JP2002134587A - Mechanism for conveying object to be processed and processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mechanism for conveying an object to be processed, by which high-speed conveying can be performed without positional shift of the object to be processed. SOLUTION: The conveying mechanism 40 is provide in a relatively long common conveying area 6 to convey the thin platy object W to be processes. The conveying mechanism 40 is provided with; a guiding rail 42 provided in the longitudinal direction in the common conveying area; a moving body 44A moveable along the guiding rail; and a plurality of supporting posts 80 provided in the moving body and having engaging stages 82, 84 having L shaped cross sections and engaged with lower corners of a periphery of the object. The object is held by the engaging stages so that it can be quickly conveyed and prevented from being positionally shifted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer mechanism and a processing system for an object to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, an object to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer is loaded into a vacuum processing chamber of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and subjected to a predetermined process under a reduced pressure atmosphere. Contains a film on the wafer,
Generally, processes such as etching and heating are repeatedly performed many times. In this case, if the individual vacuum processing apparatuses are provided independently and independently of each other, and the wafers are transported between the individual vacuum processing apparatuses according to the processing contents and are transferred, the transfer and transfer of the wafer are performed each time the wafer is transferred. The vacuum in the processing apparatus or the load lock chamber connected to the processing apparatus is broken, so that a long time is required for the evacuation operation and the throughput is reduced. Therefore, in order to increase the efficiency of processing, a so-called cluster apparatus has been developed in which a plurality of vacuum processing apparatuses are connected to a common vacuum transfer chamber formed in a polygonal shape so as to be able to communicate and seal via a gate valve. . According to this cluster apparatus, the wafer may be moved between the vacuum processing apparatuses according to the processing mode, and the process can be performed consistently without breaking the vacuum in the processing apparatus, thereby enabling efficient processing. Become. In addition, between the cluster devices, a large amount of material is conveyed at a low speed by an automatic conveyance device (AGV or RGV) or the like.

[0003]

However, the demand for higher density and higher integration of semiconductor devices as well as the demand for more efficient processing and an increase in the number of film formations are increasing. The number of processing units needed,
For example, it has become necessary to connect more than three, for example five or more processing units to a common transfer chamber. In addition, there is a demand for a small quantity and variety of semiconductor devices, and more types of processing apparatuses are required.
In this case, it is conceivable to increase the diameter of the polygonal vacuum common transfer chamber used in the conventional apparatus and connect a necessary number of vacuum processing apparatuses to the periphery thereof, but if the diameter of the common transfer chamber is increased, Since the inside is vacuum, the strength of the ceiling and the bottom of the common transfer chamber must be significantly improved, and the thickness of the container ceiling and the like becomes considerably large, which is not practical.

Accordingly, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-288812 discloses
JP-A-6-349931 and JP-A-8-11940
As disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-206, a horizontally long common transfer chamber is formed, a cassette chamber and a number of vacuum processing chambers are arranged on the entire side wall, and a transfer arm that can rotate and expand and contract is usually provided inside the transfer chamber. It has also been proposed that the linear moving mechanism be provided so as to be movable linearly. In this case, however, the length of the common transfer chamber increases as the number of types of processing devices increases. However, since the horizontally movable transfer arm is quite heavy, it is necessary to move the transfer arm at a high speed. Is extremely difficult, and the maximum moving speed of the conventional transfer arm is at most about 1 m / sec. For this reason, there has been a problem in that the longer the length of the common transfer chamber is, the more the throughput is greatly reduced.

Even if the moving speed is increased by increasing the power of the linear motor, this type of horizontally movable transfer arm merely mounts a semiconductor wafer on its surface. In addition, there has been a problem that the wafer itself mounted and supported on the transfer arm is displaced due to inertia during rapid acceleration and rapid deceleration. In particular, the problem of this kind is that as the wafer size shifts from 8 inches to 12 inches, the size of each processing apparatus itself increases, and the film thickness at the time of transferring from one process to another process is increased. There is also a demand to measure and inspect the hole depth at the time of etching and the like, and the common transfer chamber tends to be longer and longer to incorporate these inspection devices into the system, and it is strongly desired to solve the above problems. . The present invention has been devised in view of the above problems and effectively solving them. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a transport mechanism and a processing system for a workpiece that can be transported at a high speed and that does not cause a positional shift of the workpiece.

[0006]

The invention according to claim 1 is
In a transport mechanism provided in a relatively long common transport area for transporting a thin plate-shaped workpiece, a guide rail provided along the longitudinal direction of the common transport area,
A moving body made movable along the guide rail,
And a plurality of object support columns having an L-shaped cross-section engaging step that is provided on the moving body and is engaged with a lower corner of a peripheral edge of the object. It is a transfer mechanism of the object to be processed. Since the transfer arm is not provided, the moving body itself can be reduced in weight and can be moved at a high speed, and the object to be processed is held in a state of being engaged with the engaging step of the supporting column for the object to be processed. Therefore, even if rapid acceleration and rapid deceleration are performed, no displacement occurs in the held object to be processed, and the throughput can be improved.

For example, as defined in claim 2, the plurality of engaging step portions are provided on the object support column at predetermined intervals above and below. Thus, for example, when two engaging steps are provided, the object to be processed is held in one of the engaging steps, and the other engaging step is emptied and moved to a predetermined transport position. Then, the object to be processed can be replaced or replaced. Further, for example, as defined in claim 3, a tapered sliding surface formed in a tapered shape is formed on an upper portion of the engagement step portion so as to drop the object to be processed into the engagement step portion. .

According to this, when the object to be processed is conveyed by the conveying mechanism, even if the object to be processed is displaced during the transfer to the conveying mechanism, the peripheral edge of the object to be processed is tapered down. As a result, the object to be processed slides down, and as a result, the object to be processed can be reliably dropped onto the engaging step and held. Also, for example, as defined in claim 4,
Electric power may be supplied to the moving body using a non-contact power supply mechanism. According to this, since the moving body can move without dragging the power supply line cord, it is possible to further move at high speed. In this case, for example, as set forth in claim 5, the non-contact power supply mechanism is in a state in which the power supply high-frequency oscillation antenna member provided along the guide rail is in non-contact proximity to the antenna member. And a power receiving unit provided in the moving body.

Further, for example, as defined in claim 6,
The moving body may be provided with an optical communication unit for receiving a movement command signal by optical communication. According to this, since the moving body can move without using a communication cable, high-speed movement can be achieved. An invention according to claim 7 is a processing system using the transport mechanism, that is, in a processing system for performing a predetermined process on a thin plate-shaped workpiece, a relatively long common transport area and the common transport area are provided. A cassette station that is provided in series with a cassette container on which a plurality of the objects to be processed can be stored, and a processing apparatus that is provided in series with the common transfer area and performs a predetermined process on the object to be processed; A transport mechanism provided in the common transport area for transporting the workpiece; and a transfer arm mechanism for transporting the workpiece to the transport mechanism, wherein the transport mechanism includes the common transport. A guide rail provided along the longitudinal direction of the area, a movable body movable along the guide rail, and a lower corner provided on the movable body and associated with a lower edge of a peripheral portion of the object to be processed. Combined A processing system of the object to be processed, characterized in that it comprises a plurality of workpiece support struts having an engaging stepped portion of the surface L-shaped.

In this case, an inspection apparatus for inspecting the object to be processed may be continuously provided in the common transport area. Further, for example, a positioning device for positioning the object to be processed may be provided in the common transport area.

[0011]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a transfer mechanism and a processing system for an object to be processed according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a processing system having a transfer mechanism of an object to be processed according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the transfer mechanism shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a side view of the transfer mechanism shown in FIG. Is a perspective view showing an object support column of the transport mechanism,
FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing a transport mechanism holding an object to be processed,
FIG. 6 is an explanatory view for explaining a form of optical communication, FIG. 7 is a view showing a state in which an object to be processed is placed on an engagement step, and FIG. It is a figure showing the state at the time of being held by the step part.

As shown in the figure, the processing system 2 has a relatively long box-shaped common transfer chamber 4 made of aluminum or the like and having a rectangular cross section. Filled with gas and clean air. The longitudinal direction of the common transfer chamber 4 is, for example, 10 m.
The length is set as described above, and various processing devices 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8
E, 8F and the inspection device 10 are connected in series at predetermined intervals. Specifically, each of the processing devices 8A to 8A
8F has load lock chambers 12A to 12F each capable of supplying an inert gas such as nitrogen gas and evacuating the load lock chambers, and the load lock chambers 12A to 12F are respectively provided via gate valves 14A to 14F. The common transfer chamber 4 is connected to the common transfer area 6 so as to communicate with and block the common transfer area 6. And each load lock room 12A
-12F, for example, upper and lower two-stage buffer tables 1 for temporarily placing and holding semiconductor wafers to be processed.
6A to 16F and bendable and pivotable transfer arms 18A to 18F for transferring wafers on the buffer tables 16A to 16F to and from a processing chamber described later are provided, respectively. And, except for the processing device 8F, each processing device 8A-
8E, each of the load lock chambers 12A to 12E has a processing chamber 20 for actually performing a predetermined process on the semiconductor wafer.
A to 20E are connected to each other via gate valves 22A to 22E, respectively.

On the other hand, the processing apparatus 8F itself is constituted as a so-called cluster apparatus having a plurality of processing chambers 20F to 20H in the illustrated example. Each of the processing chambers 20F to 20H is evacuated. Gate valves 22F to 22 are provided in the transfer chamber 24 made possible.
It is provided continuously through 22H. The transfer chamber 24 is connected to the load lock chamber 12F via a gate valve 22I. Further, in the transfer chamber 24, the load lock chamber 12F is provided.
And each processing chamber 20 connected to the transfer chamber 24.
In order to transfer a wafer between F and 20H, a transfer arm 18G capable of bending, stretching, turning and the like is provided. As the processing chambers 20A to 20H, those capable of performing a CVD process, a plasma etching process, an oxidation diffusion process, an annealing process, and the like as needed can be used in appropriate combination. When any of the processing apparatuses 8A to 8E is an apparatus used under atmospheric pressure, such as a cleaning apparatus or an exposure apparatus, the processing chamber is connected to the common transfer chamber 4 without passing through a load lock chamber. They are connected in a communication state or connected to the common transfer chamber 4 via a buffer chamber which is an atmospheric pressure atmosphere.

The inspection apparatus 10 is provided with the common transfer chamber 4.
The inspection device 10 is, for example, a film thickness measurement device for measuring the thickness of a film deposited on a wafer or a depth measurement device for measuring the depth of a hole formed by etching. And a prober for inspecting the operation of the semiconductor element. In this case, if it is necessary to measure the wafer in a vacuum, a load lock chamber as described above is provided at the preceding stage. In the illustrated example, the processing devices 8C and 8D are largely separated from each other, and another processing device can be added between them as necessary.

On the other hand, a cassette station 34 is connected to one side wall of the common transfer chamber 4 in the longitudinal direction via a gate door 30 which can be opened and closed. The cassette container 32 is placed on the cassette station 34. And put it on standby. In the cassette container 32, a plurality of, for example, 25 semiconductor wafers W are stacked in multiple stages.
It can be placed in a closed state or an open state. A transfer mechanism 40, which is a feature of the present invention, is provided in the common transfer chamber 4, and transfers the semiconductor wafer W to the cassette station 34 and the processing devices 8A to 8F.
And can be transported to the inspection apparatus 10 and the like. Specifically, the transport mechanism 40 includes a guide rail 42 formed along the longitudinal direction of the common transport area 6.
2 that can be moved along the guide rail 42.
It is mainly composed of two moving bodies 44A and 44B.
One or three or more moving bodies may be provided, and the physical structure of both moving bodies 44A and 44B and the members attached thereto is exactly the same. Hereinafter, the configuration of the member to be used will be described with reference to one of the moving bodies 44A as an example.

First, as shown in FIG. 2, the guide rail 42 is provided on a side wall of a rail base 46 which is arranged and fixed at a substantially center in the common transfer chamber 4 along its longitudinal direction.
Two upper and lower parts are fixedly provided in parallel. The moving body 44A (44B) is slidably attached to the guide rail 42 via a slide bearing 48.
A linear motor stator 50 is provided between the two guide rails 42, and a movable element 52 is provided on a moving body 44A facing the linear motor. The linear motor 54 is constituted by the armature 50 and the armature 52 so as to obtain the propulsive force of the moving body 44A.

Further, a non-contact power supply mechanism 56 for supplying electric power to the stator 50 is provided in the moving body 44A, so that it is not necessary to run a power supply cord.
Specifically, the non-contact power supply mechanism 56 is arranged so as to oppose the power supply high-frequency oscillation antenna member 58 provided along the guide rail 42 to the moving body 44A in a non-contact manner close to the antenna member 58. Power receiving unit 60
And Then, the power received by the power receiving unit 60 by oscillating the antenna member 58 by passing a high frequency of about 10 KHz, for example, is used to control the power used by the mover 52 of the linear motor 54 and the moving body described later. The electric power used by the control unit 76A of 44A and the like is obtained. The mobile unit 44A is provided with an optical communication unit 62A for receiving a movement command signal from outside. Specifically, a laser passage 64A (see FIG. 2) for passing a communication laser beam is formed between the optical communication unit 62A and the power receiving unit 60, and FIGS. As shown in FIG. 3, the communication laser beam LA modulated by the movement command signal is provided on one side wall of the common transfer chamber 4 in the longitudinal direction.
The communication laser beam LA is emitted along the guide rail 42 and passes through the laser passage 64A.

As shown in FIG. 6, the communication laser beam LA passes through the laser passages 64A and 64B of the two moving bodies 44A and 44B, and then passes through the laser passages 64A and 64B. Half mirrors 68A and 68 that reflect approximately half of the light and transmit the other half of the light are provided on 64B.
B are provided, and the reflected laser light is received by the light receiving elements 70A and 70B of each of the optical communication units 62A and 62B. A monitor 72 is provided on the other side wall in the longitudinal direction of the common transfer chamber 4.
This monitoring is performed in response to A. In this optical communication, the communication laser beam LA is emitted by, for example, changing the addresses of the two moving bodies 44A and 44B in order to distinguish the moving bodies 44A and 44B. The two moving bodies 44A and 44B are, of course, provided with control units 76A and 76B, each of which is constituted by a microcomputer or the like, for controlling the respective moving operations. In place of the optical communication, a communication signal having a frequency different from the high frequency flowing through the power supply high-frequency oscillation antenna member 58 is superimposed on the power supply high-frequency oscillation antenna member 58, and this is superimposed on each moving body 4.
The signals may be received on the 4A and 44B sides.

Returning to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the semiconductor wafer W is placed above the moving body 44A (44B) thus constructed.
In order to engage with and hold the periphery of the object, a plurality of object support columns 80 which are a feature of the present invention are provided. More specifically, in the present embodiment, the four support columns 80 are provided in the upper portion of the moving body 44A in a square shape at regular intervals, and the four support columns 80 support the periphery of the wafer W. The portion can be supported and transported. That is, the four support columns 80 are all configured in the same shape, and one of the support columns 80 is shown in an enlarged scale in FIG. Inside each of the support columns 80, engaging step portions 82 and 84 having an L-shaped cross section are formed at predetermined intervals at a plurality of upper and lower stages, in the illustrated example, two upper and lower stages. The engagement step portions 82 and 84 are formed in an arc shape with substantially the same curvature as the peripheral portion of the semiconductor wafer W. As shown in FIG. It is designed to be engaged with the U-shaped engagement steps 82 and 84 and to be held by four-point support (see FIG. 7).

Referring to FIG. 7, when the diameter of the wafer W is 12 inches (= 300 mm), the thickness H1 of the wafer W is about 0.7 to 0.8 mm, and each engagement step 82, 8
4, the height H2 is about 2 to 3 mm, and the distance H3 between the outer peripheral surface of the wafer W properly placed at the center position and the side surfaces 82A, 84A of the engaging step portions 82, 84 is 0.25. ~ 0.5
mm, the distance H4 between the upper and lower engaging steps 82, 84 is 2
Each is set to about 0 mm. Therefore, when the wafer W is transferred, the side surfaces 82A,
By blocking the outer peripheral side surface of the wafer W at 84A, this positional deviation is prevented. The upper portion of each of the upper and lower engaging steps 82 and 84 has a tapered shape in which the diameter of the semiconductor wafer W that has been transferred in a misaligned state is increased in a mortar shape in an upward and outward direction in order to slide the semiconductor wafer W down. The tapered sliding surfaces 86 and 88 are respectively formed, and the wafer with the misalignment is removed by the tapered sliding surfaces 8.
6 to be properly supported by the engaging steps 82 and 84.

In this case, the inclination angle θ of each of the tapered sliding surfaces 86 and 88 (see FIG. 7) is preferably set in a range of, for example, 20 to 30 degrees in order to effectively slide the wafer. Further, between the upper engaging step 82 and the tapered sliding surface 88 of the lower engaging step 84, the peripheral edge of the wafer W is allowed to pass without interference or collision with the support column 80. Wafer insertion cut 90 (see FIGS. 4 and 7)
Are formed on both ends of the support column 80. The width H5 of the wafer insertion cutout 90 is set to about 10 mm. A play space 92 for pulling out a fork of a transfer arm mechanism, which will be described later, is provided below the lower engagement step portion 84.
Are formed. Returning to FIG. 1, a rotary table 94 for holding and rotating the wafer W is provided in the common transfer area 6 near the cassette station 34.
A positioning device 98 including an optical detector 96 including an optical line sensor or the like for detecting a position mark of the peripheral portion of the wafer W, that is, an orientation flat or a notch, is provided to perform positioning of the wafer W. ing. Note that the positioning device 98 may be connected to the side wall of the common transfer chamber 4.

Further, between the guide rail 42 and the cassette station 34, the inspection apparatus 10, and most of the load lock chambers 12A to 12F, there are provided transfer arm mechanisms 100 to 100 which can be bent, swiveled and vertically moved. 112
The fork 100A-112A provided at the tip of each transfer arm mechanism 100-112 holds the lower surface of the wafer W and transfers it. Here, in the illustrated example, two load locks 12B are provided.
In order to commonly use the transfer arm mechanisms 12 and 12C, one transfer arm mechanism 106 that operates irregularly differently from other transfer arm mechanisms is provided. When the transfer arm provided in each load lock chamber can transfer the wafer W held on the transfer mechanism 40, the transfer arm mechanism in the common transfer area 6 corresponding thereto can be omitted. Good.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. First, in a state where the unprocessed wafer W is stored in the cassette container 32, the cassette container 32
Is placed on the cassette station 34, and the gate door 30 is opened. Then, the transfer arm mechanism 100 located immediately before the gate door 30 is driven to drive the fork 1
At 00A, an unprocessed semiconductor wafer W is held, and the semiconductor wafer W is placed on a rotating table 94 of an adjacent positioning device 98 and rotated to detect the peripheral portion of the wafer W with an optical detector 96. Perform positioning. The wafer after the positioning is held again in an appropriate state by the transfer arm mechanism 100, and the wafer W is transferred to one of the engaging steps of the support column 80 provided above the moving body 44A of the transfer mechanism 40. 82 or 84. In this case, it is preferable that the other engaging step portion 82 or 84 be empty so that it can be replaced with a processed wafer or replaced.

In this manner, the engaging step 82 or 84
The movable body 44A is moved along the guide rail 42 by driving the movable element 52 of the linear motor 54 provided on the movable body 44A and the stator 50 provided on the rail base 46. It is moved to a desired position at a high speed and stopped in front of any one of the processing devices 8A to 8F for performing a desired process, for example, 8A. Then, this wafer W is transferred by the corresponding transfer arm mechanism 104.
It is received from the moving body 44A, and is transferred onto the buffer table 16A in the load lock chamber 12A whose pressure has been adjusted in advance. Thereafter, a predetermined process is performed on the wafer W in the processing chamber 20A. In this way, when the processing in one processing apparatus 8A is completed, the transfer arm mechanism 102 is driven in the same manner as described above, and the processed wafer W is returned to the transfer mechanism 40. Then, the wafer is moved at high speed to a processing apparatus to be processed next, and the necessary processing is sequentially performed in the same manner. If necessary, the thickness of the film formed and the depth of the etched hole are measured by the inspection device 10.

In the clustered processing apparatus 8, necessary processing is sequentially performed on the wafers in each of the processing chambers 20F to 02H. In addition, the cassette container 3
When transferring the wafer W between the transfer mechanism 2 and the transfer mechanism 40, the moving body 44A located on the cassette station 34 side is used. In other cases, the two moving bodies 44A are arranged in accordance with the process schedule. Either of the moving bodies 44A and 44B may be used.
44B are individually controlled within a range where they do not interfere with each other. Here, the wafer W is moved between the moving bodies 44A and 44B.
Will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 as well. 7 and 8, the transfer arm mechanism 1 is a representative.
4 illustrates a case where the wafer W is transferred to and from one of the moving bodies 44A using the reference numeral 04.

First, in FIG. 7, when the wafer W is placed on the upper engaging step 82 of the moving body 44A, the transfer arm is moved to a position indicated by a solid line above the engaging step 82. The wafer W held on the fork 104A of the mechanism 104 is positioned by horizontally moving the fork 104A, and the fork 104A is lowered as it is, so that the peripheral edge of the wafer W is divided into four engaging steps 82 as indicated by a chain line. And supported here. In addition, fork 104A is
What is necessary is just to pull it down slightly more than this engagement step part 82, and to pull it out. When the wafer W supported by the engaging step 82 is to be picked up by the fork 104A, the operation reverse to the above may be performed. When the wafer W is placed on the lower engaging step 84 of the moving body 44A, a dashed line in FIG. 7 is provided between the engaging step 84 and the upper engaging step 82. As shown in the figure, the fork 1 of the transfer arm mechanism 104
The wafer W held on the wafer 04A is positioned by horizontally moving the wafer W, and the fork 104A is lowered as it is to fit the peripheral portion of the wafer W into the four engagement steps 84 as shown by the solid line. Let me support you here. Note that the fork 104A may be pulled down after being slightly lowered from the engagement step portion 84 and positioned in the play space 92. Here, when the wafer W is positioned between the two engaging steps 82 and 84, the peripheral edge of the horizontally moved wafer W is formed by a wafer insertion notch 90 formed halfway between the two engaging steps 82 and 84. So that it does not collide. When the wafer W supported by the engaging step 84 is to be picked up by the fork 104A, the operation reverse to the above may be performed.

The four engaging steps 82 and 84 are
Since all four directions are provided symmetrically,
The wafer W can be transferred in either direction as described above. As described above, the wafer W held by the engaging step 82 or 84 is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the wafer W and the engaging step 82 or 8.
4 has a distance H3 between the side surfaces 82A and 84A of 0.25 to 0.25.
Since it is about 0.5 mm, even if the wafer W skids due to rapid acceleration or rapid deceleration for performing high-speed movement of, for example, about 5 m / sec, the skid is caused by the side surface 82A,
Since the wafer W is stopped by being blocked by 84A, the wafer W will not be displaced more than the allowable amount.

As shown in FIG. 8, for example, when the wafer W is misaligned when the wafer W is placed on the engaging step 82, the wafer W is shifted in the misalignment direction. Since the peripheral edge of the located wafer comes into contact with and slides down the tapered slide surface 86 provided on the upper part of the engagement step 82, as a result, the position shift of the wafer W is corrected and the wafer W is properly adjusted. Since the wafer W is in the position state, the positional deviation of the wafer W can be corrected and supported by the engagement step 82. Also, unlike the conventional apparatus, since the arm mechanism is not provided on the moving body, the overall weight can be reduced by that amount, and the wafer can be moved at high speed without causing the positional displacement of the wafer as described above. Becomes Further, the power supply to the linear motor 54 is performed by using a non-contact power supply mechanism 56 including a power supply high-frequency oscillation antenna member 58 and a power receiving unit 60 as shown in FIG. There is no longer any restriction imposed by the power supply cord, and it is possible to move the moving body at a higher speed and for a longer distance.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing a modification of the transport mechanism of the present invention.
Further above, a flat ceiling plate 12 is provided at a predetermined interval.
2 may be provided so as to be supported by the support bar 120. According to this, since the falling particles and the like can be received by the ceiling plate 122, it is possible to protect the wafer held by the moving body 44A from the adhesion of the particles. Further, here, an example in which one moving body is provided with two upper and lower engaging steps is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
Only a step or three or more steps may be provided. Further, the size of the transferred wafer is not limited to 12 inches, and the present invention can be applied to a 6-inch or 8-inch size wafer. Although the common transfer area 6 is defined as a space formed by the common transfer chamber 4 here,
The present invention is not limited to this, and the object to be processed may be transported here without providing the common transport chamber 4 and using a space with an open periphery as the common transport area 6. In each of the above embodiments, a case where a semiconductor wafer is processed as a processing target has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this case. is there.

[0030]

As described above, according to the object transfer mechanism and processing system of the present invention, the following excellent operational effects can be exhibited. Claims 1, 7, 8,
According to the invention according to the ninth aspect, since the transfer arm is not provided, the moving body itself can be reduced in weight and can move at high speed, and the object to be processed is engaged with the engaging step of the object supporting column. Since the object to be processed is held in such a state, even if rapid acceleration and sudden deceleration are performed, the held object does not shift, and the throughput can be improved. According to the invention of claim 2, for example, 2
When two engagement steps are provided, the object is held by one of the engagement steps and the other engagement step is emptied and moved to a predetermined transport position. Body replacement,
Alternatively, replacement can be performed. According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the object to be processed is transported by the transport mechanism, even if the workpiece is displaced during transfer to the transport mechanism, the peripheral edge of the object is tapered down. The object comes into contact with the surface and slides down. As a result, the object to be processed can be reliably dropped into the engaging step portion and held. According to the fourth and fifth aspects of the present invention, the moving body can move without dragging the power supply line cord, so that the moving body can move at a higher speed for a longer distance. According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, since the moving body can move without using a communication cable, the moving body can be moved at a high speed over a long distance.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a processing system having an object transfer mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the transport mechanism shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the transport mechanism shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an object support column of the transport mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing a transport mechanism holding an object to be processed.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a form of optical communication.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a state in which an object to be processed is placed on an engagement step.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state in which the object to be processed slides on a tapered slide surface and is held by an engagement step.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing a modified example of the transport mechanism of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Processing system 4 Common transfer room 6 Common transfer area 8A to 8F Processing device 10A Inspection device 20A to 20H Processing room 32 Cassette container 34 Cassette station 40 Transfer mechanism 42 Guide rails 44A, 44B Moving body 46 Rail base 54 Linear motor 56 Non Contact power supply mechanism 58 Power supply high-frequency oscillation antenna member 60 Power reception unit 62A Optical communication unit 80 Workpiece support column 82, 84 Engagement step 86, 88 Tapered slide surface 90 Wafer insertion cut 98 Positioning device 100-112 Moving arm mechanism 100A to 112A Fork W Semiconductor wafer (workpiece)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5F031 CA02 FA01 FA07 FA11 FA12 FA14 GA13 GA15 GA43 GA58 GA59 GA60 LA04 LA08 MA04 MA28 MA30 MA32 MA33 NA05 PA02 PA26

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A transport mechanism provided in a relatively long common transport area for transporting a thin plate-shaped workpiece, a guide rail provided along a longitudinal direction of the common transport area, and the guide A plurality of movable bodies provided along the rails, and an engaging step provided on the moving body and having an L-shaped cross section to be engaged with a lower corner of a peripheral portion of the object to be processed; And a support mechanism for supporting the object to be processed. 2. The transport mechanism for an object to be processed according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the engagement step portions are provided on the object support column at predetermined intervals vertically. 3. A tapered sliding surface formed on an upper portion of the engaging step portion so as to drop the object to be processed into the engaging step portion. 3. The transport mechanism for an object to be processed according to 1 or 2. 4. The transporting mechanism for an object to be processed according to claim 1, wherein electric power is supplied to the moving body using a non-contact power supply mechanism. 5. The power supply high-frequency oscillation antenna member provided along the guide rail, and the non-contact power supply mechanism is provided on the moving body in a non-contact proximity to the antenna member. The transport mechanism for a workpiece according to claim 4, further comprising a power receiving unit. 6. The transport mechanism for an object to be processed according to claim 1, wherein the movable body is provided with an optical communication unit for receiving a movement command signal by optical communication. 7. A processing system for performing a predetermined process on a thin plate-shaped object to be processed, wherein a relatively long common transfer area and a cassette connected to the common transfer area and capable of accommodating a plurality of the objects to be processed are provided. A cassette station for mounting containers, a processing device connected to the common transfer area and performing a predetermined process on the processing object, and a processing apparatus provided in the common transfer area to transfer the processing object A transfer mechanism, a transfer arm mechanism that transfers the object to be transferred to the transfer mechanism, wherein the transfer mechanism includes a guide rail provided along a longitudinal direction of the common transfer area; and the guide rail. And a plurality of engaging steps provided on the moving body and having an L-shaped cross section to be engaged with lower corners of a peripheral edge of the object to be processed. The object support column Processing system of the object to be processed, characterized by. 8. The processing system for an object to be processed according to claim 7, wherein an inspection device for inspecting the object to be processed is connected to the common transport area. 9. The processing system for an object to be processed according to claim 7, wherein a positioning device for positioning the object to be processed is provided in the common transport area.