JP7642005B2 - SUBSTRATE POSITION CHANGE DEVICE AND SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to a posture changing technology that changes a substrate, which is conveyed by a plurality of conveying rollers arranged parallel to each other in a conveying direction along the main surface of the substrate, between a first posture and a second posture. Here, examples of substrates include substrates for semiconductor packages manufactured in a manufacturing form such as wafer level packaging (WLP) or panel level packaging (PLP), semiconductor wafers, substrates for flat panel displays (FPDs) such as glass substrates for liquid crystal displays and organic electroluminescence displays, substrates for optical disks, substrates for magnetic disks, substrates for magneto-optical disks, glass substrates for photomasks, substrates for solar cells, etc.

A technology is known in which a substrate position changing device that switches a substrate between a horizontal position and an inclined position is incorporated into a substrate processing apparatus that supplies a processing liquid to the main surface of a substrate transported by a plurality of unit rollers (corresponding to the "transport roller" of the present invention) to perform a predetermined process (for example, Patent Document 1). In this substrate position changing device, a cylinder is connected to each unit roller. Each cylinder can switch the unit roller between a horizontal position and an inclined position by raising and lowering one end of the unit roller in the vertical direction. In this conventional technology, it is possible to change the position of each of the plurality of unit rollers individually between a horizontal position and an inclined position. Therefore, the substrate can be transported in the following manner. The substrate is transported with all unit rollers switched to the horizontal position, and when the substrate has entered the substrate position changing device, all cylinders are operated to switch the substrate from the horizontal position to an inclined position. The substrate is then transported in the transport direction while still in the inclined position. After the transport starts, the cylinders are returned to their original state in the order in which the rear end of the substrate in the inclined position has passed. This returns the unit rollers to a horizontal position in the above order, preparing them to receive the next board.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-226916

In recent years, as substrates have become larger and thinner, there has been a need to narrow the pitch of the transport rollers in the transport direction. However, in conventional devices that have a structure in which a cylinder is attached to each unit roller, there is a limit to how much the pitch can be reduced, considering interference between adjacent cylinders.

This invention was developed in consideration of the above problems, and aims to enable a narrower pitch of transport rollers in a substrate posture changing device that changes the posture of a substrate being transported by multiple transport rollers arranged parallel to each other in the transport direction along the main surface of the substrate.

A first aspect of the present invention is a substrate posture changing device that changes the posture of a substrate, which is conveyed in a conveying direction by a plurality of conveying rollers arranged parallel to each other in the conveying direction along a main surface of the substrate, between a first posture and a second posture that is inclined from the first posture, and includes a roller support mechanism that divides the plurality of conveying rollers into a plurality of conveying roller groups each consisting of a plurality of conveying rollers adjacent to each other in the conveying direction, and rotatably supports both ends of the conveying rollers constituting each of the conveying roller groups for each of the conveying roller groups by roller support parts provided corresponding to the conveying roller group, a rotation mechanism that rotates the roller support part around a rotation axis parallel to the conveying direction at one end side of the conveying roller supported by the roller support part for each of the roller support parts, thereby switching the conveying rollers supported by the roller support parts between the first posture and the second posture by a rotation part provided corresponding to the roller support part, and and a drive mechanism driven by a drive unit provided corresponding to the roller support portion, wherein when one of the conveying rollers corresponding to the drive unit is defined as a direct drive roller and the rest are defined as indirect drive rollers, each drive unit has a motor that generates a drive force, a one-side power transmission unit that transmits the drive force from the motor to one end of the direct drive roller, and a other-side power transmission unit that transmits the rotational force of the direct drive roller rotated by the drive force to the indirect drive roller at the other end side of the direct drive roller , wherein the one-side power transmission unit has a rotating shaft that is axially supported so as to be freely rotatable relative to the roller support portion while extending in the conveying direction, and transmits the drive force generated by the motor to the rotating shaft at a first position of the rotating shaft that is perpendicular to the rotation axis of the motor and faces the rotating shaft, and transmits the drive force transmitted to the rotating shaft to the direct drive roller at a second position of the rotating shaft that is perpendicular to the one end of the direct drive roller and faces the direct drive roller .

A second aspect of the present invention is a substrate processing apparatus characterized by including the substrate position changing device and a processing liquid supply unit that supplies processing liquid to a main surface of a substrate transported in a transport direction by a plurality of transport rollers.

In the invention configured in this manner, the multiple transport rollers for transporting the substrate in the transport direction are divided into multiple transport roller groups each consisting of multiple transport rollers adjacent to each other in the transport direction. A roller support part is provided for each transport roller group, and rotatably supports both ends of the transport rollers that make up the transport roller group. A rotating part is provided for each roller support part, and the roller support part can be rotated around a rotation axis parallel to the transport direction at one end side of the transport roller supported by the roller support part. Therefore, the transport rollers are switched between the first position and the second position for each transport roller group by rotating the roller support part by the rotating part.

In addition, a drive unit is provided for each roller support section and drives the transport rollers (= direct drive rollers + indirect drive rollers) supported by that roller support section. More specifically, in each drive section, the driving force generated by the motor is transmitted to the direct drive rollers and also to the indirect drive rollers via the direct drive rollers, so that all transport rollers supported by that roller support section rotate synchronously. This makes it possible to narrow the pitch of the transport rollers. The reasons for this are as follows.

For example, a power transmission mechanism that transmits the driving force to all of the transport rollers supported by the roller support section may be provided on one end of the transport roller. In this case, the pitch of the transport rollers is limited due to the size of the power transmission mechanism in the transport direction. In contrast, by distributing the power transmission mechanisms to both sides of the transport roller as in the present invention, it is possible to reduce the size of the power transmission mechanism in the transport direction, and as a result, the transport rollers supported by the roller support section can be arranged at a relatively narrow pitch.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to change the posture of a substrate being transported by multiple transport rollers arranged at a narrow pitch.

1 is a diagram showing an example of a substrate processing system equipped with a rinsing unit that is an embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention; 1 is a schematic diagram showing a rinsing unit of an embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention; 2 is a plan view of the substrate attitude changing device as seen from above. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of the substrate attitude changing device. FIG. 6A and 6B are diagrams illustrating a configuration and operation of a rotation unit that switches the position of a conveying roller.

Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example of a substrate processing system equipped with a rinsing section, which is an embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. The substrate processing system 100 of this embodiment is an apparatus that applies a resist liquid, exposes, and develops after exposure to a glass substrate G for a liquid crystal display device (hereinafter referred to as substrate G). The substrate processing system 100 includes a loading section 1, a cleaning section 2, a dehydration bake section 3, a coating section 4, a reduced pressure drying section 5, a pre-bake section 6, an exposure section 7, a developing section 8, a rinsing section 9, which corresponds to an example of a "substrate processing apparatus" of the present invention, a post-bake section 10, and an unloading section 11. These processing units are arranged adjacent to each other in the above order, and are controlled by a control section 12 to perform various processes on the substrate G transported by a transport section (not shown) in the order indicated by the dashed arrows.

The loading section 1 loads the substrate G to be processed in the substrate processing system 100 into the substrate processing system 100. The cleaning section 2 cleans the substrate G loaded into the loading section 1, removing fine particles as well as organic and metallic contamination, oils and greases, natural oxide films, and the like. The dehydration bake section 3 heats the substrate G and evaporates the cleaning liquid adhering to the substrate G in the cleaning section 2, thereby drying the substrate G.

The coating unit 4 applies a resist liquid as a coating liquid to the surface of the substrate G while adsorbing and holding the substrate G on the upper surface of the stage after the drying process in the dehydration bake unit 3. The reduced pressure drying unit 5 then evaporates the solvent of the resist liquid applied to the surface of the substrate G by reducing pressure, thereby drying the substrate G.

The substrate G that has been subjected to the reduced pressure drying process in the reduced pressure drying section 5 is transported to the pre-bake section 6 and is heated. The pre-bake section 6 is a heat treatment unit that heats the substrate G and solidifies the resist components on the surface of the substrate G. As a result, a thin film of the coating liquid, i.e., a resist film, is formed on the surface of the substrate G.

Next, the exposure unit 7 performs an exposure process on the surface of the substrate G on which the resist film has been formed. The exposure unit 7 irradiates the substrate G with far ultraviolet light through a mask on which a circuit pattern has been drawn, and transfers the pattern to the resist film. The development unit 8 immerses the substrate G, on which the pattern has been exposed in the exposure unit 7, in a developer, and performs a development process.

The rinse unit 9 performs a rinse process on the substrate G developed in the development unit 8. This stops the progress of the development process. The rinse unit 9 includes a substrate position change device according to the present invention, and a processing liquid supply unit that supplies a rinse liquid, which is an example of a processing liquid, to the upper surface of the substrate G (corresponding to an example of the "main surface" of the present invention). The rinse unit 9 receives the substrate G transported from the development unit 8 in a horizontal position (an example of the "first position" of the present invention) with its upper surface facing upward, and then changes the position of the substrate G to an inclined position (an example of the "second position" of the present invention) inclined from the horizontal position by the substrate position change device in response to a command from the control unit 12. The rinse unit 9 then supplies a rinse liquid to the upper surface while the substrate G is in the inclined position to perform a rinse process, and then transports the substrate G to the post bake unit 10. As in the conventional device, the transport rollers that transport the substrate G are sequentially returned to the horizontal position in the order in which the rear end of the substrate G in the inclined position passed, and a system is prepared to receive the next substrate G. The configuration and operation of the rinse unit 9 will be described in detail later.

The post-bake section 10 heats the substrate G and dries the substrate G by evaporating the rinsing liquid adhering to the substrate G in the rinsing section 9. The substrate G that has been processed in each processing unit of the substrate processing system 100 is transported to the unloading section 11. The substrate G is then unloaded from the unloading section 11 to the outside of the substrate processing system 100.

Although the substrate processing system 100 of this embodiment has an exposure unit 7, the exposure unit may be omitted in the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention. In that case, the substrate processing apparatus may be used in combination with a separate exposure device.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing a rinsing unit 9, which is one embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. In order to clarify the directional relationships between Figure 2 and the following figures, an XYZ Cartesian coordinate system is appropriately added, in which the Z direction is the vertical direction and the XY plane is the horizontal plane. In addition, for the purpose of making it easier to understand, the dimensions and number of each part are exaggerated or simplified as necessary.

The rinsing section 9 is housed in a housing 91 provided between the developing section 8 and the post-bake section 10. The housing 91 is provided with a partition plate 911 that separates the developing section 8 from the rinsing section 9, and a partition plate 912 that separates the rinsing section 9 from the post-bake section 10. The partition plate 911 is provided with a passage opening 913 for passing the substrate G, and the partition plate 912 is provided with a passage opening 914 for passing the substrate G.

In the rinsing section 9, multiple transport rollers 92 are arranged in a transport direction X along the upper surface of the substrate G. Each transport roller 92 is composed of a rotating shaft 921 and multiple substrate support parts 922 fixed to the rotating shaft 921. In this embodiment, the transport rollers 92 are arranged at a narrower pitch than in conventional devices (e.g., the device described in Patent Document 1) to accommodate larger and thinner substrates G. In this embodiment, 24 transport rollers 92 are arranged. In addition, a substrate attitude changing device 93 is provided to change the attitude of the substrate G transported by the transport rollers 92 between a horizontal attitude and an inclined attitude.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the substrate position changing device seen from above. Figure 4 is an enlarged view of a portion of the substrate position changing device, with (a) being an enlarged plan view and (b) being an enlarged side view. As shown in Figure 3, the substrate position changing device 93 is provided with a roller support mechanism 94 having eight roller support parts 94a to 94h. The roller support parts 94a to 94h are arranged adjacent to each other in this order along the transport direction X. That is, in this embodiment, the 24 transport rollers 92 are divided into eight transport roller groups 92a to 92h, each of which consists of three transport rollers adjacent to each other in the transport direction X, and the transport rollers 92 constituting the transport roller groups 92a to 92h are supported rotatably inside the roller support parts 94a to 94h, respectively. The control unit 12 controls each unit of the device so that the roller support units 94a to 94h are provided with driving units 95a to 95h to drive the transport rollers 92, and the rotation units 96a to 96b are provided to switch the posture of the transport rollers 92. In this manner, the substrate posture changing device 93 includes a driving mechanism having driving units 95a to 95h and a rotation mechanism having rotation units 96a to 96h, and is capable of controlling the drive and posture of the transport rollers 92 individually for each transport roller group. In this embodiment, the substrate posture changing device 93 is controlled by the control unit 12 that controls the entire substrate processing system 100, but a control unit specialized in controlling each unit of the rinsing unit 9 may be provided, and the control unit may control the drive and posture of the transport rollers 92 individually for each transport roller group. Additionally, because the roller support units 94a-94h, drive units 95a-95h, and rotation units 96a-96h each have the same configuration, the following describes the configuration and operation of the roller support unit 94a, drive unit 95a, and rotation unit 96a, and the rest are given the same or equivalent reference numerals and will not be described.

3 and 4(a), the roller support portion 94a has a support body 940 having a square cylindrical shape that opens in the vertical direction Z. Inside the support body 940, partition plates 941, 942 extending in the X direction are fixedly arranged at a fixed interval in the width direction Y of the substrate G. Inside the roller support portion 94a, three spaces SP1 to SP3 are formed by the partition plates 941, 942. In addition, three bearings 943 are attached to each of the partition plates 941, 942 in the X direction at the arrangement pitch P of the transport rollers 92. Then, both ends of the shaft of the transport roller 92 are inserted into a pair of bearings 943 facing each other in the Y direction, and the transport roller 92 is rotatably supported in the space SP2. In addition, the one-side power transmission unit 951 is disposed in a space SP1 (hereinafter referred to as the "one-side space SP1") located on the (-Y) direction side of the transport roller 92, while the other-side power transmission unit 952 is disposed in a space SP3 (hereinafter referred to as the "other-side space SP3") located on the (+Y) direction side of the transport roller 92. In addition, a motor 953 is attached to the side surface on the (-Y) direction side of the support body 940. Specifically, the motor 953 is attached to the opposite side of the transport roller 92 across the one-side power transmission unit 951 and to the outside of the roller support unit 94a. The one-side power transmission unit 951, the other-side power transmission unit 952, and the motor 953 provided on the roller support unit 94a are components of a drive unit 95a for rotating the transport roller 92 that constitutes the transport roller group 92a, and their details will be described later.

The roller support part 94a, to which the group of transport rollers 92a and the drive part 95a are attached, is provided inside the housing 91 at one end side of the transport rollers 92, i.e., the (-Y) side, so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis AX parallel to the transport direction X. In addition, a rotation part 96a is attached to the other side of the roller support part 94a, i.e., the (+Y) side.

5A and 5B are diagrams showing the configuration and operation of the rotating unit that switches the position of the transport roller, where FIG. 5A shows the various parts of the rotating unit when the transport roller is switched to a horizontal position, and FIG. 5B shows the various parts of the rotating unit when the transport roller is switched to an inclined position. The rotating unit 96a rotates the roller support unit 94a around the rotation axis AX by raising and lowering the lower surface area on the (+Y) direction side of the roller support unit 94a in the vertical direction Z, thereby switching the position of the transport roller 92 between the horizontal position and the inclined position. More specifically, the rotating unit 96a has a support member 961 that is attached to the lower surface area and supports the roller support unit 94a from below, a lifting unit 962 that lifts and lowers the support member 961, and a link block 963 that connects the support member 961 and a part of the lifting unit 962.

As shown in FIG. 5, the lifting unit 962 includes a columnar member 962a attached to the housing 91, a ball screw 962b attached to the columnar member 962a while extending parallel to the vertical direction Z, a motor 962c connected to the lower end of the ball screw 962b, and a bracket 962d screwed to the ball screw 962b. When the motor 962c operates in response to a lift command from the control unit 12, the ball screw 962b rotates, and the bracket 962d moves up and down in the vertical direction Z according to the amount of rotation. The support member 961 is connected to the bracket 962d configured in this manner via a link block 963. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5(a), the support member 961 has a rod shape extending in the vertical direction. When the bracket 962d is located at the lower limit position, the central axes of the support member 961 and the link block 963 are parallel to the vertical direction Z. However, the central axis of the support member 961 is slightly offset in the (-Y) direction from the central axis of the link block 963. When a rise command is given to the motor 962c from the control unit 12, the bracket 962d rises in the vertical direction Z according to the amount of rotation, as shown in FIG. 5B. In response to this rise of the bracket 962d, the end of the roller support part 94a on the (+Y) direction side is pushed upward via the link block 963 and the support member 961, and the roller support part 94a rotates around the rotation axis AX. As a result, as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 4B, the conveying roller 92 supported by the roller support part 94a is changed to an inclined posture that is inclined by a few degrees from the horizontal posture.

Conversely, when the control unit 12 issues a command to lower the motor 962c in this inclined position (when the bracket 962d is in the upper limit position), the end of the roller support part 94a on the (+Y) side lowers together with the link block 963 and the support member 961 as the bracket 962d lowers. This returns the conveyor roller 92 to a horizontal position (Figure 5(a)).

Returning to FIG. 4(a), the configuration and operation of the drive unit 95a will be described. The drive unit 95a has a one-side power transmission unit 951, an other-side power transmission unit 952, and a motor 953. The motor 953 is attached to the outer surface on the (-Y) direction side of the roller support portion 94a with the rotating shaft 963a inserted into the one-side space SP1.

The one-side power transmission unit 951 is disposed in the one-side space SP1. The one-side power transmission unit 951 has a rotating shaft 951a extending in the X direction. The rotating shaft 951a is rotatably supported by the roller support unit 94a in the one-side space SP1. At a position of the rotating shaft 951a facing the rotating shaft of the motor 953, a spiral gear 951c is attached so as to mesh with a spiral gear 951b attached to the rotating shaft. Therefore, when the motor 953 operates in response to a command from the control unit 12, the driving force generated by the motor 953 is transmitted to the rotating shaft 951a via a pair of spiral gears 951b and 951c, and the rotating shaft 951a rotates. At an end of the rotating shaft 951a on the (-Y) direction side of one conveying roller 92, that is, at a position facing one end of the rotating shaft 921, a spiral gear 951e is attached so as to mesh with a spiral gear 951d attached to the end. Therefore, the rotation of the rotating shaft 951a is transmitted to the rotating shaft 921 of the conveying roller 92 via a pair of spiral gears 951d and 951e, and the conveying roller 92 rotates. In this way, the driving force generated by the motor 953 is transmitted to one conveying roller 92 (the one located closest to the (-X) direction side in FIG. 4A) via the one-side power transmission unit 951, and the conveying roller 92 is directly driven. In this way, the one-side power transmission unit 951 is configured by the rotating shaft 951a and the four spiral gears 951b to 951e, and the driving force of the motor 953 is directly transmitted to the conveying roller 92. The conveying roller 92 that is directly driven in this way is called a "directly driven roller". In addition, the remaining two of the three conveying rollers 92 (the ones located closer to the (+X) direction side than the directly driven roller in FIG. 4A) are driven via the directly driven roller as described below, and are therefore called "indirectly driven rollers". In addition, while the one-side power transmission unit 951 transmits power using spiral gears 951b to 951e, a non-contact power transmission device such as a magnet gear that uses the attractive and repulsive forces of magnets may also be used. Also, other power transmission methods such as a gear train system or a belt system may also be used. This point is the same for the other-side power transmission unit 952, which will be described next.

The (+Y) direction end of the rotating shaft 921 of the direct drive roller, i.e., the other side end, is extended into the space SP3 and connected to the other side power transmission unit 952. The other side power transmission unit 952 has a rotating shaft 952a extended in the X direction. The rotating shaft 952a is rotatably supported by the roller support unit 94a in the other side space SP3. A spiral gear 952c is attached to the rotating shaft 952a at a position facing the rotating shaft 921 of the direct drive roller so as to mesh with the spiral gear 952b attached to the rotating shaft 921. Therefore, the rotational force of the direct drive roller is transmitted to the rotating shaft 952a via the pair of spiral gears 952b, 952c, and the rotating shaft 952a rotates. Spiral gears 952f and 952g are attached to the ends of the two indirect drive rollers on the (+Y) direction side of the rotating shaft 952a, that is, at positions facing the other end of the rotating shaft 921, so as to mesh with the spiral gears 952d and 952e attached to each end. Therefore, the rotational force is transmitted to the indirect drive rollers via the spiral gears 952d to 952g, and the indirect drive rollers rotate in synchronization with the direct drive rollers. This makes it possible to transport the substrate G in the transport direction X regardless of the orientation of the direct drive rollers and indirect drive rollers.

The above-mentioned configurations and operations are the same for the other roller support units 94b-94h, drive units 95b-95h, and rotation units 96b-96h, as described above. Therefore, by controlling the drive units 95a-95h and rotation units 96a-96h collectively by the control unit 12, the attitude of the substrate G can be changed to a horizontal attitude or an inclined attitude, and the substrate G can be transported in the transport direction X in either attitude, as in the conventional device. In addition, by controlling the drive units 95a-95h and rotation units 96a-96h individually by the control unit 12, it is also possible to adjust the timing of the attitude change and the transport speed of the substrate G for each transport roller group. For example, the transport speed may be changed depending on the presence or absence of the substrate G at each transport roller group.

As shown in FIG. 2, the rinsing section 9 is provided with a rinsing liquid nozzle 97a and a shower nozzle 97b as a processing liquid supply section that supplies rinsing liquid L to the upper surface of the substrate G transported by the transport rollers 92. The rinsing liquid nozzle 97a is provided near the downstream side of the partition plate 911 in the housing 91. Further, downstream of the rinsing liquid nozzle 97a, a plurality of shower nozzles 97b supply rinsing liquid from above the substrate G. As a result, the upper surface of the substrate G is covered with a liquid film of the rinsing liquid L and cleaned.

As described above, in this embodiment, the multiple transport rollers 92 for transporting the substrate G in the transport direction X are divided into eight transport roller groups 92a-92h, and the posture of the transport rollers 92 is changed between a horizontal posture and an inclined posture for each transport roller group. Therefore, even if the pitch P of adjacent transport rollers 92 is narrowed, it is possible to reliably prevent the rotating parts 96a-96h for switching the posture of the transport rollers 92 from interfering with each other.

In this embodiment, the drive of the transport rollers 92 is controlled for each transport roller group. More specifically, drive units 95a to 95h are provided for each roller support unit 94a to 94h. In each drive unit 95a to 95h, the drive force generated by the motor 953 is transmitted to the direct drive roller at one end (-Y direction side) and to the indirect drive roller 92I via the direct drive roller at the other end (+Y direction side), and the three transport rollers 92 rotate synchronously. That is, by distributing the one-side power transmission unit 951 and the other-side power transmission unit 952 that function as a power transmission mechanism to one side and the other side of the transport roller 92, respectively, it is possible to reduce the size of the power transmission mechanism in the transport direction X. As a result, it is possible to arrange the three transport rollers 92 driven by one motor 953 at a relatively short pitch P, and it is possible to change the posture and transport the substrate G not only for the conventional substrate G but also for large and thin substrate G.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the group of conveying rollers is composed of three adjacent conveying rollers, but the number of conveying rollers constituting the group of conveying rollers is not limited to "3", and may be "2" or "4 or more".

In addition, in the above embodiment, the number of conveying rollers in the conveying roller groups 92a to 92h is the same, but the number of conveying rollers may differ between the conveying roller groups.

In addition, in the above embodiment, a so-called ball screw drive is used as the drive source for raising and lowering the lower surface area on the (+Y) direction side of the roller support parts 94a to 94h in the vertical direction Z, but other drive sources such as the cylinder described in Patent Document 1 may also be used.

In the above embodiment, all the transport rollers 92 arranged in the rinsing section 9 correspond to the "plurality of transport rollers" of the present invention, but a part of all the transport rollers 92 may be configured to correspond to the "plurality of transport rollers" of the present invention. For example, all the transport rollers 92 except the transport roller 92 located below the rinsing liquid nozzle 97a may be configured to correspond to the "plurality of transport rollers" of the present invention.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to the rinsing section 9 that performs a rinsing process on the substrate G that has been subjected to the development process, but the present invention may also be applied to the cleaning section 2 in FIG. 1. In addition to the cleaning section 2 and the rinsing section 9, the present invention may also be applied to a substrate transport device that transports a substrate using multiple transport rollers, and to substrate processing apparatuses in general that are equipped with such substrate transport devices.

This invention can be applied to any posture change technology that changes a substrate transported by a plurality of transport rollers arranged parallel to one another in a transport direction along the main surface of the substrate between a first posture and a second posture.

9...Rinse section (substrate processing apparatus)
92: Transport roller 92a to 92h: Transport roller group 93: Substrate position changing device 94: Roller support mechanism 94a to 94h: Roller support section 95a to 95h: Drive section 96a to 96b: Rotation section 97a: Rinse liquid nozzle (treatment liquid supply section)
97b...Shower nozzle (treatment liquid supply unit)
951: One-side power transmission section 952: Other-side power transmission section 953: Motor 962: Lifting section AX: Rotation axis G: Substrate L: Rinse liquid (treatment liquid)
X: conveying direction Y: width direction Z: vertical direction

Claims (6)

A substrate posture changing device that changes a posture of a substrate conveyed in a conveying direction along a main surface of the substrate by a plurality of conveying rollers arranged parallel to each other in the conveying direction between a first posture and a second posture inclined from the first posture,
a roller support mechanism that divides the plurality of conveying rollers into a plurality of conveying roller groups each including a plurality of conveying rollers adjacent to each other in the conveying direction, and rotatably supports both ends of the conveying rollers constituting each of the conveying roller groups by roller support portions provided corresponding to the conveying roller groups;
a rotation mechanism that rotates the roller support portion around a rotation axis parallel to the conveying direction at one end side of the conveying roller supported by the roller support portion for each roller support portion, thereby switching the conveying roller supported by the roller support portion between the first posture and the second posture by a rotation portion provided corresponding to the roller support portion;
a drive mechanism for driving the conveying roller supported by each of the roller support parts by a drive part provided corresponding to the roller support part,
Each drive unit is
When one of the conveying rollers corresponding to the driving unit is defined as a direct driving roller, and the remaining rollers are defined as indirect driving rollers,
A motor for generating a driving force;
a one-side power transmission unit that transmits the driving force from the motor to one end of the direct drive roller;
a second-side power transmission unit that transmits a rotational force of the direct drive roller, which is rotated by the driving force, to the indirect drive roller at the second end side of the direct drive roller ,
The one-side power transmission portion is
a rotating shaft that is rotatably supported by the roller support portion while being extended in the conveying direction,
A substrate posture changing device characterized in that a driving force generated by the motor is transmitted to the rotating shaft at a first position of the rotating shaft that is perpendicular to and opposite the rotation axis of the motor, and the driving force transmitted to the rotating shaft is transmitted to the direct drive roller at a second position of the rotating shaft that is perpendicular to and opposite one end of the direct drive roller . The substrate attitude changing device according to claim 1 ,
A substrate posture changing device in which, for each roller support part, the conveying roller corresponding to that roller support part, the one-side power transmission part, and the other-side power transmission part are arranged inside the roller support part, while the motor corresponding to that roller support part is attached on the opposite side of the conveying roller across the one-side power transmission part and to the outside of the roller support part. 3. The substrate attitude changing device according to claim 2,
Each rotating part has a lifting part that raises and lowers the roller support part at the other end side of the conveying roller supported by the roller support part corresponding to the rotating part, and the lifting part lifts the roller support part to switch the posture of the substrate to the second posture, while the lifting part lowers the roller support part to switch the posture of the substrate to the first posture. The substrate attitude changing device according to claim 1 ,
a control unit that controls the plurality of drive units individually so as to change the transport speed of the substrate for each of the roller support units. The substrate attitude changing device according to claim 1 ,
The one-side power transmission portion is
A first spiral gear attached to the rotary shaft of the motor;
a second spiral gear attached to the first position of the rotating shaft in a state of meshing with the first spiral gear;
a third spiral gear attached to the second position of the rotating shaft;
a fourth spiral gear attached to one end of the direct drive roller in a state of meshing with the third spiral gear;
A substrate attitude changing device having the following features. A substrate attitude changing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5 ,
a processing liquid supply unit that supplies a processing liquid to a main surface of the substrate transported in the transport direction by the plurality of transport rollers.

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