CN100521084C - Vacuum processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a vacuum processing apparatus for performing a desired process for a substrate after establishing a vacuum atmosphere therein. More particularly, the vacuum processing apparatus includes a vacuum chamber, which is divided into a chamber body and an upper cover. The upper cover is configured to be easily opened away from and closed to the chamber body.

Description

Vacuum processing equipment

This application is a divisional application of the Chinese invention patent application No. 200610003345.8 filed on February 5, 2006 and entitled "Vacuum Processing Equipment".

technical field

The present invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus which can perform a desired process on a substrate after establishing a vacuum environment therein. More specifically, the present invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus in which a vacuum chamber is divided into a chamber body and an upper cover so that the upper cover can be easily opened from and closed to the chamber body.

Background technique

Vacuum processing equipment is mainly used in semiconductor manufacturing equipment and flat panel display (FPD) manufacturing equipment. Semiconductor or FPD manufacturing equipment is designed to feed a substrate into the equipment and perform a desired process, such as an etching process, on the substrate using plasma or the like. Here, examples of the FPD include LCDs, PDPs, OLEDs, and the like. Referring to FIG. 1 , prior art vacuum processing equipment generally includes three types of vacuum chambers, namely, a load lock chamber R, a feed chamber T, and a process chamber P.

The load lock chamber R is used to receive substrates to be processed in the apparatus from an external station for loading substrates, or to eject substrates fully processed in the apparatus for unloading substrates. The feeding chamber T is provided with a robot for feeding substrates between the chambers so that it can transfer substrates to be processed from the load lock chamber to the process chamber or transfer fully processed substrates from the process chamber to the load lock chamber. The process chamber P is used to perform a desired process, such as a film sputtering process or an etching process, on a substrate using plasma or thermal energy in a vacuum environment. To this end, the process chamber P includes: a support member for supporting a substrate in the chamber; a process gas supply system for supplying process gas thereinto; and an exhaust system for evacuating the chamber and forming a vacuum in the chamber .

Process chambers are used to repeatedly perform a large number of processes using various process gases or plasmas, and as such, equipment within the process chamber is susceptible to damage or contamination, requiring periodic replacement or repair. Referring to FIG. 2 , the process chamber of the prior art represented by reference numeral 1 is divided into a chamber body 10 and an upper cover 20 , so that the upper cover 20 can be opened from the chamber body 10 to facilitate maintenance and repair of the inside of the process chamber 1 . In the conventional solution for opening and closing the upper cover 20, a lifting device has been installed to the top of the clean room in which the process chamber 1 is arranged, so as to use the lifting device to lift the upper cover 20 and remove it from the chamber. Body 10 is opened. In another conventional opening/closing solution, the process chamber can be individually equipped with an opening/closing device for opening and closing the upper cover.

Referring to FIG. 3 , which shows an example of a conventional opening/closing device for the upper cover 20 , the upper cover opening/closing device indicated by reference numeral 50 is provided on the outer surface of the process chamber 1 to open and close the upper cover 20 . The opening/closing device 50 includes: a vertical driving unit for vertically lifting the upper cover 20 ; a horizontal driving unit for horizontally moving the upper cover 20 ; and a rotation unit for rotating the upper cover 20 . In addition, the opening/closing device 50 is provided with a horizontal movement guide 60 for providing a movement path of the horizontal driving unit.

The opening/closing process of the upper cover 20 performed by the opening/closing device 50 having the above configuration will be described below. First, the upper cover 20 is vertically lifted by a predetermined height using a vertical driving unit included in the opening/closing device 50 . Then the lifted upper cover 20 is moved horizontally along the horizontal movement guide 60 . After completing such horizontal movement, the upper cover 20 is rotated by 180° using the rotating unit. In this way, both the chamber body 10 and the upper cover 20 of the process chamber 1 are opened, so that replacement and maintenance of corresponding equipment disposed in the process chamber 1 can be performed.

Recently, the size of substrates to be processed by FPD manufacturing equipment has increased. More specifically, the size of vacuum chambers included in FPD manufacturing equipment is rapidly increasing. For example, considering currently available vacuum chambers, the upper cover of the chamber has a large size of 3 meters by 4 meters and a large weight of 3 to 4 tons or more. Therefore, in order to vertically lift the large-sized heavy upper cover of the vacuum chamber, it is necessary to provide the vertical drive unit with an air cylinder with an extremely high capacity. Consequently, the lack of stability of the bulky upper cover of the chamber increases when it is lifted vertically, and thus adversely affects the aspects of maintenance and repair of the interior of the vacuum chamber.

Contents of the invention

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a large-scale vacuum processing apparatus capable of ensuring simple and convenient opening and closing operations of an upper cover.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be achieved by providing a vacuum processing apparatus comprising: a chamber body having a gate valve for enabling substrate loading and unloading; and an upper cover , which is detachably arranged on the chamber body with a predetermined gap therebetween, the vacuum processing equipment further includes: a horizontal driving device for horizontally moving the upper cover in a direction facing the direction in which the gate valve is installed; Inner wall structure, which is inserted into the side wall of the upper cover and adapted to move vertically so as to close and open the gap between the chamber body and the upper cover; and an inner wall structure lifting device, which is arranged above the upper cover and is adapted to vertically The inner wall structure is moved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be achieved by providing a vacuum processing apparatus comprising: a chamber body having a gate valve for enabling substrate loading and unloading; and an upper cover , which is detachably arranged on the chamber body with a predetermined gap therebetween, the vacuum processing equipment further includes: a horizontal driving device, which is coupled to the outer surface of the upper cover and is adapted to move vertically to the gate valve The upper cover is moved horizontally in the direction of the setting direction; the inner wall structure is inserted into the side wall of the upper cover and is adapted to move vertically so as to close and open the gap between the chamber body and the upper cover; and the inner wall structure lifting device, which disposed above the upper cover and coupled to the inner wall structure to vertically move the inner wall structure.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be achieved by providing a vacuum processing apparatus comprising: a chamber body having a gate valve for enabling substrate loading and unloading; and an upper cover , which is detachably arranged on the chamber body with a predetermined gap therebetween, the vacuum processing equipment further includes: a horizontal driving device, which is coupled to the outer surface of the upper cover and is adapted to move vertically to the gate valve moving the upper cover horizontally in the direction of the setting direction; and sealing means for selectively sealing edge regions of both the chamber body and the upper cover, the sealing means being detachable from both the chamber body and the upper cover.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be achieved by providing a processing apparatus comprising: a chamber body having a gate valve for enabling loading and unloading of substrates; and an upper cover, It is detachably arranged on the chamber body, and the processing equipment further includes: a chamber body lifting device installed on the lower surface of the chamber body and adapted to move the chamber body vertically; and a horizontal driving device installed on the upper surface The outer surface of the cover for horizontally moving the upper cover in a direction facing the direction in which the gate valve is set.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be achieved by providing a processing apparatus comprising: a chamber body having a gate valve for enabling loading and unloading of substrates; Detachably arranged on the chamber body, the processing equipment further includes: a chamber body lifting device installed on the lower surface of the chamber body and adapted to vertically move the chamber body; and a horizontal drive device installed on the upper cover The outer surface is used to move the upper cover horizontally in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the gate valve is set.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be achieved by providing a processing device comprising: a chamber body having a gate valve for enabling loading and unloading of substrates; Detachably arranged on the chamber body, the processing equipment further includes: one or more horizontal drive units, used to support the upper cover so as to move the upper cover horizontally in the direction facing the gate valve installation direction; a pair of upper a cover moving frame, which is vertically movable on opposite sides of the upper cover and adapted to provide a horizontal movement path of the horizontal driving unit; and a plurality of vertical driving units, which are coupled to each upper cover moving The lower surface of the frame is spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, and the vertical driving unit is used to vertically move the upper cover to move the frame and the upper cover.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be achieved by providing a processing apparatus comprising: a chamber body having a gate valve for enabling loading and unloading of substrates; Detachably arranged on the chamber body, the processing equipment further includes: an upper cover lifting device, which is detachably arranged on the upper cover to move the upper cover vertically; and a horizontal driving device, which is arranged on the upper cover the opposite side and is adapted to move the upper cover horizontally after the upper cover is lifted by the upper cover lifting device.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be achieved by providing a processing apparatus comprising: a chamber body having a gate valve for enabling loading and unloading of substrates; Detachably provided on the chamber body, the processing equipment further includes: a conveying hoist clamp system, and the conveying hoist clamp system includes: a polygonal columnar body having an appropriate thickness provided with a connecting ring at the center; and A plurality of connecting rings disposed at respective corners of the lower surface of the main body to move toward the center of the main body in a diagonal direction, the connecting rings simultaneously moving inwardly or outwardly to change positions.

Description of drawings

According to the following detailed description given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, the above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood, in the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view showing the layout of respective chambers of a prior art vacuum processing apparatus;

2 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating the interior of the prior art vacuum processing apparatus;

3 is a perspective view showing a prior art upper cover opening/closing device;

4 is a sectional view showing a vacuum processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a side view showing an inner wall structure and an inner wall structure lifting device according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a perspective view of a vacuum processing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a side view showing a support frame according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

8A to 8C are views showing an opening process of an upper cover included in a vacuum processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

9 is a sectional view showing a vacuum processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

10 is a side view showing an inner wall structure and an inner wall structure lifting device according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

11 is a perspective view showing a moving frame of an upper cover according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

12 is a sectional view showing a horizontal driving device according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

13 is a side view showing a support frame according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

14A to 14C are views showing an opening process of an upper cover included in a vacuum processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

15 is a sectional view showing a vacuum processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

16 is a side view showing a sealing device and a sealing device driving unit according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

17 is a plan view showing the arrangement of a sealing device driving unit and a horizontal driving device according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

18 is a sectional view showing a sealing device according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

19 is a side view showing a support frame according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

20A to 20C are views showing an opening process of an upper cover included in a vacuum processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

21 is a sectional view showing a vacuum processing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

22 is a side view showing a chamber lifting device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

23 is a perspective view of a vacuum processing device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

24 is a side view showing a support frame according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

25A to 25C are views showing an opening process of an upper cover included in a vacuum processing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

26 is a sectional view showing a vacuum processing apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

27 is a side view showing a chamber lifting device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 28 is a perspective view showing a moving frame of an upper cover according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

29 is a sectional view showing a horizontal driving device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

30 is a side view showing a support frame according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

31A to 31C are views showing an opening process of an upper cover included in a vacuum processing apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

32 is a sectional view showing a vacuum processing apparatus according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention;

33 is a perspective view of a vacuum processing device according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention;

34 is a side view showing a support frame according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention;

35A to 35C are views showing an opening process of an upper cover included in a vacuum processing apparatus according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention;

36 is a sectional view showing a vacuum processing apparatus according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention;

37 is a plan view showing an upper cover lifting device according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention;

38 is a sectional view showing a vibration-proof member according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention;

39 is a side view showing a support frame according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention;

40A to 40C are views showing an opening process of an upper cover included in a vacuum processing apparatus according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention;

41 is a plan view showing a conveying elevator clamp system according to an eighth embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 42 is a side cross-sectional view of Figure 41; and

Fig. 43 is a sectional view taken along line A-A shown in Fig. 42 .

Detailed ways

Preferred embodiments of vacuum processing equipment according to the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

first embodiment

The vacuum processing apparatus according to this embodiment includes: a load lock chamber; a feed chamber; and one or more process chambers, but for convenience of description, the following description is only for one process chamber. Referring to FIG. 4 , the vacuum processing equipment 100 according to this embodiment includes: a chamber body 110 ; an upper cover 120 ; a horizontal driving device 140 ; an inner wall structure 150 ; and an inner wall structure lifting device 160 .

In the vacuum processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the chamber body 110 generally has a rectangular box shape, and the upper cover 120 is detachably provided on the chamber body 110 to constitute a vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber is used to process a large-area flat panel display substrate having a rectangular shape therein, and thus generally has a rectangular box shape corresponding to the rectangular substrate. The vacuum chamber is provided with an exhaust system (not shown) inside it to create a vacuum in the chamber. After a vacuum is established in the chamber according to the operation of the exhaust system, a desired process is performed on the substrate placed in the chamber.

The chamber body 110 is formed with a substrate inlet serving as a passage for receiving a substrate from an external station for loading a substrate and discharging a substrate for unloading a substrate. Generally, the substrate is loaded and unloaded while it moves horizontally in a lying state, and thus, the substrate inlet passes through one of the side walls of the chamber body 110 . To open and close the substrate inlet, the chamber body 110 is provided with a gate valve. The substrate inlet remains open during loading and unloading of substrates, but must be closed after the substrates are fully loaded to allow the desired substrate processing to take place in the closed state of the chamber. Therefore, the gate valve moves vertically to open and close the substrate inlet.

The inner wall structure 150 is inserted into the side wall of the upper cover 120 and adapted to create and release the vacuum in the chamber as it moves vertically. Referring to FIG. 5 , the inner wall structure 150 of the present embodiment includes: a sealing member 152 ; a plurality of connecting rods 154 ; and an auxiliary sealing member 156 . The sealing member 152 is inserted into the insertion groove 122 depressed along the lower surface of the sidewall of the upper cover 120 and adapted to seal a gap between the upper cover 120 and the chamber body 110 . Specifically, the sealing member 152 is inserted into the sidewall of the upper cover 120 when the upper cover 120 is supported to be spaced apart from the chamber body 110 by a predetermined distance. The sealing member 152 is used to create and release a vacuum in the chamber as it moves vertically. In the present embodiment, the sealing member 152 generally has a rectangular ring shape, and is coupled to the upper cover 120 when it moves upward to the lower end of the upper cover 120 . The plurality of connecting rods 154 vertically pass through some positions of the sidewall of the upper cover 120 to connect the sealing member 152 to the inner wall structure lifting device 160 . The connecting rod 154 is coupled at a lower end thereof to a plurality of positions on the upper surface of the sealing member 152 and thus enables the sealing member 152 to move vertically stably. Meanwhile, the sealing member 152 of the present embodiment has a stepped shape, so that one surface of the resulting stepped portion is in close contact with the surface of the chamber body 110, and the other surface of the stepped portion is in close contact with the auxiliary sealing member 156, thereby A vacuum is established in the chamber.

Therefore, the auxiliary sealing member 156 is an essential component of this embodiment. The auxiliary sealing member 156 is in contact with the sealing member 152 at a position higher than the upper surface of the chamber body 110, thereby maintaining the inside of the chamber in an airtight state. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5 , the sealing member 152 has a stepped lower portion defining two horizontal contact surfaces, namely, a first contact surface and a second contact surface. The first contact surface is in contact with the upper surface of the sidewall of the chamber body 110 , and the second contact surface is in contact with the auxiliary sealing member 156 .

The inner wall structure lifting device 160 is located above the upper cover 120 and is coupled to the inner wall structure 150 passing through the side wall of the upper cover 120 to vertically lift the inner wall structure 150 . In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5 , the inner wall structure lifting device 160 preferably includes: a guide plate 162, which is located above the upper cover 120 and coupled to the upper ends of the plurality of connecting rods 154, and the guide plate 162 is used to guiding the simultaneous movement of the connecting rod 154; and driving the motor 164 fixedly mounted on the guide plate 162 to move the guide plate 162 vertically. Since the multiple connecting rods 154 must move simultaneously, the guide plate 162 is used to synchronize the lifting motion of all connecting rods 154 .

The horizontal driving device 140 is used to horizontally move the upper cover 120 in a direction facing the installation direction of the gate valve. That is, the horizontal driving device 140 is coupled to the upper cover 120 to support the upper cover 120 in a horizontally movable manner. When the chamber body 110 moves down a required distance according to the operation of the chamber body lifting device (not shown) and thus separates from the upper cover 120, the horizontal driving device 140 moves the upper cover 120 horizontally until the upper cover 120 reaches the required rotation radius .

In this embodiment, the horizontal driving device 140 includes a pair of guide rails 142 arranged parallel to each other so that the upper cover 120 is located therebetween. The guide rail 142 is used to guide the upper cover 120 in a horizontal direction, and thus provide a horizontal movement path of the upper cover 120 . Referring to FIG. 6 , each guide rail 142 is divided into a first portion 142 a facing the upper cover 120 and a second portion 142 b horizontally extending out of the upper cover 120 . Preferably, the second part 142b is foldable toward the side wall of the upper cover 120 perpendicular to the first part 142a, so that it can be folded when not in use, so as to minimize the area occupied by the vacuum processing equipment.

The vacuum processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment may further include a support frame 170 disposed beside the chamber body 110 and adapted to receive the upper cover 120 when the upper cover 120 moves horizontally along the guide rail 142 . An advantage of providing a single support frame 170 is that a single support frame can be used for multiple vacuum chambers included in a vacuum processing apparatus. That is, instead of providing support frames for a plurality of vacuum chambers separately, a single movable support frame may be commonly used for the plurality of vacuum chambers.

Referring to FIG. 7 , in this embodiment, the support frame 170 includes: a rectangular horizontal frame member 172 ; a vertical frame member 174 ; and a gap filler 176 . The horizontal frame member 172 has the same height as the guide rail 142 and extends in the same direction as the guide rail 142 to guide the horizontal movement of the upper cover 120 . The vertical frame members 174 are used to support the horizontal frame members 172 at the same height as the rails 142 . Preferably, the vertical frame member 174 is adapted to adjust the height of the horizontal frame member 172 to eliminate the height difference between the horizontal frame member 172 and the guide rail 142 .

A gap filler 176 is provided at one end of the horizontal frame member 172 facing the chamber. The gap filler 176 is adapted to fill the gap between the horizontal frame member 172 and the rail 142 when the support frame 170 approaches the rail 142 . As is well known, due to the various elements arranged around the chamber and the configuration of the support frame itself, it is difficult for the horizontal frame members 172 to come into close contact with the guide rails 142, so as shown in FIG. 7, gap fillers 176 must be provided to fill the horizontal frame members. 172 and the gap between rail 142. In this embodiment, the gap fillers 176 are pivotally hinged to the horizontal frame members 172 such that they are collapsible during transport, but pivot to fill the gap between the horizontal frame members 172 and the rails 142 in use. gap.

Preferably, each gap filler 176 may be provided with a vertical drive unit to ensure its vertical movement.

The support frame 170 according to the present embodiment preferably further includes wheels 178 to facilitate its movement. Wheels 178 are respectively mounted on the lower ends of the vertical frame members 174, and are adapted to reduce the frictional force between the vertical frame members 174 and the floor to ensure that the vertical frame members 174 are easy to move horizontally.

The support frame 170 according to the present embodiment may further include a pair of rotation members 177 . The rotating member 177 is used to rotate the upper cover 120 . In this embodiment, the pair of rotating members 177 are installed on the horizontal frame member 172 such that they are located on opposite sides of the upper cover 120 . Specifically, the rotation member 177 is coupled to the centers of opposite sidewalls of the upper cover 120 to rotatably support the upper cover 120 . Therefore, after the upper cover 120 is moved by the horizontal driving device 140 to a sufficient radius of rotation, the rotating member 177 rotates the upper cover 120, thereby opening the upper cover 120 upward to enable easy management and maintenance of its internal equipment.

Preferably, the support frame 170 further includes one or more fixing units 179 to fix the support frame 170 to the chamber body 110 . The fixing unit 179 is used to prevent the support frame 170 from moving away from the chamber body 110 during the horizontal movement and rotation of the upper cover 120 . In this embodiment, each fixing unit 179 includes a pair of fixing blocks 179a and fixing pins 179b. Therefore, if the pair of fixing blocks 179a are precisely aligned with each other, the fixing pins 179b are inserted through the fixing blocks 179a to maintain the support frame 170 in a fixed position.

The opening/closing process of the upper cover 120 of the vacuum processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described below.

In the vacuum processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the upper cover 120 is supported so as to be spaced upward from the chamber body 110 by a distance of 1 mm to 10 mm, and therefore, the upper cover 120 does not need to be lifted. In short, as shown in FIG. 8A , only the inner wall structure 150 is lifted according to the operation of the associated lifting device 160 . As the inner wall structure 150 is lifted, the airtightness of the chamber is broken and thus the vacuum in the chamber is released. After that, as shown in FIG. 8B , the upper cover 120 moves horizontally according to the operation of the horizontal driving device 140 . In this case, when the support frame 170 is used, it is necessary to position the support frame 170 in close contact with the guide rail 142 . When only the guide rail 142 is used, the second portion 142b of the guide rail 142 is opened to achieve a stable rotation radius of the upper cover 120 . After the upper cover 120 is moved horizontally to ensure its stable rotation, as shown in FIG. 8C , the rotating member 177 is operated to rotate the upper cover 120 by 180°. In this way, the upper cover 120 is opened upwards to enable servicing of equipment therein. After the equipment maintenance is completed, the above-described opening process of the upper cover 120 is performed in reverse order, thereby closing the upper cover 120 .

second embodiment

The vacuum processing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes: a load lock chamber; a feed chamber; and one or more process chambers, and for convenience of description, the following description is only for one process chamber. Referring to FIG. 9 , the vacuum processing equipment 200 according to this embodiment includes: a chamber body 210 ; an upper cover 220 ; a horizontal driving device 240 ; an inner wall structure 250 ; and an inner wall structure lifting device 260 .

In the vacuum processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment, the chamber body 210 generally has a rectangular box shape, and the upper cover 220 is detachably provided on the chamber body 210 to constitute a vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber is used to process a large-area flat panel display substrate having a rectangular shape therein, and thus generally has a rectangular box shape corresponding to the rectangular substrate. The vacuum chamber is provided with an exhaust system (not shown) inside it to create a vacuum in the chamber. After a vacuum is established in the chamber by operation of the exhaust system, desired processing is performed on the substrate placed in the chamber.

The chamber body 210 is formed with a substrate inlet E serving as a passage for receiving a substrate from an external station for loading a substrate and discharging a substrate for unloading a substrate. Generally, the substrate is loaded and unloaded while it moves horizontally in a lying state, and thus, the substrate inlet E passes through one of the side walls of the chamber body 210 . To open and close the substrate inlet E, the chamber body 210 is provided with a gate valve G. The substrate inlet E is continuously open during loading and unloading of substrates, but must be closed after the substrates are fully loaded in order to perform the required substrate processing in the closed state of the chamber. Accordingly, the gate valve G moves vertically to open and close the substrate inlet E. As shown in FIG.

The inner wall structure 250 is inserted into the side wall of the upper cover 220 and adapted to create and release the vacuum in the chamber as it moves vertically. Referring to FIG. 10 , the inner wall structure 250 of the present embodiment includes: a sealing member 252 ; a plurality of connecting rods 254 ; and an auxiliary sealing member 256 . The sealing member 252 is inserted into the insertion groove 222 depressed along the lower surface of the sidewall of the upper cover 220 and adapted to seal a gap between the upper cover 220 and the chamber body 210 . Specifically, the sealing member 252 is inserted into a sidewall of the upper cover 220 to support the upper cover 220 to be spaced apart from the chamber body 210 by a predetermined distance. The sealing member 252 is used to create and release a vacuum in the chamber while moving vertically. In the present embodiment, the sealing member 252 generally has a rectangular ring shape, and is coupled to the upper cover 220 when it moves upward to the lower end of the upper cover 220 .

The plurality of connecting rods 254 vertically pass through some positions of the sidewall of the upper cover 220 to connect the sealing member 252 to the inner wall structure lifting device 260 . The connecting rod 254 is coupled at its lower end to a plurality of positions on the upper surface of the sealing member 252 to achieve stable vertical movement of the sealing member 252 . The sealing member 252 of the present embodiment has a stepped shape, so that one surface of the resulting stepped portion is in close contact with the surface of the chamber body 210, and the other surface of the stepped portion is in close contact with the auxiliary sealing member 256, so that the resulting stepped portion is in close contact with the surface of the chamber body 210. create a vacuum. Therefore, the auxiliary sealing member 256 is an essential component of this embodiment. The auxiliary sealing member 256 is in contact with the sealing member 252 at a position higher than the upper surface of the chamber body 210, and is adapted to maintain the inside of the chamber in an airtight state. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 10 , the sealing member 252 has a stepped lower portion defining two horizontal contact surfaces, a first contact surface and a second contact surface. The first contact surface is in contact with the upper surface of the sidewall of the chamber body 210 , and the second contact surface is in contact with the auxiliary sealing member 256 .

The inner wall structure lifting device 260 is located above the upper cover 220 and is coupled to the inner wall structure 250 passing through the side wall of the upper cover 220 to vertically lift the inner wall structure 250 . In this embodiment, the inner wall structure lifting device 260 preferably includes: a guide plate 262 located above the upper cover 220 and coupled to the upper ends of the plurality of connecting rods 254, the guide plate 262 is used to guide the simultaneous movement of the connecting rods 254 and a drive motor 264 fixedly mounted on the guide plate 262 to move the guide plate 262 vertically. Since the multiple connecting rods 254 must move simultaneously, the guide plate 262 is used to synchronize all connecting rods 254 .

The horizontal driving device 240 is used to horizontally move the upper cover 220 in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the gate valve G is disposed. In order to minimize the floor area occupied by the vacuum processing equipment 200, this embodiment proposes that the upper cover 220 is maintained in the unused space between each process chamber. For this, the upper cover 220 must move horizontally in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the gate valve G is disposed, and thus the horizontal driving device 240 is located in the same plane as the gate valve G. Referring to FIG. In this case, in order to prevent interference between the gate valve G and the horizontal driving device 240 located on the same plane as each other, the horizontal driving device 240 is placed higher than the gate valve G as shown in FIG. 9 .

Therefore, in this embodiment, the horizontal driving device 240 includes: an upper cover moving frame 242 ; and a pair of horizontal movers 244 . The upper cover moving frame 242 is partially disposed at an opposite side of the upper cover 220 at a position higher than the driving height of the gate valve G. Referring to FIG. The upper cover moving frame 242 provides a horizontal moving path for the upper cover 220 .

Referring to FIG. 11, the loam cake moving frame 242 includes: a first horizontal frame member 242a, each supporting a first end of one of the horizontal movers 244 on its upper surface; and a first vertical frame member 242b, which is coupled to the second The lower surface of a horizontal frame member 242a supports the first horizontal frame member 242a at a predetermined height. In this embodiment, the first horizontal frame member 242a is disposed at a position higher than the upper end of the upper cover 220 so that the fully assembled upper cover moving frame 242 can be installed in the vacuum chamber. Also, the first vertical frame members 242b are arranged such that adjacent frame members are spaced apart from each other by a distance wider than the width of the vacuum processing apparatus.

Each horizontal mover 244 has a first end fixedly disposed on the upper cover moving frame 242 and a second end coupled to the upper cover 220 . The horizontal mover 244 is used to move the upper cover 220 horizontally along the upper cover moving frame 242 . Referring to FIG. 12 , the horizontal mover 244 of the present embodiment includes: a roller 244a coupled to an upper cover moving frame 242 to perform a rotational movement thereon; a vertical connector 244b connected to the roller 244a at different heights and the center of the upper cover 220; and the motor 244c, which is used to provide the required power for the rotating roller 244a. With this configuration, even when the roller 244a is disposed at a height different from the center of the upper cover 220, the roller 244a can be stably coupled to the upper cover 220 by means of the vertical connector 244b, so that smooth movement of the upper cover 220 can be achieved. rotation and horizontal movement.

The vacuum processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment may further include a supporting frame 270 disposed beside the chamber body 210 and adapted to receive the upper cover 220 when the upper cover 220 moves horizontally along the first horizontal frame member 242a. An advantage of providing a single support frame 270 is that a single support frame can be used for multiple vacuum chambers included in a vacuum processing apparatus. That is, instead of separately providing support frames for a plurality of vacuum chambers, a single movable support frame may be commonly used for the plurality of vacuum chambers.

Referring to FIG. 13 , in this embodiment, the support frame 270 includes: a second horizontal frame member 272 ; a second vertical frame member 274 ; and a gap filler 276 . The second horizontal frame member 272 has the same height as the first horizontal frame member 242 a and extends in the same direction as the first horizontal frame member 242 a to guide horizontal movement of the upper cover 220 . The second vertical frame member 274 is used to support the second horizontal frame member 272 at the same height as the first horizontal frame member 242a. Preferably, the second vertical frame member 274 is adapted to adjust the height of the second horizontal frame member 272 to eliminate the height difference between the first and second horizontal frame members 242 a and 272 .

A gap filler 276 is provided at one end of the second horizontal frame member 272 facing the chamber. The gap filler 276 is adapted to fill the gap between the first and second horizontal frame members 242a and 272 when the support frame 270 approaches the first horizontal frame member 242a. As is well known, it is difficult for the second horizontal frame member 272 to be in close contact with the first horizontal frame member 242a due to various elements disposed around the chamber and the configuration of the support frame itself. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 13 , a gap filler 276 is separately provided to fill the gap between the first and second horizontal frame members 242 a and 272 . In this embodiment, the gap fillers 276 are pivotally hinged to the second horizontal frame member 272 such that they are collapsible during transport, but pivot to fill the first and second horizontal frame members in use. The gap between 242a and 272.

Preferably, each gap filler 276 may be provided with a vertical drive unit to ensure its vertical movement.

The support frame 270 according to the present embodiment preferably further includes wheels 278 to facilitate its movement. Wheels 278 are respectively mounted on the lower ends of the second vertical frame members 274 so as to reduce the frictional force between the second vertical frame members 274 and the floor to ensure easy horizontal movement of the second vertical frame members 274 .

The support frame 270 according to the present embodiment may further include a pair of rotation members 277 . The rotating member 277 is used to rotate the upper cover 220 . In this embodiment, the pair of rotating members 277 are installed on the second horizontal frame member 272 , and they are located on opposite sides of the upper cover 220 . Specifically, the rotation member 277 is coupled to the centers of the opposite side walls of the upper cover 220 and adapted to rotatably support the upper cover 220 . Therefore, when the upper cover 220 is moved by the horizontal driving device 240 to a sufficient radius of rotation, the rotating member 277 rotates the upper cover 220, thereby opening the upper cover 220 upward to enable easy management and maintenance of its internal equipment.

The opening/closing process of the upper cover 220 of the vacuum processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment will be described below.

In the vacuum processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment, the upper cover 220 is supported so as to be spaced upward from the chamber body 210 by a distance of 1 mm to 10 mm, and therefore, the upper cover 220 does not need to be lifted. In short, as shown in FIG. 14A , only the inner wall structure 250 is lifted according to the operation of the associated lifting device 260 . As the inner wall structure 250 is lifted, the airtightness of the chamber is broken and thus the vacuum in the chamber is released. After that, as shown in FIG. 14B , the upper cover 220 moves horizontally according to the operation of the horizontal driving device 240 . In this case, if the supporting frame 270 is used, it is necessary to arrange the supporting frame 270 in close contact with the first horizontal frame member 242a. After the upper cover 220 is moved horizontally to ensure its stable rotation, as shown in FIG. 14C , the rotation member 277 is operated to rotate the upper cover 220 by 180°. In this way, the upper cover 220 is opened upward to enable servicing of equipment therein. After the equipment maintenance is completed, the above-described opening process of the upper cover 220 is performed in reverse order, thereby closing the upper cover 220 .

third embodiment

The vacuum processing apparatus according to this embodiment includes: a load lock chamber; a feed chamber; and one or more process chambers, but for convenience of description, the following description is only for one process chamber. Referring to FIG. 15 , a vacuum processing device 300 according to this embodiment includes: a chamber body 310 ; an upper cover 320 ; a horizontal driving device 340 ; and a sealing device 350 .

In the vacuum processing apparatus 300 according to the present embodiment, the chamber body 310 generally has a rectangular box shape, and the upper cover 320 is detachably provided on the chamber body 310 to constitute a vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber is used to process a large-area flat panel display substrate having a rectangular shape therein, and thus generally has a rectangular box shape corresponding to the rectangular substrate. The vacuum chamber is internally provided with an exhaust system (not shown) to establish a vacuum in the chamber. After a vacuum is established in the chamber by the operation of the exhaust system, a desired process is performed on the substrate placed in the chamber.

As shown in FIG. 15 , the chamber body 310 is formed with a substrate inlet E serving as a passage for receiving a substrate from an external station for loading a substrate and discharging a substrate for unloading a substrate. Generally, the substrate is loaded and unloaded while it moves horizontally in a lying state, and thus, the substrate inlet E passes through one of the side walls of the chamber body 310 . To open and close the substrate inlet, the chamber body 310 is provided with a gate valve G. The substrate inlet E is continuously open during loading and unloading of substrates, but must be closed after the substrates are fully loaded in order to perform desired substrate processing in the closed state of the chamber. Accordingly, the gate valve G moves vertically to open and close the substrate inlet E. As shown in FIG.

The sealing device 350 is used to close the gap between the chamber body 310 and the upper cover 320 and to seal the edges of both the chamber body 310 and the upper cover 320 . In this embodiment, the upper cover 320 is spaced apart from the chamber body 310 by a predetermined distance, and thus it is necessary to seal the gap therebetween in order to establish a vacuum in the vacuum chamber. The sealing device 350 of this embodiment allows the upper cover 320 to be detachably coupled to the chamber body 310 .

Specifically, the chamber body 310 is provided with an outwardly extending lower protrusion 312 along its upper end surface, and the upper cover 320 is provided with an outwardly extending upper protrusion 322 along its lower end surface. Here, the upper end surface of the chamber body 310 includes the upper surface of the sidewall of the chamber body 310 , and the lower end surface of the upper cover 320 includes the lower surface of the sidewall of the upper cover 320 .

The sealing device 350 has a lower contact surface 352 for closely contacting the lower protrusion 312 , and an upper contact surface 354 for closely contacting the upper protrusion 322 . In order to achieve sufficient contact and engagement between the lower contact surface 352 and the lower protrusion 312 and between the upper contact surface 354 and the upper protrusion 322, they are configured to have perfectly consistent shapes.

By the way, since the side walls of the chamber are made of a relatively rigid material such as metal, even if the upper and lower protrusions 322 and 312 and the upper and lower contact surfaces 354 and 352 are finely processed, there is inevitably There are slight gaps. This makes it difficult to achieve a completely airtight state in the chamber. To solve this problem, it is preferable to form an auxiliary seal O at the lower and upper contact surfaces 352 and 354 . In this case, the auxiliary seal O is made of a slightly flexible material. Therefore, when the sealing means is in close contact with both the lower and upper protrusions 312 and 322, the auxiliary seal O is slightly compressed while being inserted between the lower and upper contact surfaces 352 and 354 and the lower and upper protrusions 312 and 322, Thereby preventing a gap from being generated therebetween. In certain cases, two or more secondary seals O may be stacked one above the other to achieve increased sealing efficiency. More preferably, in order to prevent the auxiliary seal O from being deviated from its exact position, preferably the lower and upper contact surfaces 352 and 354 are formed with fixing grooves for positioning and fixing the auxiliary seal O.

Alternatively, as shown in Figure 18, the sealing device 350a may have sloped lower and upper contact surfaces 352a and 354a, and both the lower and upper protrusions 312 and 322 of the corresponding chamber may have sloped surfaces. Using an inclined contact surface has the effect of increasing the contact area compared to the horizontal contact surface described above, resulting in an increase in sealing efficiency. Also, when the auxiliary seal O is provided for the inclined surface, the contact area can be expanded more, and a plurality of auxiliary seals can be easily provided there.

In this embodiment, a plurality of sealing device driving units 360 may be further provided to automatically move the sealing device 350 in a diagonal direction. The plurality of sealing device driving units 360 are coupled to corners of a lower end of the sealing device 350 . Here, a diagonal direction is a direction that makes an angle of 45° with respect to the vertical and thus is inclined with respect to the floor. Referring to FIG. 16 , each of the sealing device driving units 360 of the present embodiment includes: a roller 362 ; and a cam 364 . A roller 362 is rotatably located at one of the lower corners of the sealing device 350 . The cam 364 is configured to rotate while in contact with the roller 362 and move the sealing device 350 in a diagonal direction. Accordingly, the roller 362 rotates when the cam 364 rotates while being in contact with the roller 362, thereby moving the sealing device 350 in a diagonal direction.

Preferably, the sealing device driving unit 360 further includes a cam rotation stopper 366 to limit the rotation radius of the cam 364 and thus limit the diagonal movement range of the sealing device 350 . In terms of operating efficiency, it is preferred that the sealing device 350 have a minimum movement sufficient to establish and release the vacuum in the chamber, and thus the cam rotation stop 366 is used to achieve a minimum range of movement of the sealing device 350 .

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 17 , preferably, the sealing device driving unit 360 is arranged on opposite sides of the chamber body 310 except the opposite side of the chamber body 310 where the horizontal mover 344 of the horizontal driving device 340 is provided. lateral side. If both the sealing device driving unit 360 and the horizontal driving device 340 are disposed on the same side of each other, they may interfere in the operation of the sealing device driving unit 360 and the horizontal driving device 340 and be difficult to install. Therefore, the sealing device driving unit 360 must be provided at a side wall of the chamber body 310 other than the side wall where the horizontal mover 344 is provided.

The horizontal driving device 340 is used to horizontally move the upper cover 320 in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the gate valve G is installed. In order to minimize the floor area occupied by the vacuum processing equipment 300, this embodiment proposes that the upper cover 320 is maintained in the unused space between each process chamber. For this, the upper cover 320 must move horizontally in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the gate valve G is disposed, and therefore, the horizontal driving device 340 is disposed in the same plane as the gate valve G. FIG. In this case, in order to prevent the gate valve G and the horizontal driving device 340 disposed on the same plane from interfering with each other, the horizontal driving device 340 is placed higher than the gate valve G.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the horizontal driving device 340 includes: an upper cover moving frame 342 ; and a pair of horizontal movers 344 . The upper cover moving frame 342 is partially disposed on opposite sides of the upper cover 320 at a position higher than the driving height of the gate valve G. Referring to FIG. The upper cover moving frame 342 provides a horizontal moving path for the upper cover 320 .

The upper cover moving frame 342 includes: a first horizontal frame member, each supporting a first end of one of the horizontal movers 344 on its upper surface; and a first vertical frame member, which is coupled to the lower side of the first horizontal frame member. surface to support the first horizontal frame member at a predetermined height. In this embodiment, in order to allow the fully assembled upper cover moving frame 342 to be installed in the vacuum chamber, the first horizontal frame member is disposed at a position higher than the upper end of the upper cover 320 . Also, the first vertical frame members are arranged such that adjacent frame members are spaced apart from each other by a distance wider than the width of the vacuum processing apparatus.

Each horizontal mover 344 has a first end fixedly disposed on the upper cover moving frame 342 and a second end coupled to the upper cover 320 . The horizontal mover 344 is used to move the upper cover 320 horizontally along the upper cover moving frame 342 . The horizontal mover 344 of the present embodiment includes: a roller 344a coupled to the upper cover moving frame 342 to perform a rotational movement thereon; a vertical connector 344b connected to the roller 344a and the upper cover 320 at different heights center; and a motor 344c for providing the power needed to rotate the roller 344a. With this configuration, even when the roller 344a is disposed at a height different from the center of the upper cover 320, the roller 344a can be stably coupled to the upper cover 320 by means of the vertical connector 344b, so that smooth rotation of the upper cover 320 can be achieved and horizontal movement.

The vacuum processing apparatus 300 according to this embodiment may further include a support frame 370 disposed beside the chamber body 310 and adapted to receive the upper cover 320 when the upper cover 320 moves horizontally along the first horizontal frame member of the upper cover moving frame 342 . An advantage of providing a single support frame 370 is that a single support frame can be used for multiple vacuum chambers included in a vacuum processing apparatus. That is, instead of providing support frames for a plurality of vacuum chambers separately, a single movable support frame may be commonly used for the plurality of vacuum chambers.

Referring to FIG. 19 , in this embodiment, the supporting frame 370 includes: a second horizontal frame member 372 ; a second vertical frame member 374 ; and a gap filler 376 . The second horizontal frame part 372 has the same height as the first horizontal frame part of the upper cover moving frame 342 and extends in the same direction as the first horizontal frame part to guide the horizontal movement of the upper cover 320 . The second vertical frame member 374 is used to support the horizontal frame member 372 at the same height as the first horizontal frame member. Preferably, the second vertical frame member 374 is adapted to adjust the height of the second horizontal frame member 372 to eliminate the height difference between the first and second horizontal frame members.

A gap filler 376 is provided at one end of the second horizontal frame 372 facing the chamber. The gap filler 376 is adapted to fill the gap between the first and second horizontal frame members when the support frame 370 approaches the first horizontal frame member. As is well known, it is difficult for the second horizontal frame member 372 to come into close contact with the first horizontal frame member due to various elements disposed around the chamber and the configuration of the support frame itself. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 19, a gap filler 376 is separately provided to fill the gap between the first and second horizontal frame members. In this embodiment, the gap fillers 376 are pivotally hinged to the second horizontal frame member 372 such that they are collapsible during transport, but pivot in use to fill the first horizontal frame member and the second horizontal frame member. The gap between the horizontal frame members 372.

Preferably, each gap filler 376 can be provided with a vertical driving unit to ensure its vertical movement.

The support frame 370 according to the present embodiment preferably further includes wheels 378 to facilitate its movement. Wheels 378 are respectively mounted on the lower ends of the second vertical frame parts 374, so as to reduce the frictional force between the second vertical frame parts 374 and the floor, and ensure that the second vertical frame parts 374 are easy to move horizontally.

The support frame 370 according to the present embodiment may further include a pair of rotation members 377 . The rotating member 377 is used to rotate the upper cover 320 . In this embodiment, the pair of rotating members 377 are installed on the second horizontal frame member 372 , and they are located on opposite sides of the upper cover 320 . The rotation member 377 is coupled to the centers of the opposite side walls of the upper cover 320 and adapted to rotatably support the upper cover 320 . Therefore, when the upper cover 320 is moved by the horizontal driving device 340 to a sufficient radius of rotation, the rotating member 377 rotates the upper cover 320 so that the upper cover 320 is opened upward to enable easy management and maintenance of its internal equipment.

Preferably, the support frame 370 further includes one or more fixing units 379 to fix the support frame 370 to the chamber body 310 . The fixing unit 379 is used to prevent the support frame 370 from moving away from the chamber body 310 during the horizontal movement and rotation of the upper cover 320 . In this embodiment, each fixing unit 379 includes a pair of fixing blocks 379a and a fixing pin 379b. Therefore, if the pair of fixing blocks 379a are precisely aligned with each other, the fixing pins 379b are inserted through the fixing blocks 379a to maintain the support frame 370 at a fixed position.

The opening/closing process of the upper cover 320 of the vacuum processing apparatus 300 according to the present embodiment will be described below.

In the vacuum processing apparatus 300 according to the present embodiment, the upper cover 320 is supported so as to be spaced upward from the chamber body 310 by a distance of 10 mm to 15 mm, and thus, the upper cover 320 does not need to be lifted. In short, as shown in FIG. 20A , the sealing device driving unit 360 is driven to move the sealing device 350 in a diagonal direction, thereby spacing the upper cover 320 from the chamber body 310 . Since the upper cover 320 is moved, the airtightness of the chamber is broken, and thus the vacuum in the chamber is released. After that, as shown in FIG. 20B , the upper cover 320 moves horizontally according to the operation of the horizontal driving device 340 . In this case, when using the supporting frame 370, it is necessary to arrange the supporting frame 370 in close contact with the first horizontal frame member. After the upper cover 320 is moved horizontally to ensure its stable rotation, as shown in FIG. 20C , the rotating member 377 is operated to rotate the upper cover 320 by 180°. In this way, the upper cover 320 is opened upwards to enable servicing of equipment therein. After the equipment maintenance is completed, the above-described opening process of the upper cover 320 is performed in reverse order, thereby closing the upper cover 320 .

Fourth embodiment

The vacuum processing apparatus according to this embodiment includes: a load lock chamber; a feed chamber; and one or more process chambers, but for convenience of description, the following description is only for one process chamber. Referring to FIG. 21 , the vacuum processing equipment 400 according to this embodiment includes: a chamber body 410 ; an upper cover 420 ; a horizontal driving device 440 ; and a chamber body lifting device 450 .

In the vacuum processing apparatus 400 according to the present embodiment, the chamber body 410 generally has a rectangular box shape, and the upper cover 420 is detachably provided on the chamber body 410, thereby constituting a vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber is used to process a large-area flat panel display substrate having a rectangular shape therein, and thus generally has a rectangular box shape corresponding to the rectangular substrate. The vacuum chamber is internally provided with an exhaust system (not shown) to establish a vacuum in the chamber. After a vacuum is established in the chamber by the operation of the exhaust system, a desired process is performed on the substrate placed in the chamber.

The chamber body 410 is formed with a substrate inlet serving as a passage for receiving a substrate from an external station for loading a substrate and discharging a substrate for unloading a substrate. Generally, the substrate is loaded and unloaded while it moves horizontally in a lying state, and thus, the substrate inlet passes through one of the side walls of the chamber body 410 . To open and close the substrate inlet, the chamber body 410 is provided with a gate valve. The substrate inlet is continuously open during loading and unloading of substrates, but must be closed after the substrates are fully loaded so that desired substrate processing can take place in the closed state of the chamber. Thus, the substrate inlet opens and closes as the gate valve moves vertically.

The chamber body lifting device 450 is used to vertically move the chamber body 410 . In this embodiment, the chamber lifting device 450 includes: a plurality of lifting driving members 452 ; and a guiding member 454 .

The lift driving member 452 is interposed between the chamber body 410 and the chamber base frame 460 supporting the chamber body 410 at a predetermined height from the floor. Lift drive member 452 is adapted to move chamber body 410 vertically. Moving the chamber body 410 vertically has the effect of preventing the chamber body 410 from interfering with the horizontal movement of the upper cover 420 when it contacts the lower end of the upper cover 420 and also preventing interference between the upper cover 420 and the O-ring. With the upper cover 420 fixed at a predetermined height, the chamber body 410 is lowered to be separated from the upper cover 420 by a predetermined distance.

This embodiment employs a plurality of lift drive members 452, each of which has a small capacity. In terms of price, the use of multiple small capacity lift drive members 452 is advantageous over the use of a single high capacity lift drive member. Also, multiple lift drive members 452 can support a heavy chamber at multiple locations and thus be beneficial in maintaining the balance of the chamber. Each lift drive member 452 preferably takes the form of a bellows barrel. In this case, as shown in FIG. 22, the bellows barrels are preferably provided with eccentricity compensators 456, respectively. Specifically, each hemispherical eccentric compensator 456 is formed at an upper end of the bellows barrel 452, respectively. In this case, the chamber body 410 is formed with an eccentric compensator insertion recess 412 at a position of its lower surface corresponding to the center of the corresponding bellows barrel 452 . With this arrangement, when the bellows barrel 452 is brought into contact with the lower surface of the chamber body 410 to vertically move the chamber body 410, the eccentricity compensator 456 is slid into the insertion recess 412 while being lifted to smoothly find a precise position. contact position.

The guide member 454 is coupled to the chamber body 410 and is adapted to guide the vertical movement of the chamber body 410 . Referring to FIG. 21 , in the present embodiment, the guide member 454 preferably takes the form of a guide block unit, and is coupled at its lower surface to the upper surface of the chamber base frame 460 and inserted at its upper surface into the chamber formed at the upper surface. In the guide groove on the lower surface of the body 410. Providing the guide block unit serving as the guide member on the lower surface of the chamber body has the effect of guiding the precise vertical movement direction of the chamber body without requiring a separate installation space for the guide member.

Alternatively, the guide member may take the form of a guide post located beside the chamber body 410 and coupled to a side wall of the chamber body 410 to guide the vertical movement direction of the chamber body 410 .

The horizontal driving device 440 is used to horizontally move the upper cover 420 in a direction facing the installation direction of the gate valve. That is, the horizontal driving device 440 is coupled to the upper cover 420 to support the upper cover 420 in a horizontally movable manner. When the chamber body 410 moves down a predetermined distance according to the operation of the chamber body lifting device 450 and thus separates from the upper cover 420 , the horizontal driving device 440 moves the upper cover 420 horizontally until the upper cover 420 reaches a desired rotation radius.

In this embodiment, the horizontal driving device 440 includes a pair of guide rails 442 arranged parallel to each other so that the upper cover 420 is located therebetween. The guide rail 442 is used to guide the upper cover 420 in the horizontal direction, and thus provide a horizontal movement path of the upper cover 420 . Referring to FIG. 23 , each guide rail 442 is divided into a first portion 442 a facing the upper cover 420 and a second portion 442 b extending horizontally beyond the upper cover 420 . Preferably, the second part 442b can be folded toward the side wall of the upper cover 420 perpendicular to the first part 442a, so that it can be folded up when not in use, so as to minimize the area occupied by the vacuum processing equipment.

The vacuum processing apparatus 400 according to the present embodiment may further include a support frame 470 disposed beside the chamber body 410 and adapted to receive the upper cover 420 when the upper cover 420 moves horizontally along the guide rail 442 . An advantage of providing a single support frame 470 is that a single support frame can be used for multiple vacuum chambers included in a vacuum processing apparatus. That is, instead of providing support frames for a plurality of vacuum chambers separately, a single movable support frame may be commonly used for the plurality of vacuum chambers.

Referring to FIG. 24 , in this embodiment, the support frame 470 includes: a horizontal frame member 472 ; a vertical frame member 474 ; and a gap filler 476 . The horizontal frame member 472 has the same height as the guide rail 442 and extends in the same direction as the guide rail 442 to guide the horizontal movement of the upper cover 420 . The vertical frame members 474 are used to support the horizontal frame members 472 at the same height as the rails 442 . Preferably, the vertical frame member 474 is adapted to adjust the height of the horizontal frame member 472 to eliminate the height difference between the horizontal frame member 472 and the guide rail 442 .

A gap filler 476 is provided at one end of the horizontal frame member 472 facing the chamber. The gap filler 476 is adapted to fill the gap between the horizontal frame member 472 and the rail 442 when the support frame 470 approaches the rail 442 . As is known, it is difficult for the horizontal frame members 472 to come into close contact with the guide rails 442 due to various elements disposed around the chamber and the configuration of the support frame itself. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 24 , a gap filler 476 is separately provided to fill the gap between the horizontal frame member 472 and the guide rail 442 . In this embodiment, the gap fillers 476 are pivotally hinged to the horizontal frame members 472 such that they fold up during transport, but pivot in use to fill the gap between the horizontal frame members 472 and the rails 442. gap.

Preferably, each gap filler 476 may be provided with a vertical drive unit to ensure its vertical movement. Although not shown, the vertical drive unit preferably takes the form of a ball screw to achieve precise vertical movement of the gap filler 476 .

The support frame 470 according to the present embodiment preferably further includes wheels 478 to facilitate its movement. Wheels 478 are respectively mounted on the lower ends of the vertical frame parts 474, thereby reducing the frictional force between the vertical frame parts 474 and the floor, to ensure that the vertical frame parts 474 are easy to move horizontally.

The support frame 470 according to the present embodiment may further include a pair of rotation members 477 . The rotating member 477 is used to rotate the upper cover 420 . In this embodiment, the pair of rotating members 477 are mounted on the horizontal frame member 472 such that they are located on opposite sides of the upper cover 420 . The rotation member 477 is coupled to the centers of the opposite side walls of the upper cover 420 and adapted to rotatably support the upper cover 420 . Therefore, when the upper cover 420 is moved by the horizontal driving device 440 to reach a sufficient radius of rotation, the rotating member 477 rotates the upper cover 420 so that the upper cover 420 is opened upwards for easy management and maintenance of its internal equipment.

Preferably, the support frame 470 further includes one or more fixing units 479 to fix the support frame 470 to the chamber body 410 . The fixing unit 479 is used to prevent the support frame 470 from moving away from the chamber body 410 during the horizontal movement and rotation of the upper cover 420 . In this embodiment, each fixing unit 479 includes a pair of fixing blocks 479a and a fixing pin 479b. Therefore, if the pair of fixing blocks 479a are precisely aligned with each other, the fixing pins 479b are inserted through the fixing blocks 479a to maintain the support frame 470 in a fixed position.

The opening/closing process of the upper cover 420 of the vacuum processing apparatus 400 according to the present embodiment will be described below.

First, as shown in FIG. 25A , the chamber body 410 is lowered by a distance of 10 mm to 15 mm by using the chamber body lifting device 450 to prevent interference between the upper cover 420 and the chamber body 410 . Then, as shown in FIG. 25B , the upper cover 420 moves horizontally according to the operation of the horizontal driving device 440 . In this case, when the supporting frame 470 is used, it is necessary to arrange the supporting frame 470 in close contact with the guide rail 442 . Also, when only the guide rail 442 is used, the second portion 442b of the guide rail 442 is opened to achieve a stable rotation radius of the upper cover 420 . After the upper cover 420 is moved horizontally to ensure its stable rotation, as shown in FIG. 25C , the rotating member 477 is operated to rotate the upper cover 420 by 180°. In this way, the upper cover 420 is opened upwards to enable servicing of the equipment therein. After the equipment maintenance is completed, the above-described opening process of the upper cover 420 is performed in reverse order, thereby closing the upper cover 420 .

fifth embodiment

The vacuum processing apparatus according to this embodiment includes: a load lock chamber; a feed chamber; and one or more process chambers, but for convenience of description, the following description is only for one process chamber. Referring to FIG. 26 , a vacuum processing apparatus 500 according to this embodiment includes: a chamber body 510 ; an upper cover 520 ; a horizontal driving device 540 ; a substrate inlet E; a gate valve G;

In the vacuum processing apparatus 500 according to the present embodiment, the chamber body 510 generally has a rectangular box shape, and the upper cover 520 is detachably provided on the chamber body 510, thereby constituting a vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber is used to process a large-area flat panel display substrate having a rectangular shape therein, and thus generally has a rectangular box shape corresponding to the rectangular substrate. The vacuum chamber is provided with an exhaust system (not shown) inside it to create a vacuum in the chamber. After a vacuum is established in the chamber by the operation of the exhaust system, a desired process is performed on the substrate placed in the chamber.

The chamber body 510 is formed with a substrate inlet E serving as a passage for receiving a substrate from an external station for loading a substrate and discharging a substrate for unloading a substrate. Generally, the substrate is loaded and unloaded while it moves horizontally in a lying state, and thus, the substrate inlet E passes through one of the side walls of the chamber body 510 . To open and close the substrate inlet E, the chamber body 510 is provided with a gate valve G. The substrate inlet E is continuously open during loading and unloading of substrates, but must be closed after the substrates are fully loaded in order to perform desired substrate processing in the closed state of the chamber. Therefore, the gate valve G moves vertically to open and close the substrate inlet E. As shown in FIG.

The horizontal driving device 540 is used to horizontally move the upper cover 520 in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the gate valve G is installed. In order to minimize the floor area occupied by the vacuum processing equipment 500, this embodiment proposes that the upper cover 520 is maintained in the unused space between each process chamber. For this, the upper cover 520 must move horizontally in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the gate valve G is disposed, and thus the horizontal driving device 540 is located in the same plane as the gate valve G. In this case, the horizontal driving device 540 is placed higher than the gate valve G in order to prevent the gate valve G and the horizontal driving device 540 located on the same plane from interfering with each other.

Referring to FIG. 29 , the horizontal driving device 540 of this embodiment includes: an upper cover moving frame 542 ; and a pair of horizontal movers 544 . The upper cover moving frame 542 is partially disposed on the opposite side of the upper cover 520 at a position higher than the driving height of the gate valve G. The upper cover moving frame 542 provides a horizontal moving path for the upper cover 520 .

Referring to FIG. 28, the loam cake moving frame 542 includes: a first horizontal frame member 542a each supporting a first end of one of the horizontal movers 544 at its upper surface; and a first vertical frame member 542b coupled to The lower surface of the first horizontal frame member 542a supports the first horizontal frame member 542a at a predetermined height. In this embodiment, in order to allow the fully assembled upper cover moving frame 542 to be installed in the vacuum chamber, the first horizontal frame member 542a is disposed at a height higher than the upper end of the upper cover 520 . Also, the first vertical frame members 542b are arranged such that adjacent frame members are spaced apart from each other by a distance wider than the width of the vacuum processing apparatus. Preferably, a horizontal gear is formed on the upper surface of each first horizontal frame member 542a such that the gear engages with the roller 544a to guide the precise horizontal movement of the upper cover 520 .

Each horizontal mover 544 has a first end fixedly disposed on the upper cover moving frame 542 and a second end coupled to the upper cover 520 . The horizontal mover 544 is used to move the upper cover 520 horizontally along the upper cover moving frame 542 . The horizontal mover 544 of the present embodiment includes: a roller 544a coupled to the upper cover moving frame 542 to perform a rotational movement thereon; a vertical connector 544b connected to the roller 544a and the upper cover 520 at different heights center; and a motor 544c for providing the power needed to rotate the roller 544a. With this configuration, even when the roller 544a is disposed at a height different from the center of the upper cover 520, the roller 544a can be stably coupled to the upper cover 520 by means of the vertical connector 544b, so that smooth rotation of the upper cover 520 can be achieved and horizontal movement. Also, rollers 544d are interposed between each first horizontal frame member 542a and the associated connector 544b to reduce load and friction during movement of the upper cover.

The vacuum processing apparatus 500 according to the present embodiment may further include a supporting frame 570 disposed beside the chamber body 510 and adapted to receive the upper cover 520 when the upper cover 520 moves horizontally along the first horizontal frame member 542a. An advantage of providing a single support frame 570 is that a single support frame can be used for multiple vacuum chambers included in a vacuum processing apparatus. That is, instead of providing support frames for a plurality of vacuum chambers separately, a single movable support frame may be commonly used for the plurality of vacuum chambers.

Referring to FIG. 30 , in this embodiment, the support frame 570 includes: a second horizontal frame member 572 ; a second vertical frame member 574 ; and a gap filler 576 . The second horizontal frame member 572 has the same height as the first horizontal frame member 542 a and extends in the same direction as the first horizontal frame member 542 a to guide the horizontal movement of the upper cover 520 . The second vertical frame member 574 is used to support the second horizontal frame member 572 at the same height as the first horizontal frame member 542a. Preferably, the vertical frame member 574 is adapted to adjust the height of the second horizontal frame member 572 to eliminate the height difference between the first and second horizontal frame members 542a and 572 . Although not shown, a vertical driving unit having a ball screw shape may be provided to achieve precise adjustment of the height of the second horizontal frame member 572 .

A gap filler 576 is provided at one end of the second horizontal frame member 572 facing the chamber. The gap filler 576 is adapted to fill the gap between the first and second horizontal frame members 542a and 572 when the support frame 570 approaches the first horizontal frame member 542a. As is well known, it is difficult for the second horizontal frame member 572 to be in close contact with the first horizontal frame member 542a due to various elements disposed around the chamber and the configuration of the support frame itself. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 30 , a gap filler 576 is separately provided to fill the gap between the first and second horizontal frame members 542 a and 572 . In this embodiment, the gap fillers 576 are pivotally hinged to the second horizontal frame member 572 so that they fold up during transport, but pivot in use to fill the first and second horizontal frame members The gap between 542a and 572.

Preferably, each gap filler 576 may be provided with a vertical drive unit to ensure its vertical movement.

The support frame 570 according to the present embodiment preferably further includes wheels 578 to facilitate its movement. Wheels 578 are respectively mounted on the lower ends of the second vertical frame members 574 so as to reduce the frictional force between the second vertical frame members 574 and the floor and ensure that the second vertical frame members 574 are easy to move horizontally.

The support frame 570 according to the present embodiment may further include a pair of rotation members 577 . The rotating member 577 is used to rotate the upper cover 520 . In the present embodiment, the pair of rotating members 577 are mounted to the second horizontal frame member 572 such that they are located at opposite sides of the upper cover 520 placed therebetween. The rotation member 577 is coupled to the centers of the opposite side walls of the upper cover 520 and adapted to rotatably support the upper cover 520 . Therefore, when the upper cover 520 is moved by the horizontal driving device 540 to reach a sufficient radius of rotation, the rotating member 577 rotates the upper cover 520 so that the upper cover 520 is opened upwards for easy management and maintenance of its internal equipment.

Preferably, the support frame 570 further includes one or more fixing units 579 to fix the support frame 570 to the chamber body 510 . The fixing unit 579 is used to prevent the support frame 570 from moving away from the chamber body 510 during the horizontal movement and rotation of the upper cover 520 . In this embodiment, each fixing unit 579 includes a pair of fixing blocks 579a and a fixing pin 579b. Therefore, if the pair of fixing blocks 579a are precisely aligned with each other, the fixing pins 579b are inserted through the fixing blocks 579a to maintain the support frame 570 in a fixed position.

The chamber body lifting device 550 is used to vertically move the chamber body 510 . In this embodiment, the chamber lifting device 550 includes: a plurality of lifting driving members 552 ; and a guiding member 554 .

The lift driving member 552 is interposed between the chamber body 510 and the chamber base frame 560 supporting the chamber body 510 at a predetermined height from the floor. Lift drive member 552 is adapted to move chamber body 510 vertically. Moving the chamber body 510 vertically has the effect of preventing the chamber body 510 from interfering with the horizontal movement of the upper cover 520 when it contacts the lower end of the upper cover 520 and also preventing interference between the upper cover 520 and the O-ring. With the upper cover 520 fixed at a predetermined height, the chamber body 510 is lowered to be spaced apart from the upper cover 520 by a predetermined distance.

This embodiment employs multiple lift drive members 552, each with a small capacity. In terms of price, the use of multiple small capacity lift drive members 552 is advantageous over the use of a single high capacity lift drive member. Also, multiple lift drive members 552 can support a heavy chamber at multiple locations and thus be beneficial in maintaining the balance of the chamber. Each lift drive member 552 preferably takes the form of a bellows barrel. In this case, as shown in FIG. 27, the bellows barrels are preferably provided with eccentricity compensators 556, respectively. Specifically, each hemispherical eccentricity compensator 556 is formed on the upper end of the bellows barrel 552 . The chamber body 510 is formed with an eccentric compensator insertion recess 512 on its lower surface at a position corresponding to the center of the corresponding bellows barrel 552 . With this configuration, when the bellows barrel 552 is brought into contact with the lower surface of the chamber body 510 to vertically lift the chamber body 510, the eccentricity compensator 556 is slid into the insertion recess 512 while being lifted to smoothly find a precise position. contact position.

The guide member 554 is coupled to the chamber body 510 and is adapted to guide the vertical movement of the chamber body 510 . 26, in this embodiment, the guide member 554 preferably takes the form of a guide block unit coupled at its lower surface to the upper surface of the chamber base frame 560 and inserted at its upper surface into Formed in the guide recess on the lower surface of the chamber body 510 . Providing the guide block unit on the lower surface of the chamber body has the effect of guiding the precise vertical movement direction of the chamber body without requiring a separate installation space for the guide member.

Alternatively, the guide member may take the form of a guide post located beside the chamber body 510 and coupled to a side wall of the chamber body 510 to guide the vertical movement direction of the chamber body 510 .

The opening/closing process of the upper cover 520 of the vacuum processing apparatus 500 according to the present embodiment will be described below.

First, as shown in FIG. 31A , the chamber body 510 is lowered by a distance of 10 mm to 15 mm by using the chamber body lifting device 550 to prevent interference between the upper cover 520 and the chamber body 510 . Then, as shown in FIG. 31B , the upper cover 520 moves horizontally according to the operation of the horizontal driving device 540 . In this case, when the supporting frame 570 is used, it is necessary to arrange the supporting frame 570 in close contact with the first horizontal frame member 542a. After the upper cover 520 is moved horizontally to ensure its stable rotation, as shown in FIG. 31C , the rotation member 577 is operated to rotate the upper cover 520 by 180°. In this way, the upper cover 520 is opened upwards so that the equipment therein can be serviced. After the equipment maintenance is completed, the above-described opening process of the upper cover 520 is performed in reverse order, thereby closing the upper cover 520 .

Sixth embodiment

The vacuum processing apparatus according to this embodiment includes: a load lock chamber; a feed chamber; and one or more process chambers, but for convenience of description, the following description is only for one process chamber. Referring to FIG. 32 , a vacuum processing apparatus 600 according to this embodiment includes: a chamber body 610 ; an upper cover 620 ; one or more horizontal driving units 630 ; a pair of upper cover moving frames 640 ; and a plurality of vertical moving units 650 .

In the vacuum processing apparatus 600 according to the present embodiment, the chamber body 610 generally has a rectangular box shape, and the upper cover 620 is detachably provided on the chamber body 610, thereby constituting a vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber is used to process a large-area flat panel display substrate having a rectangular shape therein, and thus generally has a rectangular box shape corresponding to the rectangular substrate. The vacuum chamber is provided with an exhaust system (not shown) inside it to create a vacuum in the chamber. After a vacuum is established in the chamber by the operation of the exhaust system, a desired process is performed on the substrate placed in the chamber.

The chamber body 610 is formed with a substrate inlet serving as a passage for receiving a substrate from an external station for loading a substrate and discharging a substrate for unloading a substrate. Generally, the substrate is loaded and unloaded while it moves horizontally in a lying state, and thus, the substrate inlet passes through one of the side walls of the chamber body 610 . To open and close the substrate inlet, the chamber body 610 is provided with a gate valve. The substrate inlet is continuously open during loading and unloading of substrates, but must be closed after the substrates are fully loaded to allow the required substrate processing to occur in the closed state of the chamber. Therefore, the gate valve moves vertically to open and close the substrate inlet.

The horizontal driving unit 630 is used to horizontally move the upper cover 620 in a direction facing the gate valve installation direction. As shown in FIG. 32, in the present embodiment, a plurality of horizontal driving units 630 may be provided. In this case, the plurality of horizontal driving units 630 share the load of the heavy upper cover 620 in common, thereby achieving an increase in stability. In addition, the upper cover 620 can be supported at various positions, so there is no danger of the upper cover 620 vibrating. This increases the stability of the machining operation.

The pair of upper cover moving frames 640 are located at opposite sides of the upper cover 620 in a vertically movable manner. The upper cover moving frame 640 is used to provide a horizontal moving path of the horizontal driving unit 630, so that the upper cover 620 moves horizontally to achieve a sufficient rotation radius required for opening.

The plurality of vertical driving units 650 are coupled to the lower surface of each upper cover moving frame 640 such that they are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance. The vertical driving unit 650 is used to vertically move the upper cover moving frame 640 and the upper cover 620 . In this embodiment, instead of lifting the upper cover 620 directly, the upper cover moving frame 640 on which the upper cover 620 is supported is lifted. Also, multiple small-capacity cartridges are used as the vertical drive unit 650 instead of a single large-capacity cartridge, thereby improving process stability. Therefore, in this embodiment, the plurality of vertical driving units 650 are arranged along each upper cover moving frame 640 . The lower frame 652 is disposed under each upper cover moving frame 640 and parallel to each other such that the plurality of vertical driving units 650 are disposed on the lower frame 652 at a predetermined distance. Preferably, the plurality of vertical driving units 650 are simultaneously driven on the lower frame 652 to vertically move the upper cover moving frame 640 so that the upper cover moving frame 640 can move parallel to the floor.

Referring to FIG. 33 , each upper cover moving frame 640 is divided into a first part 640 a facing the upper cover 620 and a second part 640 b horizontally extending out of the upper cover 620 . Preferably, the second part 640b can be folded perpendicular to the first part 640a toward the side wall of the upper cover 620, so that it can be folded when not in use, so as to minimize the area occupied by the vacuum processing equipment.

The vacuum processing apparatus 600 according to the present embodiment may further include a support frame 670 disposed beside the chamber body 610 and adapted to receive the upper cover 620 when the upper cover 620 moves horizontally along the upper cover moving frame 640 . An advantage of providing a single support frame 670 is that a single support frame can be used for multiple vacuum chambers included in a vacuum processing apparatus. That is, instead of providing support frames for a plurality of vacuum chambers separately, a single movable support frame may be commonly used for the plurality of vacuum chambers.

Referring to FIG. 34 , in this embodiment, the support frame 670 includes: a horizontal frame member 672 ; a vertical frame member 674 ; and a gap filler 676 . The horizontal frame member 672 has the same height as the upper cover moving frame 640 and extends in the same direction as the upper cover moving frame 640 to guide the horizontal movement of the upper cover 620 . The vertical frame member 674 is used to support the horizontal frame member 672 at the same height as the upper cover moving frame 640 . Preferably, the vertical frame member 674 is adapted to adjust the height of the horizontal frame member 672 to eliminate the height difference between the horizontal frame member 672 and the upper cover moving frame 640 .

A gap filler 676 is provided at one end of the horizontal frame member 672 facing the chamber. The gap filler 676 is adapted to fill the gap between the horizontal frame member 672 and the upper cover moving frame 640 when the supporting frame 670 approaches the upper cover moving frame 640 . As is well known, it is difficult for the horizontal frame member 672 to be in close contact with the upper cover moving frame 640 due to various elements disposed around the chamber and the configuration of the support frame itself. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 34 , a gap filler 676 is separately provided to fill the gap between the horizontal frame member 672 and the upper cover moving frame 640 . In this embodiment, the gap fillers 676 are pivotally hinged to the horizontal frame members 672 such that they fold up during transport, but pivot in use to fill the horizontal frame members 672 and the upper cover movement frame 640 gap between.

Preferably, each gap filler 676 may be provided with a vertical drive unit to ensure its vertical movement.

The supporting frame 670 according to the present embodiment preferably further includes wheels 678 to facilitate its movement. Wheels 678 are respectively mounted on the lower ends of the vertical frame parts 674, so as to reduce the frictional force between the vertical frame parts 674 and the floor, and ensure that the vertical frame parts 674 are easy to move horizontally.

The support frame 670 according to the present embodiment may further include a pair of rotation members 677 . The rotating member 677 is used to rotate the upper cover 620 . In this embodiment, the pair of rotating members 677 are mounted to the horizontal frame member 672 such that they are located on opposite sides of the upper cover 620 placed therebetween. The rotation member 677 is coupled to the centers of the opposite side walls of the upper cover 620 and adapted to rotatably support the upper cover 620 . Therefore, when the upper cover 620 is moved by the horizontal driving unit 630 to a sufficient radius of rotation, the rotating member 677 rotates the upper cover 620 so that the upper cover 620 is opened upward to enable easy management and maintenance of its internal equipment.

Preferably, the support frame 670 further includes one or more fixing units 679 to fix the support frame 670 to the chamber body 610 . The fixing unit 679 is used to prevent the support frame 670 from moving away from the chamber body 610 during the horizontal movement and rotation of the upper cover 620 . In this embodiment, each fixing unit 679 includes a pair of fixing blocks 679a and a fixing pin 679b. Therefore, if the pair of fixing blocks 679a are precisely aligned with each other, the fixing pins 679b are inserted through the fixing blocks 679a to maintain the support frame 670 in a fixed position.

The opening/closing process of the upper cover 620 of the vacuum processing apparatus 600 according to the present embodiment will be described below.

First, as shown in FIG. 35A , the upper cover moving frame 640 is lifted by a distance of 1 mm to 10 mm while driving a plurality of vertical driving units 650 at the same time. Thereby, the horizontal driving unit 630 , the rotating member 677 and the upper cover 620 supported on the upper cover moving frame 640 are lifted. Therefore, if the vacuum in the chamber is released, as shown in FIG. 35B , the upper cover 620 moves horizontally according to the operation of the horizontal driving unit 630 . In this case, when the support frame 670 is used, it is necessary to arrange the support frame 670 in close contact with the upper cover moving frame 640 . After the upper cover 620 is moved horizontally to reach a sufficient radius of rotation, as shown in FIG. 35C , the rotation member 677 is operated to rotate the upper cover 620 by 180°. In this way, the upper cover 620 is opened upwards to enable servicing of equipment therein. After the equipment maintenance is completed, the above-described opening process of the upper cover 620 is performed in reverse order, thereby closing the upper cover 620 .

Seventh embodiment

The vacuum processing apparatus according to this embodiment includes: a load lock chamber; a feed chamber; and one or more process chambers, but for convenience of description, the following description is only for one process chamber. Referring to FIG. 36 , a vacuum processing device 700 according to this embodiment includes: a chamber body 710 ; an upper cover 720 ; an upper cover lifting device 730 ; and a horizontal driving device 740 .

In the vacuum processing apparatus 700 according to the present embodiment, the chamber body 710 generally has a rectangular box shape, and the upper cover 720 is detachably provided on the chamber body 710, thereby constituting a vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber is used to process a large-area flat panel display substrate having a rectangular shape therein, and thus generally has a rectangular box shape corresponding to the rectangular substrate. The vacuum chamber is internally provided with an exhaust system (not shown) to establish a vacuum in the chamber. After a vacuum is established in the chamber by the operation of the exhaust system, a desired process is performed on the substrate placed in the chamber.

The chamber body 710 is formed with a substrate inlet serving as a passage for receiving a substrate from an external station for loading a substrate and discharging a substrate for unloading a substrate. Generally, the substrate is loaded and unloaded while it moves horizontally in a lying state, and thus, the substrate inlet passes through one of the side walls of the chamber body 710 . To open and close the substrate inlet, the chamber body 710 is provided with a gate valve. The substrate inlet is continuously open during loading and unloading of substrates, but must be closed after the substrates are fully loaded so that desired substrate processing can take place in the closed state of the chamber. Therefore, the substrate inlet is opened and closed when the gate valve moves vertically.

Referring to FIG. 36 , an upper cover lifting device 730 is detachably provided on the upper cover 720 to vertically move the upper cover 720 . In this embodiment, before being horizontally moved for its opening operation, the upper cover 720 is lifted by a predetermined distance using the upper cover lifting device 730 .

The upper cover lifting device 730 in this embodiment includes: a plurality of hoisting devices 732 ; and a supporting frame 734 for the lifting devices. The hoist lifting device 732 is coupled to the support frame 734 to extend downward such that it is coupled to the upper surface of the upper cover 720 to lift the upper cover 720 . The plurality of hoist lifting devices 732 are respectively coupled to a plurality of positions of the upper cover 720 to jointly share the load of the heavy upper cover 720 . Lifting the upper cover 720 with a plurality of hoist lifts 732 coupled thereto has the effect of spreading the load concentration. Also, since the upper cover 720 is supported at a plurality of positions, vibration of the upper cover 720 during vertical movement of the upper cover 720 may be minimized.

The jack support frame 734 is placed above the upper cover 720 to be spaced parallel to the upper surface of the upper cover 720 , and has a shape corresponding to the edge of the upper cover 720 . The plurality of hoist lifts 732 are coupled to a lift support frame 734 in place to be supported by the lift support frame 734 . Referring to FIG. 37 , the lifting device support frame 734 generally has a rectangular ring shape corresponding to the edge of the upper cover 720 , but has a larger width than the upper cover 720 . In order that the plurality of hoist lifting devices 732 can be provided at various positions, as shown in FIG. 37 , an auxiliary frame 733 is provided at a lifting device support frame 734 . The auxiliary frame 733 is disposed within the jig support frame 734 to extend across the jig support frame 734 . As shown in FIG. 37 , hoist lifts 732 are located at the intersections of auxiliary frames 733 .

The upper cover lifting device 730 according to the present embodiment can be moved from one place to another by a main lifting device (not shown) installed on the top of the clean room where the vacuum processing equipment is installed. . Specifically, the upper cover lifting device 730 is lifted by the main lifting device so that it moves from one vacuum processing device to another vacuum processing device in order to open the upper cover of the device. Therefore, it is preferable that the lifting gear support frame 734 is provided with a coupler (not shown) on its upper surface to be coupled with the main lifting gear. The use of the movable upper cover lifting device 730 eliminates the need to separately provide upper cover lifting devices for all the process chambers of the vacuum processing equipment, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost and simplifying the equipment structure.

Preferably, the upper cover lifting device 730 according to this embodiment is provided with an anti-vibration member 736 . The anti-vibration member 736 is interposed between the lifting gear support frame 734 and the upper cover 720, and is adapted to prevent vibration of the upper cover 720 when the upper cover 720 is lifted or lowered. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 36 , the anti-vibration member 736 may include a plurality of elastic springs. In this case, it is preferable that the elastic springs 736 are coupled to corners or edges of the upper surface of the upper cover 720 in order to achieve an increase in the anti-vibration performance of the upper cover 720 . When the anti-vibration member 736 is formed of an elastic spring, it can absorb the vibration of the upper cover 720 and elastically press the upper cover 720, thereby achieving an increase in anti-vibration performance.

Referring to FIG. 38 , alternatively, the anti-vibration member 736 may include an anti-vibration clamp 736 a having a shape corresponding to the edge of the upper cover 720 . The anti-vibration clamp 736 a is configured to be coupled with the vibration stopper 722 formed at the upper surface of the upper cover 720 . In this case, in order to effectively prevent the vibration of the upper cover 720, the vibration stopper 722 and the anti-vibration jig 736a must be arranged in close contact with each other. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 38, it is preferable that the contact surfaces of both the vibration stopper 722 and the anti-vibration clamp 736a are inclined outwards to ensure that the contact surfaces of the vibration stopper 722 when the upper cover 720 is lifted Can be smoothly brought into contact with the contact surface of the anti-vibration jig 736a to slide thereon.

Preferably, the anti-vibration fixture 736a is provided with an upper cover height sensor 738 to accurately measure the height of the upper cover 720 . The upper cover height sensor 738 is inserted between the anti-vibration jig 736a and the vibration stopper 722 to sense the height of the upper cover 720 lifted. Accurately measuring the height of the upper cover 720 is important because continuing to apply power to the hoist lifting device 732 after the upper cover 720 is fully raised may damage the upper cover 720 or the lifting device. Also, when the upper cover 720 is not lifted sufficiently, damage to the O-ring may result during the horizontal movement of the upper cover 720 . Therefore, in the present embodiment, the upper cover height sensor 738 as a contact type sensor is provided at the contact surface of the anti-vibration jig 736a so that the operation of the hoist lifting device 732 stops when the lifted upper cover 720 touches the sensor 738 .

The horizontal driving device 740 is configured to be located on opposite sides of the upper cover 720 such that the upper cover 720 is located therebetween. The horizontal driving device 740 is used to move the upper cover 720 horizontally after the upper cover 720 is lifted by the upper cover lifting device 730 . Referring to FIG. 36 , the horizontal drive device 740 supports opposite sides of the lift support frame 734 to move the lift support frame 734 horizontally, and thereby move the lifted upper cover 720 coupled to the lift support frame 734 horizontally. Therefore, in this embodiment, the horizontal driving device 740 includes a pair of guide rails 742 and a driving motor (not shown). As shown in FIG. 36 , guide rails 742 contact opposite sides of the lift support frame 734 to guide the lift support frame 734 horizontally. The drive motor provides the power required to move the jack support frame 734 horizontally. Accordingly, the drive motor is coupled to the lift support frame 734 and the guide rail 742 to move the lift support frame 734 horizontally.

The vacuum processing apparatus 700 according to the present embodiment may further include a support frame 770 disposed beside the chamber body 710 and adapted to receive the upper cover 720 when the upper cover 720 is horizontally moved by the horizontal driving device 740 . An advantage of providing a single support frame 770 is that a single support frame can be used for multiple vacuum chambers included in a vacuum processing apparatus. That is, instead of providing support frames for a plurality of vacuum chambers separately, a single movable support frame may be commonly used for the plurality of vacuum chambers.

Referring to FIG. 39 , in this embodiment, the supporting frame 770 includes: a horizontal frame member 772 ; a vertical frame member 774 ; a gap filler 776 ; and a rotating member 777 . The horizontal frame member 772 has the same height as the guide rail 742 and extends in the same direction as the guide rail 742 to guide the horizontal movement of the upper cover 720 . The vertical frame members 774 are used to support the horizontal frame members 772 at the same height as the rails 742 . Preferably, the vertical frame member 774 is adapted to adjust the height of the horizontal frame member 772 to eliminate the height difference between the horizontal frame member 672 and the guide rail 742 .

A gap filler 776 is provided at one end of the horizontal frame member 772 facing the chamber. The gap filler 776 is adapted to fill the gap between the horizontal frame member 772 and the rail 742 when the support frame 770 approaches the rail 742 . As is known, it is difficult for the horizontal frame member 772 to come into close contact with the guide rail 742 due to the various elements disposed around the chamber and the configuration of the support frame itself. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 39 , a gap filler 776 is separately provided to fill the gap between the horizontal frame member 772 and the guide rail 742 . In this embodiment, the gap fillers 776 are pivotally hinged to the horizontal frame members 772 such that they fold up during transport, but pivot in use to fill the gap between the horizontal frame members 772 and the rails 742. gap.

Preferably, each gap filler 776 may be provided with a vertical drive unit to ensure its vertical movement. Although not shown, the vertical drive unit preferably takes the form of a ball screw to achieve precise vertical movement of the gap filler 776 .

The rotation member 777 is used to rotate the upper cover 720 after the upper cover 720 is moved to the support frame 770 . In this embodiment, the pair of rotating members 777 is located at the center of the horizontal frame member 772 such that they are detachably coupled to the upper cover 720 . That is, the rotating member 777 is located at the opposite side of the upper cover 720 and can move horizontally to be coupled with the coupler 724 provided at the opposite side wall of the upper cover 720 . Therefore, when the upper cover 720 reaches the rotating position, the rotating member 777 is coupled with the coupler 724 to rotate the upper cover 720 by 180°.

Preferably, each gap filler 776 may be provided with a vertical drive unit to ensure its vertical movement.

The supporting frame 770 according to the present embodiment preferably further includes wheels 778 to facilitate its movement. Wheels 778 are respectively mounted on the lower ends of the vertical frame parts 774, so as to reduce the frictional force between the vertical frame parts 774 and the floor, and ensure that the vertical frame parts 774 are easy to move horizontally.

Preferably, the support frame 770 further includes one or more fixing units 779 to fix the support frame 770 to the chamber body 710 . The fixing unit 779 is used to prevent the support frame 770 from moving away from the chamber body 710 during the horizontal movement and rotation of the upper cover 720 . In this embodiment, each fixing unit 779 includes a pair of fixing blocks 779a and a fixing pin 779b. Therefore, if the pair of fixing blocks 779a are precisely aligned with each other, the fixing pins 779b are inserted through the fixing blocks 779a to maintain the support frame 770 in a fixed position.

The opening/closing process of the upper cover 720 of the vacuum processing apparatus 700 according to the present embodiment will be described below.

First, as shown in FIG. 40A , the upper cover 720 is lifted by a distance of 1 mm to 10 mm while driving a plurality of hoist lifting devices 732 at the same time. When the upper cover 720 is lifted, the vacuum in the chamber is released. Then, as shown in FIG. 40B , the upper cover 720 and the lifting device support frame 734 move horizontally according to the operation of the horizontal driving device 740 . In this case, when the support frame 770 is used, it is necessary to place the support frame 770 in close contact with the guide rail 742 . After the upper cover 720 is moved horizontally to ensure its stable rotation, as shown in FIG. 40C , the rotation member 777 is operated to rotate the upper cover 720 by 180°. In this way, the upper cover 720 is opened upwards to enable servicing of the equipment therein. After the equipment maintenance is completed, the above-described opening process of the upper cover 720 is performed in reverse order, thereby closing the upper cover 720 .

Eighth embodiment

Referring to Figures 41 and 42, the conveyor hoist clamp system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes: a main body 810; first to third connecting rings 816, 818 and 826; a screw 820; a mover 822; a power source 830; ; bearing 836 ; and fixed plate 838 .

The main body 810 has a square shape with an appropriate thickness. The main body 810 has: four guide grooves 812 extending diagonally from a center point to four corners of the main body 810 for a predetermined distance;

The guide grooves 812 are equally spaced apart from each other by 90°, and each have a downwardly tapering cross-section.

In this embodiment, in order to reduce material cost, the main body 810 is partially recessed. The concave structure also has the function of enhancing the overall strength of the main body 810 . The second connecting rings 818 are respectively installed at the four corners of the upper surface of the main body 810, so that when a heavy object needs to be transferred, the wire of the lifting device C is connected to the second connecting rings 818. Connecting the wires of the lifting device C to the corners of the main body 810 with connection rings 818 has the effect of achieving an even load distribution.

A first connection ring 816 is mounted to an upper surface of an extension 814 provided at the center of the main body 810 to be connected to a lifting device C provided at the top of the clean room.

The screws 820 are accommodated in the guide grooves 812, respectively, while being each put in a bearing at a position spaced a predetermined distance from the front and rear ends thereof. Screw rod 820 is made up of left and right screw rods. Both the left and right screw rods 820 have the same rotation direction as each other, and the left and right screw rods 820 move the movers 822 respectively fastened to the screw rods 820 inwardly or outwardly at the same time, so that the position of the mover 822 changes uniformly at the same time.

Each mover 822 has a downwardly tapering block shape corresponding to the cross-section of the guide groove 822 . The mover 822 is pierced horizontally through a hole such that a pair of nuts 824 are mounted on opposite sides of the hole. The screw 820 is rotatably fastened to the nut 824 . The third connecting ring 826 is installed at the center of the lower surface of the mover 822 .

The power source 830 has a hollow vertical cylinder shape and is stepped such that its upper end is narrower than its lower end. The U-shaped handle 832 is circumferentially disposed along the upper end of the power source 830 . The power source 830 is located in the upper end region of the through hole vertically passing through the center of the main body 810 .

The power source 830 is formed with a helical thread on its lower surface, and the helical thread is engaged with a thread formed at the front end of each screw 820 . With this configuration, if the power source 830 rotates in one direction, the plurality of screws 820 are simultaneously rotated by the engaged helical threads of the power source 830 and the threads of the screws 820 . Since the left and right screw rods 820 are placed opposite to each other, simultaneously, the mover 822 fastened to the screw rods 820 moves inwardly or outwardly to uniformly change positions.

The lower plate 834 is inserted into a lower end region of a through hole penetrating through the center of the main body 810 . To this end, the lower plate 834 is stepped such that its upper end is narrower than its lower end. The bearing 836 is fitted to the stepped portion of the lower plate 834 . The bearing 836 serves to vertically support the lower plate 834 and is placed in contact with the lower surface of the front end of each screw 820 .

Specifically, if the power source 830 rotates, the screw 820 in contact with the power source 830 rotates. In this case, the bearing 836 is in contact with the lower surface of each screw 820 to facilitate the rotation of the screw 820 .

The fixing plate 838 has a disc shape, and is fastened to the center of the lower surface of the main body 810 by means of a plurality of bolts. The fixing plate 838 is used to position the lower plate 834 on which the bearing is fixed in the central through hole of the main body 810 so as to allow the upper surface of the bearing 836 to contact the lower surface of the front end of each screw 820 .

As described above, each mover 822 received in the guide groove 812 of the main body 810 has an inverted trapezoidal shape and thus has opposite inclined surfaces. Therefore, even if the mover 822 is not fixed to the guide portion 812 with a separate fixing device, the movement of the mover 822 is guided via its opposing inclined surfaces (see FIG. 43 ).

Utilizing the configuration described above, as shown in FIGS. 41 to 43 , the conveyor hoist clamp system of the present invention having predetermined dimensions can transfer the chamber when the connecting ring 826 is moved inwardly or outwardly to an appropriate position corresponding to the size of the upper cover. (not shown) of the upper cover (not shown).

Here, to change the position of the connection ring 826, first, the handle 832 provided along the circumference of the upper end of the power source 830 is manually rotated in one direction to rotate the power source 830. If the power source 830 rotates, the helical threads of the lower surface of the power source 830 rotate, so that the four screws 820 engaged with the threads of the power source 830 rotate simultaneously. Since the thread of the left screw 820 is opposite to that of the right screw 820, the movers 822 fastened to the left and right screws 820 move inward or outward simultaneously, thereby changing positions. In this way, the connecting ring 826 installed on the lower surface of the mover 822 also changes its position. In this way, when a large-area upper cover or other various boards need to be transferred, the mover 822 is moved outward so that the upper cover can be easily coupled. On the contrary, when it is necessary to transfer a small-area upper cover or other various boards, the mover 822 moves inward so that the upper cover can be easily coupled.

Operation of the power source 830 is performed by a drive motor (not shown).

As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a large-scale vacuum processing apparatus suitable for processing large-area substrates, which has the following effects.

First, according to the present invention, the upper cover only needs simplified rotation and horizontal driving means, and the chamber body can move vertically with this simplified structure, thereby enabling the opening/closing operation of the upper cover easily.

Second, according to the present invention, the upper cover is opened after it is moved horizontally to the unused space between the process chambers. This has the effect of a significant reduction in the footprint of the vacuum processing equipment.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible within the spirit and scope of the present invention disclosed in the appended claims of.

Claims (6)

1. A vacuum processing apparatus comprising: a chamber body having a gate valve for enabling substrate loading and unloading; and an upper cover detachably arranged on the chamber body, the processing apparatus further comprising : Conveyor Elevator Clamp System, and Wherein, the conveying hoist clamp system includes: a polygonal columnar body having a thickness, the body being provided with a connecting ring at the center; and a plurality of connecting rings, each of which is respectively provided at a corresponding corner of the lower surface of the main body to move toward or away from the center of the main body in a diagonal direction, and is connected to the upper cover and the upper cover Moving up and down together, the plurality of connecting rings simultaneously move inward or outward to change position. 2. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the main body comprises: a plurality of guide grooves penetrating through the thickness of the main body and extending diagonally from the center of the main body to the corners; a plurality of screws received respectively in the guide grooves of the main body and fixed to the main body at opposite ends of the screws; a plurality of movers, each mover is respectively fastened to a circumferential position of one of the plurality of screw rods, and adapted to move forward or backward according to the rotation of the screw rods, each mover is provided with a connection on its lower surface ring; and A barrel-type power source, the lower surface of which is formed with a helical thread engaged with a thread formed at one end of each screw to allow the plurality of screws to simultaneously rotate in accordance with the rotation of the power source. 3. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein each guide groove of the main body has a downwardly tapering cross section. 4. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the screw includes a left screw and a right screw positioned opposite to each other with respect to the center of the body, a flight of the left screw extending in a direction opposite to a flight of the right screw. 5. The vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a plurality of handles are provided along a circumference at an upper end of the power source to allow the power source to be manually rotated. 6. The vacuum processing apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the conveying elevator clamp system further comprises: a bearing placed in contact with a lower end of a thread provided at one end of each screw to facilitate movement of the screws. rotate.

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