New type system with easier maintenance of batch system as well as easier automation of continuous system.

Features

1. Various layouts with flexibility in accordance with production volume and the substrate size.
2. With the batch system, it is not necessary to stop all processing even if under the maintenance.
3. Super low O2 density with all over sealing structure improves the yield. [Residual O2 density: 20 ppm or less (after 90 minutes of N2 purging)]
4. Provides unmanned production line such as central control system by the command from a host computer corresponding to CIM/AGV and changing recipe.
5. Reduced initial costs with corresponding to "Single-Substrate Transfer Type". Reduced the transferring cost in comparison with the cassette type of heavyweight conveyance.
6. Shortened the cycle time with a cooling system.
   • Ramp up time : App. 30 minutes (100 ~ 250°C)
   • Ramp down time : App. 60 minutes (250 ~ 100°C)

Applications

• Post baking of color filters
• Curing of polyimide coating & sealig
• Other various annealing

Clean ovens can be used for laboratory work or in an automatic version for batch processing, using inert gases. You can find a detailed description of our box ovens at a separate page.

Clean oven with automatic loading cassette to cassette

There are two types of vertical walking beam ovens available, type VX and type VWB.  In both cases the panels are transferred to the process chamber one by one, running up the first process tower, are transferred to the second process tower, running it down and are transferred then to a cooling station. Input and output can be designed for an in-line system or as a cassette transfer system. The VX type has a special vertical panel transport system that holds the panels at its corners and moves it by a rotating claw system. It can be used for big panels (550mm x 650mm) also. However you will see some sagging of the samples in this case. This problem is avoided in the VWB machine that uses a fork type transport system, which avoids the sagging of the samples ,but needs a larger footprint.

This oven is mainly used for polyimide pre-bake and main bake. The construction is very reliable. Quartz pins on the stainless steel beams hold the glass plates. The IR heating ensures a fast heating of the polyimide layer. The glass plate is not so much heated. Soak time is only 12.6 min. and the throughput of this oven is therefore rather high. By the use of this furnace the surface hardening of the polyimide layer can be avoided. Hardening takes place very homogenious. The furnace can be operated at temperatures up to 380°C with a temperature uniformity of ± 5°C.

These types of furnaces process full cassettes.The cassettes are loaded by a robot, run through the furnace, are unloaded again by a robot and the empty cassettes are transferred back to the input side of the furnace. Both types of ovens are using the same principle, just the transport mechanism is different: In one case, a walking beam mechanism is used and in the other case the cassettes are moved by a ceramic chain. This oven has a high flexibility concerning process time.

This new development allows the processing of 16 substrates at a time without the use of cassettes. The panels are transferred to a set of forks that hand over all 16 panels at the same time to the next set of forks. Flexibility is as high as for the horizontal beam furnaces and cleanliness and low-sagging properties are similar to the VWB oven. No cassette back-transport is necessary. This oven is therefore space saving also. It can be used in an in-line configuration also, but has a tact time of 20 min. It is possible to process glass plated with different dimensions.

Two different types of hot plate heating equipment is also available from JTEKT Thermo Systems. First version transports the wafer by a teflon belt, second version uses a shuttle transport system. In both cases wafers are processes one by one. Max. temperature is 150 °C / 200 °C.

For special applications in FPD production, using high temperatures or special gas atmosphere, a large diameter vertical furnace type VF4000 can be used. Processes compatible to those in semiconductor processing can be used (like oxidation or poly-Si deposition). A sample size up to 730mm x 920mm (G4) is possible. Up to 50 panels can be processed at a time.

Roller hearth furnaces have been designed to anneal large and heavy plasma display panels. The transport inside this clean, horizontal, continuous furnace is done by stainless steel rods. In order to avoid metallic contamination, ceramic tubes, made of pure alumina are installed over these steel rods. This combination turned out to be the best in order to achieve both, high throughput and high yield. Two layers of panels can be processed at the same time, mounted on top of each other by a special spacer system. All roller hearths are driven by a special chain transmission system that avoids slip during the transport of the panels. The furnace itself consists of a special glass muffle and far IR Moldatherm^TM heaters. An advanced temperature control system ensures a temperature uniformity of less than 1 °C within a large size glass panel.