Positioning apparatus

• US 20030030224A1
• Filed: 07/25/2002
• Published: 02/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NSK Limited
• Original Assignee: NSK Limited
• Inventors: Nakamura, Tsuyoshi, Saji, Nobuhito
• Granted Patent: US 7,059,607 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 277/431
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 2300/62 low pressure, e.g. elements operating under vacuum conditions
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 29/025 Hydrostatic or aerostatic this type of bearing for rotary parts F16C32/06
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 32/0614 the gas being supplied under pressure, e.g. aerostatic bearings
• CPC Class Codes: F16C 33/748 flowing to or from the sealing gap, e.g. vacuum seals with differential exhaust
• CPC Class Codes: F16J 15/406 by at least one pump
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70816 Bearings
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67126 Apparatus for sealing, encapsulating, glassing, decapsulating or the like processes H01L23/02, H01L23/28

Abstract

In the present positioning apparatus, a positioning apparatus, comprising: a box body including a process chamber exposed to a decompression environment in the interior of the box body and an opening allowing said process chamber to communicate with an outside; a moving member for shielding said opening of said box body with a slight clearance between said box body and the moving member and movable with respect to said opening of said box body; and a differential pumping seal for sealing said slight clearance between said opening of said box body and said moving member, wherein a portion of said moving member to be moved into the interior of said process chamber, when said moving member moves, is formed as an adsorption preventive area.

Claims

1. A positioning apparatus, comprising:

a box body including a process chamber exposed to a decompression environment in the interior of the box body and an opening allowing said process chamber to communicate with an outside;

a moving member for shielding said opening of said box body with a slight clearance between said box body and the moving member and movable with respect to said opening of said box body; and

,

a differential pumping seal for sealing said slight clearance between said opening of said box body and said moving member,

wherein a portion of said moving member to be moved into the interior of said process chamber, when said moving member moves, is formed as an adsorption preventive area.

2. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein a width of a portion of said box body opposed to said moving body in a moving direction of said moving member is set equal to or larger than a moving amount of said moving member.

3. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein a seal surface of said differential pumping seal on said box body side includes a plurality of groove portions so formed as to surround said opening, and said plurality of groove portions are respectively formed so as to communicate with their associated exhaust passages, and also wherein the width of the near-to-process-chamber end of one of said groove portions being most distant from said process chamber to said process chamber in the moving direction of said moving member is set equal to or larger than the moving amount of said moving member.

4. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein a hydrostatic bearing using inert gas as a medium is disposed in combination with said differential pumping seal so as to adjoin the side of said differential pumping seal situated near to an outside.

5. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein a hydrostatic bearing using inert gas as a medium is disposed in combination with said differential pumping seal so as to adjoin the side of said differential pumping seal situated near to an outside.

6. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further including:

a cover member for covering at least the portion of said moving member movable between an interior side and an exterior side of said process chamber on said process chamber exterior side; and

an air supply device for supplying a dry air having lower humidity than the atmosphere of said process chamber exterior side into said cover member.

7. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 6, wherein said dry air, when the atmosphere of said process chamber exterior side contains the air having the humidity of 50%, is the air having such humidity that can control variations in the pressure of the interior of said process chamber caused by the movement of said moving member down to 30% or less.

8. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 6, wherein said dry air is the air having the humidity of 10% or less.

9. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 7, wherein said dry air is the air having the humidity of 10% or less.

10. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 6, wherein said cover member is a hydrostatic bearing for guiding said moving member.

11. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 7, wherein said cover member is a hydrostatic bearing for guiding said moving member.

12. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein said cover member is a hydrostatic bearing for guiding said moving member.

13. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein said cover member is a hydrostatic bearing for guiding said moving member.

14. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said adsorption preventive area is formed such that at least the surface thereof is formed of high-density material or is coated with a CVD film or a PVD film.

15. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said adsorption preventive area is formed such that at least the surface thereof is formed of high-density material or is coated with a CVD film or a PVD film.

16. The positioning apparatus as set forth in claim 6, wherein said adsorption preventive area is formed such that at least the surface thereof is formed of high-density material or is coated with a CVD film or a PVD film.