JPH09205127A - Carrying of substrate, substrate carrier device and treatment system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve throughput by realizing reduction in time in a carrier system in substrate treatment. SOLUTION: When a treated substrate P1 is to be housed in a cassette 42 and an untreated substrate P6 is to be taken out, a lower fork 26 of a carrier arm 21 supporting the substrate P6 is relatively lowered (in a direction of arrow G) with respect to the cassette 42, and at the same time, an upper fork 25 is relatively raised (in a direction of arrow F) with respect to the cassette 42 from below the substrate P6. The treated substrate P1 and the untreated substrate P6 may be simultaneously exchanged by the carrier arm 21, and the time in a carrier system may be reduced accordingly.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an LCD (Liquid C
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate transfer method for transferring a substrate such as a crystal display substrate, a substrate transfer apparatus suitable for carrying out the substrate transfer method, and a processing system including the substrate transfer apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in the process of manufacturing an LCD substrate, a so-called process chamber (vacuum processing container) for performing a predetermined process such as etching or ashing on the LCD substrate under a reduced pressure atmosphere is conventionally provided. A multi-chamber type vacuum processing apparatus is used. Such a multi-chamber type vacuum processing apparatus includes a transfer chamber (transfer container) adjacent to each of the process chambers via a gate valve and a load lock chamber (vacuum preliminary container) adjacent to the transfer chamber via a gate valve. ) And a first transfer device such as a transfer arm that takes out the LCD substrates one by one from the cassette in the air atmosphere in which a large number of LCD substrates are housed and transfers them to the load lock chamber. A second transfer device that is provided in the transfer chamber in a reduced pressure atmosphere and transfers the LCD substrate between the load lock chamber and each process chamber is provided.

By the way, in such a vacuum processing apparatus for LCD substrates, it is required to process as many substrates as possible within a fixed time, that is, to increase the throughput as much as possible, and it is a multi-chamber type. The reason for this is that multiple substrates are processed at the same time to improve throughput.

The transport system is also required to have an improved throughput. Therefore, for example, in the conventional second transport device, the substrate support portion for directly supporting the LCD substrate has a two-tier structure. , Untreated substrate on the top
The processed substrate was placed on the lower stage to support it. Then, when the processed substrate is transferred into the cassette and the next unprocessed substrate is taken out from the cassette, the lower substrate support section first advances into the predetermined slot in the cassette, and the entire transfer arm descends by a predetermined amount. Then, the processed substrate is placed on the placement portion in the slot, and then the lower substrate support portion is temporarily retracted out of the cassette. Next, the entire transfer arm rises, this time the upper substrate support section advances into a predetermined slot, and then the entire transfer arm further rises to remove the unprocessed substrate placed on the mounting section of the slot. The upper substrate support portion is supported, and then the upper substrate support portion is retracted from the cassette.

[0005]

However, there is a limit to the time reduction even in the procedure of storing the processed substrate in the cassette and taking out the unprocessed substrate from the cassette as described above.
Therefore, further improvement in throughput has been demanded.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is a transport system, in particular, a storage body such as a cassette or a load lock chamber, a storage of a processed substrate in a storage container, and a storage body or a storage container. In a transfer system for taking out a processed substrate, a substrate transfer method capable of significantly shortening time as compared with a conventional method, a substrate transfer apparatus suitable for carrying out the method, and a processing system including the substrate transfer apparatus are provided. The purpose is to provide a solution to the above problems.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a plurality of substrates are placed on a placing portion and are vertically aligned in an accommodating body (for example, a cassette). A method of transporting a substrate, comprising a process of storing a processed substrate in a container and taking out an unprocessed substrate contained in the container, wherein the substrate can be moved in and out between the substrates in the aligned state. Using the first substrate support portion and the second substrate support portion, the first and second substrate support portions are advanced into the housing body while the processed substrate is supported by the second substrate support portion,
The first substrate support portion is raised relative to the storage body and at the same time the second substrate support portion is moved down relative to the storage body, so that the second substrate support portion is not mounted on the mounting portion inside the storage body. The processed substrate is supported by the first substrate supporting unit, and the processed substrate is mounted on another mounting unit inside the housing, and then the first and second substrates are mounted.
There is provided a substrate transfer method, characterized in that the substrate support part of (1) is retracted from the storage body.

In the above-mentioned means, the operation of raising the first substrate supporting portion relative to the housing such as the cassette described above and the lowering of the second substrate supporting portion relative to the housing. The operations to be performed do not necessarily have to be started at the same time, and if the substrate support portions are raised and lowered in parallel, the intended throughput can be improved.

That is, as described above, the conventional method of storing the processed substrate in the storage body and taking out the unprocessed substrate from the storage body are performed by entering the substrate support portion supporting the processed substrate into the storage body. The steps of mounting, lowering (moving), retreating, raising the entire transfer arm, entering the substrate support portion supporting the unprocessed substrate into the housing, supporting (raising), and retreating have been performed. According to the method, the entry and the withdrawal can be performed only once, and since the processed substrate can be placed and the unprocessed substrate can be supported at the same time, even if the calculation is simply performed, the processed substrate can be stored in the container. The unprocessed substrate can be taken out from the container in about half the time of the conventional case.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the unprocessed substrate is stored in a storage container (eg, a load lock chamber) having mounting portions for mounting the substrate at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction, and is stored in the storage container. A method of transporting a substrate having a process of taking out a processed substrate from a storage container, the first substrate supporting part and the second substrate supporting part being capable of entering and retracting into the storage container. While the unprocessed substrate is supported by the support part, the first and second substrate support parts are advanced into the storage body, and the first substrate support part is lowered relative to the storage container, and at the same time, the second substrate. The support part is raised relative to the storage container, the unprocessed substrate supported by the first substrate support part is placed on the upper placement part, and is placed on the lower placement part. The processed substrate being supported by the second substrate support, and then , Characterized in that retracting the second substrate supporting portion from the container, the substrate transfer method is provided.

The substrate transfer method according to the second aspect of the present invention mainly relates to a transfer method of transferring an unprocessed substrate to a storage container such as a load lock chamber and taking out the processed substrate from the load lock chamber. The operation of lowering the first substrate support part relative to the storage container and the operation of raising the second substrate support part relative to the storage container do not necessarily have to be started at the same time. If the substrate support is lowered and raised in parallel, the intended throughput can be improved.

That is, as described above, the conventional method of storing the unprocessed substrate in the storage container and taking out the processed substrate from the storage container are performed by entering the substrate supporting portion supporting the unprocessed substrate into the storage container. , Placing (lowering operation), retreating, lowering the entire transfer arm, entering the substrate support part supporting the processed substrate into the storage container, supporting (raising operation), retreating. According to the invention, the entry and the withdrawal only have to be performed once, respectively, and since the unprocessed substrate can be placed and the processed substrate can be supported at the same time, in this case also, the unprocessed substrate is stored in the storage container and the processed substrate is processed. The substrate can be taken out from the storage container in about half the time required in the conventional case.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for transporting a substrate between, for example, a storage body for storing a plurality of substrates vertically aligned on an LCD substrate and another device (for example, a load lock chamber). And a transport member having a first substrate supporting portion for supporting the substrate and a second substrate supporting portion,
The upper and lower thicknesses of the second and second substrate supporting portions are smaller than the alignment intervals of the substrates, and at least one of the first and second substrate supporting portions is vertically movable.
There is provided a substrate transfer device, wherein the second substrate support part has a form in which they can overlap each other when viewed in the horizontal direction, that is, a form in which they can overlap each other when viewed in the horizontal direction.

In this case, as described in claim 4, in the first and second substrate supporting portions, all of one of the substrate supporting portions and a part of the other substrate supporting portions are viewed from the horizontal direction. It may be a form that can be polymerized, that is, the vertical thicknesses of the first and second substrate supporting portions may be different.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the first and second substrate supporting portions partially overlap each other when viewed in the horizontal direction, and the first and second substrate supporting portions when viewed in the horizontal direction at that time. The total thickness may be set to be smaller than the alignment interval of the substrates in the housing.

Further, as described in claim 6, the first,
The conveying member itself having the second substrate supporting portion may be configured to be vertically movable.

According to the substrate transfer device of the third to sixth aspects described above, the first substrate support part is raised relative to the container and at the same time the second substrate support part is contained in the container. Since it can be relatively lowered with respect to the substrate, the substrate transfer method according to claim 1 can be suitably implemented.

Moreover, the upper and lower thicknesses of the first and second substrate supporting portions are smaller than the arrangement interval of the substrates in the housing,
In addition, the total thickness when overlapping in the horizontal direction is smaller than the alignment interval. Therefore, for example, when only the operation of taking out unprocessed substrates from a certain container in the initial state of transport and only in the operation of storing the processed substrate in the certain container at the end of transport, the first and
It is possible to make the second substrate support portions at least partially overlapped with each other when viewed in the horizontal direction, that is, to be integrated so to speak and to engage only in taking out and storing (mounting).

The processing system described in claim 7 is
A system comprising the substrate transfer device according to any one of claims 3 to 6 and a processing device for processing a substrate, further comprising a container for vertically arranging a plurality of substrates such as a cassette. The present invention is characterized in that it has a container support member that supports it, and that it is provided with an elevating mechanism for moving the container up and down.

Therefore, the substrate transfer method according to the first aspect can be implemented without moving the transfer member up and down.

[0021]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an overview of a multi-chamber type vacuum processing apparatus 1 as a processing system according to the present embodiment, and FIG. Shows an explanatory view from the plane showing the inside thereof. The vacuum processing apparatus 1 is an apparatus for performing an etching process and an ashing process on an LCD substrate made of glass, and a transfer chamber 2 and a load lock chamber 3 are adjacent to each other via a gate valve 4 in the center thereof.

The transfer chamber 2 has a substantially square plane, and the remaining three side surfaces that do not face the load lock chamber 3 are provided with three corresponding process chambers 8 via gate valves 5, 6 and 7, respectively. 9 and 10 are adjacent. Each of these process chambers 8, 9, 10
Can be maintained in a predetermined reduced pressure atmosphere. In the present embodiment, two of them, for example, the process chambers 8 and 9 perform the same etching treatment, and the other one process. An ashing process is performed by the chamber 10. Of course, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is also possible to combine appropriate processes, and in any case, it is possible to carry out arbitrary processes such as serial processes and parallel processes in a plurality of chambers.

A gate valve 11 which is openable and closable on the atmosphere side is provided at the upper part of one side surface of the load lock chamber 3, and a support 12 is provided on the atmosphere side facing the side surface.
Is installed. A transfer arm 21 as a substrate transfer device is supported on the support base 12 via a base 13.

The transfer arm 21 is, as shown in FIG.
An up-and-down shaft 22 that can move up and down on the base 13, a first arm 23 and a second arm that are rotatable with respect to the up-and-down shaft 22 around its one end (reciprocating rotation arrow A) as a transport member. 24, and an upper fork 25 and a lower fork 26 that form a substrate supporting portion for directly supporting the substrate.

The second arm 24 is rotatable around the one end thereof near the other end of the first arm 23 (reciprocating rotation arrow B), and the upper fork 25 and the lower fork 2 are rotatable.
6 is configured to be rotatable around a shaft 27 that is erected in the vicinity of the other end of the second arm about its bases 25a and 26a (reciprocating rotation arrow C).

The lower fork 26 has two supporting members 26 that project from the base portion 26a in parallel and horizontally at a predetermined interval.
b, 26c, and a contact member 26d made of a material such as an elastic body made of synthetic rubber or a synthetic resin having a high friction coefficient, which is in direct contact with the supporting substrate, is provided on the upper surface of each of the support members 26b, 26c. A large number of substrates are provided to prevent the substrates from shifting or dropping while supporting the substrates.

The upper fork 25 has two supporting members 25b and 25c which project from the base 25a in parallel and horizontally at a predetermined interval larger than that of the lower fork 26, and each supporting member 25b, 25c. An appropriate number of contact members 25d that come into direct contact with the supporting substrate are provided on the upper surface of the. The upper and lower forks 25 and 26 have the same vertical thickness as the cassette 4 of the substrate P described later.
It is smaller than the interval of storage in 2.

The upper fork 25 is movable up and down along the casing 27, and when it is moved (falls) to the bottom, as shown in FIG. It is supposed to overlap. That is, the support members 25b and 25c of the upper fork 25 are
Just outside the support members 26b, 26c of
It reaches the same level (height) as the lower fork 26. A drive mechanism for vertically moving the upper fork 25 is built in the casing 27. Examples of the drive mechanism include a ball screw / slide member driven by a motor. The atmosphere in the casing 27 is constantly exhausted to the outside of the apparatus by an appropriate suction mechanism so that particles from a driving member such as a ball screw do not float around and contaminate the substrate. The casing 27 may have any shape, for example, a flat surface integrated with the ball screw may cover the rectangular guide, such as a rectangular parallelepiped. Further, in order to make the vertical movement of the upper fork 25 smoother and more stable, an appropriate sub guide is further provided between the lower fork 26 and the rear of the casing 27 (in the direction opposite to the support members 25b and 25c). You may make it stand upright.

A cassette indexer 41 as a container support member is provided on the side of the support base 12, and a predetermined number of substrates (eg, LCD glass substrates) P (eg, 25 sheets) P are provided on the cassette indexer 41. A cassette 42 for accommodating is placed via an elevating mechanism 43. Therefore, the cassette 42 can be moved up and down by the elevating mechanism 43, and can of course be stopped at any position.

In the vacuum processing apparatus 1 according to this embodiment, the cassette indexer 41 is installed only on one side of the support base 12 having the transfer arm 21 as described above. As shown, it is also possible to install another cassette indexer 44 at a position facing the cassette indexer 41 with the support base 12 interposed therebetween. That is, it is possible to cope with the appropriate exchange and transfer of the unprocessed substrate and the processed substrate according to the processing contents, the processing time, and the like of the process chambers 8, 9, and 10 to realize high throughput. .

The load lock chamber 3 can be maintained in a predetermined decompressed atmosphere, in which a pair of stands 5 for supporting the substrate P are provided, as shown in FIG.
A buffer rack 50 including 1 and 51 is arranged. The buffer rack 50 is configured to hold two substrates P at a time, which allows vacuuming,
The efficiency of purging is improved.

Each of these stands 51, 51 is provided with two buffers 52, 53 on the upper and lower sides thereof, and these buffers are set within the distance between the upper fork 25 and the lower fork 26 which are vertically movable in the transfer arm 21. Spaced to form two horizontal substrate support levels. In the present embodiment, it is set to be larger than the support interval of the substrate P in the cassette 42. Further, projections 54 made of synthetic rubber having a high friction coefficient are provided on the upper surfaces of the respective buffers 52, 53, which prevents the substrates from slipping and dropping.

The stands 51, 51 can be integrally raised and lowered, and when the buffer rack 50 is raised and lowered, a transfer arm 60 provided in the transfer chamber 2 is provided.
One of the two substrates can be selectively taken out without moving up and down.

In the load lock chamber 3, there are arranged a pair of positioners 55, 55 for aligning two substrates at a time, and an optical sensor (not shown) for confirming completion of alignment of the substrates. ing. The pair of positioners 55, 55 are arranged so as to face each other on an extension line of a diagonal line of the substrate. Each of the positioners 55, 55 includes a base 56 that can be activated in the direction of the reciprocating arrow A in the figure, and a pair of rollers 57, 57 that are rotatably supported on the base 56.

The positioner 55 aligns the two substrates supported by the buffer rack 50 in such a manner as to sandwich the two substrates diagonally. Therefore, the roller 57
Since the substrate P is aligned by pressing the side surface of the substrate P at four points, it is particularly suitable for aligning a substantially rectangular substrate. The roller 57 is detachably mounted on the base 56 and can be appropriately replaced according to the size of the LCD substrate to be processed.

The transfer chamber 2 adjacent to the load lock chamber 3 is also set to a predetermined reduced pressure atmosphere,
It can be maintained and held, and a vacuum type transfer arm 60 is provided therein as shown in FIG.
The transfer arm 60 includes a substrate support portion (not shown) on which substrates can be placed vertically and a buffer 61 that temporarily holds a plurality of substrates. Then, for example, the substrate after the etching process is taken out from the process chamber and temporarily held in the buffer 61, the unprocessed substrate is immediately carried into the process chamber where the etching process is performed, and then the substrate held in the buffer 61 is subjected to the ashing process. It is possible to carry out efficient serial processing by carrying it in.

The vacuum processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is configured as described above. Next, the operation thereof will be described. First, a plurality of unprocessed substrates, for example, substrates P1 to P25, are placed in the cassette indexer 41. Cassette 42 stored
1 is placed, the transfer arm 21 faces the take-out opening portion of the cassette 42 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and the substrate P1 accommodated in the lowermost part is taken out. At this time,
As shown in FIG. 4, the upper fork 25 is replaced by the lower fork 26.
It descends to the same level as, and the two are integrated as it were.

In this state, the first arm 23 and the second arm 2
4 and the upper fork 25 and the lower fork 26 are rotated, so that the upper fork 25 and the lower fork 2 are at the same level.
6 enters below the bottom substrate P1, as shown in FIG. At this time, the level adjustment between the substrate P1 and the upper fork 25 and the lower fork 26 is performed by the lifting mechanism 4 of the cassette 42.
It is done on the 3rd side. Normally, the process is performed from the lowermost substrate P1, so that the elevating mechanism 43 raises the cassette 42 to a predetermined height once and then sequentially lowers it. Of course, the lifting shaft 2 of the transfer arm 21
Such level adjustment may be performed on the second side.

Then, after the upper fork 25 and the lower fork 26 at the same level have advanced to a predetermined position under the substrate P1, the lift shaft 22 raises the entire transfer arm 21 by a predetermined height, and the inside of the cassette 42 is lifted. The upper fork 25 and the lower fork 26 support the substrate P1 whose peripheral portion is placed on the placing portion. In this case, the cassette 42
The side may descend by a predetermined amount. After that, the upper fork 25 and the lower fork 26 are retracted from the cassette 42.

Next, the transfer arm 21 supporting the substrate P1
The upper fork 25 and the lower fork 26 enter into the load lock chamber 3 and the entire transfer arm 21 is lowered by a predetermined amount, so that the substrate P is placed in the buffer 52 above the stand 51.
Place 1 After that, the upper fork 25 and the lower fork 26
Is evacuated from the load lock chamber 3 and the inside of the load lock chamber 3 is evacuated to a predetermined decompression degree. Then, the transfer arm 60 of the vacuum system takes out the substrate P1 and transfers it to a predetermined process chamber, for example, a process chamber. 8
To the substrate P1 where it is subjected to, for example, an etching process.

In this embodiment, two substrates can be placed in the load lock chamber 3, and the vacuum transfer arm 60 can also transfer two substrates at the same time. Therefore, instead of taking the substrate P1 in a state in which the upper fork 25 and the lower fork 26 are at the same level, at a position where the upper fork 25 is higher than the lower fork 26 by a predetermined amount (for example, the storage interval of the substrate P in the cassette 42). In the stopped state, the cassette is advanced into the cassette 42, and the lower fork 26 simultaneously supports the substrate P1 and the substrate P2 located thereabove by the upper fork 25 so that the two substrates are simultaneously conveyed to the load lock chamber 3. Good. By doing so, the throughput can be improved even in the initial state.

In any case, the vacuum processing apparatus 1 is a multi-chamber type having a plurality of process chambers 8, 9 and 10. Therefore, initially, unprocessed substrates are successively loaded with the load lock chamber 3 and the transfer chamber 2.
The substrate, which has been transferred to the process chambers 8 and 9 via which the etching process has been completed, is transferred to the process chamber 10 in which the ashing process is performed via the transfer chamber 2 as it is.
The transfer arm 21 is engaged only in taking out and transferring an unprocessed substrate from the cassette 42.

Then, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, at the stage of taking out the fifth substrate P5 and transporting it to the load lock chamber 3, as shown in FIG. Substrate P1 processed in the buffer
When already loaded, the upper fork 25 is lifted and separated from the lower fork 26, for example, during transfer to the load lock chamber 3. Then the unprocessed substrate P
5 is in a state of being supported only by the upper fork 25.

In this state, the upper fork 25 and the lower fork 26 are advanced into the load lock chamber 3, and the upper fork 25 is advanced above the upper buffer 52 and the lower fork 26 is below the lower buffer 53. Let After entering the predetermined position, the upper fork 25 is lowered relative to the upper buffer 52 (arrow D), and the lower fork 26 is moved relative to the lower buffer, as shown in FIG. (Arrow E). As a result, the unprocessed substrate P5 is placed on the upper baff 52, and at the same time, the processed substrate P1 is supported by the lower fork 26. Such an operation is realized by raising the elevating shaft 22 of the transfer arm 21 and lowering the upper fork 25.

By such a so-called parallel transfer, the time required to carry in an unprocessed substrate into the load lock chamber 3 and take out the processed substrate stored in the load lock chamber 3 is significantly shortened. Minute throughput is improved.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 10, a lower fork 26 and an upper fork 25 supporting the processed substrate P1.
Is withdrawn from the load lock chamber 3 and, as shown in FIG. 11, by changing the direction of the entire transfer arm 21, it now faces the cassette 42 as shown in FIG.

Next, the lower fork 26 and the upper fork 25 supporting the processed substrate P1 enter the cassette 42 as shown in FIG. At this time, the lower fork 26 is located above the lowermost mounting portion in the cassette 42,
5 enters the predetermined position below the next unprocessed substrate P6.

Then, this time, the upper fork 25 relatively rises with respect to the cassette 42 (more specifically, with respect to the mounted substrate P6) (arrow F in FIGS. 13 and 14). On the other hand, the lower fork 26 supporting the processed substrate P1 descends relatively to the cassette 42 (more specifically, to the lowermost mounting portion) (in FIGS. 13 and 14). Arrow G). As a result, the unprocessed substrate P6 is
The simultaneously processed substrate P1 supported by the upper fork 25 is placed on the lowermost placement portion of the cassette 42. Such an operation is realized by lowering the elevating shaft 22 of the transfer arm 21 and raising the upper fork 25. Instead of lowering the elevating shaft 22, the elevating mechanism 43 may raise the cassette 42.

By so-called parallel transfer, the time required for loading the processed substrate into the cassette 42 and taking out the unprocessed substrate stored in the cassette 42 is greatly shortened, and the throughput is improved accordingly. To do.

Thereafter, the upper fork 25 and the lower fork 26 supporting the unprocessed substrate P6 are, as shown in FIG.
Evacuate from the cassette 42, and again load lock chamber 3
The transferred substrate P2 is transferred to and is exchanged with the processed substrate P2 by the parallel transfer operation in the load lock chamber 3 described above.

Such an upper fork 25 and a lower fork 2
The parallel transfer of the unprocessed substrate and the processed substrate in the state where 6 is separated is performed while the unprocessed substrate remains in the cassette 42 (intermediate state).

When there is no unprocessed substrate left in the cassette 42 (final state), the upper fork 25 descends to the same level as the lower fork 26 as shown in FIG. Unify. In this state, the processed substrate is received from the load lock chamber 3, and as shown in FIG. 16, the processed substrate is transferred to and stored in the cassette 42.

As described above, in the vacuum processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the processed substrate is taken out from the load lock chamber 3 and the unprocessed substrate is stored in the load lock chamber 3, and the unprocessed substrate is stored. Cassette 4
Since the removal from 2 and the storage of the processed substrate in the cassette 42 are performed in parallel in each case, it is almost 1 in comparison with the case where the conventional removal and storage are continuously performed by separate operations. The time was shortened to / 2,
The throughput is greatly improved accordingly.

The upper fork 25 in the above embodiment
The lower fork 26 and the lower fork 26 are of the same type in the upper and lower thicknesses, and in the integrated state (state of FIG. 4),
Although they are mutually superposed when viewed in the horizontal direction, the present invention is not limited to this, and only a part thereof may be superposed. In any case, the thickness may be smaller than the alignment interval of the substrates P of the cassette 42. By doing so, it is possible to freely design the shapes of the upper fork 25 and the lower fork 26 that form the substrate supporting portion, and to provide sufficient strength even if the substrate becomes large.

Incidentally, the transfer arm 21 in the above embodiment.
Has a so-called multi-joint structure in which the first arm 23 and the second arm 24 are configured to be rotatable relative to each other in the vicinity of one end, but instead of this, as shown in FIG. It is also possible to use the transfer arm 71 which has a linear sliding system in one place and the others in one place.

The transfer arm 71 is mounted on a base 72 and is slidable along the longitudinal direction of the base 72 (reciprocating arrow L in the figure), and a slide base 73 and a slide base 73. A rotation support member 74 that is mounted on the slide base 73 and is rotatable on the slide base 73 (reciprocating rotation arrow M in the figure).
And a lift base 75 that is vertically movable (reciprocal arrow N in the figure) along a stand 74a that is erected on one side of the rotation support member 74. The lower fork 76 is slidable (reciprocal arrow Q in the figure) on the elevating base 75 along the longitudinal direction thereof. The upper fork 77 is vertically movable (reciprocating arrow R in the figure) along a sub stand 76a that is erected on one side of the base of the lower fork 76. Therefore, the upper fork 77 is also the lower fork 7.
Along with the sliding of No. 6, it is slidable as shown by a reciprocal arrow Q in the figure. And when the upper fork 77 descends most,
The substrate support portion 77a of the upper fork 77 partially overlaps the substrate support portion 76b of the lower fork 76 when viewed in the horizontal direction.

Even if the transfer arm 71 having such a structure is used,
Just like the transfer arm 21 used in the above-described embodiment, since the processed substrate can be stored in the cassette 42 and the unprocessed substrate can be taken out from the cassette at the same time, the throughput is improved as compared with the conventional case. Moreover, since there is only one rotary system and the others are linear sliding systems, a higher speed and stable operation than the transfer arm 21 can be realized.

In the vacuum processing apparatus 1, it is possible to carry out continuous processing of etching and ashing.
In this respect also, the throughput is high. in this case,
By changing the program or the like, it is possible to perform various kinds of processing, such as etching, continuous etching processing, and single etching processing, according to the needs of the user, and the apparatus is extremely versatile.

[0059]

According to the substrate transfer method of the first and second aspects,
Conventionally, the transfer and the removal of the substrate to and from the storage body and the storage container are performed in continuous processes, but they can be performed in parallel, and the throughput is improved accordingly.

Further, according to the substrate transfer device of the third to sixth aspects, the substrate transfer method of the first aspect can be suitably implemented, and further, only the transfer to the storage body, and the removal of the substrate from the storage body. Only the movement can be performed without any trouble.
Further, also in the processing system of claim 7, the substrate transfer method of claim 1 can be suitably implemented, and further, it is not necessary to vertically move the transfer member.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overview of a vacuum processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an overview of a transfer arm used in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG.

4 is a perspective view showing a state in which an upper fork and a lower fork are separated in the transfer arm of FIG.

5 is a perspective view showing the inside of the load lock chamber in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG.

6 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the upper fork and the lower fork of the transfer arm are integrated and the unprocessed substrate is taken out from the cassette in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the upper fork and the lower fork of the transfer arm are integrated and the unprocessed substrate is taken out from the cassette in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG.

8 is an explanatory view for explaining an operation of exchanging an unprocessed substrate and a processed substrate in a load lock chamber in a state where an upper fork and a lower fork of a transfer arm are separated in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. Is.

9 is an explanatory view for explaining an operation of exchanging an unprocessed substrate and a processed substrate in a load lock chamber in a state where an upper fork and a lower fork of a transfer arm are separated in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. Is.

10 is an explanatory view for explaining an exchange operation of an unprocessed substrate and a processed substrate in a load lock chamber in a state where an upper fork and a lower fork of a transfer arm are separated in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. Is.

11 is a diagram showing a state in which, in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. 1, an operation of exchanging an unprocessed substrate and a processed substrate is completed in a load lock chamber in a state where an upper fork and a lower fork of a transfer arm are separated. It is a figure.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an exchange operation of a processed substrate and an unprocessed substrate in a cassette in a state where an upper fork and a lower fork of a transfer arm are separated in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. .

13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an exchange operation of a processed substrate and an unprocessed substrate in a cassette in a state where an upper fork and a lower fork of a transfer arm are separated in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. .

14 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an operation of exchanging a processed substrate and an unprocessed substrate in a cassette in a state where an upper fork and a lower fork of a transfer arm are separated in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. .

15 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an exchange operation of a processed substrate and an unprocessed substrate in a cassette in a state where an upper fork and a lower fork of a transfer arm are separated in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG. .

16 is an explanatory view showing a state in which an upper fork and a lower fork of a transfer arm are integrated to store a processed substrate in a cassette in the vacuum processing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing another example of the transfer arm.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 vacuum processing device 2 transfer chamber 3 load lock chamber 4, 5, 6, 7, 11 gate valve 8, 9, 10 process chamber 12 support stand 13 base 21 transfer arm 22 lift shaft 23 first arm 24 second arm 25 upper Fork 26 Lower fork 27 Casing 50 Buffer rack 52, 53 Buffer 41 Cassette indexer 42 Cassette 43 Lifting mechanism 71 Transfer arm 72 Base 73 Slide base 74 Rotation support member 75 Lifting base 76 Lower fork 77 Upper fork P Substrate

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of substrates are placed on a placing portion, and the processed substrates are accommodated in an accommodating body which can be vertically arranged and accommodated.
A method of transporting a substrate, comprising a process of taking out an unprocessed substrate contained in the container from the container, the first substrate supporting part and the second substrate supporting part being able to enter and retract between the substrates in the aligned state. Using the substrate support part, the first and second substrate support parts are inserted into the housing while the processed substrate is supported by the second substrate support part, and the first substrate support part is inserted into the housing body. At the same time as it is relatively raised, the second substrate support portion is lowered relative to the storage body, and the unprocessed substrate placed on the mounting portion inside the storage body is supported by the first substrate support portion. At the same time, the processed substrate is placed on another placing part inside the housing, and then the first and second substrate supporting parts are retracted from the inside of the housing. 2. A process of storing an unprocessed substrate in a storage container having mounting portions for mounting the substrate at predetermined intervals at upper and lower sides, and taking out the processed substrate stored in the storage container from the storage container. A method of transporting a substrate, comprising: using a first substrate support portion and a second substrate support portion that can enter and retract into the storage container and supporting an unprocessed substrate with the first substrate support portion. The first and second substrate support portions are moved into the storage body, and the first substrate support portion is lowered relative to the storage container, while the second substrate support portion is moved relative to the storage container. The substrate is raised to place the unprocessed substrate supported by the first substrate supporting unit on the upper mounting unit, and the processed substrate mounted on the lower mounting unit is supported by the second substrate. The first and second substrate supports from the storage container. A method of transporting a substrate, comprising: 3. A container for accommodating a plurality of substrates arranged vertically and a device for transporting the substrate between another device, the first substrate supporting portion and the second substrate supporting portion supporting the substrate. A transport member having a substrate supporting portion, and the upper and lower thicknesses of the first and second substrate supporting portions are each smaller than the alignment interval of the substrates, and at least one of the first and second substrate supporting portions. Is movable up and down, and the first and second substrate supporting portions have a configuration in which they can overlap each other when viewed in the horizontal direction. 4. An apparatus for transporting a substrate between a container for accommodating a plurality of substrates arranged vertically and another device, and a first substrate supporting part and a second substrate supporting part for supporting the substrate. A transport member having a substrate supporting portion, and the upper and lower thicknesses of the first and second substrate supporting portions are each smaller than the alignment interval of the substrates, and at least one of the first and second substrate supporting portions. Is vertically movable, and in these first and second substrate supporting portions, the whole of either one of the substrate supporting portions and a part of the other substrate supporting portions can overlap each other when viewed in the horizontal direction. A substrate transfer device characterized by being. 5. A device for transporting a substrate between a storage body for vertically storing a plurality of substrates and another device, the first substrate support portion and the second substrate supporting portion supporting the substrate. A transport member having a substrate support portion is provided, and upper and lower thicknesses of the first and second substrate support portions are smaller than an alignment interval of the substrates, and at least one of the first and second substrate support portions is provided. The first and second substrate supporting portions are vertically movable, and a part of the first and second substrate supporting portions can be overlapped when viewed in the horizontal direction, and the first and second substrates are in the overlapped state. The substrate transfer device according to claim 1, wherein a total thickness of the supporting portions is smaller than an alignment interval of the substrates. 6. The substrate transfer device according to claim 3, 4 or 5, wherein the transfer member is vertically movable. 7. A system comprising the substrate transfer device according to claim 3 and a processing device for processing a substrate, further comprising a container for accommodating a plurality of substrates arranged vertically. A processing system comprising: a housing support member that supports the housing, and an elevating mechanism that moves the housing up and down is provided on the housing support member.