JPH0739288B2 - Disk substrate transfer device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disc substrate conveying device for conveying a disc substrate in a disc manufacturing apparatus for recording signals at high density such as an optical disc.

2. Description of the Related Art Optical discs record signals on the submicron order on the surface thereof, and are manufactured in a clean room where the cleanliness is strictly controlled. Further, in recent years, not only consumer applications such as video discs and compact discs but also optical discs as memory of computers are being used. Along with this, there is an increasing demand for high quality with few defects in the disc itself. In the past, most of the optical disc manufacturing processes were manually operated by an operator, but due to the above-mentioned circumstances and the like, development of a cleaner manufacturing process is required, and an automated process that does not require human hands is required. It is considered. It has been reported that human beings become a source of dust in the work in a clean room where dust in the air is removed. Therefore, it is one of the measures to manufacture a disc with few defects that the disc master or the disc in the process is not in contact with the operator as much as possible. Further, automation of a manufacturing process by a robot has been considered for improving productivity.

Hereinafter, a disk substrate transfer apparatus in the above-described conventional automated manufacturing process will be described with reference to the drawings. The disc manufacturing process can be roughly divided into two processes: a mastering process until the stamper that is the master disc is made, and a duplication process where a large number of replicas are made by the stamper. However, in any of the processes, a plurality of processes cannot be performed at one place, and the disc master or the disc moves to the next process place after one process is completed and the processes are successively performed. FIG. 3 shows a conventional conveying device for the disc master or disc (hereinafter referred to as a disc substrate). In the figure, 1 is a disc substrate, 2a and 2b are claws for supporting the disc substrate 1, and 3a and 3b.
Is a guide rod for fixing the claws 2a and 2b and moving the claws 2a and 2b in the radial direction of the disc substrate 1 by a drive mechanism (not shown), 4 is a disc substrate holding member including the drive mechanism, and 5 is a disc substrate holding member 4 is a movable member which is fixed to the tip and moves up and down, and 6 is a conveying member which includes a drive mechanism for moving the movable member 5 up and down and which moves between the processing steps along the guide 7, and moves along the guide 7. The drive mechanism is also included in it.

The operation of the disc substrate transporting device configured as described above will be described below. First, the transport member 6 moves along the guide 7 above the disk substrate 1 that has been processed in a certain process. Then, the rotating member 5 and the disk substrate holding member 4 attached to the tip of the rotating member 5 are moved downward by the driving mechanism in the conveying member 6. Then, the guide rods 3a and 3b move so as to hold the disc substrate 1 by the claws 2a and 2b. After that, the movable member 5 and the disk substrate holding member 4 are again provided.
Moves upwards. Then, when it moves to a predetermined height, the transport member 6 moves to a position where the next process is performed.
After that, the disk substrate 1 is placed on the next stage by the reverse operation.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the above automatic carrier, since the operator does not handle the disk substrate, dust or the like generated by the operator does not contaminate the disk substrate.
The problem is that dust and metal powder are generated from the gears and sliding parts of the drive part and adhere to the disk substrate.
The driving portion referred to here is inside the conveying member 6 and includes the guide 7
A mechanism for moving the carrying member 6 along the same, a mechanism for moving the movable member 5 up and down in the carrying member 6, and a mechanism for moving the guide rods 3a and 3b horizontally in the disk substrate holding member 4. . Generally, in such a device or a clean room, a high-performance filter is provided above and clean air is always flowed from the top to the bottom.
Therefore, it is advantageous to provide a mechanism portion that may generate dust or the like below the disk substrate. However, there are many cases where such a configuration cannot be taken depending on the processing contents of the disk substrate. Also, the filter provided above the device or on the ceiling of the clean room does not completely remove dust, and some dust is always floating in the air, which adheres to the disk substrate surface during transportation, It is the cause of the dropout.

The present invention solves such a problem, and prevents dust from the drive unit and the like from adhering to the disk surface even if the transfer mechanism section has to be provided above the disk substrate. The purpose is.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve this problem, the present invention provides a shield plate that is held in close proximity to a processing surface of a disk substrate and moves together with the disk substrate, and a shield plate provided on the shield plate. A gas supply unit for feeding a clean dry gas between the processing surface of the disk substrate and the shielding plate to form a static pressure gas film is provided.

Operation With this configuration, the clean gas sent between the disk substrate processing surface and the shielding plate closely facing it flows out from the outer periphery of the disk substrate to the outside, so that dust from the transfer drive unit and floating from the outside may occur. The dust that comes in does not adhere to the surface of the disk substrate.

Example Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 will be described.

In the figure, 11 is a disk substrate, the upper surface of which is the processing surface. 12a and 12b are claws for supporting the disk substrate 11, and 13a and 1b.
3b is a guide rod fixing the claws 12a, 12b, 14 is a holding member, and includes a drive mechanism for moving the rods 13a, 13b. Reference numeral 15 is a movable member having a holding member 14 fixed at its tip, and 16 is a conveying member, which includes a mechanism for moving the movable member 15 up and down. Further, the conveying member 16 is movable along the guide 17, and its drive mechanism may be included in the conveying member 16 or may be provided outside. Reference numeral 18 denotes a shield plate which is attached to the holding member 14 and closely faces the surface of the disk substrate 11 and covers substantially the surface of the disk substrate 11 and moves together with the disk substrate 11, and faces the processing surface of the disk substrate 11 near the center thereof. In addition, one or a plurality of holes (gas supply section) 19 are provided, and clean dry gas sent from the outside through the coil tube 20 is blown out from the holes 19.

The operation of the transport device configured as described above will be described. When the processing in a certain process is completed, the transfer member 16 moves above the disk substrate 11. Then holding member 14
Is in the upper position, and the claws 12a and 12b are in the open state. The holding member 14 descends, and the receiving portions of the claws 12a and 12b become the disk substrate 11
Stop below the bottom surface of. Hole in shield 18
Clean gas has already flowed out from 19. Then the rod
The claws 12a, 12b are closed by the movement of 13a, 13b, and the disk substrate
11 is pinched. After that, the holding member 14 rises and stops at a fixed position. Then, the transport member 16 starts to move along the guide 17 and moves to the next step. After that, the disk substrate 11 is placed on the stage to be processed by the operation reverse to the above operation. This operation is repeated until the required steps are completed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the shielding plate 18 is provided so as to be held close to and facing the processing surface of the disk substrate 11, and the holes 19 provided in the disk substrate facing surface of the shielding plate 18 are used to clean and dry the holes. Since the gas flows out and a static pressure gas film (also called an air bearing) is formed between the disk substrate 11 and the disk substrate 11 to fill the gas, dust generated from the transfer driving unit and floating dust in the ambient air are generated on the disk substrate. No adhesion to 11 treated surfaces.

By the way, in the embodiment shown in FIG.
Although the mechanism for sandwiching and lifting by a and 12b and carrying is described, the present invention is not limited thereto.

Next, a second embodiment shown in FIG. 2 will be described. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 is a disk substrate, 22 is a transporting section, and it has a stage 23 on which the disk substrate 21 is mounted and an arm 25 to which a shield plate 24 that closely faces the processing surface of the disk substrate 21 is attached. The arm 25 can be rotated around the rotation shaft 26 by a mechanism (not shown). 27 is a feed guide along which the transport unit 22 moves in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface by a drive mechanism (not shown). Also in this embodiment, a clean gas is discharged from the vicinity of the center of the shield plate 24 held in close proximity to the disk substrate 21, and the disk substrate
21 and a static pressure gas film is formed between them. Therefore, clean gas always flows outward from between the disk substrate 21 and the shield plate 24 to prevent dust from entering from the outside. or,
A slight downward pressure is generated on the surface of the disk substrate 21 by the formed static pressure gas film, and the disk substrate 21 is pressed against the stage 23. This eliminates vibration and rattling of the disk substrate 21 during transportation. In this case as well, the shielding plate 24 functions as a gas film forming plate.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As described above, according to the present invention, a shield plate that closely faces the disk substrate processing surface and moves together with the disk substrate is provided, and normal dry air is sent between the shield plate and the disk substrate to quietly operate. Since a pressure gas film is formed,
A constant amount of clean air can always be provided in the narrow space between the disk substrate and the shield plate, and therefore dust and dirt from the transport drive unit and ambient air will not adhere to the disk substrate. Further, dust and the like attached during the previous step are blown off by the gas flowing out from the shield plate.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a disk substrate transfer device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of a disk substrate transfer device according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a conventional disk substrate transfer device. FIG. 11 ... Disk substrate, 12a, 12b ... Claw, 14 ... Holding member, 15 ... Movable member, 16 ... Conveying member, 17 ... Guide,
18 …… Shielding plate, 19 …… Hole, 21 …… Disk substrate, 22 ……
Transport section, 23 …… Stage, 24 …… Shield plate, 25 …… Arm, 27 …… Feed guide

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location // B65G 47/90 Z 7633-3F H01L 21/68 A

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A shield plate which is held in close proximity to a processing surface of a disk substrate and moves together with the disk substrate, and a cleaning plate provided on the shielding plate and disposed between the processing surface of the disk substrate and the shielding plate. Disk substrate transfer apparatus having a gas supply unit for supplying a dry gas to form a static pressure gas film.