TWI828196B - Substrate processing device and substrate processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a transport control form suitable for a substrate processing apparatus provided with a lifting mechanism in a processing section for raising a substrate from a processing position for processing the substrate, and a substrate processing method. The substrate processing apparatus of the present invention includes: a processing unit that processes the substrate; a lifting mechanism that moves the substrate processed at the processing position in the processing unit to an upper position above the processing position; and a transport mechanism that moves the substrate at the upper position from the processing position. part to move out; and the control part to control the transport mechanism. The transport mechanism is movable between a plurality of positions including a carry-out position for carrying out the substrate from the processing unit. The control unit determines a timing to start movement of the transport mechanism to the unloading position based on the position of the transport mechanism when the substrate moved by the lifting mechanism reaches the upper position.

Description

Substrate processing device and substrate processing method

The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method that process a substrate in a processing unit and carry out the processed substrate from the processing unit.

For example, as described in Patent Document 1, there is known an apparatus that performs a process of forming a film such as a resist film on the surface of various substrates such as a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device (hereinafter referred to as a substrate). The substrate processing apparatus is provided with a coating section, a reduced pressure drying section and a pre-baking section to form a good resist film on the surface of the substrate before exposure processing. The coating unit ejects the resist liquid as the processing liquid toward the surface of the substrate from the ejection port provided at the front end of the nozzle to form a coating film of the resist liquid. Then, the reduced pressure drying unit evaporates the solvent of the resist liquid applied on the surface of the substrate by reducing the pressure, thereby drying the substrate. Furthermore, the prebaking section heats the substrate using a hot plate unit to solidify the resist component on the surface of the substrate. The heated substrate is cooled by the cooling plate unit.

In such a substrate processing apparatus, in order to process a plurality of substrates in parallel, a plurality of processing units dedicated to various processes such as coating processing, heating processing, and cooling processing are generally provided for each substrate. In this case, the time required for processing in each processing unit is not necessarily the same. Therefore, a design is required so that the substrate does not remain when the substrate is transferred between the processing units. For example, in the apparatus described in Patent Document 1, in order to make the heat treatment time of the substrate constant, the hot plate unit and the cooling plate are executed according to a predetermined takt time. The processes in the units and the manner in which substrates are transported between them constitute a process sequence.

[Prior art documents]

[Patent Document]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2020-047895

Patent Document 1 does not mention the details of the processing in each processing unit or the transfer of substrates between units. However, for the above purpose, it is necessary to unload the substrates without delay after the heat treatment is completed. Therefore, it is considered that the transport mechanism that transports the substrate between processing units is on standby in a state where the substrate can be transported out when the heating process is completed. On the other hand, in order to efficiently transport substrates between a plurality of processing units, it is necessary to shorten the time that the transport mechanism is occupied for one substrate transport as much as possible.

In this way, it is desired to establish a control method that can shorten the time occupied by the transportation mechanism as much as possible and position the transportation mechanism at a predetermined position with reliable timing. However, since there may be various structures of the processing sections or their combinations, it is difficult to establish a universal control method. Therefore, it is considered effective to construct a control method suitable for this, for example, based on the structure of the processing unit.

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to provide a transport control form suitable for a substrate processing apparatus that is provided with a mechanism for lifting the substrate from a processing position for processing the substrate in a processing section, and a substrate processing method. Lifting mechanism.

One aspect of the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention includes: a processing unit that processes a substrate; a lifting mechanism that moves the substrate processed at a processing position in the processing unit to an upper position above the processing position; and a conveyor. a mechanism to carry out the substrate in the upper position from the processing section; and a control section to control the transport mechanism. Here, the transport mechanism is movable between a plurality of positions including a carry-out position for carrying out the substrate from the processing section, and the control section reaches the position based on the substrate moved by the lifting mechanism. The upper position is the position of the conveying mechanism, and determines the timing of starting the movement of the conveying mechanism to the unloading position.

In addition, one aspect of the substrate processing method of the present invention includes: processing the substrate at a processing position in the processing unit; and using a lifting mechanism to move the processed substrate to an upper position above the processing position; and the step of unloading the substrate in the upper position from the processing unit. Here, the substrate is carried out by positioning a transport mechanism movable between a plurality of positions including a carry-out position for carrying out the substrate from the processing unit at the carry-out position. Furthermore, the timing to start the movement of the transport mechanism to the unloading position is determined based on the position of the transport mechanism when the substrate moved by the lifting mechanism reaches the upper position.

In a structure in which a substrate is processed at a processing position in the processing unit, the substrate is moved to an upper position by a lifting mechanism and then unloaded. In order to prevent damage to the substrate, the substrate is raised at a relatively slow speed. Therefore, it takes a certain long time for the substrate to move from the processing position to the upper position. On the other hand, in a transport mechanism that can move between a plurality of positions, from starting to move to the carry-out position to reaching the carry-out position is The time required to stop varies depending on which position the transport mechanism is at when movement begins.

Therefore, assuming that the movement start timing of the transport mechanism is fixedly set, it is considered that the movement of the transport mechanism will be started as early as possible in order to catch up with the time when the substrate should be carried out even in a situation where the movement time is the longest. Therefore, depending on the situation, the waiting time of the transport mechanism at the unloading position becomes longer, and during this period, the transport mechanism cannot be used for transporting other substrates.

Therefore, in the present invention, the timing to start the movement of the transport mechanism to the unloading position is determined based on the relationship between the position of the transport mechanism when the processed substrate moved by the lifting mechanism in the processing unit reaches the upper position. Therefore, for example, when the transport mechanism is in a position where it takes a long time to reach the unloading position, the movement start timing can be advanced. On the other hand, when the movement time is short, the movement start timing can be delayed. This makes it possible to minimize the period during which the transport mechanism is occupied, and to move to the unloading position at the necessary timing without delay.

As described above, according to the present invention, the movement start timing of the transport mechanism is determined based on the relationship between the position of the transport mechanism and the position of the processed substrate when it reaches the upper position. Therefore, optimal transport control can be achieved in a substrate processing apparatus provided with a lifting mechanism for raising the substrate from a processing position for processing the substrate in the processing section, and a substrate processing method.

1:Substrate processing device

6:Lifting mechanism

10:Coating department

20:Decompression drying section

30: Pre-baking department

31:First layered body

32:Second layered body

33:The third layered body

35:Transportation mechanism

40:Control Department

41:CPU

42:ROM

43: RAM

44: Storage device (storage part)

45:Bus cable

46:Input part

47:Display part

48:Ministry of Communications

50: Chamber

51:top plate

52:Side panel

53: Bottom plate

54:Baffle

55:Open your mouth

56:Hot plate (plate component)

57:Heater

58:Through hole

61: Lift pin

63: Lifting components

64: Lift pin drive part

351: Base part

352:Pillar

353, 354: Manipulator

S:Substrate

S101, S102, S103, S104, S105, S106: steps

TR: Transport robot

t0, t1, t2, t3, t4, t5, ta, tb, tc: time

FIG. 1 is a schematic structure showing an embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention. top view.

(a) and (b) of FIG. 2 are diagrams schematically showing the structure of the pre-baking section.

3 is a side cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the hot plate unit.

(a) to (d) of FIG. 4 are diagrams illustrating the lifting and lowering operation of the substrate by the lifting and lowering mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a specific example of movement start timing determination processing.

FIG. 6 is a timing chart showing the operations of each component during heat treatment.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the schematic structure of one embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention. The substrate processing apparatus 1 is an apparatus that performs application of a resist liquid (coating process), reduced pressure drying process, and pre-baking process on a flat substrate such as a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device. The substrate processing apparatus 1 may be configured as a dedicated apparatus for performing the three processes, or may be configured in combination with apparatus for performing appropriate pre-processing and/or post-processing. In order to uniformly express the directions in the following figures, the XYZ orthogonal coordinate system is set as shown in Figure 1. The XY plane represents the horizontal plane, and the Z direction represents the vertical direction. More specifically, the (-Z) direction is the vertical downward direction.

The substrate processing apparatus 1 includes a coating unit 10 that performs a coating process, a reduced pressure drying unit 20 that performs a reduced pressure drying process, a prebaking unit 30 that performs a prebaking process, and the three processing units (coating unit 10 , reduced pressure drying section 20 and pre-baking section 30). The transfer robot TR is configured to be able to access the coating unit 10 , the reduced pressure drying unit 20 and the prebaking unit 30 arranged around the robot TR, and to transfer the substrate therebetween. More specifically, the transfer robot TR operates by The control unit 40 that performs overall control controls the next substrate transportation.

That is, when the transfer robot TR receives the cleaned substrate from which organic contamination including fine particles, metal contamination, grease, natural oxide film, etc. has been removed by the substrate cleaning unit (not shown), the transfer robot TR transports the substrate to the coating unit 10. In addition, the transfer robot TR receives the substrate on which the coating film of the resist liquid (processing liquid) is formed on the surface by the coating unit 10 and transfers it to the reduced pressure drying unit 20 . Furthermore, the transfer robot TR receives the substrate subjected to the reduced pressure drying process in the reduced pressure drying unit 20 , transfers the substrate to the prebaking unit 30 , and sends out the substrate. In addition, in this embodiment, the transfer robot TR transfers the cleaned substrate to the coating unit 10 , but the substrate may be transferred to the coating unit 10 by a transfer member different from the transfer robot TR.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the control unit 40 includes, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) 41, a read only memory (Read Only Memory, ROM) 42, a random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM) 43, The storage device 44 and other general computer devices are connected to each other via a bus line 45 . The ROM 42 stores basic programs and the like, and the RAM 43 is provided as a work area when the CPU 41 performs predetermined processing. The storage device 44 includes a non-volatile storage device such as a flash memory or a hard disk device.

In addition, in the control unit 40 , the input unit 46 , the display unit 47 , and the communication unit 48 are also connected to the bus line 45 . The input unit 46 includes various switches, a touch panel, and the like, and receives various input setting instructions such as processing methods from the operator. The display unit 47 includes a liquid crystal display device, a lamp, etc., and displays various information under control by the CPU 41 . The communication unit 48 has data via a local area network (LAN) or the like. data communication function.

The storage device 44 of the control unit 40 stores in advance a processing program for processing a substrate by the substrate processing apparatus 1 . Then, the CPU 41 reads the processing program from the storage device 44 and executes the processing program. Thereby, the substrate that has undergone the coating process by the coating section 10 and the reduced pressure drying process by the reduced pressure drying section 20 is taken out from the reduced pressure drying section 20 by the transport robot TR, and is sent to the prebaking section 30 for acceptance. Heat treatment and cooling treatment.

(a) and (b) of FIG. 2 are diagrams schematically showing the structure of the pre-baking section. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2(a) , the prebaking section 30 includes a first laminated body 31 , a second laminated body 32 , and a third laminated body 33 in which processing units are laminated in multiple layers. The transport mechanism 35 transports the substrate between them. The first laminated body 31 is provided at a position adjacent to the (+Y) side of the transfer robot TR, and has a structure in which the import-side transfer portion IP that receives and temporarily stores the substrates transferred by the transfer robot TR is stacked in multiple layers.

The conveyance mechanism 35 is provided on the (+Y) side of the first laminated body 31 , that is, on the side opposite to the conveyance robot TR across the first laminated body 31 . The transport mechanism 35 transfers the substrates between the first laminated body 31 to the third laminated body 33 using a structure described below. The second laminated body 32 is provided on the (-X) side of the conveyance mechanism 35 . In the second laminated body 32, hot plate units HP for performing heat treatment on the substrate are stacked in multiple layers.

In addition, the third laminated body 33 is provided on the (+Y) side of the conveyance mechanism 35 . The third laminated body 33 has a cooling plate unit CP that cools the heat-processed substrate and a carry-out side transfer part OP that receives the cooled substrate and temporarily stores it. It is a structure made of multiple layers of ground.

As shown in FIG. 2( b ), the transport mechanism 35 includes a base part 351 , which is provided at a position surrounded by the first to third laminated bodies 31 to 33 , that is, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 2( a ). position; the pillar 352 is rotatably provided around the vertical axis relative to the base portion 351; and a pair of manipulators 353 and 354 are provided so as to be able to move up and down in the extension direction of the pillar 352, that is, in the Z direction. The robot arm 353 and the robot arm 354 can be raised and lowered integrally by an elevating mechanism not shown in the figure, and on the other hand, they can be freely extended and contracted in the horizontal direction respectively. The robot arm 353 and the robot arm 354 each have a comb-tooth shape, and can support the substrate S in a horizontal position at the upper part thereof. That is, the transport mechanism 35 can hold up to two substrates S at the same time.

Through the combination of the rotation of the pillar 352 and the elevation and contraction of the robots 353 and 354 , the transport mechanism 35 can selectively access each processing unit constituting the pre-baking section 30 , specifically, it is provided in the first laminated body 31 Each of the carry-in side transfer portion IP, each of the hot plate units HP provided in the second laminated body 32 , each of the cooling plate units CP provided in the third laminated body 33 , and each of the cooling plate units CP provided in the third laminated body 33 Each of the carry-out side transfer part OP. In this manner, the transport mechanism 35 can access each processing unit constituting the pre-bake section 30 and carry the substrate S into or out of the processing unit.

The operation in the pre-baking section 30 is roughly as follows. That is, the transport mechanism 35 takes out the pre-heat-processed substrate sent out from the pre-processing step and stored in any one of the carry-in side transfer parts IP, and carries it into one of the hot plate units HP. The hot plate unit HP performs prebaking (heat treatment) of the resist film formed on the substrate by heating the substrate. After heat treatment The transport mechanism 35 takes out the substrate from the hot plate unit HP and transfers it to the cooling plate unit CP. The cooling plate unit CP stops the heat treatment (cooling process) by cooling the substrate. The cooled substrate is transferred to the transfer side OP by the transfer mechanism 35 and temporarily stored. In this way, the heat-treated substrate is transferred to a subsequent step (not shown).

In addition, here, the first to third laminated bodies 31 to 33 are arranged so as to surround the transport mechanism 35 from three sides. The first laminated body 31 is provided with a four-level carry-in side transfer portion IP, and the second laminated body 32 is provided with The three-story hot plate unit HP is provided, and the third laminated body 33 is provided with the three-story cooling plate unit CP and the four-story carry-out side interface OP. However, the number of arrangement of each processing unit or its arrangement is not limited to this and is arbitrary. For example, the same unit configuration as that described in Patent Document 1 can be adopted.

A plurality of each of these processing units (the carry-in side transfer part IP and the carry-out side transfer part OP, the hot plate unit HP, and the cooling plate unit CP) are respectively provided in the prebaking part 30 . Therefore, the series of processes for one substrate can be performed on a plurality of substrates in parallel. To make this possible, the handover of substrates between processing units needs to be smooth. For this purpose, many proposals have been made as to the control sequence for substrate transportation, as described in Patent Document 1, for example. Therefore, detailed description is omitted here.

However, no specific proposal has been proposed so far for optimizing the transport control by going deep into the structure and operation content of each processing unit. Hereinafter, taking the hot plate unit HP as an example, an example of transport control constructed considering its structure and operation will be described.

3 is a side cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the hot plate unit. As described above, the hot plate unit HP is used to perform heat treatment of heating a resist film formed by applying a resist liquid on the upper surface of a substrate and drying it, and to solidify the resist film.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the hot plate unit HP includes a chamber 50 in which the substrate S is received. By performing the process in the chamber 50 , it is possible to prevent gas components volatilized by the heat treatment from scattering to the surroundings, and by covering the periphery of the heated substrate S, heat dissipation is suppressed and energy efficiency is improved. For these purposes, the chamber 50 has a box-shaped structure in which the top plate 51 , the side plates 52 , the bottom plate 53 and the baffle 54 are combined.

The baffle 54 is attached to the opening 55 provided on one side surface of the chamber 50 so as to be openable and closable. In the closed state, the baffle 54 is pushed to the side surface of the chamber 50 via a gasket (not shown) to block the opening 55 . On the other hand, in the open state of the shutter 54 shown by the dotted line in FIG. 3 , the substrate S can be exchanged with the outside through the opened opening 55 . That is, the unprocessed substrate S held by the transport mechanism 35 is carried into the chamber 50 through the opening 55 . In addition, the processed substrate S in the chamber 50 is carried out to the outside by the transport mechanism 35 .

A hot plate 56 is provided at the bottom of the chamber 50 . The upper surface of the hot plate 56 becomes a substantially horizontal surface, and is in contact with and supports the lower surface of the substrate S in a horizontal posture. On the upper surface of the hot plate 56, a protrusion for setting a slight gap between the hot plate 56 and the substrate S, that is, a proximity lift pin, can be disposed.

A heater 57 is built inside the hot plate 56 . The heater 57 operates by supplying electric power to the heater 57 from the control unit 40 that controls the entire device. Thereby, the conductive heat and radiant heat from the upper surface of the hot plate 56 are uniformly heated. Hot substrate S.

The lift mechanism 6 is provided in the hot plate unit HP to smoothly transfer the substrate S between the hot plate 56 and the transport mechanism 35 . Specifically, a plurality of through holes 58 extending in the up and down direction are provided through the bottom plate 53 and the hot plate 56 of the chamber 50 , and the lifting pins 61 of the lifting mechanism 6 are inserted into each of the through holes 58 .

The lower ends of these lifting pins 61 are fixed to the lifting member 63 . The lifting member 63 is supported by the lifting pin driving part 64 so as to be able to move up and down in the vertical direction. In response to a lifting command from the control unit 40 , the lifting pin driving unit 64 operates to raise and lower the lifting member 63 . Thereby, the plurality of lifting pins 61 are raised and lowered together, and the substrate S can be raised and lowered in the up-and-down direction.

More specifically, the lift pin 61 moves the substrate S to a processing position where the substrate S is in contact with or close to the upper surface of the hot plate 56 and is heated by the hot plate 56 as shown by the solid line in FIG. 3 . The substrate S (not shown) is raised and lowered between the upper positions supported while being separated upward by a predetermined distance from the upper surface of the hot plate 56 .

(a) to (d) of FIG. 4 are diagrams illustrating the lifting and lowering operation of the substrate by the lifting and lowering mechanism. As shown in FIG. 4( a ), in a state where the lift pin 61 protrudes upward greatly from the upper surface of the hot plate 56 , the robot arm 353 ( 354 ) of the transport mechanism 35 transports the substrate S in a horizontal posture. In order to avoid mutual interference at this time, the shape of the comb teeth of the robot 353 (354) and the arrangement of the lifting pin 61 are specified.

When the robot 353 (354) descends from the above state, as shown in FIG. 4(b), the substrate S is transferred from the robot 353 (354) to the lifting pin 61. The position of the substrate S at this time is the "upper position".

After the robot arm 353 (354) retreats, as shown in (c) of FIG. 4, the lift pin 61 lowers integrally. Thereby, the substrate S descends while maintaining a horizontal posture, and finally comes into contact with the upper surface of the hot plate 56 as shown in FIG. 4(d) . Thereby, the support of the substrate S is transferred from the lifting pin 61 to the hot plate 56 . The position of the substrate S at this time is the "processing position". When the access lift pin is provided on the hot plate 56, the position of the substrate S facing the upper surface of the hot plate 56 with a minute gap corresponding to the height of the access pin becomes the "processing position".

The substrate S is carried out by the reverse movement described above. That is, from the state where the substrate S is placed on the hot plate 56 as shown in FIG. 4(d) , the lifting pin 61 rises as shown in FIG. 4(c) , whereby the substrate S is transferred from the hot plate 56 to lift pin 61. After the substrate S reaches the upper position, as shown in FIG. 4( b ), the robot 353 ( 354 ) that enters the gap between the hot plate 56 and the substrate S receives the substrate S. Then, as shown in FIG. 4(a) , the robot 353 (354) carries out the substrate S to the outside. The hot plate 56 that has carried out the heat-processed substrate S can receive a new unprocessed substrate.

The substrate S is raised and lowered by the lifting pin 61 at a relatively slow speed to prevent damage to the substrate S. In particular, the lifting operation when pulling the large-sized substrate S away from the hot plate 56 needs to be performed at a low speed to suppress the deflection of the substrate S caused by the negative pressure generated between the hot plate 56 and the substrate S. For example, the time it takes to move a few centimeters can be set to about 10 seconds.

In order to stabilize the result of the heat treatment of the substrate S, the thermal energy given to the substrate S needs to be constant. For this purpose, not only the temperature when heating the substrate S needs to be The temperature and time must be constant, and the time from the end of heating to cooling must also be constant. Therefore, after heating by the hot plate unit HP for a predetermined time, the time until the substrate S is unloaded from the hot plate unit HP and loaded into the cooling plate unit CP also needs to be constant.

When parallel processing is performed on a plurality of substrates in a plurality of processing units, and the transport mechanism used to transport the substrates between these processing units is shared, there may be a time when the substrate S needs to be transported from one processing unit. For the transportation of other substrates. In this case, the unloading of the processed substrate S is delayed until the transportation is completed. However, as described above, such a delay in unloading is not preferable for the heat-treated substrate S.

Therefore, when the heat treatment is completed in one hot plate unit HP, it is necessary to carry out the unloading of the substrate S from the unit without delay. Therefore, the transport mechanism 35 must be in a state capable of carrying out the substrate S from one hot plate unit HP at a certain timing after the heat treatment of the hot plate unit HP is completed. In fact, during a predetermined period before the time when the heat treatment is completed and the substrate S can be unloaded, the transport mechanism 35 does not perform other transport but waits. During the standby period, substrates cannot be transported between other processing units, which may cause a decrease in the throughput of the overall process. Therefore, it is desirable that the standby period be as short as possible.

The transport mechanism 35 can move by rotating the support column 352 and raising and lowering the robot arms 353 and 354 . The transport mechanism 35 stops at each of a plurality of stop positions set in advance corresponding to each processing unit, thereby performing access to the processing unit located at the corresponding position, specifically, loading and unloading of the substrate. The transport mechanism at this time The moving speed of 35 is limited by mechanical conditions, but generally speaking, it can move in a shorter time than the lifting operation of the substrate S by the lifting pin 61 .

On the other hand, the time required for the transport mechanism 35 (more specifically, the robots 353 and 354) to move to the unloading position, which is the position for unloading the substrate S from the hot plate unit HP after the heat treatment has been completed. It differs depending on which position the conveyance mechanism 35 is located before the movement starts. That is, if the robot 353 and the robot 354 are in a position close to the carry-out position in advance, they can reach the carry-out position in a short time. If they are far away from the carry-out position, the movement will take longer.

In this way, the movement time until the transport mechanism 35 reaches the carry-out position differs depending on the initial position. On the other hand, the time at which the transport mechanism 35 should reach the carry-out position is determined based on the relationship with the time when the heat treatment is completed. In other words, the timing of starting the movement of the transport mechanism 35 required to reach the unloading position at a specific time may differ depending on which position the transport mechanism 35 is located when the movement starts. In this manner, the period during which the transport mechanism 35 is occupied in preparation for transporting the substrate S from the hot plate unit HP can be suppressed to a minimum.

That is, if the time when the heat treatment is completed and the substrate S can be unloaded and the current position of the transport mechanism 35 are known, the timing of starting the movement of the transport mechanism 35 from the above position can be determined. More specifically, as long as the movement time required for the transport mechanism 35 from the current position to the carry-out position is estimated, the time when the transport mechanism 35 should arrive at the carry-out position is traced back by the time required for the movement. The movement start time of the transport mechanism 35 is sufficient.

The transport mechanism 35 should be stopped for loading/unloading substrates from each processing unit. A plurality of stopping positions are set in advance through teaching work, etc. The movement time required to move between these stop positions can also be estimated in advance based on the relationship between their positional relationship and the mechanical operating speed of the conveyance mechanism 35 . Such information related to the time required for movement can be stored in the storage device 44 of the control unit 40 .

The position of the transport mechanism 35 can be detected at any time by, for example, a position sensor, or a past movement history can be recorded, and the current position can be estimated based on the record. In this manner, the movement start timing of the conveyance mechanism 35 can be determined based on the position of the conveyance mechanism 35 and the time required to move from the position to the carry-out position.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a specific example of movement start timing determination processing. The above-mentioned processing is realized by the CPU 41 of the control unit 40 executing a processing program prepared in advance. In the execution of a series of processing sequences, it is determined whether the heat processing in one hot plate unit HP has ended (step S101).

In the hot plate unit HP, the substrate S is heated by positioning the substrate S at the processing position. After a certain period of time, the substrate S moves from the processing position to the upper position, thereby completing the heat treatment in an active sense. However, since the substrate S is in a warm state, the process is also performed to some extent before the cooling process is performed. Therefore, there may be several ideas as to when the heat treatment ends. For example, when the lifting pin 61 starts to rise and the substrate S separates from the hot plate 56, it may be considered as the "end of the heat treatment".

When it is determined that the heat treatment has been completed (YES in step S101), the position of the transport mechanism 35 at this point in time is acquired (step S102). When the transport mechanism 35 is moving to transport the substrate, for example, the position where the transport mechanism 35 is located at the time when the movement is completed is regarded as the current position.

Then, based on the positional relationship between the current position and the carry-out position, the time required until the transport mechanism 35 moves to the carry-out position is derived (step S103). Based on the result and the time when the substrate S can be carried out from the hot plate unit HP, the movement start timing of the transport mechanism 35 is set (step S104). The time when the substrate S can be carried out from the hot plate unit HP can be, for example, the time until the substrate S is raised to the upper position by the operation of the lift pin 61 .

Therefore, the time when the substrate S is estimated to arrive at the upper position is later than the time required for the movement of the transport mechanism 35 as the movement start time of the transport mechanism 35 . Then, when the set time arrives (step S105), the control unit 40 outputs a call command for starting movement to the carry-out position to the transport mechanism 35 (step S106). This starts the movement of the transport mechanism 35 toward the unloading position.

When the substrate S reaches the upper position, the transport mechanism 35 also reaches the unloading position. Therefore, the transport mechanism 35 can transport the heat-processed substrate S to the cooling plate unit CP without delay. Therefore, the heat treatment of the substrate S can be stopped at a predetermined time, and the quality of the formed resist film can be stabilized.

FIG. 6 is a timing chart showing the operations of each component during heat treatment. More specifically, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the operations of the lifting pin 61 , the baffle 54 , and the conveyance mechanism 35 when heat treatment is performed on one substrate S. In addition, in the figure, "closed" of the shutter 54 means a state in which the shutter 54 is completely closed. On the other hand, "open" includes in addition to a state in which the shutter 54 is fully opened, it also includes a state from an open state to a closed state or A state in which the shutter 54 is partially opened during the transition from the closed state to the open state.

At time t0 before the substrate is loaded in, the lift pin 61 rises to the upper position. Until the corresponding position, the baffle 54 is opened. In addition, the transport mechanism 35 is located at an unloading position near the hot plate unit HP that is the main body of the process while holding the substrate S to be processed by the robot 353 (354). The temperature of the hot plate 56 is controlled to a predetermined temperature in advance. From this state, the robot arm 353 (354) of the transport mechanism 35 enters the chamber 50, carries the substrate S in, and delivers it to the lift pin 61.

Thereafter, at time t1, the lifting pin 61 starts to descend, and the shutter 54 is closed successively. The position of the transport mechanism 35 after delivering the substrate S is not particularly limited. For example, the transport mechanism 35 may be moved to transport the substrate between other processing units. At time t2 which is earlier than time t3 when the substrate S is lowered to the processing position, the lowering of the lifting pin 61 is temporarily stopped. Therefore, for example, as shown in (c) of FIG. 4 , the substrate S is held in a state slightly separated upward from the hot plate 56 .

As a result, the substrate S is preliminarily heated by the radiant heat from the hot plate 56 , thereby preventing the substrate S from being directly placed on the hot plate 56 and causing a sudden temperature change. In this sense, the process is called "preheating process" in FIG. 6 , and the position of the substrate S at this time is called "preheating position". Furthermore, such preheating treatment is not necessary.

At time t3, the substrate S is placed on the hot plate 56, whereby the substrate S is heated and heat treatment is performed. After the above state continues for a predetermined time, the lift pin 61 rises at time t4 to separate the substrate S from the hot plate 56, thereby stopping the heating from the hot plate 56. At time t5 when the substrate S reaches the upper position, the shutter 54 is opened and the processed substrate S can be unloaded.

The movement start timing is set so that the transport mechanism 35 reaches the unloading position at the time t5. In FIG. 6 , as the stopping position of the conveying mechanism 35, the conveying mechanism 35 is shown There are three stop positions Pa, Pb, and Pc other than the use position. The movement start timing is set based on the time required for movement from each stop position to the unloading position, and the movement of the transport mechanism 35 is started at a corresponding timing.

For example, when the conveyance mechanism 35 is at the stop position Pa, the movement of the conveyance mechanism 35 is started at time ta, and as a result, the conveyance mechanism 35 reaches the unloading position at time t5. Similarly, when the transport mechanism 35 is at the stop position Pb and the stop position Pc, the transport mechanism 35 starts moving at time tb and time tc respectively, so that the transport mechanism 35 reaches the unloading position at time t5. In this way, the movement start timing differs depending on the position of the transport mechanism 35, but in any case, the transport mechanism 35 can finally be positioned at the unloading position at time t5.

Therefore, the time from time t4 when the heat treatment is considered to be completed until the substrate S is unloaded is constant regardless of which position the transport mechanism 35 is in advance. Thereby, the result of heat treatment can be stabilized. In addition, in order to achieve this, the period during which the transport mechanism 35 is occupied can be suppressed to a minimum, so that the transport of other substrates can be avoided from being restricted more than necessary.

The hot plate unit HP that has unloaded the heat-processed substrate S is in the same state as at time t0 before the start of the process. Therefore, a new substrate can be immediately received to perform heat treatment.

Assuming that the transport mechanism 35 starts the control to move toward the unloading position at the time when the heat treatment is completed (time t4), the transport mechanism 35 can reach the unloading position with enough margin compared to the time t5 when the substrate S can be carried out. Use location. Therefore, the substrate S can be unloaded without delay. On the other hand, the passage of lift pin 61 is slow Before the rising substrate S reaches the upper position, the transport mechanism 35 is left waiting at the unloading position. During this period, the transport mechanism 35 cannot be used for transporting other substrates. Furthermore, the transport mechanism 35 must be in a movable state at time t4, so the transport mechanism 35 is substantially restricted from the stage before time t4.

Therefore, from the perspective of the entire device, the action sequence of the transport mechanism is also restricted. Specifically, the waiting time during which the transport mechanism is not used for transporting substrates increases, thereby increasing the time from the start of processing of each substrate to the completion of all processes. That is, the throughput of processing decreases.

In the above-described embodiment, the period during which the transport mechanism 35 is occupied is suppressed to a minimum in order to carry out the unloading of the substrate S from the hot plate unit HP without delay. Therefore, a decrease in the throughput caused by such transportation can be suppressed.

As described above, in the substrate processing apparatus of the present embodiment, the timing to start movement to the carry-out position for carrying out the substrate S from the hot plate unit HP is set based on the position of the transport mechanism 35 Agency 35 location. More specifically, the movement start timing of the transport mechanism 35 is set based on the time when the heat treatment is completed and the substrate can be transported out and the current position of the transport mechanism 35 . Therefore, there is no need to wait for the transport mechanism 35 in advance, and the period during which the transport mechanism 35 is occupied for carrying out the substrate can be suppressed to a minimum. On the other hand, the transport mechanism 35 can reach the carry-out position at a time when the substrate can be carried out. Therefore, the substrate can be carried out without delay after the completion of the process, and degradation of processing quality due to delay in carry-out can be prevented.

In particular, when the operation of the lifting mechanism that raises and lowers the substrate in the processing unit takes time compared with the movement of the transport mechanism, the transport method of the embodiment is This formula is effective in helping to increase throughput when processing multiple substrates in parallel.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, As long as it does not deviate from the summary, various changes other than the above-mentioned can be made. For example, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the present invention is applied to the hot plate unit HP where the delay in unloading the substrate after completion of the processing has a great impact on the processing quality as the "processing unit". However, the control of the conveyance mechanism of the present invention can be similarly applied when a processing unit other than the hot plate unit is used as the "processing section" of the present invention.

For example, although description is omitted in the above description, the cooling plate unit CP is also provided with a cooling plate as a plate member that horizontally supports the substrate and a lifting mechanism that raises and lowers the substrate relative to the cooling plate, similarly to the hot plate unit HP. Therefore, the control mode can be appropriately applied to the unloading of the substrate from the cooling plate unit. Even in this case, minimizing the period during which the cooling plate unit occupies the transportation mechanism for substrate transportation and allowing other substrates to be transported during this period can contribute to an increase in the throughput of the process.

In the above-described embodiment, the movement start timing of the transport mechanism 35 is set so that the time when the substrate S rises to the upper position on the hot plate 56 coincides with the time when the transport mechanism 35 reaches the unloading position. However, from the viewpoint that the transport mechanism reaches the carry-out position at the latest when the substrate can be carried out, the time when the transport mechanism reaches the carry-out position may be slightly earlier than the time when the substrate can be carried out.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the time required for movement between the plurality of stop positions of the transport mechanism 35 is estimated in advance, and the information is stored in the storage device 44 . Furthermore, when setting the movement start timing of the transport mechanism 35, read and use use the information described. In this sense, the storage device 44 corresponds to the "storage unit" of the present invention. However, the form of information stored in the storage unit is not limited to this. For example, the movement of the transport mechanism may be considered as a combination of a plurality of basic movements such as vertical movement and rotation of a certain amount, and the operation time of each basic movement may be obtained and stored in the storage unit. Furthermore, when considering movement from a certain stop position to a carry-out position, the total time required for movement can be obtained by accumulating the operation times of basic operations that should be combined to realize the movement.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the substrate subjected to the coating process is subjected to a reduced pressure drying process, and further a heat treatment and a cooling process are performed in the pre-baking section. However, the application object of the substrate transportation control of the present invention is not limited to this. form of processing. That is, part of the processing units of the substrate processing apparatus 1 may be omitted, and other processing units may be added.

Furthermore, the substrate is not limited to the glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device. The "substrate" of the present invention includes a glass substrate for an organic electroluminescent (EL) display device and a plasma display panel (PDP). Precision electronics such as flat panel display (FPD) substrates such as glass substrates, semiconductor wafers, glass substrates for photomasks, color filter substrates, recording disk substrates, solar cell substrates, electronic paper substrates, etc. Device substrates, etc.

As mentioned above, as described with reference to specific embodiments, in the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, the processing unit may perform heat treatment on the substrate, for example. The control mode of the conveyance mechanism of the present invention is effective regardless of the processing content in the processing unit. However, special Particularly in the case of heat treatment, a delay in unloading the substrate after completion of the process greatly affects the processing quality. Therefore, according to the present invention, by avoiding a delay in unloading, the processing quality can be stabilized.

Furthermore, for example, the control unit may be configured to start movement of the transport mechanism at a timing when the transport mechanism reaches the unloading position and the timing when the substrate reaches the upper position. According to this structure, when the substrate reaches the upper position and can be carried out, the transport mechanism also reaches the carry-out position, so the processed substrate can be carried out without delay. Furthermore, the transport mechanism after completion of unloading can be immediately provided to transport other substrates.

In addition, for example, the control unit may be configured to determine the movement start timing based on the position of the transport mechanism when the lifting mechanism starts movement of the substrate. According to this structure, even when moving the substrate by the lifting mechanism requires a relatively long time, it is possible to prevent the transport mechanism from being occupied more than necessary.

In addition, for example, the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention may include a storage unit that stores information on the time required for movement of the transportation mechanism between a plurality of stop positions of the transportation mechanism including the unloading position. Here, In this case, the control unit may read information corresponding to the position of the transport mechanism from the storage unit and determine the movement start timing. The time required for the transport mechanism to move between the plurality of stop positions can be estimated in advance based on the mechanical specifications of the transport mechanism. By storing such information, it is possible to determine the time required to move from the position when the transport mechanism starts moving to the carry-out position.

In addition, for example, the lifting mechanism may include a plurality of lifting pins that move up and down while being in contact with the lower surface of the substrate in a horizontal posture. When the substrate is supported by the lift pins, the substrate is prone to deflection because the contact between the lift pins and the substrate is localized. because Therefore, it is difficult to increase the lifting speed of the substrate. Even in this case, according to the present invention, there is no need to wait until the movement of the substrate by the lift pin is completed, so the occupancy period of the transport mechanism can be shortened.

In addition, for example, the processing unit may have a plate member on the upper surface that supports the substrate in a horizontal posture. This is especially the case when the plate component is a hot plate. When a substrate supported by a plate member is raised by a lifting mechanism, a negative pressure may temporarily occur between the substrate and the plate member, which may cause damage to the substrate. In order to avoid this situation, the lifting speed is limited, but as mentioned above, in the present invention, this does not cause the occupancy period of the transport mechanism to be extended.

[Industrial availability]

The present invention can be applied to various substrate processing apparatuses, and the processing contents thereof are not limited. However, the present invention is particularly suitable for an apparatus configured to move the substrate processed in the processing unit from the processing position to an upper position using a lift mechanism and then carry it out using a transport mechanism. .

S101, S102, S103, S104, S105, S106: steps

Claims (9)

A substrate processing device including: Processing section, processing substrates; A lifting mechanism that moves the substrate processed at a processing position in the processing unit to an upper position above the processing position; a transport mechanism that transports the substrate in the upper position from the processing section; and A control unit controls the conveying mechanism, The transport mechanism is movable between a plurality of positions including a carry-out position for carrying out the substrate from the processing unit, The control unit determines a timing to start movement of the transport mechanism to the unloading position based on the position of the transport mechanism when the substrate moved by the lifting mechanism reaches the upper position. The substrate processing device according to claim 1, wherein The processing unit performs heat treatment on the substrate. The substrate processing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The control unit starts movement of the transport mechanism at a timing when the transport mechanism reaches the unloading position and the substrate reaches the upper position. The substrate processing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The control unit determines the movement start timing based on the position of the conveyance mechanism when the lifting mechanism starts movement of the substrate. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, which includes a storage unit, The storage unit stores information on a time required for movement of the conveyance mechanism between a plurality of stop positions of the conveyance mechanism including the unloading position, The control unit reads the information corresponding to the position of the transport mechanism from the storage unit and determines the movement start timing. The substrate processing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The lifting mechanism includes a plurality of lifting pins that move up and down while being in contact with the lower surface of the substrate in a horizontal posture. The substrate processing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The processing unit has a plate member on an upper surface that supports the substrate in a horizontal posture. The substrate processing device according to claim 7, wherein The plate member is a hot plate. A substrate processing method including: The step of processing the substrate at a processing position within the processing unit; using a lifting mechanism to move the processed substrate to an upper position above the processing position; and The step of unloading the substrate in the upper position from the processing unit, The substrate is carried out by positioning a transport mechanism movable between a plurality of positions including a carry-out position for carrying out the substrate from the processing unit at the carry-out position, The timing to start the movement of the transport mechanism to the unloading position is determined based on the position of the transport mechanism when the substrate moved by the lifting mechanism reaches the upper position.

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