Valves and valve actuation – Sequential opening or closing of serial ports in single flow...
Patent
1991-07-25
1992-12-15
Chambers, A. Michael
Valves and valve actuation
Sequential opening or closing of serial ports in single flow...
137907, 137576, E03B 1100
Patent
active
051709902
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
THE FIELD TO WHICH THE INVENTION PERTAINS
The present invention relates to a vacuum valve having a structure capable of controlling a sealed state in two steps and a vacuum treating apparatus in which said vacuum valve is used.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Various vacuum treatments in vacuum are essential in the production of semiconductor elements such as an integrated circuit (IC), a light emitting diode (LED), etc. For instance, film-formation for the formation of a semiconductor and etching thereof are carried out in the production of an IC. Such film-formation and etching are required to be carried out in a clean space. For this, prior to commencement of respective reaction processes, it is necessary to sufficiently evacuate a vacuum treating chamber to be in a clean state and to prevent the evacuated vacuum treating chamber from being contaminated with impurities such as atmospheric components.
In view of this, there has been proposed such a vacuum treating apparatus as shown in FIG. 10.
The vacuum treating apparatus shown in FIG. 10 comprises a substrate treating chamber 1000 and a substrate supplying chamber 1002. The substrate supplying chamber 1002 is connected through a vacuum valve 1001 comprising an O-ring made of an elastomer to the treating chamber 1000.
A substrate transporting system 1003 is connected to the substrate supplying chamber 1002, and the substrate transporting system 1003 is provided with a substrate supporting device 1004. The substrate supporting device 1004 is configured such that a substrate can be transported into the treating chamber 1000 under a vacuum condition. The treatment of the substrate in the vacuum treating apparatus is performed in the following manner. That is, a substrate to be treated is entered in the substrate supplying chamber 1002 through the substrate supporting device 1004, followed by sufficiently evacuating the substrate supplying chamber 1002. Then, the substrate is transported into the treating chamber 1000 by opening the vacuum valve 1001 and operating the substrate transporting system 1003. Thereafter, film formation or etching treatment is performed to the substrate in the treating chamber 1000. For this apparatus, in order to prevent the treating chamber 1000 from being contaminated with atmospheric air and to maintain the inside of the treating chamber 1000 in a clean state at the time of entering the substrate in the substrate supplying chamber 1002, the inside of the treating chamber 1000 is required to be maintained in a vacuumed state. For this, the substrate supplying chamber 1002 is isolated from the treating chamber 1000 through the vacuum valve 1001 comprising the O-ring made of an elastomer.
Now, the elastomer member to be used for the vacuum valve of the vacuum apparatus releases impurity gases such as CH.sub.4, H.sub.2 O, CO.sub.2, etc. which usually cause negative effects for the vacuum process under vacuum environment. For example, in the case of the film-forming process for a Si semiconductor, when CH.sub.4, CO.sub.2, etc. are adhered to the surface of a Si film, there is caused SiC, and when H.sub.2 O is adhered, there is caused SiO. As a result, the resulting device becomes such that it is poor in characteristics or is accompanied with increased defects. In consequence, it is desired not to use an elastomer in the treating chamber 1000. Thus, there have been made proposals of replacing the elastomer by other members.
Specifically, as a first example, there is a proposal of using a metal wire instead of the above elastomer. In this case, sealing is performed by using a soft metal (sealing metal wire) and a hard metal (stainless steel for the valve seat and valve element) in combination and utilizing a permanent deformation of the soft metal caused upon contact of the valve seat with the valve element. However, such permanent deformation of the soft metal easily reaches a deformation limit in a narrow circular contacting portion between the valve seat and the valve element and because of this, there is a problem that the life
REFERENCES:
patent: 4070001 (1978-01-01), Musgrove
patent: 4212317 (1980-07-01), Patrick et al.
patent: 4239061 (1980-12-01), Peterson
Kamiya Osamu
Ueki Masao
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Chambers A. Michael
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