Dual Port Processing Apparatus for Load Lock Bottleneck
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Solution Overview
Problem
In manufacturing processes for solar battery panels and liquid crystal substrates, the time required for loading and unloading workpieces in load lock chambers often restricts productivity due to the imbalance between processing chamber time and load lock chamber operation times, especially when processing larger workpieces or multiple workpieces simultaneously.
Innovation Solution
A processor with dual supply/discharge ports and transport mechanisms that alternately load and unload workpieces between two load lock chambers, allowing for efficient processing and reducing the time required for vacuum pumping and air release, thereby optimizing the processing chamber's cycle time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the processing time of the processing chamber is reduced to improve productivity, then the processing speed increases, but the loading and unloading time in load lock chambers becomes the limiting factor
Solution Approach 1:
The processing chamber is divided into two separate ports: a first supply/discharge port and a second supply/discharge port. This segmentation allows independent loading and unloading operations to occur simultaneously through different ports, eliminating the sequential bottleneck and making the loading/unloading time no longer the limiting factor for productivity.
2Productivity
If larger workpieces or multiple workpieces are processed simultaneously to improve productivity, then the output increases, but the load lock chamber size increases leading to longer vacuum pumping and air release times
Solution Approach 1:
By providing two supply/discharge ports that can operate independently and simultaneously, the system ensures continuous useful action. While one port is performing vacuum pumping or air release operations, the other port can be loading or unloading workpieces, thereby maintaining continuous productivity despite the increased size and longer vacuum cycles required for larger or multiple workpieces.
3Quantity of substance
If the load lock chamber is enlarged to accommodate larger workpieces, then the processing capacity increases, but the time required for vacuum pumping and air release increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the supply/discharge function into two separate ports, each with its own load lock chamber. This allows the total workpiece capacity to be distributed across two smaller chambers rather than concentrated in one large chamber, thereby maintaining higher capacity while reducing the vacuum pumping time for each individual chamber.
Data Source
AI summary
To provide a processor and a processing method to make the operation to load and unload workpieces to and from a processing chamber more efficient, and improve workpiece processing efficiency.A processor equipped with a processing chamber 10 wherein a first supply/discharge port and a second supply/discharge port have been provided, characterized by being equipped with a first transport mechanism to perform an operation to supply and discharge workpieces 30 via the aforementioned first supply/discharge port, a second transport mechanism to perform an operation to supply and discharge workpieces 30 via the aforementioned second supply/discharge port, an exchange means to deliver workpieces 30a that have been loaded for processing by the aforementioned first transport mechanism to the aforementioned second transport mechanism, and deliver workpieces 32a that have been loaded for processing by the aforementioned second transport mechanism to the first transport mechanism, and a control unit 22 to drive the aforementioned first transport mechanism and second transport mechanism, and alternately supply unprocessed workpieces from the aforementioned first supply/discharge port and the aforementioned second supply/discharge port to the aforementioned processing chamber for processing.