JP2000133692A - Transportation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a transportation device which can realize high-speed transportation of an object transported through movement of a support and improve its transportation efficiency by preventing positional shift of the object on the support. SOLUTION: The transportation device includes a movement mechanism 32 which moves a support 31 for carrying thereon an object B to be transported to an object B transfer position and into an object transportation area retracted from the transfer position. The mechanism 32 has a link mechanism 38 which expandably move the support 31. A mechanism 34 is provided operatively in association with the expanding/shrinking movement of the support 31 by the link mechanism 38 for allowing mounting and dismounting of the object B to and from the support 31 when expanded, and for holding the object B on the support 31 in the transportation area when contracted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transport device for transporting a loaded article thereon, and more particularly, to a transport device which is disposed in a vacuum device and functions suitably.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in the manufacturing process of an array substrate of a liquid crystal display device, glass substrates are stored in a cassette in multiple stages, and this cassette is subjected to a film forming process, an annealing process, an etching process, an ion doping process and the like. Is transferred to each processing apparatus for performing the transfer, and the substrate is transferred between each processing apparatus and the cassette.

In order to transfer a substrate between each processing apparatus and a cassette, or to move a substrate in each processing apparatus, a transfer apparatus (1) that mounts and transfers substrates one by one. Transfer robot).

A conventional transfer device has a hand (support) on which a substrate is placed, a hand is supported at one end of a link mechanism for extending and retracting the hand, and a turning mechanism for turning and elevating the link mechanism. The other end of the link mechanism is supported by a lifting mechanism.

For example, when a transfer device is arranged between a cassette and a processing device or between a load / unload chamber of a vacuum processing device and a processing chamber, and a substrate is transferred from one to the other, a hand is required. To one side, extend the hand with the link mechanism and enter into it, place the board on the hand, shrink the hand with the link mechanism,
The hand and the board are rotated by 180 ° together with the link mechanism, the hand is directed to the other side, the hand is extended and entered by the link mechanism, and the board is transported.

[0006]

However, in the conventional transfer device, only the substrate is placed on the hand, and the held substrate is not held. Therefore, the hand is moved to transfer the substrate. During the operation, the substrate may be displaced from a proper position on the hand. In particular,
If the hand is turned sharply when the hand is turned, the substrate is likely to be displaced from a regular position on the hand by centrifugal force.

As described above, when the substrate is displaced from the regular position on the hand, the substrate is received while being displaced at the receiving position for receiving the conveyed substrate. It is necessary to provide a positioning mechanism for correcting the displacement of the substrate at the receiving position.

Therefore, when the hand is moved, especially when the hand is turned, it is necessary to slowly move and turn the substrate so as not to cause the displacement of the substrate. However, the transfer time is long and the transfer efficiency is increased. There is a low problem.

In a vacuum processing apparatus for performing film formation and the like, a plurality of processing chambers for performing heating and film formation are connected to each other by using a common transfer chamber. When a substrate is transferred between the processing chamber, a pressure difference is provided between the transfer chamber and each processing chamber so that the reactive gas used in the processing chamber does not flow into the transfer chamber and is contaminated. A sudden gas flow occurs when a gate for opening and closing the transfer chamber and the processing chamber is opened or when evacuation is performed, and the substrate being transferred is displaced from a proper position on the hand. There is a risk.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and in conjunction with the movement of a support, it allows attachment and detachment of a conveyed object to and from the support when the support is moved to a transfer position. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transport device capable of performing high-speed transport and improving transport efficiency by holding a transport object on a support in a transport area retracted from the transport area.

[0011]

According to the present invention, there is provided a transfer apparatus for moving a support onto a support on which a load is placed, a transfer position of the transfer, and a transfer area of the transfer retracted from the transfer position. A mechanism and a holding mechanism that is interlocked with the movement of the support by the moving mechanism, allows attachment / detachment of the article to / from the support at the transfer position, and holds the article on the support in the conveyance area. Things.

[0012] In conjunction with the movement of the support, the attachment and detachment of the conveyed object to and from the support when the support is moved to the transfer position are allowed, and the conveyed object on the support is conveyed in the transfer area retracted from the transfer position. By holding, the transported material being transported by the movement of the support is prevented from being displaced on the support, and even if the position where the transported material is placed on the support is displaced, the support is performed. By holding the transported object on the body, it is positioned at a regular position.

[0013] Further, by providing a swivel mechanism for swiveling the moving mechanism that has moved the support to the transfer area, it is possible to swivel and transfer the conveyed object, and to hold the conveyed object even during this turning. This prevents the transported object from being displaced on the support.

The holding mechanism is provided on the support, and is engaged with an edge of the conveyed object, and is disposed opposite to the claw and is engaged with an edge of the conveyed object opposite to the claw. A simple structure is provided by interlocking transmission means which presses the leaf spring against the edge of the conveyed object in conjunction with the movement of the support by the moving mechanism, thereby enabling interlocking with the movement of the support. The object can be held or released by holding the object, and the object is elastically held by a leaf spring to prevent the object from being subjected to an impact or an excessive force.

The moving mechanism is a link mechanism that supports the support at the other end with one end as a reference position, and extends and contracts the support with respect to the reference position. The holding mechanism is supported by the link mechanism. In conjunction with the expansion and contraction movement of the body, while allowing the transported object to be attached to and detached from the support when the body is extended for a predetermined length or more, and holding the transported object on the support when contracted for a predetermined length or less, the support is simple, and the The transported object can be held or released in conjunction with the movement of the body.

Further, since the transported object is a substrate for a flat panel display, the transport unit can be used in a manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a flat panel display.

[0017]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The transfer object handled by the transfer device is a rectangular substrate B having a size of, for example, 500 mm × 650 mm and a thickness of 0.5 mm. This substrate B is a substrate for a flat panel display device. For example, it is an array substrate for a liquid crystal display device, that is, a glass substrate on which a film forming process is performed in a manufacturing process of the array substrate.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a vacuum processing apparatus using a transfer apparatus. The vacuum processing apparatus 11 forms a film on the substrate B.

The vacuum processing apparatus 11 includes a cassette station
The cassette station 12 is provided with two cassette positions 13, and a cassette C in which substrates B are stacked and stored in a single-wafer manner with respect to these cassette positions 13 is loaded and unloaded by a transfer mechanism (not shown). It is.

On one side of the cassette station 12, a transfer robot 14 as a transfer device for transferring the substrate B between the cassette C and the inside of the processing apparatus 2 (load lock chamber described later).
Are arranged. Although details of the transfer robot 14 will be described later, the transfer robot 14 itself is configured to move along a direction parallel to the two cassette positions 13.

A spin cleaning unit 15 for cleaning the substrate B is provided at a side position of the transfer robot 14 perpendicular to the direction in which the cassette station 12 and the transfer robot 14 are arranged. Will be issued.

A processing unit 16 is disposed on the side of the transfer robot 14 opposite to the cassette station 12 in the direction in which the cassette station 12 and the transfer robot 14 are arranged.
The processing unit 16 has a load lock chamber 17 whose one end can control the atmospheric pressure and the vacuum with respect to the transfer robot 14, and the load lock chamber 17 has a substantially hexagonal vacuum transfer chamber 18 in a plane.
The other five sides of the vacuum transfer chamber 18 are connected to a film forming chamber 19 as four processing chambers for performing chemical vapor deposition (Chemical Vapor Deposition) on the substrate B and a processing chamber for heating the substrate B. Are connected to each other.

In the vacuum transfer chamber 18, a transfer robot 21 is provided as a transfer device for transferring the substrate B between the vacuum transfer chamber 18, the load lock chamber 17, the four film forming chambers 19 and the heating chamber 20. ing.

Next, FIGS. 1 and 2 show the transfer robot 14,
The transfer robots 14 and 21 include a hand 31 as a support, a moving mechanism 32, a driving unit 33 as a turning mechanism,
And a holding mechanism 34.

The hand 31 transports the substrate B by placing it on the mounting surface 35 on the upper surface. The hand 31 is formed of a thin plate, and a pair of hand portions 36 is formed at the tip end side in a forked shape. A claw portion 37 constituting a part of the holding mechanism 34 is formed upright from the tip. Note that the width of the substrate B is wider than the width of the hand 31, and when the substrate B is placed on the hand 31,
Are protruded from both sides of the substrate B.

The moving mechanism 32 moves the hand 31 between the transfer position of the substrate B and the transfer area of the substrate B retreated from the transfer position. In the transfer robot 14, the cassette position 13, the spin cleaning unit 15 and the load lock chamber 17 are transfer positions of the substrate B,
The area retracted from these transfer positions is the transfer area, and the transfer robot 21 has a load lock chamber.
17, the four film forming chambers 19 and the heating chamber 20 are transfer positions of the substrate B, and the area retreated from the transfer positions, that is, the vacuum transfer chamber 18 is mainly the transfer area.

The moving mechanism 32 includes a link mechanism 38 that supports the hand 31 at the other end with one end as a reference position, and moves the hand 31 to expand and contract with respect to the reference position. The link mechanism 38 includes a first link 39 and a second link 40.
One end of the first link 39 is connected and fixed to a rotation shaft 41 as a reference position on the drive unit 33 side, and one end of the second link 40 is connected to the other end of the first link 39 by a rotation shaft. The hand 31 is rotatably connected to the other end of the second link 40 via a rotation shaft 43.

The link mechanism 38 allows the second link 40 to rotate in conjunction with the rotation of the first link 39 and the hand 31 to rotate in conjunction with the rotation of the second link 40. In other words, as shown in FIG. 4, the first and second links 39 and 40 expand and contract while keeping the center line s of the hand 31 always coincident with the center of the rotating shaft 41. Thus, the hand 31 is moved in parallel.

The driving section 33 has a rotating shaft 41 on the upper surface, and rotates the rotating shaft 41 to expand and contract the link mechanism 38. The driving unit 33 is also configured as a turning mechanism that turns the link mechanism 38 that has moved the hand 31 to the transport area, and the driving unit 33 itself is turned and driven to rotate the link mechanism 38.
And the hand 31 is turned. Further, the rotating shaft 41 is driven to move up and down, and the link mechanism 38 and the hand 31 are moved up and down.

The holding mechanism 34 allows the attachment / detachment of the substrate B to / from the hand 31 at the transfer position in conjunction with the movement of the hand 31 by the link mechanism 38, and holds the substrate B on the hand 31 in the transport area. That is, when the link mechanism 38 is extended beyond a predetermined length,
And allows the substrate B on the hand 31 to be held when the link mechanism 38 contracts by a predetermined length or less.

The holding mechanism 34 is provided on the hand 31 and has a pair of claws 37 that engage with the edge of the substrate B placed on the mounting surface 35 of the hand 31. A leaf spring 44 that is opposed to and engages with an edge of the substrate B opposite to the claw portion 37 and that can be pressed is disposed. The leaf spring 44 has a pressing portion 45 curved in a semicircular shape at an intermediate portion, and is attached between both ends of a holding frame 46 having substantially U-shaped ends. Holding frame 46
Is movably supported on the hand 31 along the center line s direction, and is moved along the center line s direction of the hand 31 in conjunction with the movement of the hand 31 by the link mechanism 38 via the interlocking transmission means 47. You.

The interlocking transmission means 47 has a gear 48 fixed to the rotating shaft 43 and a rack 49 extending from the holding frame 46 and meshing with the gear 48. The link mechanism 38 is moved from the contracted state to the extended state. At the time of shifting, the gear 48 is rotated clockwise in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with the rotation shaft 43, and the holding frame is
46 and the leaf spring 44 are moved away from the board B to release the holding of the board B, and the gear 48 is rotated counterclockwise when the link mechanism 38 shifts from the extended state to the contracted state,
The holding frame 46 and the leaf spring 44 are moved closer to the substrate B via the rack 49, and the pressing portion 45 of the leaf spring 44 comes into contact with and presses the substrate B.

Next, the overall processing operation of the vacuum processing apparatus 11 will be described.

After a cassette C containing a plurality of substrates B on which a film is to be formed is transferred to the cassette station 12, the transfer robot 14 takes out the substrate B from the cassette C and transfers it to the spin cleaning unit 15, where The substrate B cleaned by the cleaning unit 15 is transferred to the load lock chamber 17.

After the load lock chamber 17 in which the substrate B is transported is decompressed from atmospheric pressure to a vacuum, the substrate B in the load lock chamber 17 is transported to the heating chamber 20 by the transport robot 21 in the vacuum transport chamber 18. The substrate B heated at 20 is transferred to the film formation chamber 19 and sequentially transferred to different film formation chambers 19, and a thin film is formed on the substrate B. B is transferred to the load lock chamber 17.

After returning the load lock chamber 17 to which the substrate B has been transferred from vacuum to atmospheric pressure, the transfer robot 14 transfers the substrate B in the load lock chamber 17 to the cassette C.

Then, referring to FIG.
The transfer operation 21 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 4A, in the contracted state of the link mechanism 38, the tip of the hand 31 is made to face in parallel with the edge of the substrate B located at the transfer position on the receiving side.
By extending 38, the hand 31 is moved in parallel toward the lower side of the substrate B.

As shown in FIG. 4B, when the link mechanism 38 is extended and the hand 31 moves to a predetermined transfer position, the link mechanism 38 is interlocked with the extension and the holding mechanism 34 is released. . That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the leaf spring is
The 44 moves away from the claw 37 at the tip of the hand 31, and the distance between the leaf spring 44 and the claw 37 becomes wider than the width of the substrate B.

The hand 31 is raised, and the leaf spring 44 of the hand 31 is moved.
The substrate B is received on the mounting surface 35 between the and the claw portion 37 and is lifted.

As shown in FIG. 4C, the link mechanism 38 is contracted, and the hand 31 and the substrate B are retracted from the transfer position. When the link mechanism 38 contracts and the hand 31 retreats from the transfer position to the transport area, the holding mechanism 34 holds the substrate B on the hand 31 in conjunction with the contraction of the link mechanism 38. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the leaf spring 44 is hand-operated through the interlocking transmission means 47 interlocking with the contraction of the link mechanism 38.
31, the pressing portion 45 of the leaf spring 44 comes into contact with and presses against the edge of the substrate B, and the leaf spring 44 and the claw portion
37, the substrate B is elastically held. At this time, even if the position where the substrate B is placed on the hand 31 is shifted, the hand is held by holding the substrate B between the leaf spring 44 and the claw portion 37.
The substrate B can be positioned at a regular position on the base 31.

As shown in FIG. 4D, the drive unit 33 itself is rotated by a predetermined angle so that the tip of the hand 31 is oriented toward the transfer position on the transfer side.

As shown in FIG. 4E, the link mechanism 38 is extended to move the hand 31 and the substrate B to a predetermined transfer position on the transfer side. When the link mechanism 38 extends and the hand 31 moves to a predetermined delivery position, the link mechanism
The holding mechanism 34 enters the holding release state in conjunction with the extension of the holding mechanism 34.
That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the leaf spring 44 moves away from the claw 37 at the tip of the hand 31 via the interlocking transmission means 47 which interlocks with the extension of the link mechanism 38, and the leaf spring 44 and the claw The distance from 37 is wider than the width of the substrate B, and the holding of the substrate B is released.

The hand 31 is lowered, and the substrate B on the hand 31
It is transferred to a receiving member at the delivery position.

As described above, in conjunction with the movement of the hand 31,
When the hand 31 is moved to the transfer position, the substrate B is allowed to be attached to and detached from the hand 31, and in the transfer area retracted from the transfer position, the substrate B is held on the hand 31 to be transferred by the movement of the hand 31. The substrate B can be prevented from being displaced on the hand 31 due to vibration, inertia, or the like during transportation. Even when the hand 31 is turned, the substrate B is held, so that the substrate B can be prevented from being displaced on the hand 31. Therefore, high-speed turning can be performed, the transfer time can be reduced, and the transfer efficiency can be reduced. Can be improved.

Further, in the vacuum processing apparatus 11, a film forming chamber 19 and a heating chamber 20 are connected to each other while using the vacuum transfer chamber 18 in common, and the transfer robot 21 disposed in the vacuum transfer chamber 18 connects the vacuum transfer chamber 18 and the heating chamber 20. When transferring the substrate B between the film forming chamber 19 and the heating chamber 20, the vacuum transfer is performed so that the reactive gas used in the film forming chamber 19 and the like does not flow into the vacuum transfer chamber 18 and is contaminated. Room
Since a pressure difference is provided between the vacuum chamber 18 and the film forming chamber 19, when a gate for opening and closing the vacuum transfer chamber 18 and the film forming chamber 19 is opened or when a vacuum evacuation is performed, a sudden gas Even if a flow occurs, it is possible to prevent the substrate B being transported from being displaced from a proper position on the hand 31.

Moreover, even if the position where the substrate B is placed on the hand 31 is shifted, the substrate B can be held at the regular position by holding the substrate B on the hand 31.

The holding mechanism 34 is provided on the hand 31 and engages with a claw 37 which engages with an edge of the board B. An edge of the claw 37 opposite to the claw 37 of the board B is disposed opposite to the claw 37. With a leaf spring 44 that can be engaged with the portion and an interlocking transmission means 47 that presses the leaf spring 44 against the edge of the substrate B in conjunction with the movement of the hand 31 by the link mechanism 38, the configuration is simple. In addition, the substrate B can be held or released in conjunction with the movement of the hand 31, and the substrate B can be elastically held by the plate spring 44 to prevent the substrate B from being subjected to an impact or an excessive force.

The moving mechanism 32 is a link mechanism 38 that supports the hand 31 at the other end with one end as a reference position, and moves the hand 31 to expand and contract with respect to the reference position.
Is interlocked with the expansion and contraction movement of the hand 31 by the link mechanism 38, allowing the attachment and detachment of the substrate B to and from the hand 31 when the hand 31 is extended by a predetermined length or more, and by allowing the hand 31 to contract when the hand 31 is contracted by a predetermined length or less.
By holding the upper substrate B, the substrate B can be held or released with a simple configuration in conjunction with the movement of the hand 31.

The transported material is not limited to the substrate B.
Any material can be used as long as it can be carried on the hand 31. Therefore, the transfer device is not limited to the application to the vacuum processing device 11, and can be applied to transfer of various types of transferred objects.

[0052]

According to the transfer apparatus of the present invention, in conjunction with the movement of the support, the transfer of the support to and from the support when the support is moved to the transfer position is allowed, and the transfer retreated from the transfer position. In the area, by holding the transported object on the support, it is possible to prevent the transported article transported by the movement of the support from being displaced on the support, enabling high-speed transport and improving transport efficiency. Can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention in a contracted state of a hand.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the hand in an extended state.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a vacuum processing apparatus using the transfer device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a transfer procedure in the order of (a) to (e) of the above.

[Explanation of symbols]

 31 Hand as a support 32 Moving mechanism 33 Driving part as a turning mechanism 34 Holding mechanism 37 Claw part 38 Link mechanism 44 Leaf spring 47 Interlocking transmission means B Substrate as transported object

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G02F 1/1333 500 G02F 1/1333 500

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A support on which a load is placed, a moving mechanism for moving the support to a transfer position of the load, and a transfer area of the load retreated from the transfer position, and a movement of the support by the transfer mechanism. And a holding mechanism for holding the conveyed object on the support in the conveyance area while allowing the conveyed object to be attached to and detached from the support at the transfer position. 2. The transfer device according to claim 1, further comprising a turning mechanism for turning a moving mechanism that has moved the support to the transfer area. 3. The holding mechanism is provided on the support, and engages with a claw that engages with an edge of the conveyed object, and is disposed opposite to the claw and engages with an edge of the conveyed object that is opposite to the claw. 3. The transport apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a leaf spring that enables the leaf spring, and an interlocking transmission unit that presses the leaf spring against an edge of the conveyed object in conjunction with the movement of the support by the moving mechanism. 4. The moving mechanism is a link mechanism that supports the support at the other end with one end as a reference position, and extends and contracts the support with respect to the reference position. The holding mechanism is supported by the link mechanism. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the movement of the body is linked to the expansion and contraction of the body, and the attachment and detachment of the conveyed object with respect to the support during extension of a predetermined length or more are permitted, and the conveyed object on the support is held when contracted for a predetermined length or less. 3. The transport device according to any one of 3). 5. The transporting device according to claim 1, wherein the transported object is a substrate for a flat panel display device.