JP4280481B2 - Substrate support device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily and freely arrange substrate support pins on an unused region on a substrate, to eliminate the need of a plurality of substrate supporting plates, to reduce cost and to reduce trouble of exchange in the substrate supporting device supporting a planar substrate to be processed. <P>SOLUTION: In the substrate supporting device, an upper substrate supporting plate 3 formed of thin magnetic body is overlapped on a lower substrate supporting plate 2 formed of an aluminum metal plate so as to form the substrate supporting plate 4, and fixed substrate supporting pins 5 and the movable substrate supporting pins 6 are arranged on the plate 4. The fixed pins 5 are fixed by screws 51, and the movable pins 6 have magnets inside and are fixed to the upper substrate supporting plate 3 by magnetic force. Positions of the movable pins 6 can easily be changed without using a tool. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a substrate support device for supporting a flat panel display substrate such as a liquid crystal display or a PDP (plasma display).
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in a substrate support device that holds a substrate for surface treatment, transportation, storage, etc. of a flat substrate, the substrate is supported by a plurality of pins from below, and the middle of the substrate is supported. Then, since the substrate support pin mark is attached to the substrate, the substrate is usually supported outside the effective area of the substrate, for example, the peripheral portion of the substrate. By the way, when the size of the substrate to be held increases, a large deflection occurs due to its own weight in the central portion of the substrate. When the substrate is bent, the bent portion may come into contact with the substrate support plate. Further, when the substrate is bent and deformed, the substrate may be displaced from the support position, and may not be supported at the correct position. The increase in the substrate size is due to the fact that the substrate size in the final use state is increased, and so-called multi-sizing is performed in order to increase productivity. Multi-chamfering of substrates is a method in which a small substrate is placed on a large substrate, processed, and finally cut to obtain a plurality of final substrate sizes. Therefore, the large substrate for chamfering has a non-use area for cutting or the like other than the peripheral portion. Therefore, as a countermeasure against bending, a substrate support device having substrate support pins attached aiming at an unused area in the middle of the substrate is used.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the conventional substrate support device that supports the substrate in the middle of the unused area, a substrate support pin fixed to the substrate support plate is used. There is a problem that it is not possible to respond flexibly. For example, a non-use area such as a cutting area is changed by changing the multi-chamfering specification of the substrate like a change in the number of multi-chamfering accompanying a size change of the small substrate. Such a case is dealt with by replacing the substrate support plate prepared for each processing substrate of each specification. Corresponding to the increase in the size of the substrate, the substrate support plate itself becomes larger, and it is not easy to replace the substrate to replace the entire substrate support plate. Furthermore, since various kinds of substrate receiving plates have to be prepared, there is a problem that the component cost is increased.
[0004]
The present invention solves the above-mentioned problem, and can easily and freely arrange the substrate support pins aiming at the unused area on the substrate, does not require a plurality of substrate support plates, and reduces cost and replacement. It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate holding device that can reduce the time and effort required.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is a substrate support device for supporting a planar substrate to be processed with a plurality of substrate support pins with a gap on a substrate support plate without vacuum suction. The substrate support plate is a movable substrate support pin (hereinafter referred to as a movable pin) that is formed of a flat plate having a rectangular outer shape, and a part or all of the substrate support pin is disposed and used on the substrate support plate. The movable pin is a composite pin in which a plurality of movable pins are combined, and can support an arbitrary position with respect to a substrate to be processed having various chamfer specifications of various substrate sizes or patterns. is obtained by allowing arbitrarily changed in the position of the movable pin the substrate supporting plate.
[0006]
In the above configuration, since the position of the substrate support pin can be arbitrarily changed on the substrate support plate, the substrate support plate dedicated to each of the substrates to be processed having various substrate sizes and patterns of multiple chamfering specifications. In addition, the setup for supporting the unused area of the substrate to be processed can be easily performed by changing the position of the substrate support pins.
[0007]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the substrate support apparatus according to the first aspect, the substrate support plate includes a magnetic material, the substrate support pins have magnetism, and are fixed to the substrate support plate by a magnetic force. .
[0008]
In the above configuration, since the substrate support pin is fixed to the substrate support plate by magnetic force, a special tool for changing the position of the substrate support pin is not required, and the substrate support pin can be easily and quickly operated manually. The position can be changed.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a substrate support device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Common members in the drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted. As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate support device 1 includes a substrate support plate in which an upper substrate support plate 3 made of a magnetic material such as a thin iron plate or SUS430 stainless steel plate is stacked on a lower substrate support plate 2 made of an aluminum metal plate. 4, and a fixed substrate support pin (hereinafter referred to as “fixed pin”) 5 and a movable substrate support pin (hereinafter referred to as “movable pin”) 6 are arranged on the upper surfaces thereof. As shown in FIG. 2A, the fixing pin 5 has a screw hole 54 in the lower portion. As shown in FIG. 1, the fixing pin 5 is screwed through the holes 52 and 53 of the substrate plate 4 from the lower surface. 51 is fixed with screws. Moreover, the movable pin 6 is comprised from the upper part 61, the lower part 62, and the magnet M provided in both inside, as FIG.2 (b) shows. The upper portions of these substrate support pins have an acute angle in order to minimize the area in contact with the substrate to be processed, but it is preferable to maintain an appropriate roundness so as not to damage the substrate to be processed.
[0010]
With reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, an example of supporting a multi-sided substrate to be processed in the case of four-sided and nine-sided chamfering from a substrate to be processed having the same outer size by using the substrate support apparatus 1 having the above configuration will be described. . First, in the case of four-chamfering, the substrate 7 to be processed has four small substrates 71 to 74 inside. There is a nonuse area (non-product area) for cutting, finishing, or handling between the small substrates and the outer periphery of the substrate 7 to be processed. Among such unused areas, the points P1 to P4 are selected in the region inside the substrate 7, and the movable pins 6 are arranged on the substrate support plate corresponding to these points. The fixing pin 5 is fixed to the peripheral portion of the substrate support plate 4 so as to support the outer peripheral portion of the substrate 7. By arranging the substrate support pins 5 and 6 and supporting the substrate 7 in this way, the substrate 7 can be kept clean and the deflection due to its own weight at the center of the substrate can be eliminated. Further, in the case of nine chamfering, the size of the substrate 8 is the same as in the case of four chamfering, and the outer peripheral portion is supported by the fixing pins 5 at the same position as described above. With respect to the inside of the substrate, points Q1 to Q4 are selected in the boundary region between the small substrates 81 to 89, and the movable pin 6 is arranged on the substrate support plate corresponding to this point without causing deflection at the center. The substrate 8 can be supported.
[0011]
Further, the substrate processing apparatus using the substrate support apparatus 1 includes a lower member A and an upper member B as shown in FIG. The substrate support device 1 is placed on the upper part of the lower member A, and the substrate 7 is supported by the fixed pins 5 and the movable pins 6 of the substrate support device 1. Here, the lower member A of the substrate processing apparatus 100 is, for example, an exhaust device, an exhaust device, a waste liquid device, a substrate driving device, and the like, and the upper member B is, for example, a cleaning liquid shower nozzle, a developer coating nozzle, and a drying device. A blower, a thin film forming device, a vacuum drying device, or the like.
[0012]
Next, details of the substrate support apparatus 1 and some modifications will be described. In FIG. 1, a substrate support plate 4 is formed by lowering the thickness of a substrate support plate, which is a conventional aluminum single body, to form a lower substrate support plate 2, and an upper substrate support plate 3 made of a magnetic material such as an iron plate is stacked thereon. Thus, the entire thickness is the same as that of the conventional substrate support plate. In this way, the total thickness of the upper and lower substrate support plates 2 and 3 is the same as that of the conventional substrate support plate, and by making the height of each support pin the same as the conventional, the pin movable type substrate support The apparatus 1 can be made compatible with a conventional substrate support apparatus.
[0013]
In addition, grooves a and b are carved in a lattice shape at equal intervals on the surface of the upper substrate support plate 3 in order to make it easy to change the arrangement of the movable pins 6. Furthermore, the circular groove | channel c is carved in the place which becomes a reference point especially in the intersection of the groove | channel a and the groove | channel b. By changing the arrangement of the movable pins 6 with reference to these grooves, the workability of the arrangement change is improved. Further, the upper substrate support plate 3 is subjected to surface treatment such as coating, plating treatment, fluororesin (polytetrafluoroethylene, etc.) coating treatment in order to prevent dust generation, corrosion (rust), and the like.
[0014]
Further, as shown in FIG. 6, a groove 63 slightly larger than the outer shape of the movable pin 6 is dug in a specific place of the upper substrate support plate 3, and the movable pin 6 is fitted into the groove. The displacement of the movable pin 6 can be prevented.
[0015]
Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the substrate support plate 4 is provided with a large number of positioning mounting holes 93, and the substrate support pins 9 are provided with protrusions 92 that are inserted into the mounting holes 93 for positioning. Thus, the substrate support pins 9 can be easily inserted and rearranged in any positioning mounting hole 93 of the substrate support plate.
[0016]
Further, the same effect as described above can be obtained by using the upper substrate support plate 3 as a metal plate having magnetic force and the movable pins embedded with a magnetic material such as iron.
[0017]
Further, as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, by using a composite pin in which a plurality of movable pins 10 are coupled by a coupling member 11, the plurality of movable pins 10 can be easily rearranged. be able to. The movable pin 10 may have a magnet or may have an insertion protrusion.
[0018]
The present invention is not limited to the above-described configuration, and various modifications can be made. For example, the substrate to be processed can be supported by all movable pins without using fixed pins. Further, the shape of the substrate to be processed and the small substrate that is multi-faced is not limited to the rectangle in the above description, and the present invention can be applied to a flat plate substrate having an arbitrary shape.
[0019]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is not necessary to manufacture a plurality of substrate receiving plates for a variety of substrates to be processed. This leads to cost reduction of components and simplification of storage management of components. Is planned. Further, when processing other substrates to be processed having different unused areas, the setup operation for changing the substrate support position can be easily performed by changing the position of the substrate support pins, so that the work efficiency is improved.
[0020]
According to the invention of claim 2, when it is necessary to change the arrangement of the movable substrate support pins in the middle of the plate, the arrangement can be easily changed because it can be removed without requiring a tool.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view illustrating an outline of a substrate support apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of a fixed pin used in the above apparatus, and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of a movable pin used in the apparatus.
FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view for explaining an example of use of the apparatus.
FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view for explaining another usage example of the apparatus.
FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which the apparatus is incorporated in a substrate processing apparatus.
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an upper substrate support plate showing an arrangement structure of movable pins according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of an upper substrate support plate showing another arrangement structure of movable pins according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8A is a perspective view in which two movable pins according to an embodiment of the present invention are integrated, and FIG. 8B is a perspective view in which the four movable pins are integrated.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate support device 2 Lower substrate support plate 3 Upper substrate support plate 4 Substrate support plate 5 Fixed substrate support pin (fixed pin)
6 Movable substrate support pins (movable pins)
7,8 Substrate to be processed

Claims (2)

In a substrate support apparatus that supports a planar substrate to be processed with a plurality of substrate support pins spaced apart from each other without vacuum suction, the substrate support plate comprises a flat plate having an outer shape, and the substrate support A part of or all of the pins are movable substrate support pins (hereinafter referred to as “movable pins”) that are used by being arranged on the substrate support plate, and at least a part of the movable pins is connected to a plurality of movable pins. and a composite pin, so that can support an arbitrary position relative to the target substrate having a multi-panel specifications board size or pattern of wide, the position of the movable pin can be arbitrarily changed in the substrate supporting plate A substrate support apparatus characterized by being configured as described above.   The substrate support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate support plate includes a magnetic material, the substrate support pins have magnetism, and are fixed to the substrate support plate by a magnetic force.

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