guide in a height direction; and
It includes an elevating member mounted to the guide member so as to be elevating,
The gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment, characterized in that the guide member and the elevating member are provided with an air line for supplying or exhausting air to the blade module.
4. The method of claim 3,
The blade module,
an elevating body elevating by the cylinder unit; and
and a gate opening/closing part for closing or opening the gate by moving in the direction of the gate according to supply or exhaust of air in the lifting body.
5. The method of claim 4,
The gate opening and closing part,
a linear moving member mounted so as to be able to move linearly in the direction of the gate within the elevating body;
A first gate that is mounted to face one of the two gates positioned on both sides outside the lifting body, is connected to the linear movable member and moves together with the linear member to open and close one of the gates door; and
and a second gate door provided on an outer wall of the elevating body so as to be opposite to the first gate door and interlocking with the first gate door to open and close the other one of the gates,
The gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment, characterized in that the operation of the first gate door and the second gate door is made in association with the flow of air from the cylinder part.
6. The method of claim 5,
The air line is
an up line formed upward from the guide member to supply air;
a down line formed downward from the guide member to exhaust air;
a push line for supplying air from the elevating member into the blade module; and
and a pull line for exhausting air from the blade module to the elevating member.
6. The method of claim 5,
The air line is
The gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment according to claim 1, further comprising an exhaust line for preventing a differential pressure from being generated when air flows to the push line and the pull line.
7. The method of claim 6,
As air is supplied to the upline and air is exhausted to the downline, the blade module is raised together with the lifting member, and air is supplied into the blade module by the push line and in the blade module by the pull line. The gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment, characterized in that when air is exhausted to the elevating member, the first gate door and the second gate door block the gates by the flow of air.
7. The method of claim 6,
As air is supplied into the blade module by the pull line and air is exhausted from the blade module to the elevating member by the push line, the first gate door and the second gate door are opened, and air flows into the down line A gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment, characterized in that the blade module is lowered together with the elevating member by supplying air to the upline and exhausting the air.
6. The method of claim 5,
A gate valve for semiconductor and flat panel display equipment, wherein a sealing member is provided on surfaces of the first gate door and the second gate door facing the gate to adhere to the surface of the valve housing on which the gate is formed.

Images