Substrate Alignment Correction for Spin Chuck Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing substrate processing apparatuses face challenges in accurately aligning substrates with substrate supporters, especially over long transportation distances, leading to increased deviations and inefficiencies in processing.
Innovation Solution
A substrate processing apparatus with position adjustors and controllers that acquire and store correction information to align the substrate center with the supporter's reference position before transportation, reducing the need for manual teaching and improving alignment accuracy across varying transportation distances.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If teaching is performed on the transport device to correct position deviation, then alignment accuracy is improved for short distances, but deviation increases when transportation distance is large
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary teaching operations to acquire correction information for each substrate supporter position in advance. This correction information is stored and automatically applied during substrate transportation, eliminating the need for real-time teaching and ensuring consistent alignment accuracy regardless of transportation distance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual teaching operations with an automated system that uses optical sensors to detect substrate positions and a controller to calculate and apply correction values. This substitution of mechanical/manual adjustment with automated detection and correction systems ensures precise and consistent alignment across all transportation distances.
2Manufacturing precision
If manual teaching operations are performed for each substrate supporter position, then position correction is achieved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs teaching operations preliminarily to acquire correction information for all substrate supporter positions before actual substrate processing. This correction information is stored in memory and automatically retrieved during operations, eliminating the need for repeated manual teaching and significantly reducing processing time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses optical sensors to automatically detect substrate positions and the controller to automatically calculate and apply correction values without requiring continuous manual intervention. This self-service capability maintains high alignment precision while minimizing operational time.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the transport device transports substrates over long distances, then more substrate supporters can be accessed, but deviation between substrate and supporter increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary teaching operations to acquire correction information for each substrate supporter position in advance. This correction information compensates for cumulative errors that occur during long-distance transportation, ensuring that alignment accuracy is maintained regardless of the number of supporters accessed or transportation distance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses optical sensors to detect the actual position of substrates at each supporter and feeds this information back to the controller. The controller then applies appropriate correction values from stored correction information to compensate for transportation-induced deviations, maintaining consistent alignment accuracy across all positions.
Data Source
AI summary
One or plurality of correction information corresponding to one or plurality of spin chucks are acquired in advance for adjustment of a position of a substrate by an aligner and are stored in a memory. Each correction information indicates a position to be adjusted by the aligner when the substrate is transported from the aligner to each spin chuck by a transport mechanism in order for a center of the transported substrate to coincide with a rotational center of the spin chuck. The position of the substrate is adjusted by the aligner based on the correction information, corresponding to the spin chuck, stored in the memory before the substrate is transported to any one of the spin chucks from the aligner during processing for the substrate.