TWI724316B - Flat panel display manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention provides a flat panel display manufacturing device having an electricity removing device suitable for removing electricity of a glass substrate under high vacuum.

A flat panel display manufacturing device ID of this invention includes: a processing chamber 1 in which a processing is applied to a glass substrate S; and a carrying path 3 forming a carrying in/out passage for carrying the glass substrate S into or out from the processing chamber 1. Wherein, the processing chamber 1 and the carrying path 3 are under vacuum atmosphere, and an outer wall face of a vacuum vessel for forming the carrying path 3 to which an electricity removing device O is provided for releasing electron toward inner side of the vacuum vessel for removing electricity of the glass substrate S.

Description

Flat panel display manufacturing device

The present invention relates to a flat panel display manufacturing apparatus that performs a predetermined process on a glass substrate under vacuum, and is provided with a static elimination function that eliminates charges charged on the glass substrate.

The manufacturing process of flat panel displays such as liquid crystal displays, plasma displays, and organic EL displays are implemented under vacuum.

As a specific example of the process, an ion implantation step for introducing impurities, an exposure step for patterning a circuit pattern, a film formation step for forming a thin film, and the like can be exemplified.

In the implementation of each step, the glass substrate is carried in and out of the processing chamber using a transport robot or the like, and the glass substrate is positioned at the processing position using a substrate support mechanism.

When the glass substrate is transported or positioned, the glass substrate will be charged due to friction and peeling between objects. If the charge is left alone, adhesion of the glass substrate and electrostatic discharge will occur. In addition, there is a risk of poor substrate processing due to particles attracted by the charged glass substrate.

Therefore, in the past, plasma was used to neutralize the charge on the glass substrate.

Specifically, there is a neutralization method using an ionizer described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2. In this neutralization method, an inert gas such as nitrogen or argon is filled in the vacuum-exhausted chamber. Then, by irradiating the gas with ultraviolet rays or igniting the plasma in an inert gas environment, the inert gas is ionized to make it plasma. Finally, the glass substrate is exposed to the generated plasma of the inert gas, thereby performing the neutralization of the electric charges charged by the glass substrate.

(Prior technical literature) (Patent Document)

Patent Document 1: JP 2004-241420

Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-324260

In the methods described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, it is necessary to fill the room with an inert gas before removing electricity, so it is not suitable for use under high vacuum.

In the present invention, there is provided a flat panel display manufacturing apparatus, which has a static elimination device suitable for performing static elimination of a glass substrate under a high vacuum.

A manufacturing device for a flat panel display, comprising: a processing chamber for performing processing on a glass substrate; and a conveying path to form a glass substrate for carrying in and out of the aforementioned processing chamber The carrying-out path; wherein the processing chamber and the conveying path are in a vacuum environment; and a static elimination device is connected to the outer wall surface of the vacuum container constituting the conveying path, and the static elimination device is used to discharge the glass toward the inside of the vacuum container Eliminating electrons on the substrate.

If the negatively charged glass substrate is also used as a neutralization object, it is preferable that the neutralization device has a plasma chamber that generates plasma in the chamber by ionizing the introduced gas, and discharges it from the plasma chamber. Use the plasma to perform the neutralization of the aforementioned glass substrate.

In order to improve the utilization efficiency of the gas introduced into the plasma chamber, it is preferable that the neutralization device has a plasma transport path for transporting the plasma from the plasma chamber to the transport path, and is in contact with the plasma Among the cut surfaces perpendicular to the conveyance direction, the cut surface of the plasma conveying path is smaller than the cut surface of the plasma chamber.

In order to easily introduce the plasma generated in the plasma chamber to the conveyance path side, it is preferable that a magnetic field along the conveyance direction of the plasma be formed in the plasma conveyance path.

In order to prevent the plasma from disappearing on the inner wall surface of the plasma conveying path, it is preferable that a permanent magnet for generating a cutting magnetic field in the conveying path is provided on the outer periphery of the plasma conveying path.

In order to maintain the static elimination device in the static elimination device of the flat panel display manufacturing apparatus while maintaining the conveying path side in a vacuum, it is preferable that the plasma conveying path is provided with a valve for opening and closing the conveying path.

In order to efficiently supply plasma to both surfaces of the glass substrate, it is preferable to supply the plasma to the glass substrate from the side of the glass substrate via the plasma transportation path in the transportation path.

Since a static elimination device is connected to the outer wall surface of the vacuum container that constitutes the transfer path, and the glass substrate is neutralized based on the electrons supplied from the static elimination device, there is no need to fill the transfer path with gas. As a result, the inside of the conveying path can be maintained in a high vacuum.

1‧‧‧Processing room

2‧‧‧Vacuum Preparation Room

3‧‧‧Intermediate Room

4‧‧‧Substrate storage room

5‧‧‧Potentiometer

6‧‧‧Substrate support mechanism

11‧‧‧Insulation board

12‧‧‧Plasma Transmission Road

13‧‧‧Plasma Chamber

14‧‧‧Permanent Magnet

15‧‧‧Coil

16‧‧‧Filament

B‧‧‧Magnetic field

G‧‧‧Gas port

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

O‧‧‧Static elimination device

P‧‧‧Plasma

R1‧‧‧Vacuum Robot

R2‧‧‧Atmospheric Robot

S‧‧‧Glass substrate

X1, X2‧‧‧Dotted line (transport path)

V‧‧‧valve

Va‧‧‧Arc power supply

Ve‧‧‧Extract power

Vf‧‧‧Filament power supply

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 of the plasma irradiation direction to the glass substrate.

Figure 1 is a schematic top view of the ion doping device ID. The ion doping device ID is used in the manufacture of TFT elements as a flat panel display manufacturing device. In Figure 1, regardless of the arrangement of the static elimination device O, which is a characteristic part of the present invention, it is more upstream than the processing chamber 1 Illustration of the side (a part related to the transport of the ion beam) is omitted.

The glass substrate S is stored in the substrate storage chamber 4 on the atmosphere side. When substrate processing is performed, the glass substrate S is transported in the transport path indicated by the arrow indicated by the broken line X1.

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

After the substrate processing, the glass substrate S is transported to the storage chamber 4 in a transport path indicated by an arrow indicated by a broken line X2.

When the glass substrate S is transported by the vacuum robot R1 and the atmospheric robot R2, the glass substrate S is placed on the substrate support mechanism 6, or the glass substrate S is removed from the substrate support mechanism 6, the glass substrate S will be affected by friction. Or peel off the generated charge, and the charge will accumulate.

In the present invention, the static elimination device O connected to the outer wall surface of the vacuum container constituting the intermediate chamber 3 is used to neutralize the electric charge carried by the glass substrate S.

In the conventional technology, an inert gas is filled in a room for removing the electricity of the glass substrate before the electricity is removed, and then the inert gas filled in the room is plasma-formed, and the glass substrate is removed using the plasma.

In contrast, in the neutralization device O of the present invention, the glass substrate S is neutralized based on the plasma supplied from the neutralization device O, so it is not necessary to fill the intermediate chamber 3 with an inert gas first. Thus, the static elimination device of the present invention can be used under high vacuum (for example, about 10 ^-4 Pa).

The timing of supplying plasma from the static elimination device O is also It can be set to measure the potential of the glass substrate by the potentiometer 5 installed on the top of the intermediate chamber 3, and it can be performed when the measurement result exceeds the reference value. However, such measurement is not necessary, and it may be configured to constantly supply plasma.

In addition, the position where the potentiometer 5 is installed can also be installed at the bottom of the intermediate chamber 3 or the robot arm of the vacuum robot R1. In addition, various configurations such as installation in a chamber other than the intermediate chamber 3 or installation of a plurality of potentiometers 5 can also be considered.

In FIG. 1, a configuration in which the static elimination device O is connected to the intermediate chamber 3 is depicted, but the connection destination of the static elimination device O is not limited to the intermediate chamber 3. For example, the static elimination device O can also be connected to the vacuum preparation chamber 2 that can be switched to the atmosphere and vacuum environment, as long as it is a place where the glass substrate can be transported under vacuum (a place used as a transport path for forming a transport path for the glass substrate ), can be any place.

In addition, the place where the plasma is supplied from the static elimination device O and the place where the potential of the glass substrate S is measured by the potentiometer 5 need not be the same. If the plasma is to be supplied based on the measurement result of the potentiometer 5, as long as the path where the glass substrate S is transported, the place where the potentiometer 5 is used for the potential measurement is set to be the same as the place where the plasma is supplied from the neutralizer O If the location is the same or set to be more advanced than the location, the plasma can be appropriately supplied according to the measurement result.

In Fig. 2, a configuration example of the static elimination device O is depicted.

The static elimination device O is mounted on the outer wall surface of the vacuum container constituting the intermediate chamber 3 via the insulating plate 11. The main part of the neutralization device O is composed of a plasma chamber 13 and a plasma transport path 12, and the plasma chamber 13 is used to generate With the plasma P of the ions, the plasma transport path 12 discharges the plasma P generated in the plasma chamber 13 toward the intermediate chamber 3 side.

In the plasma chamber 13, an inert gas such as xenon or argon introduced into the chamber through the gas port G is ionized by thermionic electrons emitted from the filament 16, thereby generating a plasma P.

In order to facilitate the generation of plasma in the plasma chamber and the discharge of plasma P from the neutralization device, the neutralization device O is equipped with the filament power supply Vf, the arc power supply Va (applied voltage is tens of volts), and the extraction power supply Ve as shown in the figure. (The applied voltage is tens of volts).

A permanent magnet 14 is arranged around the plasma chamber 13, and the permanent magnet 14 is used to generate a cusp magnetic field for preventing electrons and ions from disappearing on the inner wall surface of the plasma chamber 13.

A pair of coils 15 are wound around the outer circumference of the plasma transport path 12 to generate a magnetic field B along the transport path. In order to avoid being caught by the magnetic field B and colliding with the wall surface of the conveying path and disappearing, the plasma P of the plasma conveying path 12 is discharged 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 coil 15 may be one or omitted. In addition, when the plasma transport path 12 is long, the number of coils may be increased to three or more. In addition, it is not necessary to provide a gap between the pair of coils 15 and to be a continuous long coil. On the other hand, in order to prevent the plasma from disappearing on the wall surface of the plasma transfer path 12, instead of the coil 15, the outer circumference of the plasma transfer path 12 can be arranged to generate a scission magnetic field near the inner wall surface of the plasma transfer path 12. permanent magnet.

In a plane perpendicular to the direction of plasma transport, if the cut surface when the plasma transport path 12 is cut from the plasma chamber 13 is compared, the cut surface of the plasma transport path 12 is greater than that of the plasma chamber 13. The section is small. According to this relationship, the leakage of the inert gas introduced into the plasma chamber 13 to the plasma transport path 12 side can be alleviated. Thereby, the gas utilization efficiency related to the plasma generation in the plasma chamber 13 will be improved. In addition, the cut surface here refers to not only the wall surfaces of the plasma chamber 13 and the plasma transport path 12 but also the surface including the internal space of each chamber.

Regarding the above-mentioned cut surface, although the cut surface of the plasma conveying path 12 and the plasma chamber 13 may be fixed in the conveying direction of the plasma, it may not be the case. For example, when the plasma transport path 12 is composed of a cylindrical vacuum vessel whose diameter changes along the transport direction of the plasma, the above-mentioned cut surface is not fixed. This can be said to be the same in the plasma chamber 13 as well.

When there is a change in the diameter of one or two members in the conveying direction of the plasma, the comparison of the cut surfaces described above will be performed where the cut surface of each member is the smallest.

The plasma transfer path 12 is provided with a valve V for opening/closing the transfer path. By providing this valve V, the side of the plasma chamber 13 can be opened to the atmosphere while maintaining the side of the intermediate chamber 3 in a vacuum state, and the static elimination device O can be maintained.

The end of the plasma transport path 12 on the side where the plasma P is discharged may be positioned on the wall surface of the vacuum container of the intermediate chamber 3 as shown in the figure, but if the plasma P is discharged near the glass substrate S, the static elimination efficiency will be improved. It may also protrude into the intermediate chamber 3.

In addition, it is not necessary to provide the plasma transport path 12 described above, and it may be omitted and the plasma chamber 13 may be directly connected to the intermediate chamber 3.

Generally, although the glass substrate S has a property of being easily positively charged, it may be negatively charged. In addition, it is also possible that the front and back surfaces of the glass substrate S have different potentials. Which potential is charged depends on the processing content of the glass substrate S performed in the flat panel display manufacturing apparatus.

For example, when the glass substrate S is formed into a film, if the nature of the film tends to be negatively charged, the potential of the glass substrate S measured by the potentiometer 5 is set to a negative potential and measured.

In FIG. 3, an example in which the plasma P is irradiated to the glass substrate S from various directions is depicted.

In FIG. 3(A), the plasma P is irradiated from the side of the glass substrate S. As shown in FIG. With this configuration, the plasma P will surround the upper and lower surfaces of the glass substrate S, so both surfaces can be neutralized in one fell swoop.

When the size of the glass substrate S is large, since the configuration in Fig. 3(A) is a configuration in which the plasma P is irradiated from only one side of the glass substrate S, there will be static elimination on the side opposite to the irradiated side of the plasma P Doubts that cannot be fully carried out.

From this point of view, it is also possible to irradiate the plasma P from both sides of the glass substrate S as shown in FIG. 3(B).

In addition, as shown in FIG. 3(C), the upper and lower surfaces of the glass substrate S may be irradiated with the plasma P. At this time, compared with the configuration of Fig. 3 (A) and Fig. 3 (B), since the plasma P irradiated on the upper surface of the glass substrate S cannot be expected to wrap around to the lower surface side, it is preferable to also start from the glass substrate. S Plasma P is irradiated on the lower surface side of the battery.

However, as long as any surface of the glass substrate S is only required for the surface as the neutralization target, it is only necessary to irradiate the plasma P from a position facing the surface as the neutralization target.

On the other hand, in order to reliably solve problems such as electrostatic discharge, it is preferable to neutralize both surfaces of the glass substrate S.

After the glass substrate S is de-charged, there is a possibility that the glass substrate S may be charged due to positively charged ions and/or negatively charged electrons in the plasma.

However, since the potential of the extraction voltage Ve shown in the configuration example of Fig. 2 is several tens of volts, even if the glass substrate S is charged by ions and/or electrons in the plasma, the potential of the glass substrate S is at most several tens of volts. volt. This charging voltage is considered to be very small from the fact that the potential of the glass substrate S is as high as several thousand volts due to peeling and charging, and therefore the possibility of causing electrostatic discharge problems is low, and does not affect the yield of the glass substrate processing.

In Figure 1, an ion doping device is taken as an example of a flat panel display manufacturing device. However, the flat panel display manufacturing apparatus targeted by the present invention is not limited to this.

For example, it may be a multi-chamber type device such as a film forming device. In addition, it may be an in-line type device in which each device is connected in series.

The structure of the present invention can be applied to any flat panel display manufacturing apparatus as long as it connects the static elimination device O to the outer wall surface of the vacuum container for forming 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 elimination device O is described, but a configuration in which only electrons are discharged instead of the plasma P may be adopted. For example, by stopping the supply of the inert gas through the gas port G in the configuration of FIG. 2, it is also possible to discharge only electrons from the static elimination device O into the intermediate chamber 3 without generating plasma. When it is only for supplying electrons, it is not necessary to provide a gas port G in the plasma chamber 13.

Regarding whether to supply only electrons or plasma, for example, it may be appropriately selected based on the measurement result of the potentiometer 5.

In the above embodiment, although electron impact is used as the method of plasma generation, it is also possible to generate plasma by high-frequency discharge.

In addition, in terms of the structure that emits thermionic electrons, an indirect cathode or a hollow cathode formed by a combination of a plate-shaped cathode and a filament can also be used instead of the filament.

In Fig. 3 (B) and Fig. 3 (C), a plurality of static elimination devices are arranged in different places on the top, bottom, left and right of the glass substrate S, but a plurality of static elimination devices O may also be arranged on the glass substrate S The same side up, down, left, and right.

For example, in the configuration of Fig. 3(A), the static elimination devices O may be arranged in the up-and-down direction on the paper or in the back-and-forth direction on the paper. In addition, a plurality of static elimination devices may be treated as one unit.

In addition to the foregoing, of course, various improvements and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

1‧‧‧Processing room

2‧‧‧Vacuum preparation room

3‧‧‧Intermediate Room

4‧‧‧Substrate storage room

5‧‧‧Potentiometer

6‧‧‧Substrate support mechanism

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

O‧‧‧Static elimination device

R1‧‧‧Vacuum Robot

R2‧‧‧Atmospheric Robot

S‧‧‧Glass substrate

X1, X2‧‧‧Dotted line (transport path)

Claims (6)

A manufacturing device for a flat panel display, comprising: a processing chamber for processing glass substrates; and a conveying path, which forms a conveying path for the glass substrate to be conveyed in and out of the processing chamber; wherein the processing chamber and the conveying path are in a vacuum environment; In addition, a static elimination device is connected to the outer wall surface of the vacuum container constituting the conveying path. The static elimination device is used to discharge electrons for neutralizing the glass substrate toward the inside of the vacuum container. The static elimination device has: A plasma chamber that ionizes the gas to generate plasma in the chamber; and a plasma transport path for transporting the plasma from the plasma chamber to the transport path; the de-energizing device is discharged from the plasma chamber for performing The neutralizing plasma of the glass substrate is formed with a magnetic field along the conveying direction of the plasma in the plasma conveying path. In the flat panel display manufacturing apparatus described in the first item of the patent application, in the cut surface perpendicular to the conveying direction of the plasma, the cut surface of the plasma conveying path is larger than the cut surface of the plasma chamber. small. A manufacturing device for a flat panel display, comprising: a processing chamber for processing glass substrates; and a conveying path to form glass substrates for carrying in and out of the aforementioned processing chamber Carry in and out path; wherein the processing chamber and the conveying path are in a vacuum environment; and a static elimination device is connected to the outer wall surface of the vacuum container constituting the conveying path, and the static elimination device is used to discharge toward the inside of the vacuum container for performing The neutralizing electrons of the glass substrate, the neutralizing device has: a plasma chamber for generating plasma in the chamber by ionizing the introduced gas; and a plasma chamber for transporting the plasma from the plasma chamber to the transport path Plasma conveying path; the neutralization device discharges the plasma for neutralization of the glass substrate from the plasma chamber, and a permanent magnet for generating a cutting magnetic field in the plasma chamber is provided on the outer periphery of the plasma chamber. The flat panel display manufacturing device described in any one of items 1 to 3 of the scope of the patent application, wherein a valve for opening and closing the plasma conveying path is provided in the plasma conveying path, and when the static elimination device is maintained, the valve is closed The valve partitions the plasma transport path into two spaces. The flat panel display manufacturing apparatus described in any one of items 1 to 3 of the scope of patent application, wherein, in the conveying path, the plasma is carried out from the side of the glass substrate through the plasma conveying path. Supply of the upper and lower surfaces of the glass substrate. For example, the flat panel display manufacturing device described in any one of items 1 to 3 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the transport path is equipped with a potentiometer, According to the measurement result of the potentiometer, the plasma is supplied from the static elimination device.

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