Spin Chuck Pin Mechanism for Compact Substrate Holding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing substrate processing apparatuses require horizontal support pins and complex mechanisms to hold substrates, making it difficult to reduce apparatus size and increase processing speed due to the need for additional steps in substrate transfer and sandwiching.
Innovation Solution
A substrate holding method and apparatus that uses positioning pins and grasping pins on a spin chuck to securely hold substrates from a horizontal direction without horizontal support pins, with positioning pins always in a closed state to ensure positioning accuracy and reduce the number of steps involved in substrate handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If horizontal support pins and moving mechanism are added to sandwich substrate from side surface, then substrate holding capability is improved, but apparatus size increases and processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the horizontal support pins from the substrate holding mechanism. Instead of using both horizontal support pins and chuck pins to sandwich the substrate, the invention uses only the chuck pins to perform both positioning and holding functions, thereby simplifying the apparatus structure and reducing its size while maintaining substrate holding capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The chuck pins are designed to perform multiple functions: they serve as both positioning elements (by contacting the substrate peripheral edge) and holding elements (by sandwiching the substrate). This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate horizontal support pins, reducing apparatus complexity while maintaining reliable substrate holding.
2Reliability
If horizontal support pins and moving mechanism are added to sandwich substrate from side surface, then substrate holding capability is improved, but processing speed decreases
Solution Approach 1:
By removing the horizontal support pins and their moving mechanism, the invention eliminates the additional step of placing the substrate lower portion on the support pins before sandwiching. This reduces the number of operational steps and increases processing speed while the chuck pins alone provide sufficient holding capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The chuck pins are pre-positioned in the closed state before substrate placement. When the substrate is transferred, the peripheral edge automatically contacts the positioning pins and is immediately sandwiched by the grasping pins, eliminating the need for intermediate placement steps and enabling faster processing.
3Measurement precision
If positioning pins are always in closed state, then positioning accuracy is improved, but mechanism complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning pins are designed as fixed, non-movable elements that remain permanently in the closed (contact) position. This simple, fixed structure provides consistent positioning accuracy without requiring complex driving mechanisms or control systems to adjust pin positions, effectively using a simple permanent structure instead of a complex adjustable one.
Data Source
AI summary
A substrate holding method is to horizontally hold a substrate, and includes a positioning step of positioning a substrate by moving a substrate transfer mechanism and by allowing the peripheral edge of the substrate to come into contact with the plurality of positioning pins, a substrate grasping step of bringing the plurality of grasping pins into a closed state after completing the positioning step so that the substrate held by the plurality of positioning pins and the plurality of grasping pins, and a transfer mechanism receding step of allowing the substrate transfer mechanism to recede from above the spin base after completing the substrate grasping step.