TW201926457A - Flat panel display manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention provides a flat panel display manufacturing device having an electric charge elimination device suitable for static elimination of a glass substrate under high vacuum. Flat panel display manufacturing device ID includes a processing chamber 1 applying processing to a glass substrate S, and a carrying path 3 forming a carrying in/out path for the glass substrate S of being carrying in to or carrying out from the processing chamber 1, wherein the processing chamber 1 and the carrying path 3 are in a vacuum atmosphere, and an electric charge elimination device O that discharges electrons used for static elimination of the glass substrate S toward inside of vacuum container is connected to the outer wall surface of the vacuum container forming the carrying path 3.

Description

Flat panel display manufacturing device

The present invention relates to a flat panel display manufacturing apparatus for applying a predetermined treatment to a glass substrate under vacuum, and an apparatus having an electrostatic elimination function for eliminating charged charges on a glass substrate.

The manufacturing steps of a flat panel display such as a liquid crystal display, a plasma display, or an organic EL display are performed under vacuum.

Specific examples of the production steps include an ion implantation step for introducing impurities, an exposure step for pattern patterning, a film formation step for film formation, and the like.

When each step is performed, positioning of the processing position of the glass substrate using the transfer robot or the like by carrying the glass substrate into the carry-out processing chamber or using the substrate supporting mechanism is performed.

When the glass substrate is to be transported or positioned, there is a charged charge on the glass substrate due to friction and/or peeling between the objects. If the state of charged charge is maintained, adhesion or electrostatic discharge of the glass substrate occurs. Further, the particles adsorbed by the charged glass substrate are mainly caused by the problem of poor substrate processing.

Therefore, conventionally, plasma is used to perform electrostatic elimination of charges on a glass substrate.

Specifically, there is a method of static elimination using an ionizer described in Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2. In the static elimination method, an inert gas such as nitrogen or argon is filled in a chamber after vacuum evacuation. Then, the gas is irradiated with ultraviolet rays or the plasma is lit in an inert gas atmosphere, thereby ionizing the inert gas to plasma. Finally, static elimination of the charged charge of the glass substrate is performed in such a manner that the glass substrate is exposed to a plasma of the generated inert gas.

(previous technical literature) (Patent Literature)

Patent Document 1: Japanese Special Open 2004-241420

Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-324260

In the method described in Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2, it is necessary to previously fill the chamber with an inert gas at the time of static elimination, so that it is less suitable for use under high vacuum.

The present invention provides a flat panel display manufacturing apparatus which has a static electricity eliminating device suitable for static elimination of a glass substrate under high vacuum.

Flat panel display manufacturing device of the invention, the device The processing chamber is configured to process the glass substrate; and the transport path is a loading/unloading path for loading and unloading the glass substrate into and out of the processing chamber; and the processing chamber and the transport path are in a vacuum environment. The outer wall surface of the vacuum container constituting the conveyance path is connected to a static electricity eliminating device that discharges electrons for static elimination of the glass substrate toward the inner side of the vacuum container.

When the negatively charged glass substrate is also used as a static elimination target, it is preferable that the static electricity eliminating device includes a plasma chamber in which plasma is generated in the chamber by ionization of the introduced gas; and the foregoing is released from the chamber. A plasma for static elimination of a glass substrate.

In order to improve the utilization efficiency of the gas introduced into the plasma chamber, it is preferable that the static electricity eliminating device includes: a plasma transport path for transporting plasma from the plasma chamber to the transport path; In the cutting section in which the conveying direction is perpendicular, the cutting section of the plasma conveying path is smaller than the cutting section of the plasma chamber.

In order to facilitate the introduction of the plasma generated in the plasma chamber to the transport path side, it is preferable that the plasma transport path is formed along the transport direction of the plasma. magnetic field.

In order to prevent the disappearance of the plasma on the inner wall surface of the plasma transport path: a permanent magnet that generates a cusp magnetic field in the transport path may be provided on the outer circumference of the plasma transport path.

In the static electricity eliminating device of the flat panel display manufacturing device, it is preferable to maintain the static electricity eliminating device while keeping the transport path side in a vacuum. Preferably, the valve body for opening and closing the transport path is provided in the plasma transport path.

In order to efficiently supply the plasma to both surfaces of the glass substrate, it is preferable to supply the glass substrate to be supplied to the glass substrate through the plasma transport path from the side of the glass substrate in the transport path. Plasma.

A static electricity eliminating device is connected to the outer wall surface of the vacuum container constituting the conveying path, and static electricity is removed from the glass substrate based on the electrons supplied from the static electricity eliminating device. Therefore, it is not necessary to fill the gas in the conveying path. Thereby, it is possible to form a high vacuum in the conveyance path.

1‧‧‧Processing cabin

2‧‧‧vacuum preparation cabin

3‧‧‧Intermediate compartment

4‧‧‧Substrate storage compartment

5‧‧‧potentiometer

6‧‧‧Substrate support organization

11‧‧‧Insulation board

12‧‧‧Pulp transport path

13‧‧‧Plastic chamber

14‧‧‧Permanent electromagnet

15‧‧‧ coil

16‧‧‧ 丝

B‧‧‧ Magnetic field

G‧‧‧ gas squirting 埠

ID‧‧‧Ion doping device (flat panel display manufacturing device)

O‧‧‧Static elimination device

P‧‧‧Plastic

S‧‧‧ glass substrate

R1‧‧‧vacuum environment robot

R2‧‧‧Atmospheric environment robot

V‧‧‧ valve body

Va‧‧‧Arc Arc

Ve‧‧‧ leads the power supply

Vf‧‧‧Wire power supply

X1‧‧‧Transportation path

X2‧‧‧Transportation path

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an example of a flat panel display manufacturing apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a schematic plan view showing an example of a static elimination device.

Fig. 3 is an explanatory view for the direction of plasma irradiation of the glass substrate.

Figure 1 is a schematic top view of an ion doping device ID. The ion doping device ID is used as a flat panel display manufacturing device and is used for the manufacture of TFT elements. The first drawing omits the upstream side of the processing chamber 1 (the portion related to the transport of the ion beam) irrespective of the arrangement of the static electricity eliminating device O belonging to the characteristic portion of the present invention.

The glass substrate S is housed in the substrate storage compartment 4 on the atmospheric environment side. When the substrate processing is performed, the glass substrate S is transported along the transport path indicated by the broken line X1.

Specifically, the glass substrate S is transported from the substrate storage compartment 4 to the vacuum preparation compartment 2 by the atmospheric environment robot R2. Thereafter, the glass substrate S is transported from the vacuum preparation compartment 2 to the substrate support mechanism 6 of the processing chamber 1 by the vacuum environment robot R1 of the intermediate compartment 3.

After the substrate processing, the glass substrate S is transported to the storage compartment 4 along the conveyance path indicated by the broken line X2.

In the glass substrate S transported from the vacuum environment robot R1 or the atmospheric environment robot R2, the glass substrate S is placed on the substrate support mechanism 6, and/or the glass substrate S is removed from the substrate support mechanism 6, the glass substrate S is There is a charged charge generated by friction and/or peeling, and a charged charge is accumulated.

In the present invention, the static electricity removing device O is used to electrostatically cancel the electric charge charged by the glass substrate S, and the static eliminating device O is connected. The outer wall surface of the vacuum vessel constituting the intermediate compartment 3.

In the prior art, after the inert gas is charged in front of the static elimination of the glass substrate before the static elimination, the inert gas filled in the chamber is plasma-treated, and the plasma is used to apply the glass substrate. Static elimination.

On the other hand, in the static electricity eliminating device O of the present invention, since the static elimination of the glass substrate S is performed based on the plasma supplied from the static electricity eliminating device O, it is not necessary to previously fill the intermediate chamber 3 with an inert gas. Therefore, the static electricity eliminating device O of the present invention can be used under high vacuum (for example, 10 ^-4 Pa table).

The timing of supplying the plasma from the static electricity eliminating device O may be performed by measuring the potential of the glass substrate by the potentiometer 5 attached to the ceiling of the intermediate compartment 3, and when the measurement result exceeds the reference value. However, the above measurement is not essential, and it may be configured to supply the plasma constantly.

Further, the position at which the potentiometer 5 is mounted may be attached to the floor of the intermediate compartment 3 or the robot of the vacuum environment robot R1. Further, it is also conceivable to install a plurality of chambers other than the intermediate compartment 3, or to mount a plurality of potentiometers 5, and the like.

Although the configuration in which the static electricity eliminating device O is connected to the intermediate compartment 3 is drawn in the first drawing, the connection of the static electricity eliminating device O is not limited to the intermediate compartment 3. For example, the static electricity eliminating device O may be connected to a vacuum pre-chamber 2 that can switch between an atmospheric environment and a vacuum environment, and a place where the glass substrate is transported under vacuum (a place where a transport path for loading and unloading the glass substrate can be used) Can also be any place.

Further, the place where the plasma is supplied from the static electricity eliminating device O and the place where the potential of the glass substrate S is measured by the potentiometer 5 do not have to coincide. When the supply of the plasma is performed based on the measurement result of the potentiometer 5, the place where the potential measurement by the potentiometer 5 is performed is set to be supplied from the static elimination device O on the route of the glass substrate S. When the place of the plasma is the same place or placed in the front part of the place where the plasma is supplied, the plasma can be appropriately supplied according to the measurement result.

A configuration example of the static electricity eliminating device O is shown in Fig. 2 .

The static electricity eliminating device O is attached to the outer wall surface of the vacuum vessel constituting the intermediate cabin 3 via the insulating plate 11. The main part of the static elimination device O is composed of a plasma chamber 13 and a plasma transport path 12, which is to generate a plasma P composed of electrons and ions, and the plasma transport path 12 is The plasma P generated by the plasma chamber 13 is released toward the intermediate compartment 3.

In the plasma chamber 13, the hot electrons released from the filament 16 are ionized by an inert gas such as xenon or argon which is introduced into the chamber by a gas ejecting gas port G. Thereby, the plasma P is produced.

In order to facilitate the generation of plasma in the plasma chamber or to facilitate the release of the plasma P from the static electricity eliminating device, the static electricity eliminating device O includes a filament power source Vf and an arc power source Va (not shown). The applied voltage is several tens of volts, and the power supply Ve is applied (the applied voltage is several tens of volts).

A pointed magnetic field (cusp) is disposed around the plasma chamber 13 The magnetic field 14 is used to generate a permanent electromagnet 14 for preventing the disappearance of electrons or ions on the inner wall surface of the plasma chamber 13.

The outer circumference of the plasma transport path 12 is wound with a pair of coils 15 for generating a magnetic field B along the transport path. The plasma P of the plasma transport path 12 is captured by the magnetic field B to avoid disappearance due to collision with the wall surface of the transport path, and is released into the intermediate chamber 3.

The configuration of the coil 15 is not limited to a pair. For example, when the plasma transport path 12 is short, the number of the coils 15 may be one, and the coil 15 may be omitted. Further, when the plasma transport path 12 is long, the number of coils can be increased by more than three. Further, a coil of a continuous length may be formed between the pair of coils 15 without providing a gap. On the other hand, a permanent magnet instead of the coil 15 may be disposed on the outer circumference of the plasma transport path 12 for preventing the plasma on the wall surface of the plasma transport path 12 from disappearing, and in the plasma transport path 15 A person who produces a sharp magnetic field near the inner wall surface.

If the cutting profile is cut in the plane perpendicular to the direction in which the plasma is conveyed, the cutting section of the plasma conveying path 12 is compared to the plasma compartment 13 in comparison with the cutting section when the plasma conveying path 12 is cut and the plasma compartment 13 is cut. The cutting profile is still small. Therefore, the relationship of the inert gas introduced into the plasma chamber 13 to the side of the plasma transport path 12 is alleviated. Thereby, the utilization efficiency of the gas related to plasma generation in the plasma chamber 13 is improved. In addition, the cutting section described herein means not only the wall surface of the plasma chamber 13 or the plasma conveying path 12, but also the surface including the internal space of each compartment.

In the above cutting section, the plasma conveying path The direction of transport of the plasma in the cutting section of the plasma chamber 13 may be constant, but there may be a non-constant condition. For example, when the plasma transport path 12 is constituted by a cylindrical vacuum vessel whose diameter changes along the transport direction of the plasma, the above-described cutting cross section is not constant. The same is true for the plasma compartment 13.

In the direction in which the plasma is conveyed, when the diameter of one or both members is changed, the comparison of the above-described cutting sections is performed at the portion where the cutting section of each member is the smallest.

The valve body V for opening and closing the conveyance path is provided in the plasma conveyance path 12. By the provision of the valve body V, the intermediate chamber 3 side can be maintained in a vacuum state, and the plasma chamber 3 side can be set to open to the atmosphere, whereby the maintenance of the static electricity eliminating device O can be performed.

The end of the plasma P of the plasma transport path 12 on the release side, as shown, may also be located on the wall surface of the vacuum chamber of the intermediate chamber 3, but the plasma P is released at a position close to the glass substrate S to improve the static elimination efficiency. It can also protrude into the middle compartment 3.

Further, the arrangement of the plasma transport path 12 is not essential, and the plasma chamber 13 may be directly connected to the intermediate chamber 3 instead of being omitted.

Generally, the glass substrate S is a property that is easily positively charged, but there is also a case where it is negatively charged. Further, there may be a case where the front and back surfaces of the glass substrate S are electrically charged at different potentials. The charging of which potential depends on the processing content of the glass substrate S implemented in the flat panel display manufacturing apparatus.

For example, when the glass substrate S is subjected to a molding process, if the properties of the mold In order to easily carry a negative charge, the potential of the glass substrate S measured by the potentiometer 5 is measured to be a negative potential.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example in which the glass substrate S is irradiated with the plasma P from various directions.

In the third diagram (A), the plasma P is irradiated from the side of the glass substrate S. According to this configuration, the plasma P surrounds the glass substrate S and enters both surfaces of the upper surface and the lower surface, so that the two surfaces can be statically removed at one time.

When the size of the glass substrate S is large, in the configuration of Fig. 3(A), the plasma P is irradiated only from one side of the glass substrate S, so that there is static electricity on the opposite side to the side where the plasma P is irradiated. Eliminate under-reported concerns.

At this point, as shown in FIG. 3(B), the plasma P can also be irradiated from both sides of the glass substrate S.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3(C), the upper and lower surfaces of the glass substrate S may be irradiated with the plasma P. In this case, compared with the configuration of FIG. 3(A) or FIG. 3(B), it is less desirable to enter the lower surface side of the plasma P irradiated on the upper surface of the glass substrate S. It is preferable that the lower surface side of the substrate S is irradiated with the plasma P.

However, if the surface on which the static elimination target is completed is only one side of the glass substrate S, the plasma P may be irradiated from a position facing the surface of the static elimination target.

On the other hand, in order to reliably solve the problem of electrostatic discharge or the like, it is preferable to perform static elimination on both surfaces of the glass substrate S.

After the glass substrate S is removed by static electricity, it is still due to the plasma There is a concern that a positively charged ion or a negatively charged ion causes charging of the glass substrate S.

However, since the potential value of the extraction voltage Ve shown in the configuration of Fig. 2 is ten volts, even if the glass substrate S has ions or electrons in the charged plasma, the potential of the glass substrate S is at most tens of volts. Such a charged voltage is less likely to be caused by a potential of several thousand volts due to the potential of the glass substrate S due to peeling electrification, and the possibility of causing an electrostatic discharge problem or the like is low, and the yield of the glass substrate is not treated. influential.

In Fig. 1, in the case of a flat panel display manufacturing apparatus, an ion doping apparatus is taken as an example. However, the object of the present invention is not limited to a flat panel display manufacturing apparatus.

For example, it is also possible to use a multi-chamber type device such as a film forming apparatus. In addition, it is also possible to combine the devices in a line-connected manner in a line-type manner.

In the configuration of the present invention, any configuration of the flat panel display manufacturing device can be applied as long as the static electricity eliminating device O is connected to the outer wall surface of the vacuum container that serves as the conveyance path of the glass substrate S under vacuum.

In the above embodiment, the configuration in which the plasma P is discharged from the static electricity eliminating device O will be described. However, the plasma P may be replaced with a structure in which only electrons are released. For example, the supply of the inert gas passing through the gas discharge port G is stopped in the configuration of Fig. 2, whereby no plasma is generated, and only electrons may be released from the static elimination device O to the intermediate compartment 3.

When only the electrons are supplied, it is not necessary to provide the gas ejection 埠G in the plasma chamber 13.

It is only necessary to supply electrons or supply plasma P, and may be appropriately selected, for example, according to the measurement result of the potentiometer 5.

In the above embodiment, the means for generating plasma is by means of electron impact, but it is also possible to generate plasma by high-frequency discharge.

Further, in terms of the structure for releasing the hot electrons, it is also possible to use an indirect heating type cathode or a hollow type cathode in which a combined plate cathode and a filament of the filament are substituted.

In FIGS. 3(B) and 3(C), a plurality of static electricity eliminating devices are disposed on the upper and lower sides of the glass substrate S, but a plurality of static electricity eliminating devices O may be disposed on the glass substrate. The same side of the top, bottom, left, and right of S.

For example, in the configuration of Fig. 3(A), the static electricity eliminating device O may be arranged in the direction in which the paper is in the up-down direction or in the direction directly in front of the paper. Further, a plurality of static electricity eliminating devices may be used as one unit.

Further, various modifications and/or changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (7)

A flat panel display manufacturing apparatus includes: a processing chamber that processes a glass substrate; and a transport path that forms a loading/unloading path for loading and unloading the glass substrate into the processing chamber; wherein the processing chamber, And the conveyance path is in a vacuum environment, and an electrostatic discharge device for releasing electrons for static elimination of the glass substrate toward the inside of the vacuum container is connected to an outer wall surface of the vacuum container constituting the conveyance path. The flat panel display manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the static electricity eliminating device is provided with a plasma chamber in which plasma is generated in the chamber by ionization of the introduced gas; and from the same cabin The plasma for static elimination of the glass substrate is released. The apparatus for manufacturing a flat panel display according to claim 2, wherein the static elimination device has a plasma transport path for transporting plasma from the plasma chamber to the transport path; In the cutting section in which the conveying direction is perpendicular, the cutting section of the plasma conveying path is smaller than the cutting section of the plasma chamber. The flat panel display manufacturing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the plasma transport path is formed with a magnetic field along a plasma transport direction. The flat panel display manufacturing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a permanent magnet that generates a sharp magnetic field in the transport path is provided on an outer circumference of the plasma transport path. The flat panel display manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the plasma transport path is provided with a valve body for opening and closing the transport path. The flat panel display manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the transport path is supplied through the plasma transport path from the side of the glass substrate. A plasma to the aforementioned glass substrate.