JP2008166505A - Load port installation adjusting apparatus for semiconductor manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To set a load port to a predetermined position even when attachment to and detachment from mini environment are repeated. <P>SOLUTION: A load port installation adjusting apparatus for a semiconductor manufacturing device comprises a mini environment device which automatically conveys a wafer to a semiconductor manufacturing device including a semiconductor inspection device, a mini environment maintenance panel 18 which is vertically and detachably attached to the front surface of the mini environment device, a load port 15 attached to the mini environment maintenance panel 18 in such a manner that the vertical and horizontal directions of the port can be adjusted, a pair of rotation rollers 110 horizontally aligned on the front surface of the mini environment device, a vertical and horizontal alignment hole 21 which is provided in the mini environment maintenance panel 18 and which has at an upper side an inverse V-shaped groove which comes into contact with the periphery of one of the rotation rollers 110 which is inserted therein, and a level setting hole 22 which is provided in the mini environment maintenance panel 18 and which has at an upper side a horizontal flat surface which comes into contact with the periphery of the other of the rotation rollers 110 which is inserted therein. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a load port attachment adjusting device attached to a mini-environment device used in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

  A mini-environment apparatus that automatically transports a wafer to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes a blower with a filter that creates a small-scale clean environment on the upper side of the apparatus.

  A load port is mounted on the front face of the apparatus so that the wafer can be taken out and stored by opening and closing the lid of a sealed container (Front Opening Unified Pod).

  The apparatus is equipped with a wafer transfer robot that automatically transfers wafers inside. A semiconductor inspection apparatus or a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is installed on the back of the apparatus.

  A semiconductor inspection apparatus and a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus are collectively referred to as a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

  The wafer transfer robot takes out the wafer from the FOUP, supplies it to the semiconductor inspection apparatus or semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and stores the processed wafer in the FOUP. A mini-environment device may be equipped with a plurality of load ports.

  In order to distinguish each load port, they are referred to as A port, B port, C port,. The load port is attached to each port and the attachment position is adjusted.

  By performing this adjustment, the specified position is as designed, and the wafer transfer robot can take out and store the wafer.

  Conventionally, when performing cleaning work and maintenance inside the mini-environment device, the mini-environment device was accessed from the left and right.

  However, due to the increase in the size of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and the like, the interval between installations has become narrower, making it difficult to access from the left and right sides of the mini-environment device.

  Therefore, it must be accessed from the front surface or the back surface of the mini-environment device, but it is difficult because there is a semiconductor manufacturing device on the back surface.

  There is a load port on the front surface of the mini-environment device, and there are an opening and a mounting hole defined by the SEMI standard for this mounting.

  Due to the narrowing of the mini-environment device width and the narrowing of the installation interval of the semiconductor manufacturing device, the front load port must be attached and removed for access. It is known that the load port is detachable (for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

  The mini-environment device has a structure in which any manufacturer's load port complying with the SEMI standard can be attached by an attachment method defined by the SEMI standard.

  However, not all manufacturers' load ports can be easily attached and detached. Mounting methods and adjustment methods vary depending on the manufacturer.

  In addition, when the load port is attached or detached, the attachment reproduction position may be shifted, and adjustment of the load port and teaching of the wafer transfer robot are necessary.

  In other words, in the mini-environment device that cannot be accessed from the left and right sides, the load port on the front side can only be attached and detached, but the problem that the manufacturer cannot easily attach and remove the load port and the problem that the position reproduction after attachment and removal is not good. was there.

  In addition, in the case of a mini-environment device in which a plurality of load ports are mounted, each load port has to be attached to and detached from the same port due to variations in mounting adjustment.

JP 2000-332079 A JP 2001-284429 A

  An object of the present invention is to perform maintenance from the front side of a mini-environment device, so that any manufacturer's load port conforming to the SEMI standard can be easily attached or detached.

  Another object of the present invention is to increase the reproducibility of the setting to the specified position after the loading / unloading of the load port in order to eliminate the need for position adjustment after loading / unloading and teaching of the wafer transfer robot.

  Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to adjust the mounting between load ports so that the load port can be replaced with any other port in a mini-environment device mounted with a plurality of load ports, and the device can be operated without teaching work. It is to eliminate variation.

  The present invention provides a mini-environment device that automatically transports a wafer to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including a semiconductor inspection device, a mini-enmaintenance panel that is vertically detachably attached to the front surface of the mini-environment device, and the mini-environment panel. A load port that can be adjusted in the vertical and horizontal directions, a pair of rotary rollers provided side by side on the front surface of the mini-environment device, and one of the rotations that is provided and fitted to the mini-environment panel. Up / down / left / right alignment holes with an inverted V-shaped groove on the upper side that joins the outer periphery of the roller, and a horizontal flat surface on the upper side of the other rotating roller that is provided in the mini-en maintenance panel and that is fitted It has the leveling hole which has.

  According to the present invention, since maintenance is performed from the front surface of the mini-environment device, the load port of any manufacturer that conforms to the SEMI standard can be easily attached or detached.

  In addition, the upper and lower left and right alignment holes with the inverted V-shaped groove on the upper side of the mini-en-maintenance panel and the leveling holes with the horizontal flat surface on the upper side and the pair of rotating rollers on the mini environment device side The load port can be attached with high accuracy without causing a positional shift at a specified position.

  Furthermore, in a mini-environment device in which a plurality of load ports are mounted, since there is no variation in the mounting adjustment between the load ports, it can be replaced with any port and attached / detached without displacement.

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

  The mini-environment device is equipped with a mini-environment housing that creates a small-scale clean environment, a load port that can take out and store a semiconductor wafer, and a wafer transfer robot that automatically transfers the semiconductor wafer.

  An apparatus equipped with a system for automatically transferring wafers is called a mini-environment apparatus, and hereinafter abbreviated as mini-ene.

  FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of a miniene.

  A mini-environment device (mini-en) 1 mainly includes a mini-en housing 11, a filter-equipped fan 12, a load port 15, and a wafer transfer robot 16. The interior of the mini-environment device (mini-en) 1 is shielded from the external environment by a mini-en housing 11.

  The fan 12 with a filter provided in the upper part of the mini-en housing 11 keeps the interior of the mini-en in a small-scale clean environment.

  A load port 15 is mounted on the front surface of the mini-en housing 11. The load port 15 can be equipped with a FOUP 14 and has a function of opening and closing the lid of the FOUP 14. By opening the lid of the FOUP 14, the stored wafer 13 can be taken out or stored.

  A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 17 or a semiconductor inspection apparatus is disposed on the back surface of the mini-en housing 11.

  A wafer transfer robot 16 is mounted inside the mini-en housing 11. The wafer transfer robot 16 automatically transfers the wafer. An unprocessed wafer is taken out from the FOUP 14 mounted on the load port 15 and transferred to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 17 or a semiconductor inspection apparatus which is a host apparatus.

  Then, the processed wafer is taken out from the host device and stored in the FOUP 14. Since the wafer is brought into contact with the wafer, dust adheres to the robot. Also, because of the moving parts, it is necessary to perform periodic inspections such as grease up and cleaning.

  In normal operation, a person does not access the interior of the mini-en 1, but it is necessary for the person to access the work during maintenance work. Maintenance operations include periodic inspections, breakdowns, and removal of damaged wafers due to wafer dropping.

  In particular, removal of damaged wafers caused by wafer dropping should be completed in a short time and started up quickly.

  The mini-en maintenance panel 18 is attached to the front surface of the mini-en housing 11 and mounts the load port 15.

  The mini-en maintenance panel 18 includes an opening and a mounting hole defined by the SEMI standard for mounting the load port 15. With this opening and the mounting hole, the load port 15 conforming to the SEMI standard can be mounted in any model of any manufacturer.

  The relationship between the mini-en, the mini-en maintenance panel, and the load port will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

  The mini-en-maintenance panel 18 has an upper / lower / left / right positioning hole 21 and a leveling hole 22 at the lower part. The vertical and horizontal positioning holes 21 and the leveling holes 22 are provided to be separated from each other in the left and right directions.

  The up / down / left / right alignment hole 21 has an inverted V-shaped groove on the upper side (ceiling). The leveling hole 22 has a horizontal flat surface on the upper side (ceiling).

  The mini-en 1 includes a pair of rotating rollers 110 provided side by side at the front lower portion. The rotating roller 110 has a deep groove ball bearing. With this deep groove ball bearing, the rotating roller 110 is rotatably supported by the shaft screw 111.

  By tightening and fixing the shaft screw 111 to the mini-en 1, the rotating roller 110 is firmly supported without being displaced at a predetermined position.

  The mini-en maintenance panel 18 attached to the front side of the mini-en 1 in the upright state is dropped from the mini-en 1 by fitting the upper / lower / left / right positioning holes 21 on one rotating roller 110 and the leveling holes 22 on the other rotating roller 110. It is supported not to.

  On one side of the mini-en maintenance panel 18 supported in this way, the outer periphery of the rotating roller 110 is joined to the inverted V-shaped groove of the upper / lower / left / right alignment hole 21, so that the left / right position and the upper / lower position are determined at a predetermined position. .

  In addition, one side of the mini-en maintenance panel 18 is fixed at a predetermined position by joining the outer periphery of the rotating roller 110 to the upper (ceiling) flat surface of the leveling hole 22.

  Since the two positions are defined and supported, the mini-en maintenance panel 18 is repeatedly attached to and detached from the mini-en 1 so that the mini-en maintenance panel 18 can be attached with high accuracy without causing a positional shift.

  The load port 15 can adjust the front / rear / left / right / up / down direction of the mini-enmaintenance panel 18 as a single unit. As long as it is not removed from the mini-en maintenance panel 18, the load port 15 maintains its adjusted state.

  The adjustment in the front / rear / left / right / up / down directions is performed in a state where the mini-en maintenance panel 18 is mounted.

  As described above, the mini-en maintenance panel 18 that holds the load port 15 in the adjusted state is always supported at a predetermined position with respect to the mini-en 1 even when the load and unload are repeated.

  As a result, the positional relationship does not shift between the load port 15 and the mini-en 1, so that it is not necessary to teach the alignment of the wafer transfer robot 16 with respect to the load port 15 each time the mini-en maintenance panel 18 is attached or detached. .

  Also, the mini-en-maintenance panel 18 including the load port 15 can be attached and detached by detaching the rotary roller 110 from the vertical and horizontal left and right alignment holes 21 having inverted V-shaped grooves and the leveling holes 22 having a horizontal flat surface. Done.

  Since this attachment / detachment operation is simple and can be performed in a short time, it is particularly effective when it is necessary to finish the removal of the damaged wafer due to the dropping of the wafer in a short time.

  Further, since the vertical alignment, the horizontal alignment hole 21, the level alignment hole 22, and the rotary roller 110 can be easily fitted, the mini-en maintenance panel 18 including the load port 15 can be easily attached and detached. It is.

  Further, the vertical / horizontal alignment hole 21 has only a reverse V-shaped groove on the upper side and does not include a screw mechanism for adjusting the vertical position. The leveling hole 22 also has a horizontal flat surface on the upper side and does not have a screw mechanism for adjusting the vertical position.

  For this reason, the configuration is simple. At the same time, since there is no screw mechanism, adjustment work is unnecessary and the mini-en-maintenance panel 18 can be easily attached to and detached from the load port 15.

  Moreover, since there is no screw mechanism, it does not get in the way of the attachment / detachment work, and the attachment / detachment work is easy.

  Maintenance work of the mini-en 1 can be easily accessed from the front of the mini-en 1 by attaching and detaching the mini-en maintenance panel 18 on which the load port 15 is mounted.

  Since the load port 15 is not removed and the position does not shift, it is not necessary to teach the wafer transfer robot 16 again. By removing the mini-en maintenance panel 18, the opening 19 on the front surface of the mini-en housing 11 can be used as a maintenance area.

  In the mini-en 1 equipped with a plurality of load ports, there is no variation in the mounting position between the load ports, so that the ports such as the A port and the B port can be interchanged and attached.

  The mini-en maintenance panel 18 supported at a predetermined position with respect to the mini-en 1 is fastened and fixed to the mini-en 1 with a tightening screw 200 as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the screw insertion hole 201 into which the tightening screw 200 is inserted has a head drop hole portion 202 into which the head of the tightening screw 200 falls so as to drop from the surface of the mini-en maintenance panel 18.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the mini engine maintenance panel includes a pair of rotating rollers 110 (including a shaft screw 111) fitted in the vertical / horizontal alignment holes 21 and the level adjustment holes 22. It has a thickness that does not protrude more.

  Since the rotating roller 110 (including the shaft screw 111) and the tightening screw 200 do not protrude from the surface of the mini-en maintenance panel, the appearance is good. Further, since the rotating roller 110 (including the shaft screw 111) and the tightening screw 200 do not protrude, the number of hits is small, and the working environment is improved.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a miniene according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the state which removed the mini-ene maintenance panel in which the load port was mounted from the mini-ene concerning the Example of this invention. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a mini-en maintenance panel being fastened to the mini-en with a tightening screw according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Mini-en housing | casing, 12 ... Filter blower, 13 ... Wafer, 14 ... FOUP, 15 ... Load port, 16 ... Wafer transfer robot, 17 ... Semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, 18 ... Mini-en maintenance panel, 19 ... Opening part, 110 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS ... Rotating roller, 21 ... Vertical / horizontal alignment hole, 22 ... Level adjustment hole, 111 ... Shaft screw, 200 ... Fastening screw, 201 ... Screw insertion hole, 202 ... Head depression hole part.

Claims (6)

A mini-environment device that automatically transports a wafer to a semiconductor manufacturing device including a semiconductor inspection device;
A mini-environment panel that is vertically detachably attached to the front surface of the mini-environment device;
A load port that can be mounted on the mini-en-maintenance panel to adjust the vertical and horizontal directions;
A pair of rotating rollers provided side by side on the front surface of the mini-environment device;
An upper / lower / left / right alignment hole with an inverted V-shaped groove on the upper side, which is provided on the mini-enmaintenance panel and is joined to the outer periphery of one of the rotating rollers to be fitted;
A load port mounting adjustment device for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, comprising a leveling hole having a horizontal flat surface on an upper side, which is provided on the mini-en maintenance panel and is joined to the outer periphery of the other rotating roller to be fitted. A mini-environment device that automatically transports a wafer to a semiconductor manufacturing device including a semiconductor inspection device;
A mini-environment panel that is vertically detachably attached to the front surface of the mini-environment device;
A load port that can be mounted on the mini-en-maintenance panel to adjust the vertical and horizontal directions;
A pair of rotating rollers provided side by side at the lower front of the mini-environment device;
An upper / lower / left / right alignment hole provided on the lower side of the mini-enmaintenance panel and having an inverted V-shaped groove on the upper side which is joined to the outer periphery of the one rotating roller to be fitted;
A load port mounting adjustment device for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, comprising a leveling hole having a horizontal flat surface on an upper side, which is provided on the mini-en maintenance panel and is joined to the outer periphery of the other rotating roller to be fitted. In the load port attachment adjusting device for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The pair of rotating rollers have deep groove ball bearings, and a load port mounting adjustment device for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. In the load port attachment adjusting device for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
A load port mounting adjustment device for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, comprising: a plurality of tightening screws for tightening and fixing the mini engine maintenance panel supported vertically on the one rotating roller to the mini environment device. In the load port attachment adjusting device for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 4,
The screw insertion hole that is provided in the mini-enmaintenance panel and into which the tightening screw is inserted has a head drop-in hole that enters the head of the tightening screw so as to fall from the surface of the mini-en maintenance panel. Load port mounting adjustment device for semiconductor manufacturing equipment. In the load port attachment adjusting device for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The mini-en maintenance panel has a thickness such that the pair of rotating rollers that fit into the top / bottom / left / right alignment holes and the level adjustment holes do not protrude from the surface of the mini-en maintenance panel. Device load port mounting adjustment device.

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