Substrate treatment apparatus

Abstract

The present invention relates to a substrate treatment apparatus, and more particularly, to a substrate treatment apparatus, wherein lift pins can be installed while the levels of the lift pins are easily adjusted using a tool such as a wrench. A substrate treatment apparatus of the present invention comprises a chamber; a pin plate provided inside or outside the chamber; a driving means for lifting or lowering the pin plate; and at least one lift pin that penetrates through the pin plate so that the lift pin is coupled to the pin plate, and has a tool insertion recess formed at a lower end of the lift pin.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a conventional substrate treatment apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a substrate treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a main portion of the substrate treatment apparatus shown in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a substrate treatment apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

EXPLANATION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS FOR MAIN PORTIONS IN DRAWINGS

100: Vacuum chamber 110: Electrode portion
120: Lift pin       121: Tool insertion recess
122: Pin plate      128: Nut
128a: Auxiliary nut 134: Cylinder shaft
136: Driving means  140: Protection cap

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, the constitutions and operations of embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 2, a subject treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a chamber 100, an upper electrode, an electrode portion 110, and a substrate-lifting unit. The substrate-lifting unit includes a plurality of lift pins 120 for supporting a substrate S to lift or lower the substrate, a pin plate 122 on which the lift pins 120 are installed, a driving means 136 for generating a driving force, and a cylinder shaft 134 for transmitting the driving force. Further, it can be seen that the pin plate 122 is provided outside and below the chamber 100.

Referring to FIG. 3, in particular, it can be seen that the lift pins 120 are installed to penetrate through the pin plate 122 in this embodiment. Moreover, an outer periphery of each of the lift pins 120 and an inner periphery of each of holes in the pin plate 122 are formed with threads 120a.

In addition, a tool insertion recess 121 into which a tool (not shown) such as a wrench is to be inserted and engaged is formed at a lower end of the lift pin 120. Therefore, the level of the lift pin can be easily adjusted by inserting the tool such as a wrench into the tool insertion recess 121 and rotating the lift pin 120.

Further, the lift pin 120 of which the level has been adjusted should be prevented from being arbitrarily moved due to external impact, vacuum pressure or the like. Thus, it is required to fix the lift pin 120 of which the level has been adjusted. In this embodiment, a nut 128 is fastened to the lower end of the lift pin 120 protruding beyond a bottom surface of the pin plate 122. That is, the movement of the lift pin 120 is prevented by bringing the nut 128 into close contact with the pin plate 122. Furthermore, to prevent the nut 128 from being arbitrarily moved, an auxiliary nut 128a with the same structure as the nut 128 is also consecutively fastened.

Since the pin plate 122 is installed outside the vacuum chamber 100 in this embodiment, it is necessary to keep the coupled portion of the lift pin 120 in a hermetic state in order to maintain the degree of vacuum in the vacuum chamber 100. To this end, it can be understood that a protection cap 140 should be further provided below the pin plate 122.

FIG. 4 shows a substrate treatment apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. It can be seen from the figure that pin plates 122a and 122b are installed inside a vacuum chamber 100.

Further, among a plurality of lift pins, a center pin 120b for lifting or lowering a central portion of a substrate S and an edge pin 122a for lifting or lowering an edge of the substrate are independently lifted or lowered. To this end, a center pin plate 122b to which the center pin 120b is coupled and an edge pin plate 122a to which the edge pin 120a is coupled are separately formed.

Moreover, a cylinder shaft 134b and a driving means 136b for driving the center pin plate 122b, and a cylinder shaft 134a and a driving means 136a for driving the edge pin plate 122a are also separately formed.

With this configuration, the central portion and edge of the substrate S can be independently lifted or lowered.

For example, the center pin plate 122b and the edge pin plate 122a may be configured such that they are lifted or lowered with a time interval. That is, the edge pin plate 122a is first lifted or lowered and the center pin plate 122b is then lifted or lowered. At this time, it is preferred that the lifting or lowering speed of the center pin plate 122b be greater than the lifting or lowering speed of the edge pin plate 122a. This is to achieve the horizontal state of the substrate when the substrate S reaches a top position while the edge pin plate 122a earlier begins to be lifted or lowered than the center pin plate 122b.

Otherwise, it is also possible to first lift the edge pin plate 122a when the pin plates are lifted but to first lower the center pin plate 122b when the pin plates are lowered.

According to the present invention, the lift pins of the substrate treatment apparatus can be installed while the levels of the lift pins are easily adjusted using a tool such as a wrench.

Claims

1. A substrate treatment apparatus, comprising: a chamber;a pin plate provided inside or outside the chamber;a driving means for lifting or lowering the pin plate; andat least one lift pin penetrating through the pin plate so that the lift pin is coupled to the pin plate, the lift pin having a tool insertion recess formed at a lower end of the lift pin.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lift pin is threadly coupled to the pin plate.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a first nut is fastened to the lower end of the lift pin below the pin plate in order to fix the lift pin that has been installed at a set level.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein a second nut is further consecutively fastened below the first nut in order to prevent the first nut from being arbitrarily moved.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a protection cap for keeping the coupled portion of the lift pin in a hermetic state below the pin plate.