This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 94100338, filed on Jan. 6, 2005. All disclosure of the Taiwan application is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and the operative method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a manufacturing system and the operative method thereof adapted for the manufacturing of products requiring deposition, photolithography, etching and photoresist-striping processes.
2. Description of Related Art
The manufacturing system for the thin film transistor-liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCD) usually comprises a handling system, a deposition apparatus group, an etching apparatus group, a photolithography apparatus group and a photoresist-striping apparatus group. The group-type manufacturing system is often used in TFT-LCD field since the equipment for TFT-LCD requires precision, great cost and lower turnover rate. The group-type manufacturing system and the operative method thereof are briefly described in the following.
The conventional group-type manufacturing system comprises a handling system, a deposition apparatus group, a photolithography apparatus group, and an etching apparatus group placed in specific locations in the factory. The handling system has a plurality of longitudinal handling paths and a plurality of lateral handling paths, wherein the longitudinal handling paths are indirectly connected with each other by the lateral handling paths. The operative method of the group-type manufacturing system starts by moving substrates through the handling system to specific apparatuses to process the substrates. And then, the substrates are moved to the next apparatuses to further process the substrates. In other words, according to the group-type manufacturing system of the conventional operative method, the substrates must be moved to the manufacturing apparatuses by the longitudinal handling paths and the lateral handling paths. However, the product line of the conventional group-type manufacturing system is not fluent and may result in the following problems: (1) The in-process goods are a large amount due to the long production cycle. (2) The chance of the in-process goods being polluted is increased and the yield factor of the products is reduced due to the long handling distance among the apparatuses. (3) Ineffective handling of the in-process goods is frequent due to high reflow rate of the product line in the conventional group-type manufacturing system.
To overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the group-type manufacturing system, alternatively, another conventional manufacturing system, the continuous-type system, is introduced.
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Accordingly, the present invention is directed to providing a manufacturing system and the operative method thereof combining the advantages of the group-type and the continuous-type manufacturing systems to reduce the manufacturing cost.
In order to achieve the object described above, the present invention provides a manufacturing system comprising a handling system, two deposition apparatus groups, an etching apparatus group, a photolithography apparatus group and two photoresist-striping apparatus groups. The handling system has a plurality of handling paths, which comprise at least two ring paths, wherein the two ring paths are connected in a common path. The deposition apparatus groups and the photoresist-striping apparatus groups are located on the two ring paths respectively. The etching apparatus group is located on the common path. The photolithography apparatus group is located on the two ring paths between the two deposition apparatus groups.
In order to achieve the object described above, the present invention provides an operative method of the manufacturing system, adapted for applied in the aforementioned manufacturing system, comprising the following steps. First, in step (a), the substrate is moved to the deposition apparatus group by the handling system to deposit the substrate. And then, in step (b), the substrate is moved from the deposition apparatus group to the photolithography apparatus group for a photolithography process. Afterwards, in step (c), the substrate is moved from the photolithography apparatus group to the etching apparatus group for an etching process to form a patterned film. Next, in step (d), the substrate is moved from the etching apparatus group to the photoresist-striping apparatus group for a photoresist-striping process. And then, in step (e), the substrate is moved from the photoresist-striping apparatus group to another deposition apparatus group for another deposition process. Afterwards, in step (f), the substrate is moved from the deposition apparatus group to another photolithography apparatus group for another photolithography process. Next, in step (g), the substrate is moved from the photolithography apparatus group to another etching apparatus group for another etching process to form another patterned film. And then, in step (h), the substrate is moved from the etching apparatus group to another photoresist-striping apparatus group for another photoresist-striping process. Afterwards, the substrate is moved from the photoresist-striping apparatus group to the deposition apparatus group, and the steps (a) to (c) and the steps (e) to (g) are repeated in order to form a plurality of patterned films.
To sum up, the present invention, the manufacturing system and the operative method thereof, utilizes the two ring paths and the apparatus group disposed thereon. Therefore, the present invention combines the advantages of the group-type and the continuous-type manufacturing systems to lower the manufacturing cost. One of the advantages is that the production line will keep functioning and only a portion of the production will be lost when one of the apparatuses malfunctions in one of the production lines (the advantage of group-type manufacturing system). Also, the product lines in the present invention will be fluent so ineffective handling can be avoided (the advantage of continuous-type manufacturing system).
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a better understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Various specific embodiments of the present invention are disclosed below, illustrating examples of various possible implementations of the concepts of the present invention. The following description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims.
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It should be noted that apparatus groups and the manufacturing process of the embodiments in the present invention, the manufacturing system 200 and the operative method thereof, can be applied flexibly according to different requirement. In addition, the number of ring paths of the manufacturing system 200 is not limited to two, but can also be one or more than three and still falls within the scope of the present invention.
Because the present invention, the manufacturing system 200 and the operative method thereof, has the connected two ring paths 212, 214, where in the vicinity the apparatuses are installed in group, the substrates can move along the two ring paths 212, 214, i.e. the
(1) The fluent product line can avoid re-flow and inefficient handling to lower the investment cost of the apparatuses, shorten the production cycle, and reduce the number of in-process goods.
(2) The handling distances among the apparatuses are shorter so that the possibility of the in-process goods being polluted is lowered and the yield factor of the products is promoted.
(3) Compared with the conventional continuos-type manufacturing system, the present invention, the manufacturing system and the operative method thereof, can effectively decrease the number of the production apparatuses. In addition, when one machine of the apparatus groups malfunctions, only a portion of production will be lost, and the production lines will continue running.
To sum up, because the present invention, the manufacturing system and the operative method thereof, has the connected ring paths, where in the vicinity the apparatuses are installed in group, by moving along the ring paths, the substrate is continuously undergoing many processes, i.e. the deposition, the photolithography, and the etching, and the photoresist-striping process, and then a plurality of patterned films are formed thereon. Therefore, the present invention combines the advantages of the group-type and the continuous-type manufacturing systems and can effectively lower the manufacturing cost of the substrates during mass-production.
The above description provides a full and complete description of the embodiments of the present invention. Various modifications, alternate construction, and equivalent may be made by those skilled in the art without changing the scope or spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the above description and illustrations should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention which is defined by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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94100338 | Jan 2005 | TW | national |