Ulvac, Inc.

Other

Sowa Md Center Co., Ltd

Research Development Corporation of Japan

Research Development Corporation

Hirofumi Minami

Junpei Yuyama

Kazuhiro Musha

Mitsuru Yahagi

Toshio Koike

Yasuzo Tanaka

Makoto Takahashi

Takafumi Kawaguchi

Kenji Ago

Takayuki Suzuki

Shinya Ito

Eiichi Goto

Kazuhiro Fujimura

Seiichi Satou

Masao Murata

Hirotoshi Nakao

Takahiro Miyata

Satoshi Shiba

Jyunpei Yuyama

Qiquan Geng

Kiyotaka Yamada

Takashi Asaishi

Humio Naruse

Kazunori Chihara

A substrate transport device includes an arm, an end effector coupled to the arm, a driver configured to lift the arm so that the end effector receives a substrate, and a controller configured to control an output of the driver to change a lifting speed of the arm. While lifting the arm at a first speed to lift the end effector toward the substrate, the controller changes the lifting speed to a second speed that is lower than the first speed when the end effector starts to raise a height position of the substrate.

Substrate transport device and substrate transporting method

A substrate transport device includes an arm, an end effector coupled to the arm, a driver configured to lift the arm so that the end effector receives a substrate, and a controller configured to control an output of the driver to set a lifting speed of the arm. A difference in height between the end effector and the arm is a position difference. A period from when the end effector contacts the substrate until the end effector completes reception of the substrate is a transition period. The controller sets an upper limit value of the lifting speed that decreases an amplitude of one of acceleration or jerk of the position difference in the transition period as compared to before the transition period to an upper limit value of the lifting speed for the transition period.

A vacuum processing apparatus having a small installation area is provided. A lifting plate is arranges inside a vacuum chamber, and a substrate holding device is arranged on the lifting plate to be able to be lifted up and down. An upper side processing device and a lower side processing device are provided in a processing region located beside a lifting region where the lifting plate moves up and down. An upper side moving device and a lower side moving device make the substrate holding device pass through the processing region, and a transfer device transfers the substrate holding device between the upper side moving device or the lower side moving device and the lifting plate. Because vacuum processing can be performed on the upper side and the lower side, the installation area of the vacuum processing apparatus is small.

Vacuum processing apparatus

A rotation-transmitting mechanism capable of obtaining a high deceleration ratio in a small number of stages, and a conveying apparatus and driving apparatus using the rotation-transmitting mechanism are provided. In one form, a rotation-transmitting mechanism includes an inner rotating body and an outer rotating body arranged coaxially with the inner rotating body. Further, the rotation-transmitting mechanism includes a driving rotating body and rotating body arranged on an input side (lower stage), and two planetary rotating bodies arranged on an output side (upper stage). When the driving rotating body is rotated by a motor on the input side, the two planetary rotating bodies revolve around the inner rotating body while rotating on the output side. At this time, the planetary rotating bodies revolve very slowly around the inner rotating body.

Rotation-transmitting mechanism, conveying apparatus, and driving apparatus

[Object] To provide a seal mechanism that reduces a maintenance frequency for replenishment of a lubricating material and has small friction resistance, and a treatment apparatus equipped with the seal mechanism. [Solving Means] A lip seal () of a seal mechanism () is arranged so as to surround a drive shaft (), and a lip portion () thereof includes a seal portion () that comes into contact with the drive shaft (). A wall member () is attached to the drive shaft () so as to close a lower opening of a mounting member () and face the lip seal (). By at least the mounting member () and the wall member (), a container capable of accommodating a lubricating material () is formed. A gap () set such that the lubricating material () does not pass therethrough is provided between the wall member () and a holding base body (). With such a structure, a space for accommodating the lubricating material () can be secured and the seal mechanism () and the drive shaft () are allowed to be in contact with each other only at the seal portion () of the lip seal ().

Seal mechanism and treatment apparatus

Disclosed are a substrate conveyance method and substrate conveyance system that are able to quickly transfer a substrate without losing positional accuracy. Using an electrostatic chuck mechanism in the holding of a wafer (W) by the holding surface () of a conveyance robot, the wafer (W) is transferred from a supporting surface () to the holding surface () in the state where an electrostatic attraction force is generated at the holding surface (). As a result, since it is possible to hold the wafer by means of the electrostatic attraction force starting immediately after the wafer (W) has been transferred to the holding surface (), it is possible to rapidly execute a wafer (W) conveying operation and thus it is possible to reduce the conveying time of the wafer between processing chambers.

Substrate conveyance method and substrate conveyance system

The present invention provides a technology for holding an object to be reliably conveyed for the sake of high speed conveyance not only in a low temperature environment but also in a high temperature environment, and for reducing dust while conveying the object to be conveyed. A conveying device includes a link mechanism, which can expand and contract, has a plurality of arms to which power from a drive source is transmitted, and a mounting section which is connected to an operating tip section of the link mechanism through a drive link section and on which a substrate is mounted. The mounting section has latch sections for making contact with and latching side portions of the substrate.

Conveying device and vacuum apparatus

A stage apparatus enables easy position alignment at a real installation site. Mountshaving sub base platesarranged thereon are provided on carriagesand thereby constitute sub mounting tablesto; and the mountsare fixed to a main mounting tablehaving a main base plate. The positions of main base plateand sub base platesare aligned with each other by adjustment mechanismsprovided on the sub mounting tablesto. As main positioning membersand sub positioning membersare arranged on the main mounting tableand sub mounting tablesto, separation can be performed so that a state of position alignment is restorable. Accordingly, position alignment is easy when assembling after transportation.

Stage apparatus

A compact transport apparatus that does not cause pollution to its environment is provided. In a transport apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention, an installation area of the apparatus is small because first and second rotary shafts are arranged concentrically, and a dead center escaping mechanism has a simple structure with a small thickness. Since a connecting portion of a hand portion can be made thin, an opening of a gate valve through which the hand portion is inserted can be reduced. As a result, it becomes difficult for dust inside a transport chamber to enter a processing chamber. A second aspect of the present invention is directed to a spaced dual shaft-type transport apparatus. Although the lengths of first arms provided at rotating shafts may differ from the lengths of second arms provided between the first arms and a substrate supporting portion, the apparatus is free from malfunction even when the lengths thereof differ because the transmission of a rotative force of a dead center escaping mechanism is released at a position except at a dead center in the present invention.

Transport apparatus

There are provided a rotation introduction mechanism which transmits a rotating motion on the atmosphere side into vacuum, is arranged simply, has a low sliding resistance, and has a long life, a substrate transfer apparatus, a substrate transfer apparatus having a small pivot radius and generating a smaller amount of dusts, and a vacuum processing apparatus. A lubricant holding member is attached to a vacuum seal mechanism. The substrate transfer apparatus is arranged such that a first link mechanism includes a first arm and a fourth arm, a second link mechanism includes a second arm and a third arm, the first arm is fixedly attached to a first drive shaft, the first arm is fixedly attached to a second drive shaft, the third arm is rotatably attached to the first drive shaft, and the fourth arm is rotatably attached to the second drive shaft. The vacuum processing apparatus includes the substrate transfer apparatus.

Rotation introduction mechanism, substrate transfer apparatus, and vacuum processing apparatus

An assembling method that is high in assembly accuracy and easily performed at the actual installation site is provided. In this method, the sub base plates on the sub mounting tables are aligned with respect to a main base plate on a main mounting table at a temporary installation site, and the state thereof is maintained. Then, the main mounting table and the sub mounting tables are separated from each other to be transferred to the actual installation site, and the positioning state is restored at the actual installation site. Since a positional alignment can be performed at the temporary installation site, the work required at the actual installation site can be reduced. Furthermore, since a fine adjustment can be performed at the actual installation site, the accuracy in the positional alignment can be improved.

Stage apparatus assembling method

The backing pressure of an ink tank is controlled. The ink tank is connected to a pressure control apparatus. The pressure control apparatus has first and second check valves. When the internal pressure of the ink tank becomes smaller than that of outside atmosphere by a first predetermined pressure or more, the first check valve is switched into an open state to connect the outside atmosphere and the ink tank. To the contrary, when the internal pressure of the ink tank becomes larger than that of outside atmosphere by a second predetermined pressure or more, the second check valve is switched to an open state to connect the ink tank with the outside atmosphere. Therefore, the internal pressure of the ink tank is controlled precisely enough to stabilize the meniscus.

Discharge unit and discharge apparatus

A stage apparatus that achieves a high accuracy in assembling and enables easy work at a real installation site. In a stage apparatus of the present invention, sub rails are arranged on respective sub base plates, which are connected respectively with the first and second main rails on a main base plate to extend the first and second main rails. Accordingly, when the sub base plates are fixed to the main base platewith positional alignment performed therebetween, the accuracy in positional alignment of the sub base plates which has already been fixed to the main base plate is not affected.

A transport apparatus which can properly transmit a rotary driving force of a rotating motor to a transport arm and can correctly detect an angle of rotation of a rotary driving shaft, thereby transporting an object to be transported in a transport unit to a correct position. The transport apparatus includes: a housing having an airtight structure; first to third driving shafts that are provided in the housing to be independently rotatable around a predetermined coaxial rotary shaft; permanent magnets arranged at predetermined positions of the first to third driving shafts, respectively; and electromagnetic coils provided in the housing to correspond to the respective permanent magnets. Driving currents are supplied to the electromagnetic coils based on predetermined information, so as to move the first to third driving shafts. The object to be transported is transported by first and second linkages fixed to the first to third driving shafts.

Transport apparatus, control method for the same, and vacuum processing system

A carrying device which can prevent an object to be carried from being contaminated with dust and carry the object to a correct position. The present invention is constructed by first and second parallelogram linkages. The second parallelogram linkage is formed by using a link of the first parallelogram linkage, has four sides with an equal length, and is linearly extended or retracted along a linear guide. Links of the first parallelogram linkage and links of the second parallelogram linkage are configured to rotate while being in a restrained state of 90&#xb0; at pivots of both ends of the common link of the first and second parallelogram linkage, respectively. An arm is provided at a pivot of an end of a link opposed to the link of the first parallelogram linkage such that the arm rotates in a restrained state of 90&#xb0; relative to the link.

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Chigasaki, Japan

Hirofumi Minami