JP2004309459A - Stage device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a stage device satisfying required performance and suitable for increasing the size, in a stage device provided with a stone surface plate. <P>SOLUTION: In this stage device, a moving body 14 supported by static pressure bearing pads 14a-14c is slidably movable along an X-axis direction and a Y-axis direction, on the surface-worked stone surface plate 20. A size of the stone surface plate is brought into a size corresponding to a sliding area of the moving body, and the stone surface plate is fixed onto a base 100 by a casting made of cast iron or a steel structure having a receiving part 100a therefor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a stage device, and more particularly, to a stage device in which a movable portion is movable on a stone surface plate in at least one of an X axis and a Y axis.

  As an example of this type of stage device, an XY stage device called a surface-type positioning stage device will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, two guide members 2 and 3 are arranged on a stone surface plate 10 fixed on a gantry 1 at predetermined intervals so as to extend in parallel with each other in the Y-axis direction. Moving bodies 4 and 5 are arranged on the guide members 2 and 3, respectively. The moving bodies 4 and 5 move along the guide members 2 and 3 by a linear motor drive system, respectively.

  Briefly, each of the guide members 2 and 3 incorporates a magnet device including a large number of magnets. On the other hand, each of the moving bodies 4 and 5 has a movable coil that interacts with the magnet device. Thereby, the moving bodies 4 and 5 can slide along the guide members 2 and 3, respectively. In addition, for positioning control, a measuring device for measuring the positions of the moving bodies 4 and 5 and a moving body 14 described later, for example, a linear scale and a sensor are provided. Since it is well known, detailed description is omitted.

  Here, paying attention to the guide member 2 and the moving body 4, as shown in FIG. 3B, the moving body 4 has a substantially inverted U-shaped cross section so as to straddle the guide member 2, and the inner surface thereof has a static pressure. A bearing pad 12 is provided and interposed between the guide member 2 and the moving body 4. Thereby, the movement of the moving body 4 along the guide member 2 is performed smoothly. Further, a static pressure bearing pad 13 is provided on the lower surface of the moving body 4 and is interposed between the stone surface plate 10 and the moving body 4. Thereby, the moving body 4 can be smoothly moved on the stone surface plate 10. Similarly, the moving body 5 is also provided with static pressure bearing pads 12 and 13. In FIG. 3A, a part of the upper part of the moving body 4 is cut out.

  The moving bodies 4 and 5 are connected by a beam 6. A moving body 14 is arranged on the beam 6. The moving body 14 is movable in the X-axis direction in FIG. FIG. 3A shows a state in which the upper portion of the moving body 14 is cut off for convenience. The moving body 14 also moves by the above-described linear motor driving method. For this purpose, a magnet device is incorporated in the beam 6, and the moving body 14 has a moving coil that interacts with the magnet device.

  The moving body 14 has a substantially inverted U-shaped cross section so as to straddle the beam 6, and has hydrostatic bearing pads 15 a, 15 b, 15 c, and 15 d on its inner surface, and is interposed between the beam 6 and the moving body 14. ing. Static pressure bearing pads 14a, 14b, 14c are also arranged between the stone surface plate 10 and the moving body 14. That is, the hydrostatic bearing pads 14a to 14c are attached to the lower surface of the moving body 14. Thereby, the moving body 14 can move smoothly along the beam 6 and can move smoothly on the stone surface plate 10. Note that a hydrostatic bearing pad 16 is also provided on the lower surface of the beam 6 and is interposed between the beam 6 and the stone surface plate 10. Thereby, the beam 6 can be smoothly moved on the stone surface plate 10.

  Such a surface-type positioning stage device is disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example.

  When this type of surface-type positioning stage device is used, for example, for a liquid crystal exposure device, the moving body 14 holds the liquid crystal substrate by an object to be processed, that is, a table for mounting and moving the liquid crystal substrate, particularly a suction mechanism. It is configured as a table with functions.

  In any case, in the conventional surface-type positioning stage device, an integrated stone surface plate 10 is installed on a gantry 1 and a movable portion, a guide portion thereof, a driving device of the movable portion, and a movable portion are mounted thereon. A position measuring device and the like are installed. The movable portion is supported by a hydrostatic bearing pad that floats by blowing compressed air, and moves on the stone surface plate 10 along the guide portion in a non-contact manner.

  By the way, the surface of the stone surface plate 10 on which the hydrostatic bearing pad moves has a flatness of several μm and is finished smoothly, but the range in which the hydrostatic bearing pad moves is as shown in FIG. It is limited to a part of the entire surface of the surface plate 10.

  On the other hand, in the case of a surface-type positioning stage device for a liquid crystal exposure apparatus, as the size of the liquid crystal substrate increases (5th generation substrate: 1500 × 1800 mm, 7th generation substrate: 1800 × 2000 mm), the size of the stone surface plate also increases. In addition, it becomes difficult to manufacture an integrated stone surface plate. In other words, the surface-type positioning stage device used in the liquid crystal exposure apparatus is mounted on a suction mechanism on the table, and the size of the substrate increases as the generation of the liquid crystal substrate to be exposed becomes newer. May be exceeded.

JP-A-2000-356993 (FIG. 1)

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a stage device suitable for a large size while satisfying required performance by improving the configuration of a stage device having a stone surface plate.

  According to the present invention, in a stage device in which a movable portion is movable on at least one of the X axis and the Y axis on a stone surface plate, the size of the stone surface plate is set to a movement area of the movable portion. There is provided a stage device having a corresponding size, wherein the stone surface plate is fixed to a base made of a cast iron casting or a steel structure having a receiving portion.

  In the stage device according to the first aspect of the present invention, the base has the receiving portion at a central portion thereof, and has two guide members extending in one of the X-axis and the Y-axis parallel to each other on both sides thereof. A guide member having an installation portion and extending in parallel with each other is installed on each of the two guide member installation portions, and a first movable body is provided on each of the two guide members so as to be movable along the guide member. The two first moving bodies are connected by a beam extending in the other direction of the X axis and the Y axis, and the beam is provided with a second moving body movably along the beam. Thereby, the second movable body is movable as the movable portion on the stone platen in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction.

  In the stage device according to the first aspect of the present invention, at least one static pressure bearing pad is provided on the first moving body so as to be interposed between the first moving body and the guide member. A static pressure bearing pad is provided on the first moving body so as to be interposed between the first moving body and the stone surface plate, and is interposed between the second moving body and the beam; At least one hydrostatic bearing pad is provided on the second moving body, and a plurality of hydrostatic bearing pads are provided on the second moving body so as to be interposed between the second moving body and the stone surface plate. Of the moving object.

  In the stage device according to the second aspect of the present invention, the base has the receiving portion at a central portion thereof, and two guide members extending in one of the X-axis and the Y-axis parallel to each other on both sides thereof. A guide member having an installation portion is provided at each of the two guide member installation portions, the guide member extending parallel to each other, and a movable body movable along the two guide members is provided. And can be moved in one of the X-axis and the Y-axis.

  In the stage device according to the second aspect of the present invention, at least one hydrostatic bearing pad is provided on the moving body so as to be interposed between the moving body and the guide member.

  In the stage apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, a substrate to be processed is placed on the surface plate, and the moving body is provided with an inspection device or a processing machine for inspecting or processing the substrate to be processed. Is mounted.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, by improving the structure of the base and the stone surface plate in the stage device, it is possible to provide a large-sized stage device that can be manufactured, for example, for substrate processing while satisfying required performance. . This is because, when an object to be processed such as a liquid crystal substrate is enlarged, the stone slab and the base are correspondingly enlarged, but the stone slab according to the present invention is larger than the conventional single-piece stone slab. This is because the increase in the size of the object can be small.

  A first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a surface type positioning stage device will be described with reference to FIG. 1, the same parts as those in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals. This embodiment is characterized in the following points.

  (1) A combination of a base 100 and a stone surface plate 20 is used instead of the integrated stone surface plate 10 and the gantry 1 described in FIG. The base 100 is a casting made of cast iron or a steel structure made of a square pipe, a shaped steel, or the like, and has a structure in which a region corresponding to a moving region of the moving body 14 is cut out.

  (2) Then, the stone surface plate 20 is installed in a cutout portion of the base 100, that is, a portion corresponding to the moving area of the moving body 14. The surface of the stone platen 20 has a flatness of several μm and is finished smoothly. Also, the level of the stone surface plate 20 is adjusted and installed with respect to the base 100.

  (3) The linear motor and the guide portion, which are the driving device of the beam 6, are arranged on the base 100 side.

  (4) By adopting such a structure, it becomes possible to manufacture a stage device that can handle a large-sized object to be processed such as a liquid crystal substrate, which has been difficult in the prior art with a structure having an integrated stone surface plate. .

  Hereinafter, the surface type positioning stage device according to the present embodiment will be described in detail. In FIG. 1, a stone surface plate 20 is installed on a stone surface plate receiving portion 100a formed on a base 100 made of a steel structure, and is fixed after leveling. The base 100 has installation sections for installing guide members on both sides of the receiving section 100a. Guide members 2 and 3 are arranged in this installation portion so as to extend in the Y-axis direction in parallel with each other. Moving bodies 4 and 5 are arranged on the guide members 2 and 3, respectively.

  The moving bodies 4 and 5 move by a linear motor drive system. That is, each of the guide members 2 and 3 incorporates a magnet device including a large number of magnets. Each of the moving bodies 4 and 5 has a movable coil that interacts with a magnet device. Thus, the moving bodies 4 and 5 can slide along the guide members 2 and 3 in the Y-axis direction, respectively. For positioning control, a measuring device for measuring the positions of the moving bodies 4 and 5 and a moving body 14 described later, for example, a linear scale and a sensor are installed. Since it is well known, detailed description is omitted.

  As for the guide member 2 and the moving body 4, as shown in FIG. 1B, the moving body 4 has a substantially inverted U-shaped cross section so as to straddle the guide member 2. One or more hydrostatic bearing pads 12 are provided on the inner surface of the moving body 4, and are interposed between the guide member 2 and the moving body 4. It goes without saying that the surface of the guide member 2 serving as the guide surface of the moving body 4 is also subjected to surface finishing. Thereby, the movement of the moving body 4 along the guide member 2 is performed smoothly. Further, as shown in FIG. 1B, one or more hydrostatic bearing pads 13 are provided on the lower surface of the moving body 4, and are interposed between the surface plate 20 and the moving body 4. Thereby, movement on the stone surface plate 20 is performed smoothly.

  The above configuration is exactly the same for the guide member 3 and the moving body 5. That is, the moving body 5 is also provided with the static pressure bearing pads 12 and 13.

  It should be noted that a so-called linear motion guide may be used instead of the above-described static pressure bearing pad, and the same applies to a static pressure bearing pad of the moving body 14 described below.

  The moving bodies 4 and 5 are connected by a beam 6. A moving body 14 is arranged on the beam 6. The moving body 14 is movable in the X-axis direction in FIG. FIG. 1A shows a state in which the upper part of the moving body 14 is cut off for convenience. The moving body 14 also moves by the above-described linear motor driving method. For this purpose, a magnet device is incorporated in the beam 6, and the moving body 14 has a moving coil that interacts with the magnet device.

  The moving body 14 has a substantially inverted U-shaped cross section so as to straddle the beam 6, and has hydrostatic bearing pads 15 a, 15 b, 15 c, and 15 d on its inner surface, and is interposed between the beam 6 and the moving body 14. ing. Static pressure bearing pads 14a, 14b, 14c are also arranged between the stone surface plate 20 and the moving body 14. That is, the hydrostatic bearing pads 14a to 14c are attached to the lower surface of the moving body 14. Needless to say, the side surface of the beam 6 serving as the guide surface of the moving body 14 is also subjected to surface finishing. Thus, the moving body 14 can move smoothly along the beam 6 and can move smoothly on the stone surface plate 20. That is, the moving body 14 is movable in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction.

  Note that a hydrostatic bearing pad 16 is also provided on the lower surface of the beam 6, and is interposed between the beam 6 and the stone surface plate 20. Thereby, the beam 6 can be smoothly moved on the stone surface plate 20.

  In the surface type positioning stage device as described above, a table for mounting the object to be processed on the moving body 14 is provided, or the moving body 14 itself is used as a table. When the object to be processed is in the form of a substrate, the table is provided with a suction mechanism using a decompression mechanism. Such a stage device is suitable for, for example, a liquid crystal exposure device, but is not limited to this, and can be applied to all stage devices that require a large size. Further, the above embodiment is a stage device in which the moving body 14 can move in both the X axis and the Y axis, but is also applied to a stage device in which the moving body 14 can move in only one of the X axis and the Y axis. obtain. In this case, a portion corresponding to the moving body 14 is fixed to the beam 6. Of course, the beam 6 itself may be used as a moving body without a portion corresponding to the moving body 14. In this case, a portion including the moving bodies 4 and 5 and the beam 6 may be referred to as a moving body.

  A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The stage device according to the second embodiment is used as an inspection stage device by mounting an imaging device for inspecting a substrate to be processed placed on a surface plate.

  2, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. The difference between the present embodiment and the first embodiment is that, in addition to the substrate to be processed being placed on the surface plate 20, the imaging device 30 is mounted on the beam 6-1. In this case, in order to hold the substrate to be processed, it is preferable that one or more suction mechanisms by a decompression mechanism are embedded in the surface plate 20. Further, the imaging device 30 is movable along the side surface of the beam 6-1 in the X-axis direction in the drawing, and is also movable in the Z-axis direction perpendicular to the X-axis and the Y-axis. One of the reasons for making the imaging device 30 movable in the Z-axis direction is to make the imaging range variable. The structure between the guide member 2 and the moving body 4 and the structure between the guide member 3 and the moving body 5 may be exactly the same as in the first embodiment.

  A drive mechanism for enabling such movement in the X-axis and Z-axis directions is not shown, but an example thereof will be briefly described. A guide member extending in the X-axis direction is provided on a side surface of the beam 6-1 so that the movable portion can be moved along the guide member by an X-axis drive source. Then, the imaging device 30 is mounted on the movable portion via a Z-axis drive source so as to be movable in the Z-axis direction. For example, a linear motor can be used as the X-axis drive source, and a voice coil motor can be used as the Z-axis drive source, for example. Since such a driving source itself is well known, a detailed description is omitted. Of course, the drive source is not limited to a linear motor or a voice coil motor.

  Note that no hydrostatic bearing pads are provided on the lower surface side of the beam 6-1, and the substrate to be processed is sized so as not to enter the moving area of the hydrostatic bearing pads on the lower surface side of the moving bodies 4 and 5. Needless to say. Needless to say, the length of the moving bodies 4 and 5 in the Y-axis direction is preferably as short as possible from the viewpoint of expanding the inspection area in the Y-axis direction.

  Such a stage apparatus is an apparatus that takes an image of the processed state of the substrate to be processed placed on the surface plate 20 with the imaging device 30 and inspects the surface state of the substrate to be processed based on the obtained image. It is possible to cope with an increase in the size of the substrate to be processed which is suitable and is placed on the surface plate 20.

  By the way, in order to apply and form a thin film of a specific material on a glass substrate in a process of manufacturing a liquid crystal substrate, a so-called table coater has been used instead of a spin coater. The present invention is also applicable to a stage device for a table coater. In this case, in the table coater, a nozzle unit is mounted on the beam 6-1 in a stage device as shown in FIG. That is, the moving body 14 shown in FIG. 1 is not provided, and the glass substrate is placed on the surface plate 20. Then, for holding the glass substrate, one or more suction mechanisms by a pressure reducing mechanism are embedded in the surface plate 20.

  Such a table coater is also called a gantry type coater. Such a stage apparatus for a table coater can cope with an increase in the size of a substrate to be processed such as a glass substrate placed on the surface plate 20.

1A and 1B are diagrams showing a first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a surface type positioning stage device, wherein FIG. 1A is a plan view and FIG. 1B is a side view. FIG. 2A is a diagram showing a second embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an inspection stage device, where FIG. 2A is a plan view and FIG. 2B is a side view. FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating an example of a conventional surface-type positioning stage device. FIG. 3A is a plan view, and FIG. 3B is a side view.

Explanation of reference numerals

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Stand 2, 3 Guide part 4, 5, 14 Moving body 6, 6-1 Beam 10, 20 Stone surface plate 12, 13, 14a-14c, 15a-15d, 16 Hydrostatic bearing pad 100 Base

Claims (6)

In a stage device in which a movable portion is movable on at least one of the X axis and the Y axis on a stone surface plate,
A stage device, wherein the size of the stone surface plate is set to a size corresponding to a movement area of the movable portion, and the stone surface plate is fixed to a base made of cast iron or steel having a receiving portion.   2. The stage device according to claim 1, wherein the base has the receiving portion in a central portion thereof, and has two guide member installation portions extending in one of X-axis and Y-axis directions on both sides thereof in parallel with each other. 3. A guide member extending in parallel with each other is installed on each of the two guide member installation portions, and a first moving body is provided on each of the two guide members so as to be movable along the guide member. The two first moving bodies are connected by a beam extending in the other direction of the X-axis and the Y-axis, and the beam is provided with a second moving body movably along the beam. A stage device, wherein a second movable body is movable as the movable portion on the stone platen in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction.   3. The stage device according to claim 2, wherein at least one hydrostatic bearing pad is provided on the first movable body so as to be interposed between the first movable body and the guide member, and the first movable body is provided on the first movable body. 4. A static pressure bearing pad is provided on the first movable body so as to be interposed between the movable body and the stone surface plate, and at least one of the static pressure bearing pads is provided so as to be interposed between the second movable body and the beam. Two static pressure bearing pads are provided on the second moving body, and a plurality of static pressure bearing pads are provided on the second moving body so as to be interposed between the second moving body and the stone surface plate. A stage device, which is provided.   2. The stage device according to claim 1, wherein the base has the receiving portion in a central portion thereof, and has two guide member installation portions extending in one of X-axis and Y-axis directions on both sides thereof in parallel with each other. 3. A guide member extending in parallel with each other is provided on each of the two guide member installation portions, and a movable body movable along these two guide members is provided. The movable body is the X as the movable portion. A stage device, which is movable in one of an axis and a Y axis.   5. The stage device according to claim 4, wherein at least one hydrostatic bearing pad is provided on the movable body so as to be interposed between the movable body and the guide member. 6. The stage device according to claim 4, wherein the substrate to be processed is placed on the surface plate, and the moving body is provided with an inspection device or a processing machine for inspecting or processing the substrate to be processed. A stage device characterized by being performed.

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