JP2002134583A - Substrate conveying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate conveying apparatus to stably convey and transfer a substrate. SOLUTION: The substrate conveying apparatus is provided with: a holder 42 for holding the substrate; arms 52, 56 extensible in a horizontal plane between an extended position in which the substrate is transferred and an contracted position contracted from the extended position in the predetermined length; an elevating shaft 60 for elevating the arms; a controlling means for controlling to elevate the elevating shaft and suppress an vibration to cancel the vibration of the arms.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate transfer device for transferring a substrate such as a liquid crystal display (LCD).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the manufacture of a liquid crystal display (LCD), for example, a photoresist liquid is applied to a rectangular LCD substrate made of glass to form a resist film, and the resist film is exposed according to a circuit pattern. Is developed, that is, a circuit pattern is formed by a so-called photolithography technique.

In the process of forming such a circuit pattern, a rectangular LCD substrate is transported in a processing device by a transport device having an arm, and is carried in and out of a number of units for performing various processes.

[0004]

In recent years, however, it has been required to increase the processing speed in order to improve the throughput. In addition to the high-speed transfer of the substrate, it is required to stably hold the substrate by a transfer device. I have.

However, since the LCD substrate is generally large and rectangular, the size of the arm of the transfer device that holds the LCD substrate (particularly, the hand of the arm that holds the LCD substrate) is large. It may bend and vibrate during transport. When such vibrations occur, the transfer operation becomes unstable, and not only does the LCD substrate shift on the arm, but also a mounting table or chuck for transferring the LCD substrate to and from the transfer device, There is a possibility that the arm or the LCD substrate on the arm may come into contact with the arm. Such a situation hinders the normal and smooth operation of the transport device, and lowers the throughput.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate transfer apparatus capable of stably transferring and transferring a substrate.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a substrate transfer apparatus according to the present invention has a holding portion for holding a substrate, and extends and contracts a predetermined amount from an extended position for transferring the substrate and a predetermined amount from the extended position. An arm portion that can be extended and retracted in a horizontal plane between a contracted position and an elevating shaft that moves the arm portion up and down, and when the arm portion vibrates, raise and lower the elevating shaft so as to cancel the vibration of the arm portion. A vibration suppression means for performing vibration suppression control for suppressing vibration.

In the above-mentioned configuration, it is preferable that the vibration suppression means generates a vibration having a phase and an amplitude opposite to the vibration wave of the vibration of the arm by controlling the elevation shaft to move up and down. In the case where a vibration detecting unit for detecting the vibration of the arm unit is provided, the vibration damping unit calculates the amplitude and the cycle of the vibration of the arm unit based on a detection signal from the vibration detecting unit, and calculates the calculation result. It is desirable to generate vibrations of opposite phase and opposite amplitude to the vibration of the arm portion based on the above. As the vibration detecting means, a piezoelectric sensor or a photoelectric sensor is preferable. In addition, an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) is suitable as the vibration control means.

The vibration damping means stores data including a natural frequency and a natural amplitude of the arm portion and the substrate,
At a predetermined operation point of the arm unit, a vibration that cancels the vibration of the arm unit based on the stored data may be generated. The vibration suppression means may perform vibration suppression control immediately before the arm reaches the extended position at which the substrate is transferred, and may generate vibration for canceling vibration of the arm only once. It may be.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 5 show a substrate transfer apparatus according to the present invention using an LC.
1 shows an embodiment applied to a coating and developing processing system 1 for a D substrate. The coating and developing processing system 1 applies a resist solution to the LCD substrate, and then passes it once to an exposure system (EXP) shown in FIG.
The substrate subjected to the exposure processing is again received and developed.

In order to perform such a series of processes, the coating and developing system 1 includes a loader / unloader unit (L / UL) 3 for loading and unloading the LCD substrate and a substrate cleaning process. A first process unit 4 and a second process unit 4 for performing a coating (coating) of a resist solution, a peripheral resist removing process, and the like.
A processing unit 5, a third processing unit 6 for performing a development process, and an interface unit (I / F) 7 for transferring a substrate to and from the exposure system 2 are provided.

The loader / unloader section 3 includes a cassette mounting table 10 and a transport section (C / S) 11. On the cassette mounting table 10, two types of cassettes C1 and C2 are mounted. For example, the LCD substrate before processing is stored in the first cassette C1, and the LCD substrate after processing is stored in the second cassette C2.

The transport section 11 is provided with a first sub-arm mechanism 13. The first sub-arm mechanism 13 has, for example, an arm 14 that can hold a substrate. The arm 14 is turned, moved forward and backward, and moved up and down to take out the substrate stored in the first cassette C1 and perform the first process. It can be delivered to the part 4 side.
The substrate on which all the processes have been completed is stored in the second cassette C2 by the first sub-arm mechanism 13, for example, from the first processing unit 4 side.

The first processing section 4 includes a first main arm mechanism 1 for receiving a substrate from the first sub arm mechanism 13.
Five. The main arm mechanism 15 includes a base 17 that runs on a first central transport path 16 that extends along the Y direction, and an arm 18 that is turned, moved forward and backward, and driven up and down on the base 17. I have.

On one side of the first main arm mechanism 15, two cleaning units (SCR) 19 composed of, for example, brush scrubbers are provided along the central transport path 16. On the other side of the first main arm mechanism 15, along a central transport path 16, for example, a heating / heating unit (HP / HP) 20 having a hot plate and a dry cleaning unit (UV) including an ultraviolet cleaning device ) 21,
For example, a cooling unit (CO
L) 22 are provided.

Here, in the specification, the notation of "heating / heating unit (HP / HP)" indicates that heating units having a hot plate are installed, for example, in two upper and lower tiers. In the figure, the upper and lower levels are shown. In the drawing, H representing a heating unit
The number (“HP1”, “COL1”, etc.) appended after P and COL representing the cooling unit indicates the type or order of the heating process or the cooling process.

The first main arm mechanism 15 has a loader /
The substrate received from the unloader unit 3 is transferred to each processing unit 1
9 to 22, the substrate on which necessary processing has been performed is taken out of each of the processing units 19 to 22, and is sequentially transported to another processing unit 19 to 22 or the second processing unit 5.

On the other hand, the second processing section 5 is configured to travel on a second central transport path 23 extending in the Y direction.
The main arm mechanism 24 is provided. The second main arm mechanism 24 has a base 25 and an arm 26 configured similarly to the first main arm mechanism 15.

On one side of the second main arm mechanism 24, a coating unit group 100 is provided. The coating system unit group 100 includes a resist liquid coating unit (CT) 122 for coating a resist liquid on a substrate.
And a reduced-pressure drying unit (VD) 140 for drying the substrate coated with the resist liquid, and an edge remover (ER) 1 for removing unnecessary resist from the peripheral portion of the dried substrate.
23, which are arranged along the second central transport path 23 integrally with each other. The second main arm mechanism 24 has a second central transport path 2
3, an adhesion / cooling unit (AD / COL) 29, a heating / heating unit (HP / HP) 30, and a heating / cooling unit (HP / COL) 31 for performing a hydrophobic treatment on the substrate surface. Is arranged.

The second main arm mechanism 24 converts the substrate received from the first processing unit 4 into each of the processing units 28 to
The substrates that have been subjected to necessary processing are taken out of the processing units 28 to 31 and sequentially processed in another processing unit 2.
8 to 31 or the third process unit 6 side.

The third processing section 6 includes a third main arm mechanism 34 that travels on a third central transport path 33 extending along the Y direction. The third main arm mechanism 34 includes the first and second main arm mechanisms 1.
Base 35 and arm 3 configured similarly to 5, 24
6.

On one side of the third main arm mechanism 34, there is provided a third main arm mechanism 34 for developing the exposed LCD substrate.
One development processing unit (DEV) 38 is provided along the third central transport path 33. Further, on the other side of the third main arm mechanism 34, a titler (TITLE) for performing a title ring along the third central transport path 33 is provided.
R) 39 and a heating / heating unit (HP / HP) 40
And two heating / cooling units (HP / COL) 41.

The third main arm mechanism 34 transfers the resist-coated substrate received from the second processing unit 5 to the exposure system 2 side (interface unit 7), and transfers the exposed substrate to the exposure system 2 Receive from the side. Further, the third main arm mechanism 34 carries the exposed substrate into each of the processing units 38 to 41, and transfers the substrate on which necessary processing has been performed to each of the processing units 38 to 41.
After being taken out of the processing unit 41, they are sequentially conveyed to another processing unit 38 to 41 or the second processing unit 5 side.

As shown in FIG. 1, cooling is provided between the first process unit 4 and the second process unit 5 and between the second process unit 5 and the third process unit 6, respectively. Units (COL) 42 and 43 are provided. These cooling units 42 and 43 are used for temporarily holding a substrate being processed.

The interface section 7 includes a transport / stand-by section 47 having a buffer cassette (BC) and a second sub-arm mechanism 46, and a second sub-arm mechanism 46.
Transfer section 49 having a transfer table (not shown) for transferring a substrate between the substrate and the exposure system 2
Consists of

The interface unit 7 transfers the resist-coated substrate received from the second processing unit 5 via the third main arm mechanism 34 to the exposure system 2 and also converts the exposed substrate into the exposure system. 2 and a function of passing the data to the third process unit 6.

Next, the coating and developing system 1 having the above configuration
Will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. It should be noted that the alphabetic symbols in the flowchart mean that the processing is performed in the units denoted by the same reference numerals in FIG.

First, the first cassette C1 on the mounting table 10
The unprocessed substrate stored in the inside is transferred from the loader / unloader unit 3 to the first main arm mechanism 15 of the first process unit 4 via the transfer unit (C / S) 11 (Step S1, S2). Next, the substrate is subjected to ultraviolet cleaning by a dry cleaning device (UV) 21 (step S).
3) Then, it is cooled by the first cooling process (COL1) by the cooling unit 22 (Step S4).

Next, the substrate subjected to the first cooling process is:
After being brush-cleaned (SCR) by the wet cleaning device 19 (step S5) and dried by the first heat treatment (HP1) by the heating unit 20 (step S5).
6) Cooling is performed by the second cooling process by the cooling unit 22 (step S7). Then, this substrate is transferred from the first main arm mechanism 15 to the second main arm mechanism 24 of the second processing unit 5.

The surface of the substrate transferred to the second processing unit 5 is subjected to a hydrophobic treatment (AD) by the adhesion processing unit 29 (Step S8), and then a third cooling process (COL3) is performed. (Step S
9). Next, the substrate after the hydrophobization treatment is introduced into the coating system unit group 100, where a resist solution application (CT), a reduced pressure drying process (VD), and an unnecessary resist solution removal (ER) on the periphery of the substrate are performed (step). S10).

The substrate thus processed is inserted into the heating units 30 and 31, and subjected to a baking process (HP2) (step S11). Thus, the solvent contained in the resist solution applied to the substrate is volatilized. Then
This substrate is carried into the cooling unit and cooled (COL4) to approximately room temperature (Step S12). Thereafter, the substrate is transported from the second main arm mechanism 24 to the interface unit 7 via the third main arm mechanism 34, and is transferred to the exposure system 2 (Step S1).
3). Then, an exposure process (EXP) is performed in the exposure system 2 (step S14).

The substrate subjected to the exposure processing is inserted into the titler 39 via the interface section 7 and the third main arm mechanism 34 and subjected to the titling processing (step S15).

Thereafter, the substrate is introduced into the developing device 38 and subjected to a developing process (DEV) (step S1).
6). In the development processing unit 38, a developing solution is supplied onto the substrate while the substrate is rotated, for example, to perform development. After the developer is rinsed off with the rinse liquid, shake-off drying is performed.

Finally, the substrate is inserted into the heating / heating unit 40 or the heating / cooling unit 41 facing the substrate, and is heated and dried by the third heat treatment (HP3) (step S17). Cooling process (COL
Cooled by 5) (step S18).

The substrate on which all of the above processes have been performed is provided from the third main arm mechanism 34 to the transfer section 11 (C / S) via the second and first main arm mechanisms 24 and 15. It is delivered to the first sub arm mechanism 13 (step S19). Then, the first sub arm mechanism 1
3 is accommodated in the second cassette C2 placed on the loader / unloader section 3 (step S20).

By the way, the main arm mechanisms 15, 24,
The sub-arm mechanism 13 and the sub-arm mechanisms 13 and 46 are substrate transfer devices configured as shown in FIG. 3, and are rotatably connected to a hand (holding unit) 42 that holds a substrate and a support shaft 50 of the hand 42. The first arm member 52 and the first arm member 52
(14, 1) comprising a second arm member 56 rotatably connected to a second arm member 52 via a support shaft 57.
8, 26, 36). The second arm member 56 includes, for example, an elevating shaft 60 that can be moved up and down in multiple stages.
Is rotatably connected to the support shaft 59. A pulley (not shown) is fixed to the elevating shaft 60, and each arm member 52, 56 is rotated by a timing belt (not shown) stretched over the pulley. Thus, the arm can expand and contract in a horizontal plane between an extended position where the substrate is transferred and a contracted position where the arm is contracted by a predetermined amount from the extended position. The elevating shaft 60 is installed on the traveling base (17, 25, 35).

FIG. 4 shows a vibration suppression control system for suppressing the arm vibration (specifically, the vibration of the hand 42) of the substrate transfer apparatus having the above-described configuration. This control system includes an arm controller (CPU) 62 for controlling the operation of the arm, a motor 74 as a drive source for moving the elevating shaft (Z-axis) 60 up and down, and an encoder 72 for detecting rotation of the motor 74.
An FPGA (field programmable gate array) 66 for calculating the amplitude and cycle of vibration and generating a vibration suppression pulse; a motor amplifier 70 interposed between the FPGA 66, the motor 74 and the encoder 72; A pulse generator 64 interposed between the controller 62 and the FPGA 66, a vibration detecting means 76 for detecting vibration of the arm, an A / D converter 68 interposed between the vibration detecting means 76 and the FPGA 66; It has. The vibration detecting means 76 is composed of, for example, a piezoelectric sensor or a photoelectric sensor, and is buried at the base of the hand 42 (see FIG. 3).

Using the control system having such a configuration, the hand 4
The case where the second vibration is suppressed will be described below.

First, in the normal operation sequence control, the encoder 72 and the motor amplifier 70 and the FPG
A pulse signal indicating the amount of rotation of the motor 74 is input to the pulse generator 64 via A66, and the pulse generator 64 indicates the rotation direction of the motor 74 according to a signal from the arm controller 62 that moves the arm up and down. A CW (clockwise) / CCW (counterclockwise) signal is output to the motor 74 via the FPGA 66 and the motor amplifier 70, and the motor 74 is driven to rotate forward and backward by a predetermined amount (the elevating shaft 60 is raised and lowered by a predetermined amount). on the other hand,
The vibration detecting means 76 constantly monitors the vibration of the hand 42, and the analog signal from the vibration detecting means 76 is A / D
After being digitally converted by the converter 68, the digital signal is input to the FPGA 66 as a digital detection signal indicating hand vibration.

When the hand 42 vibrates during such a normal operation sequence, vibration suppression control is performed to suppress the vibration. In particular, in the present embodiment, the operation sequence point of the arm that requires damping (the operating point of the arm (hand 42) predetermined to perform the damping control) is stored (programmed) in the arm controller 62 in advance.
When the vibration control process is required, for example, immediately before the arm reaches an extended position (in a state where the arm is fully extended) at which the substrate is transferred,
A signal requesting vibration suppression control is output to the FPGA 66.

Arm controller 6 for requesting vibration suppression control
2 is input to the FPGA 66, the FPGA 66
66 calculates the amplitude and cycle of the vibration of the hand 42 based on the detection signal from the vibration detecting means 76. In this case, the FPGA 66 observes a quarter cycle of the vibration of the hand 42 indicated by a solid line in FIG. 5 based on the data obtained from the vibration detecting means 76 (vibration monitor), and is generated on the hand 42. The amplitude and period of the vibration are calculated. Then, the FPGA 66 sets the hand 4 based on the calculation result.
A vibration damping pulse for generating a vibration having a phase and an amplitude opposite to that of the vibration 2 (indicated by a broken line in FIG. 5) is generated and sent to the motor 74. In other words, the FPGA 66 is
By controlling the vertical movement of the hand 42, a vibration having a phase and an amplitude opposite to that of the vibration of the hand 42 is generated. That is, the lifting shaft is raised and lowered so as to cancel the vibration of the hand 42.
Of vibration.

As described above, in the substrate transfer apparatus according to the present embodiment, when the arm hand 42 vibrates, the vibration suppression control for suppressing the vibration by moving the elevating shaft 60 up and down so as to cancel the vibration of the hand 42 is performed. It is. Therefore, normal and smooth operation of the arm can be secured, and the transfer and transfer of the substrate can be performed stably. Therefore, the transfer device can be run without paying attention to the vibration, and the tact time of the transfer device for the purpose of improving the throughput can be easily increased. Further, the LCD substrate does not shift on the hand 42, and the LCD substrate is not
There is no contact between the mounting table or chuck for transferring the substrate and the arm or the LCD substrate on the arm. Further, according to the control system having the configuration as in the present embodiment, teaching can be easily performed.

In the present embodiment, the vibration detecting means 76
The amplitude and the period of the vibration of the hand 42 are calculated based on the detection signal from the controller 42, and based on the calculation result, the vibration of the hand 42 is generated in the opposite phase and the opposite amplitude. Therefore, vibration control can be effectively performed.

In this embodiment, the vibration suppression control is performed immediately before the arm reaches the extended position at which the substrate is transferred. Therefore, it is possible to almost certainly prevent the substrate from being displaced by vibration at the transfer position (arm extension position) where absolute stability is desired.

Further, in this embodiment, the vibration suppression control is performed by the FPGA 66. Therefore, it is not necessary to improve the upper arm controller 62 for performing the vibration suppression control.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the FPGA 66 performs the vibration suppression control in response to the vibration suppression control request from the arm controller 62. When a vibration equal to or more than a predetermined value is detected from the signal 76, the FPGA 66 may directly suppress the vibration in response to the detected vibration. In the above-described embodiment, the vibration of the hand 42 is detected by the vibration detecting means 76 provided at the base of the hand 42. However, the vibration of the other arm members 52 and 56 including the hand 42 is individually detected. Vibration suppression may be performed. In addition, hand 42
Although the number of occurrences of the suppression vibration that cancels the vibration of (1) is not particularly limited, it is desirable that the number of occurrences of the suppression vibration be within a range in which a smooth elevating operation of the elevating shaft 60 can be secured (does not hinder the elevating operation). In particular,
If the effective suppression vibration is generated once at a predetermined operation sequence point of the arm, the vibration of the hand 42 can be efficiently prevented while the smooth lifting operation of the lifting shaft 60 is ensured.

Further, the substrate transfer apparatus of the above-described embodiment is provided with vibration detecting means 76 for detecting the vibration of the hand 42, and calculates the amplitude and cycle of the vibration of the hand 42 based on the detection signal from the vibration detecting means 76. At the same time, feedback control is performed to generate vibrations of opposite phase and opposite amplitude to the vibration of the hand 42 based on the calculation result. However, the vibration suppression control of the hand 42 can also be realized by non-feedback control that does not detect vibration.

That is, in such non-feedback control, for example, data including the natural frequency and the natural amplitude of the hand 42 and the board are stored in the FPGA 66, and the operation sequence point (the The arm (the operation point of the hand 42) which is predetermined so as to perform the vibration control
Is stored (programmed) in advance. The arm controller 62 sends a signal for requesting the vibration suppression control to the FPGA 66 when the vibration suppression processing is necessary, for example, immediately before the arm reaches the extended position (the state where the arm is fully extended) where the substrate is transferred. Output. A signal from the arm controller 62 requesting the vibration suppression control is transmitted to the FPGA 66
Is input to the FPGA 66, the FPGA 66 generates vibration to cancel the vibration of the hand 42 based on the stored data (data including the natural frequency and the natural amplitude of the hand 42 and the board).

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to an LCD.
Although an example in which the present invention is applied to a substrate coating / developing system is shown, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to other substrate coating / developing systems such as color filters and semiconductor wafers.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example is described in which an FPGA is used for calculating the amplitude and period of vibration and for generating a vibration suppression pulse. It goes without saying that a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) capable of generating vibration pulses or other calculation / vibration suppression pulse generation means may be used.

[0052]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a substrate transfer device that can stably transfer and transfer a substrate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a substrate processing apparatus to which a substrate transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a processing step using the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the substrate transfer device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a vibration suppression control system that suppresses arm vibration of the substrate transfer device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a waveform diagram showing an example of a vibration wave of an arm and a vibration wave for suppressing the vibration wave.

[Explanation of symbols]

 42: Hand (holding part) 52, 56: Arm member 60: Elevating shaft 66: FPGA (vibration suppression means) 76: Vibration detection means

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F-term (reference) 3F022 AA08 CC02 EE05 KK01 LL12 NN05 QQ03 QQ07 QQ11 3F059 AA01 AA14 BA04 BA08 CA06 DD01 DD06 DD11 FB28 3F060 AA01 AA07 EB02 EB12 EC02 EC12 FA02 GD14 HA35 5 PA02 PA08

Claims (9)

[Claims] An arm portion having a holding portion for holding the substrate, the arm portion being extendable and contractible in a horizontal plane between an extended position for transferring the substrate and a contracted position contracted by a predetermined amount from the extended position; A shaft for raising and lowering the unit; and vibration suppression means for performing vibration suppression control for suppressing vibration by raising and lowering the shaft so as to cancel the vibration of the arm when the arm is vibrated. Substrate transfer device. 2. The vibration control device according to claim 1, wherein the vibration control unit controls the vertical movement of the vertical axis so that the vibration wave of the vibration of the arm unit has an opposite phase.
2. The substrate transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the substrate transfer device generates vibrations of opposite amplitude. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a vibration detecting unit configured to detect a vibration of the arm unit, wherein the vibration suppressing unit calculates an amplitude and a cycle of the vibration of the arm unit based on a detection signal from the vibration detecting unit. 3. The substrate transfer device according to claim 2, wherein a vibration having an opposite phase and an opposite amplitude to the vibration of the arm portion is generated based on the result. 4. The substrate transfer device according to claim 3, wherein said vibration detecting means is a piezoelectric sensor. 5. The substrate transfer device according to claim 3, wherein said vibration detecting means is a photoelectric sensor. 6. The vibration damping means stores data including a natural frequency and a natural amplitude of the arm and the substrate, and detects vibration of the arm based on the stored data at a predetermined operating point of the arm. 2. The substrate transfer device according to claim 1, wherein a vibration that cancels out is generated. 7. The vibration suppression device according to claim 1, wherein the vibration suppression means performs the vibration suppression control immediately before the arm reaches an extended position where the substrate is transferred. The substrate transfer device according to any one of the preceding claims. 8. The substrate transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said vibration damping means generates vibration for canceling the vibration of the arm portion only once. 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein said vibration damping means is an FPGA (field device).
9. The substrate transport apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a programmable gate array.