New Technology
The Floating Coat System
Video length: 3 min. 35 sec.
TOK's newly released FCS series is an LCD resist coater that changes the concept of conventional spinless coaters by using air floatation to convey substrates.
Photoresist coater designers have coped with larger substrate sizes by using the same design on a bigger scale. However, this approach is coming to a turning point as substrates continue to grow in size, reaching physical limits on manufacturing and handling processes. Meanwhile, manufacturers are making stronger demands for further productivity improvements. TOK addresses these needs by replacing the conventional coating method of moving the heavy nozzle over the substrate with a newly developed air floatation coat system that moves the lighter substrate at faster speeds.
Air floatation resolves manufacturing problems presented by larger substrate sizes. It also eliminates wasted time during substrate reloads, resulting in even higher processing throughput. Users can expect further productivity enhancements not possible with conventional spinless coaters: stress on the substrate is reduced because the substrate never touches the stage which, in turn, eliminates potential damage to the coating layer caused by foreign particles. By using floating coat technology to resolve the issues associated with larger substrate sizes, the FCS Series delivers productivity enhancements including higher throughput, making it the new standard for photoresist coaters for 8th-generation and larger square substrates.