JPH0641329B2 - Transport device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention is to mount a substrate such as a reticle from a cassette having a mounting side member (storage box) and a lid side member (cassette lid) onto the mounting side member. The present invention relates to a transport device for taking out and transporting a printed substrate.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, as this type of apparatus, there has been known one in which only a substrate such as a reticle is directly pulled out from a cassette and conveyed. However, such a device has a disadvantage that the substrate is easily scratched or dusted during the transportation. Further, as another conventional device, there is also a device in which the entire cassette is pulled out and conveyed to a predetermined position, and then a substrate such as a reticle is taken out from the cassette. However, in such a configuration, since it is necessary to provide a mechanism for separating the mounting side member (storage box) and the lid side member (cassette lid) of the cassette in the transport path of the cassette, the substrate is taken out from the cassette. Therefore, there is a problem that it takes a long time to convey the sheet to a predetermined position.

(Object) The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to mount a substrate such as a reticle on a mounting member from a cassette having a mounting member and a lid member. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transfer device that can take out and transfer an existing substrate at high speed without damaging it.

(Means for Achieving the Purpose) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the transfer device of the present invention includes a mounting side member (storage box) on which a substrate (reticle or the like) is mounted,
A lid side member (lid) that forms a storage chamber for storing the substrate in cooperation with the placement side member, and moves the lid side member to the placement side member by moving from the open position to the closed position. A transfer device that takes out and transfers the substrate from a cassette having an opening / closing lever that releases the close contact between the lid side member and the placement side member by being moved from the closed position to the open position. A drawer member that moves forward and backward with respect to the cassette in the pull-out direction, supports the placement-side member, and moves along the pull-out direction to pull out the placement-side member from the lid-side member. And a position in which the drawer member moves integrally with the drawer member with respect to the drawing direction, and the drawer member supports the placement side member so that the drawer member does not interfere with the opening / closing lever. On the other hand, when it is in a position where it interferes with the opening / closing lever, the opening / closing lever is moved from the closed position to the open position according to the entry of the drawer member into the cassette side, and the cassette of the drawer member is moved. The operation lever for moving the opening / closing lever from the open position to the closed position in accordance with the withdrawal from the side, and the device that is supported by the drawer member and is drawn out in the drawing direction with respect to the lid side member. It is characterized by having a take-out means (positioning mechanism, feeding hand) for taking out the substrate from the side member.

(Example) FIG. 1 shows a cassette according to the present invention.

1 is a reticle, 2 is a storage box, 3 is a lid, 4 is an elastic plate, 5 is an opening / closing lever, 6 is a frame, 7 is a belt, and 8 is a cassette.

Here, when the opening / closing lever 5 is rotated in the opening direction, the lid 3 supported by the elastic plate 4 whose central portion is fixed floats up substantially horizontally as a whole, and conversely when the opening / closing lever is moved in the closing direction, it is elastic. The lid 3 is closed against the elastic force of the plate 4. The belt 7 has one end fixed to the opening / closing lever 5, and the lid 3 by the opening / closing lever 5 is fixed.
It is provided in order to prevent lifting when the two are in close contact.

FIG. 2 shows a cassette 8 in which a storage box 2 in which a reticle 1 is stored is set.
The figure taken out more is shown.

FIG. 3 shows a horizontal movement mechanism 10 for moving the storage box horizontally from the cassette.

In FIG. 3, 11 is a pull-out member, 11a is an operation lever, 1
1b is a rotating roller, 11c is a rotation fulcrum, 11d is an elastic member, 11e is a fixed lever, and 11f is a hooking pin.

Here, the operation lever 11a and the rotating roller 11b are integrally rotatable about the rotation fulcrum 11c.

The fixed lever 11e is for positioning the storage box to be pulled out.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 4 (A) and 4 (B), it will be described how to pull out the storage box 2 in which the reticle 1 is stored in the horizontal direction.

In FIG. 4 (A), the horizontal movement mechanism 10 including the pull-out member 11 first engages with the side portion of the storage box 2 and moves to the left side in the drawing.

At that time, the operation lever 11a hits the opening / closing lever 5, and the opening / closing lever 5 is rotated in the clockwise direction, whereby the lid 6 is entirely floated upward.

Then, the operation lever 11a elastically moves over the open / close lever 5 in the open position, the horizontal movement mechanism 10 further moves to the left side, and is stopped by a hooking member (not shown) provided in the storage box 2.

After stopping at this hooking member position, the horizontal moving mechanism 10 is slightly displaced upward in the drawing. Then, a member (not shown) provided on the side surface of the storage box 2 pushes the rotating roller 11b downward, and the rotating roller 11b and the operating lever 11a are rotated counterclockwise about the rotation fulcrum 11c.

As a result, the operating lever 11a and the opening / closing lever 5 have a height relationship that does not interfere with each other.

FIG. 4 (B) shows a drawing in which the drawer member 11 draws out the storage box 2 containing the reticle 1 and conveys it in the right direction in the drawing.

Since the operation lever 11a and the opening / closing lever 5 do not interfere with each other as described above, when the operation lever 11a is moved to the right side,
The lid 6 is kept open without changing the opening / closing lever 5.

In this way, the horizontal movement mechanism 10 returns to the horizontal reference position in a state of slightly rising in the vertical direction.

When the used reticle is stored in the cassette 8, the flow is the reverse of the flow described above.

That is, the horizontal moving mechanism 10 is horizontally moved in the direction of the cassette 8 and then slightly displaced downward to return the rotary roller 1b and the operating lever 11a upward, and then horizontally moved in the opposite direction. At that time, the hook portion of the operation lever 11a hooks the opening / closing lever 5 and rotates the opening / closing lever 5 in the opposite direction to automatically move the opening / closing lever 5 into the closed state and move out.

Next, FIG. 5 shows a system for transporting the reticle horizontally moved by the horizontal moving mechanism 10 to the reticle stage.

The horizontal movement mechanism 10 that takes out the storage box 2 that stores the reticle in the horizontal direction rises from the reference position in the horizontal direction by the vertical movement mechanism 12, and reaches the position within the horizontal movement plane of the feeding hand 17. After that, a reticle suction body (not shown) provided above the position within the horizontal movement surface of the feeding hand 17 descends to adsorb the reticle, and then rises to the original position.

At the same time, the horizontal movement mechanism 10 descends and stops at a standby position below the horizontal movement surface of the feeding hand 17 by a predetermined amount. After confirming the stop, the feeding hand moves 90 in the horizontal plane.
° rotated.

After that, the reticle adsorbing body descends while the reticle adsorbing body adsorbs the reticle, and the reticle is placed on the upper surface of the feeding hand 17.

Next, the positioning mechanism 15 provided at substantially the same height as the reticle suction body described above descends.

Then, the reticle placed on the upper surface of the feeding hand 17 is positioned by the positioning members 15a and 15b and the pusher members 15c and 15d of the positioning mechanism 15.

The positioning members 15a and 15b prevent the reticle from being scratched by displacing the positioning members 15a and 15b from the side ends of the reticle, which are orthogonal to each other, by a predetermined amount to the reference position.

Further, the pusher members 15c and 15d are also positioned at the reference position for positioning, starting from the position separated from the reticle.
Press the reticle so that it hits a and 15b.

Note that the feeding hand 17 releases the suction of the reticle during the positioning, but it sucks the reticle when the positioning is completed. After positioning, the positioning member 15
The positioning mechanism 15 including a and 15b and pusher members 15c and 15d separates from the reticle and returns to the starting position.

After that, the feeding hand 17 rotates 90 ° in the opposite direction to convey the reticle to the reticle stage. In addition, the unevenness of the index plate 16 corresponds to each storage height position of the cassette, and the photo switch 14 determines the vertical position of the horizontal moving mechanism 10 depending on whether light is transmitted or shielded according to the unevenness of the index plate 16. Control with precision.

Further, a potentiometer (not shown) is provided coaxially with the drive unit 13 to roughly control the absolute height position of the horizontal movement mechanism 10.

Here, FIGS. 6A to 6E schematically show the flow of the moving mechanism in the vertical direction.

In the present invention, the substrate may be a mask, a wafer, etc., in addition to the reticle.

(Effect) As described above, according to the present invention, a substrate such as a reticle is less likely to be scratched, and dust adhesion is considerably improved. Furthermore, according to the present invention, it becomes possible to perform the close contact and the close contact between the mounting side member and the lid side member at the holding position of the cassette, and further, the close contact and the close contact between the mounting side member and the cover side member can be performed. Since it can be performed by advancing and retracting the drawer member for drawing out to the lid side member with respect to the cassette, the time required to take out the substrate such as the reticle from the cassette is considerably shortened.

[Brief description of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an illustration of the cassette, Fig. 2 is a view showing the storage box pulled out from the cassette, Fig. 3 is an illustration of the horizontal movement mechanism, and Figs. 4 (A) and (B) are the storage boxes from the cassette. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of the drawing operation, FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a system for transporting the reticle to the reticle stage, FIGS. 6 (a) to 6 (e) are explanatory views of a flow in a vertical movement direction, and in FIG. (Substrate), 2 is a storage box (mounting side member), 3 is a lid (cover side member), 5 is an opening / closing lever, 8 is a cassette, 11 is a drawer member, 11a is an operation lever, 11
Reference numeral b is a rotating roller (contact portion), 15 is a positioning mechanism, and 17 is a feeding hand.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A mounting-side member on which a substrate is mounted, a lid-side member that cooperates with the mounting-side member to form a storage chamber for storing the substrate, and is moved from an open position to a closed position. An opening / closing lever for bringing the lid-side member into close contact with the placing-side member by moving the lid-side member and the placing-side member by moving from the closed position to the open position. A transfer device for taking out and transferring the substrate from a cassette, wherein the cover is movable in the drawing direction with respect to the cassette, supports the placement side member, and moves in the drawing direction. The pull-out member that pulls out the placement-side member with respect to the side member, and moves integrally with the pull-out member in the pull-out direction, and the pull-out member supports the placement-side member to open and close the opening / closing latch. When retracting from a position that interferes with the door to a position that does not interfere with the opening / closing lever, the opening / closing lever is moved from the closed position to the open position in response to the drawer member entering the cassette side. And an operation lever that moves the opening / closing lever from the open position to the closed position in response to the retraction of the drawer member from the cassette side, and the operation lever supported by the drawer member with respect to the lid side member. And a take-out means for taking out the substrate from the placement-side member pulled out along the pull-out direction.