Coating apparatus – Gas or vapor deposition – Multizone chamber
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-17
2004-12-07
Hassanzadeh, Parviz (Department: 1763)
Coating apparatus
Gas or vapor deposition
Multizone chamber
C156S345310, C156S345320, C414S939000, C204S298250, C204S298350
Reexamination Certificate
active
06827788
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application claims the priority of JP 2000-399442 filed in Japan on Dec. 27, 2000, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention of the present application relates to a substrate processing device suitable for use in the manufacture of display devices such as liquid crystal displays.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In the manufacture of various display devices, such as liquid crystal displays and plasma displays, a process such as surface-processing must be administered on a plate-shaped material that forms the base of the device (hereinbelow referred to as the substrate). By way of example, in liquid crystal displays, a process to form a transparent electrode on the plate surface (surface that is not the peripheral surface) of the glass substrate is required.
The substrate processing device employed in the processing of this kind—because the processing of the substrate is performed in a predetermined atmosphere—comprises a chamber configured in such a way that it can be pumped out to a vacuum or a predetermined gas can be introduced to the inner space. As different processes are continuously performed therein and the pressure must be gradually lowered from atmospheric pressure, the configuration that is adopted comprises a plurality of chambers.
Substrate processing devices of the prior art such as this may, in terms of the layout of the chambers, be broadly divided into two types. One is known as the inline-type and the other is known as the cluster tool-type.
FIG. 9
shows the schematic configuration of a conventional inline-type substrate processing device. The inline-type device is a configuration in which a plurality of chambers
11
,
2
,
3
and
12
are longitudinally-provided in a straight line. A carry system, which carries the substrate
9
, is provided in such a way that as to penetrate the plurality of chambers
11
,
2
,
3
and
12
. In addition, gate valves
10
are provided between the chambers
11
,
2
,
3
and
12
.
The substrate
9
is carried in sequence through the chambers by the carry system in a state in which it is mounted on a tray
91
, wherein the processing is performed. One of these plurality of chambers is a load-lock chamber
11
which opens to the atmosphere when the substrate
9
is carried in, and the other is a load-lock chamber
12
which opens to the atmosphere when the substrate
9
is carried out. Several of the remaining chambers are chambers for processing (hereinbelow, processing chambers)
2
. In addition, a chamber
3
, provided between the processing chamber
2
and the load-lock chamber
11
or unload-lock chamber
12
, constitutes a pressure-adjustment chamber. As there is a large pressure difference between the load-lock chamber
11
(or unload-lock chamber
12
) and the processing chamber
2
, the pressure adjustment chamber
3
maintains and adjusts the atmosphere to an interim pressure there-between.
As shown in
FIG. 9
, the configuration of the carry system enables the movement of the tray
91
, on which the substrate
9
is mounted, by the use of carry rollers
41
. These carry rollers
41
constitute a pair of small disk-shaped members provided at both ends of a rotating shaft extending perpendicular with the direction of carry-in the horizontal direction. The carry system is configured by the provision of, in a predetermined interval in the direction of carry, a large number of groups of rotating shafts and pairs of carry rollers
41
. As is clear from
FIG. 9
, the substrate
9
is carried and processed horizontally.
On the other hand,
FIG. 10
shows, as another example of a conventional substrate processing device, a schematic configuration of a cluster tool-type device. The cluster tool-type device is a configuration in which, in the perimeter of a transfer chamber
5
in which a transfer robot
42
is provided in the inner part, load-lock chambers
11
and plurality of processing chambers
2
are provided. In the example shown in
FIG. 10
, two load-lock chambers
11
are provided. In addition, gate valves
10
are provided between the transfer chamber
5
, load-lock chambers
11
and processing chambers
2
.
The transfer robot
42
takes out the substrate
9
from one load-lock chamber
11
and transfers it in sequence to the processing chambers. The transfer robot
42
, following processing, returns the substrate
9
to the other load-lock chamber
11
. It will be noted that, although the load-lock chamber
11
shown in
FIG. 10
also comprises the function of the unlock load chamber
12
in the device shown in
FIG. 9
, the name load-lock chamber is used without alteration.
The transfer robot
42
is a multi-jointed type robot. The substrate is mounted and carried on the tip-end of the arm thereof. To transfer the substrate to a predetermined position the transfer robot
42
performs arm extension and contraction, rotation, and a range of vertical movements. The substrate is mounted and transferred on the arm horizontally. In addition, the substrate is also supported and processed horizontally within the processing chamber
2
.
A marked trend of increase in size of the substrates in substrate processing devices of this kind is occurring. By way of example, a full-scale extension of liquid crystal display and plasma display technology to not only the display parts of computers but also wall-hanging type televisions is thought to be just around the corner, and the display area of wall-hanging type televisions is large by comparison to the display area of computers. For this reason, the substrates thereof are also larger. In addition, as a general trend, instances where two or more products are manufactured from one substrate to increase productivity and reduce manufacturing costs has increased and, accompanying this, the substrates have increased in size.
As a result of this increase in size of the substrates, the above-described substrate processing devices of the prior art harbor the following problems, or, it is predicted they will harbor them in the future.
First, in inline-type and cluster tool-type devices of the prior art, the substrate is maintained horizontal during carry and processing. Accordingly, when the substrate size is increased, the occupied space in the horizontal direction of the chambers (hereinbelow referred to simply as occupied area) will increase as a matter of course. As a result, the occupied area of the device increases as a whole.
In addition, in the device of an inline-type device shown in
FIG. 9
, when the chambers
11
,
2
,
3
and
12
are increased in size, the length in the line direction is increased. At the present time, in the manufacture of televisions for the home such as wall-hanging type televisions, the processing of a substrate of a size of the order of 1 m×1.2 m is required and, when a device for processing a substrate of this magnitude is configured using an inline-type device, the length in the line direction reaches 10 or more meters.
In addition, in the cluster tool-type device shown in
FIG. 10
, a size increase of the substrate is linked to an increase in the occupied area of the chambers and leads to an increase in the occupied area of the device as a whole. The most serious problem affecting cluster tool-type devices is a size increase of a transfer chamber
5
.
As is clear from the transfer chamber
5
of
FIG. 10
, even though the center axis for rotational movement of a transfer robot
42
is set in the center of the transfer chamber
5
, because the substrate is mounted on the end of the arm thereof, the substrate rotates about the rotating axis in a position eccentric from the center of the transfer chamber
5
. Accordingly, the average space required for rotation of the substrate in the horizontal direction (hereinbelow required rotation radius) is twice or more the length of the short side or long side of the substrate. For this reason, there is a doubling of the required rotation radius when the subst
Anelva Corporation
Burns Doane Swecker & Mathis L.L.P.
Moore Karla
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