Vacuum Load-Lock Carrier Exchange for Higher Substrate Throughput
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge of improving the throughput of vacuum-treated substrates during batch processing, particularly in vacuum treatment apparatuses, where existing systems face inefficiencies in substrate handling and atmospheric interruptions during exchange processes.
Innovation Solution
A vacuum treatment apparatus and method utilizing a transfer vacuum chamber with a load lock configuration, enabling continuous substrate processing by exchanging holder carriers with treated and untreated substrates through separate gate valves, maintaining treatment atmosphere integrity and reducing interruption time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If batch processing of substrates is performed in a vacuum treatment chamber, then multiple substrates can be treated simultaneously, but the treatment atmosphere must be interrupted for loading and unloading operations, reducing throughput
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into two separate vacuum chambers: a treatment chamber for substrate processing and a transfer chamber for loading/unloading operations. This segmentation allows independent operation of each chamber, enabling continuous treatment while permitting loading/unloading in the transfer chamber without interrupting the treatment atmosphere.
Solution Approach 2:
The transfer chamber acts as an intermediary between the treatment chamber and the external environment. It serves as a buffer zone where substrates can be loaded onto holder carriers and prepared for treatment without disrupting the vacuum environment in the treatment chamber, thus maintaining continuous processing.
2Quantity of substance
If large or complex substrate holders are used to accommodate multiple substrates, then batch processing capacity increases, but handling and exchange of these holders becomes more difficult and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
Large holder carriers are divided into multiple smaller, manageable segments that can be independently handled by the exchange conveyer. This segmentation reduces the complexity of manipulation while maintaining the overall batch processing capacity, as segments can be exchanged individually through the gate valve.
Solution Approach 2:
The exchange conveyer employs extendable and retractable grasping arms with frog-leg type structures that can dynamically adapt to different holder carrier configurations. This dynamic mechanism simplifies the handling of various sizes and shapes of holder carriers by adjusting the grasping geometry to match the specific holder being exchanged.
3Ease of operation
If the treatment chamber is vented for loading and unloading operations, then substrate access is enabled, but the treatment atmosphere is interrupted, reducing processing efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The vacuum system is segmented into independent treatment and transfer chambers, each with its own vacuum isolation. This allows the transfer chamber to be vented for loading/unloading operations while the treatment chamber maintains its vacuum atmosphere, enabling simultaneous operation without interruption to the treatment process.
Solution Approach 2:
The transfer chamber serves as an intermediary buffer zone that can be independently vented and pressurized. It mediates between the external environment and the treatment chamber, allowing substrate loading/unloading to occur in the transfer chamber without affecting the treatment atmosphere in the treatment chamber, thus eliminating interruptions to processing.
Data Source
AI summary
The substrates supported in substrate holders are carried on holder carriers in a manner, that their extended surfaces are exposed to the surrounding atmosphere along an extended surface of the holder carriers. The holder carriers include an axis traverse to their extended surface. The substrates on a holder carrier are vacuum treated in a vacuum treatment chamber. This chamber communicates via a gate valve with a transfer vacuum chamber. A holder carrier with substrates in the vacuum treatment chamber is exchanged with a holder carrier carrying untreated substrates from the transfer vacuum chamber 23 by means of an exchange robot. During treatment in the vacuum treatment chamber, holder carriers with treated substrates and holder carriers with untreated substrates are exchanged in the transfer vacuum chamber through a gate valve. The transfer vacuum chamber acts as a load-lock.