JP2001148408A - Substrate transfer apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate transfer apparatus which can significantly reduce the number of times of position adjustment and reduce the time for transfer for improving the working efficiency significantly, and further can reduce the dimensions thereof. SOLUTION: A substrate holder 13, in which boards 18 are contained, is moved vertically with a substrate transfer robot 14 for significantly reducing the number of times of position adjustments. Furthermore, since it is not necessary to use two rows of cassette banks, the dimensions of an apparatus can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate transfer apparatus for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional substrate transfer apparatus firstly includes a cassette loader 7 accommodating a substrate holder 3 containing a substrate therein, and a cassette transfer robot 8 provided.
Then, all the substrate holders 3 are transported to the multi-stage shelves 2 of the cassette banks 1 and 1 ′, and then unprocessed substrates are taken out of the substrate holder 3 one by one by the arm 5 of the substrate transfer robot 4. The substrate transfer robot 4 is raised or lowered to a predetermined height, and the substrate is transferred to the boat 6 that has been advanced.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method, in order to prevent particles from adhering to the upper part of the substrate, the boat 6 is accommodated sequentially from the upper part to the lower part, and one cassette bank is provided in two rows. Therefore, the position where the substrate is placed on the arm 5 of the substrate transfer robot 4 from the substrate holder 3 and the substrate transfer robot 4 is raised or lowered differs for each cassette.

For this reason, complicated control such as setting of position data (vertical, rotation, and expansion / contraction) of the transfer robot must be performed for each cassette, but this adjustment has a disadvantage that it takes a considerable time. . In addition, there is a problem that the work efficiency is not improved because the transfer time is long.

Further, the above-mentioned conventional method has a problem that the size of the apparatus is increased because the cassette banks 1, 1 'need to be arranged in two rows in the apparatus.

The present invention has been made in view of such a point. The apparatus can be easily manufactured by greatly reducing the number of position adjustments, and the work efficiency can be improved by shortening the transfer time. It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate transfer apparatus which is greatly improved and has a reduced size.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a substrate transfer apparatus comprising: a substrate holding means for holding a substrate; and a vertically movable substrate transfer robot for transferring the substrate to a boat. The apparatus is characterized in that the substrate holding means is configured by mounting a substrate holder on a substrate holder table connected to the substrate transfer robot.

In short, according to the present invention, by moving the substrate holder accommodating the substrate up and down together with the substrate transfer robot, the number of position adjustments can be significantly reduced, and the necessity of arranging the cassette banks in two rows is eliminated. The gist of the present invention is to reduce the size of the device.

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which a transfer robot elevating rod 11 erected on a support 10.
The substrate transfer robot 14 is connected so that it can move up and down.

A substrate holder base 12 is fixed to the substrate transfer robot 14 via a substrate holder base transfer tool 19, and a substrate holder 13 is mounted on the substrate holder base 12. Note that a large number of substrates 18 are stacked in the substrate holder 13.

With the above configuration, the substrate transfer robot 14 and the substrate holder 13 move up and down together.

A transfer arm 15 is provided at the upper end of the substrate transfer robot 14 so as to be able to expand, contract, rotate and move up and down by a known articulated arm mechanism.

A substrate chuck 17 is continuously provided at the tip of the transfer arm 15.
8 is transferred from the substrate holder 13 to the boat 16.

In the figure, reference numeral 20 denotes a known transfer robot lifting / lowering mechanism, which moves the substrate transfer robot 14 up and down together with the substrate holder base transfer tool 19 by known means.

Next, a method of transferring a substrate using the above-described apparatus of the present invention will be described.

First, the substrate transfer robot 14 and the substrate holder table transfer tool 19 are moved by the transfer robot lifting mechanism 20.
Are raised by a motor to a position (A) shown in FIG.

Next, the transfer arm 15 is raised to a height at which the substrate 18 can be taken out, so that the substrate chuck 17 at the tip of the arm 15 receives the substrate 18 at the lowermost end.

Then, after taking out the substrate, the arm 1
5, the arm 15 is extended, the arm 15 is extended, the arm is lowered to a height at which the substrate 18 can be placed on the boat 16, and the substrate 18 on the chuck 17 is transferred to the boat 16.

Next, the arm 15 is contracted and raised by a predetermined pitch, the arm 15 is rotated to the first position facing the substrate holder 13, the arm 15 is extended and the substrate 18 is received by the chuck 17, and the arm 15 is moved in the same manner as described above. After the arm is extended and the arm is extended and slightly lowered, the substrate 18 on the chuck 17 is transferred to the boat 16.

Similarly, the substrates 18 are sequentially transferred to the boat 16, and when the substrates 18 become empty, they are replaced with new substrate holders 13, and the substrate transfer robot 14 is moved by the transfer robot elevating mechanism 20. The substrate is lowered by the amount of the substrate in the substrate holder 13.

Then, the substrate 18 is similarly moved to the boat 1
Transfer to 6. In this way, a predetermined number of substrates 18 can be transferred to the boat 16.

As described above, after a predetermined number of substrates are placed on the boat 16, the boat 16 is raised, and then lowered after performing CVD processing and the like, as shown in FIG. The substrate 18 is received by the arm 15, and the substrate 18 is returned from above the substrate holder 13.

In the case of returning the substrate, the arm 15 is raised, and the substrate holder 13 is moved to a position facing the arm 15.
So that the top of is located. The position setting control of the returning operation is also significantly simplified similarly to the related art.

Instead of raising the arm 15, the substrate holder table transfer tool 19 is fitted and fixed so as to be able to move up and down with respect to the substrate transfer robot 14, and the substrate holder table transfer tool 19 is moved. Of course, it may be lowered with respect to the loading robot 14.

In the above embodiment, the transfer robot 14 is lowered when the substrate holder 13 is replaced, because a commercially available transfer robot 14 is currently used.

However, the substrate transfer robot 14
The control is further simplified by lowering the pitch by the same pitch. In any case, the position adjustment control only needs to be performed once each for expansion, contraction, rotation, and up and down.
The manufacture of the device according to the invention is very easy.

The transfer robot 14 can be moved only from the top to the bottom, and the rotating operation of the arm can be reduced as compared with the conventional two-row transfer robot. The movement distance of the fourteen is greatly reduced.

In the above embodiment, the substrate holder 13
Although a commercially available product was used, the size may be doubled, tripled, or a size that accommodates all the sheets loaded on the boat 16.

If the size is set to accommodate all the sheets to be placed on the boat 16, all the substrates can be transferred to the boat 15 without replacing the substrate holder 13, and the operation is further simplified.

[0031]

According to the present invention, since the substrate transfer robot and the substrate holder move together, there is no need to set complicated position data as in the prior art, and no time is required for adjustment. The production of the device according to the invention is greatly simplified.

Although the substrate transfer robot depends on the number of substrates to be processed, it is usually possible to transfer all the substrates to the boat with only one descent and to reduce the number of rotation operations. Since the moving distance of the on-board robot becomes extremely short and the work time is remarkably shortened, work efficiency is remarkably improved.

Further, since only one substrate holder needs to be mounted on the substrate holder table in the apparatus, the apparatus of the present invention can be supplied at very low cost because of the downsizing of the apparatus and the above-mentioned advantages in manufacturing. For example, a great effect can be obtained as compared with a conventional device of this kind.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional substrate transfer device.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3, 13 ... substrate holder 4, 14 ... substrate transfer robot 5, 15 ... transfer arm 6, 16 ... boat 12 ... substrate holder table 18 ... substrate 19 ... Substrate holder transfer tool

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A substrate transfer apparatus comprising: a substrate holding means for holding a substrate; and a vertically movable substrate transfer robot for transferring the substrate to a boat. A substrate holder mounted on a substrate holder table connected to the substrate holder. 2. The substrate transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is transferred from the substrate holder to the boat by a transfer arm that can rotate and move up and down connected to the substrate transfer robot.