JPS60238134A - Vacuum treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten an evacuation time while enhancing a cleaning property, by providing a feed container provided with a feed apparatus, which has an opening part having the same shape as an opening part and moves an object to be treated, to at least two side surfaces among for side surfaces of a rectangular parallelepiped. CONSTITUTION:A feed container 5 has the same shape as a treatment container 1 and has a feed apparatus 6 arranged therein. The feed apparatus 6 is formed by providing feed arm 8 made freely extensible by an air cylinder 7 and fixing the air cylinder 7 to the upper end part of a rotary shaft 9 and an object to be treated is fed to all directions by the rotary operation of the rotary shaft 9 and the extending and contracting operation of the arm 8 by the air cylinder 7. The mount flange 3 of the treatment container 1 and that of the feed container 5 are connected by bolts and nuts through a gasket 13 and the opening parts 2, 2 of both containers 1, 5 are communicated to connect both containers 1, 5 so as to form a predetermined vacuum treatment process.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus, and more particularly to a vacuum processing apparatus that automatically transfers a workpiece to perform vacuum processing.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Conventional vacuum processing equipment integrates a vacuum processing chamber and a transfer device that moves the workpieces into the vacuum processing chamber, and includes an inlet cassette that stores the workpieces before processing, and a cassette on the entrance side that stores the workpieces before processing, and a The outlet side cassette that stores the objects to be processed is loaded into the vacuum processing apparatus, and the objects to be processed in the inlet side cassette are transported to the vacuum processing chamber by the transfer device, where they are processed, processed, film-formed, or heated. Vacuum processing such as the following is performed. Then, when the vacuum processing is completed, the object to be processed is sent to the exit side cassette by the transport device, and all of these steps are performed automatically. Such a vacuum processing apparatus is usually provided with a plurality of vacuum processing chambers, and seven apparatuses are used to perform a plurality of processing steps.

However, with the above-mentioned equipment, if a part of the vacuum processing process is changed, it is necessary to change the design of the entire equipment, which has the disadvantage of reducing economic efficiency and production efficiency. are doing.

Furthermore, since the vacuum processing chamber and the transfer device are integrally formed, the entire apparatus becomes large in size, and has disadvantages such as a long evacuation time and poor cleaning performance.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum processing apparatus that can easily accommodate changes in the design of the vacuum processing process.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the vacuum processing apparatus of the present invention has a processing container which has openings on at least two sides of a rectangular parallelepiped that can be opened and closed at will, and in which a workpiece is housed and vacuum processing is performed. At the same time, a transport container having openings in the same shape as the above-mentioned openings on at least two of the west sides of the rectangular parallelepiped and a transport device for moving the processed material inside is provided, and the transport container is connected to the processing container and the transport container. The container is constructed so that the openings of the containers communicate with each other to form a predetermined vacuum treatment process, and can be connected as appropriate.The process can be easily performed by changing the connection order. It is possible to change it.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

Figure 1 shows one embodiment of the present invention, so the processing container l
is a rectangular parallelepiped with a side of approx.
Ko, Ko, Ko are provided. Each of these openings C, C,
The periphery of 9.2 has an outwardly extending mounting flange J,!
, 3.3 are respectively provided, and each of the above-mentioned opening parts KO, 2. Valve mechanisms ≠, ≠, e, and II are attached to the inside of ① and ①, and the valve mechanisms ①, ≠, ≠, and ① are used to open and close the opening portion ②. Further, a processing device (not shown) for performing vacuum processing such as etching is provided inside the processing container L.
A vacuum pump and devices for introducing atmospheric gas (not shown) are connected to the .

Further, in this embodiment, the transport container j has the same shape as the processing container l, and a transport device 6 is disposed inside thereof. As shown in FIG. 2(a), this conveying device 6 has a conveying arm that is extendable and retractable by an air cylinder 7, and is formed by fixing the air cylinder 7 to the upper end of a rotating shaft. The object to be processed can be transported in all directions by the rotational movement of the rotary shaft 2 and the expansion and contraction movement of the air cylinder 7. For example, as shown in FIG. 2 (1), the table conveying device 6 has two arms 1 around the rotation axis.
0 and 10 are rotatably connected to each other, and a gripping claw 12 for gripping the object to be processed is attached to the tip of this arm mechanism //, the transfer device 6 and It is possible to operate similarly.

In this embodiment, the mounting flange 3 of the processing container / and the mounting flange 3 of the transport container j are connected by bolts, nuts (not shown), etc. via the gasket 13, and each container i, s is The openings 3.3 are made to communicate and connect the plurality of containers/,j to form a predetermined vacuum treatment process. And other containers/,! The openings to which these are not connected are hermetically closed (by a cover member (not shown), etc.).

For example, when the containers i and s are connected as shown in FIG.
It moves in the order of B-+C-+D-+E-+F→G and is accommodated in the exit side cassette IS. Here, the 0 mark is the processing container,
The 10-mark indicates a conveyance device. In addition, in Fig. 3 (1)), M→B or O−+ D −+ 1[f −
The workpiece moves in the order of +F, as shown in Figure 3 (
In C), A −+ B or 0−) D−+I
! ! It moves in the order of -+F-+G→H. That is, each container/,! By appropriately selecting the connection order of the containers, various vacuum processing steps can be performed, and even when changing the vacuum processing step, each container l, ! The process can be easily changed by simply changing the connection order.

In addition, since the internal volumes of the processing container l and the transport container j are small, the evacuation time is shortened, and moreover, as shown in FIG.
If the same process is carried out in the process vessels B and 0 / and / shown in c), the same process can be carried out in parallel, resulting in a marked improvement in production efficiency.

Furthermore, the processing container 1 accommodates and processes the objects one by one, and since the internal volume is small, cleaning efficiency is improved.

In the above embodiment, the transport container j has the opening 2 on the west side, but the opening is provided only on the opposing λ side, and the width of the side adjacent to the side with this opening is shortened. When the transport container thus formed is used, the containers l and j are connected as shown in Fig. A-).
B-+O-) D-+ I! i→F −+ G−+
It is also possible to move the workpiece in the order of H→machining.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the vacuum processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a processing container that accommodates a workpiece therein and performs vacuum processing, and a transport container to which a transport device for moving the workpiece is attached. Since the openings provided on the sides of each of the above containers are connected as a unit to form a predetermined vacuum processing process, the containers can be connected as appropriate, so even if the vacuum processing process is changed, each of the above containers can be connected as needed. The process can be easily changed by simply reconnecting the containers. In addition, since each container is formed small, it is possible to shorten the evacuation time and improve cleaning efficiency.Furthermore, since each container is made into a unit, various parts can be used in common, making maintenance etc. extremely easy. This has the effect of making it easier to

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention,
Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view, Figures 2 (a) and (b) are perspective views of the conveyance device, and Figures 3 (a), (b), (
C) is a schematic diagram showing a connected state, and Figure G is a schematic diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. l...Processing container, K...Opening, 3...Mounting flange, μ...Valve,! ...transport container, 6...transport device, 7...air cylinder, l...transport arm,
? ...Rotating axis, IO...Arm, //...Arm mechanism, /2...Gripping claw, /J...Gas cap,), t
a...Inlet side skein, ), /&...Exit side skein, G. Applicant's representative Ino Mata Passion 1 Figure 2 Heat 3 (a) Name 4 Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] A processing container is provided on at least two sides of the rectangular parallelepiped, each having an opening that can be opened and closed by a valve, and in which the object to be processed is housed for vacuum processing. A transport container having an opening having the same shape as the opening and into which a transport device for moving the object to be processed is attached is provided, and the processing container and the transport container are each connected as a unit, and the openings of the containers communicate with each other. A vacuum processing apparatus characterized in that the vacuum processing apparatus is capable of being freely connected to form a predetermined vacuum processing process.