JP2009123722A - Substrate carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To remove static electricity surely from a substrate held at a substrate holding portion in a substrate carrier by moving the substrate holding portion by a moving means employing bearings to which nonconductive lubricant is applied. <P>SOLUTION: In the substrate carrier, a contactor 7 has an upper end being fixed to the lower end face of a coupling column 55b, and has a bend 71 at the lower end thereof wherein a resilient force acts in a direction for pressing the bend 71 against a conductive plate 522 by abutting against a conductive plate 522 arranged on the inner footprint of a supporting base 52. When a hand 51b moves, the bend 71 slides, constantly touching the upper surface of the conductive plate 522 electrically connected with the ground potential mechanically, and a neutralization passage of hand 51b-holder 53b-coupling column 55b-contactor 7-conductive plate 522 is always formed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate transfer apparatus for transferring a substrate. The substrates to be transported include semiconductor wafers, glass substrates for photomasks, glass substrates for liquid crystal displays, glass substrates for plasma displays, FED (Field Emission Display) substrates, optical disk substrates, and magnetic disks. And a magneto-optical disk substrate.

  In the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, liquid crystal displays, etc., various processes such as cleaning, resist coating, exposure, development, etching, ion implantation, resist peeling, interlayer insulation film formation, and heat treatment for semiconductor wafers, glass substrates, etc. Is done. If the substrate is charged by static electricity in the course of these treatments, the circuit pattern on the substrate surface is damaged by the discharge phenomenon, and particles such as dust are likely to adhere to the substrate. For this reason, it has been proposed to equip the substrate processing apparatus with a static eliminator that removes static electricity from the substrate (see Patent Document 1).

  However, in order to manufacture a semiconductor device or the like, it is necessary to perform the above-described processing by each processing apparatus while transporting the substrate between a plurality of substrate processing apparatuses, and each substrate processing apparatus is equipped with a static eliminator. This is one of the factors that increase the manufacturing cost. In view of this, a technique has been proposed in which a neutralization mechanism is provided in a substrate transport device that transports a substrate, and static electricity is removed from the substrate when the substrate is transported by the substrate transport device. That is, in this technique, since the hand of the substrate holding unit comes into direct contact with the substrate during substrate transportation, static electricity charged on the substrate is released to the ground through the substrate transportation device.

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-72559 (FIG. 2)

  By the way, the substrate transfer device has a function of transferring a substrate to and from the substrate processing apparatus, and the substrate holding unit is configured to be accessible to each substrate processing apparatus. That is, the substrate holding part can be moved forward and backward by a moving mechanism (means) such as a linear guide mechanism or a multi-joint mechanism with respect to the apparatus main body of the substrate transfer apparatus. For this reason, the path for discharging the static electricity of the substrate in the substrate transfer apparatus is a path of the substrate holding part-moving mechanism-apparatus body, and the static electricity is released to the ground through the discharging path.

  However, in the conventional apparatus, in order to smoothly move the substrate holding portion while suppressing the generation of particles, the moving mechanism uses a bearing enclosing a low dusting lubricant, for example, clean grease LGU manufactured by NSK. Therefore, sometimes the static elimination path is cut off and the static elimination cannot be performed satisfactorily. As a result of intensive studies by the inventors of the present invention on the reason, it has been found that the lubricant applied to the bearing is non-conductive, and this acts as a factor for cutting off the static elimination path. For example, in a device that linearly moves the substrate holding portion using a linear guide, an oil film of a non-conductive lubricant is formed on the surface of a steel ball incorporated in the linear guide. And the said oil film may become an insulation location and may become the obstruction factor of static elimination.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is held by a substrate holding unit in a substrate transfer apparatus that transfers the substrate by moving the substrate holding unit by a moving means using a bearing provided with a non-conductive lubricant. The purpose is to reliably remove static electricity from the substrate.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a conductive support portion electrically connected to the ground potential and a hand for holding the substrate, and is provided so as to be movable with respect to the support portion integrally with the hand. A conductive substrate holding portion, a moving means for moving the substrate holding portion relative to the support portion using a bearing provided with a non-conductive lubricant, and a substrate holding portion at all times or every movement of the substrate holding portion. And an energizing means for electrically connecting the support portion.

  In the invention configured as above, the energizing means always electrically connects the substrate holding part and the support part every time the substrate holding part moves, thereby forming a static elimination path called substrate holding part-energizing means-supporting part. . For this reason, static electricity is forcibly discharged from the substrate to the ground through the charge removal path by the electrical connection.

  Here, in order to always form the static elimination path, the energization means can be configured as follows. For example, when the substrate holding part is provided to be movable at a position above the support part, one end of the energizing means is attached to the substrate holding part (or support part), while the other end of the energizing means is supported. It can be configured to extend toward the portion (or the substrate holding portion) and to be slidable on the surface of the support portion (or the substrate holding portion). This makes it possible to always form a static elimination path. If the energizing means is constituted by a spring member and an elastic force is applied in the direction in which the spring member is pressed against the surface, a good contact state is formed and the static elimination can be performed stably.

  In order to always form the static elimination path, for example, one end of the conductive cable is attached to the board holding part, the other end of the conductive cable is attached to the support part, and the central part of the conductive cable is moved to the board holding part. Accordingly, it may be configured to be capable of bending deformation.

  Further, when the substrate holding part is provided so as to be movable within a predetermined movement range, the energizing means is provided on the support part and comes into contact with the substrate holding part that has moved to one end of the movement range. You may comprise so that a holding | maintenance part and a support part may be electrically connected. In the invention configured as described above, each time the substrate holding portion moves, the substrate holding portion and the support portion are electrically connected to form a static elimination path, and static electricity is forcibly removed from the substrate. Note that the energizing means is constituted by a spring member, and an elastic force is applied in a direction to push back the substrate holding portion that has moved to one end of the moving range, thereby suppressing an impact when the substrate holding portion and the support portion come into contact with each other. At the same time, the neutralization can be performed satisfactorily with reliable electrical contact.

  According to the present invention, the static electricity is forcedly removed from the substrate by forming the static elimination path by electrically connecting the substrate holding part and the support part at all times or whenever the substrate holding part moves. Therefore, even if it is a substrate transport device that transports the substrate by moving the substrate holder by moving means using a bearing provided with a non-conductive lubricant, static electricity is reliably removed from the substrate held by the substrate holder can do.

  FIG. 1 is a view showing a substrate processing apparatus equipped with an embodiment of a substrate transfer apparatus according to the present invention. This substrate processing apparatus is a single wafer processing apparatus for processing a substrate W such as a semiconductor wafer with a processing liquid or a processing gas. The substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate processing unit PP that processes a substrate W, an indexer unit ID coupled to the substrate processing unit PP, and a configuration for supplying / discharging a processing fluid (liquid or gas). The processing fluid boxes 11 and 12 are accommodated.

  The indexer unit ID is a cassette C for storing the substrates W (FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod) for storing a plurality of substrates W in a sealed state, SMIF (Standard Mechanical Interface Face) pod, OC (Open Cassette), etc.) A cassette holding unit 21 that can hold a plurality of wafers, and a cassette C held in the cassette holding unit 21 are accessed to take out an unprocessed substrate W from the cassette C or to transfer a processed substrate to the cassette C. And an indexer robot 22 for storage.

  In each cassette C, a plurality of substrates W are accommodated in one unit called “lot”. A plurality of substrates W are transferred between various substrate processing apparatuses in units of lots, and the same type of processing is performed on each substrate W constituting the lot by each substrate processing apparatus. Each cassette C is provided with a plurality of shelves (not shown) for stacking and holding a plurality of substrates W in the vertical direction with minute intervals, and one substrate W is placed on each shelf. Can be held. Each shelf is configured to contact the peripheral edge of the lower surface of the substrate W and hold the substrate W from below. The substrate W has the front surface (pattern forming surface) facing upward and the back surface facing downward. The cassette C is accommodated in a substantially horizontal posture.

  The substrate processing unit PP includes a substrate transfer robot 5 disposed substantially in the center in plan view, and a frame 30 to which the substrate transfer robot 5 is attached. A plurality of (four in this embodiment) processing units 1, 2, 3, and 4 are mounted on the frame 30 so as to surround the substrate transfer robot 5. In this embodiment, as the processing units 1 to 4, a processing unit P <b> 1 that performs a predetermined processing on a substantially circular substrate W such as a semiconductor wafer is mounted on the frame 30. As the processing unit P1, for example, a chemical processing unit MP that performs chemical processing with a chemical and rinsing with a rinsing liquid such as pure water on the substrate W can be employed. Hereinafter, the chemical solution and the rinse solution are collectively referred to as “treatment solution”. Each of the processing units 1, 2, 3 and 4 has processing chambers 1a, 2a, 3a and 4a in which processing spaces for processing the substrate W are formed. Then, the processing liquid is supplied to the substrate W in each of the processing chambers 1a to 4a, and wet processing is performed on the substrate W. As described above, in this embodiment, all of the plurality of processing units 1 to 4 perform the same type of processing.

  As the processing unit P1, in addition to the chemical processing unit MP, any processing unit selected from the scrub cleaning unit SS, the polymer removal unit SR, the bevel cleaning unit CB, and the gas phase cleaning unit VP can be adopted. Here, the scrub cleaning unit SS supplies pure water to the substrate W while rotating the substrate W, and scrubs the substrate surface with a scrub brush. Further, the polymer removal unit SR removes residues on the substrate W by supplying the polymer removal solution to the substrate W while rotating the substrate W. Further, the bevel cleaning unit CB supplies the processing liquid to the peripheral end surface and the surface peripheral edge portion (bevel portion) of the substrate W while rotating the substrate W so as to process the bevel portion. The vapor phase cleaning unit VP processes the substrate W by supplying the substrate W with a vapor containing a chemical solution or a vapor containing a chemical gas.

  The substrate transfer robot 5 corresponds to the “substrate transfer apparatus” of the present invention, can transfer the substrate W to and from the indexer robot 22, and loads the substrate W to each processing unit 1 to 4.・ Unloading can be performed. More specifically, for example, the substrate transfer robot 5 includes a substrate holding unit having a pair of conductive hands 51a and 51b that hold the substrate W, and a support that supports the substrate holding unit so as to be movable forward and backward in the horizontal direction. A base 52 is provided, and the hands 51a and 51b are accessible to the processing unit and the indexer robot 22 by the movement of the substrate holder. The substrate transport robot 5 has the following configuration in order to position each hand 51a, 51b opposite to a desired processing unit. In the substrate transfer robot 5, a base (not shown) is fixed to the frame 30 of the substrate processing unit PP, and an elevating base (not shown) is attached to the base so as to be raised and lowered. Further, the support base 52 is provided so as to be rotatable about a vertical axis with respect to the elevating base. Therefore, the lifting base and the support base 52 are driven in accordance with a control command from a control unit (not shown) that controls the entire apparatus, whereby the hands 51a and 51b on the support base 52 are transferred to the processing unit and the indexer robot 22. Opposed positioning. In the figure, the hands 51 a and 51 b are positioned facing the indexer robot 22.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a substrate transfer portion of a substrate transfer robot as an embodiment of the substrate transfer apparatus according to the present invention. The substrate transfer robot 5 has a two-stage structure in which a pair of hands 51a and 51b are stacked in the vertical direction. The hand 51a is provided so as to reciprocate in the forward and backward direction X in the vicinity of the upper surface of the support base 52. The hand 51b is provided so as to be able to reciprocate in the forward / backward direction X in the vicinity immediately above the hand 51a, and the hands 51a, 51b are moved forward / backward independently by a moving mechanism described below.

  FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the moving mechanism, and FIG. 3B is a partially enlarged view of FIG. In the substrate transfer robot 5, as shown in FIG. 2, a trapezoidal conductive holder 53a is attached to the rear end portion of the hand 51a in plan view, and the lower moving mechanism portion of the moving mechanism 6 is passed through the holder 53a. It is connected to the. Further, as shown in FIG. 3A, a conductive holder 53b having a substantially U-shaped cross section is attached to the rear end portion of the hand 51b and connected to the upper moving mechanism portion 61b of the moving mechanism 6 via the holder 53b. Has been. Then, in response to a control command from the control unit, the drive motor (not shown) of the upper movement mechanism unit 61b operates to move the hand 51b in the forward / backward direction X. For example, as shown in FIG. The substrate W held by the three holding pins 54b is moved horizontally. In the hand 51a as well as the hand 51b, the hand 51a and the substrate W can be moved by the lower moving mechanism portion of the moving mechanism 6. Since the configurations of these moving mechanism units are the same, in the following, the upper moving mechanism unit 61b will be described in detail, and the lower moving mechanism unit will be given the same or corresponding reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted.

  In the upper moving mechanism 61b, the fixed rail 62 is fixed to the central beam 521 fixed to the support base 52. Both the central beam 521 and the fixed rail 62 are extended in the forward / backward direction X. In addition, a slider 63 is attached to the fixed rail 62 and is movable along the fixed rail 62 in the forward / backward direction X. A steel ball (not shown) is inserted between the rail 62 and the slider 63 to form a slide bearing structure. And in order to reduce the friction which generate | occur | produces between the rail 62, the slider 63, and the steel ball, the low dust generation lubricant, for example, clean grease LGU made from NSK, etc. are enclosed. In addition, the code | symbol 64 in FIG.3 (b) has shown the said lubricant.

  The lower end portion of the conductive connection column 55b is fixed to the slider 63, and the holder 53b is attached to the upper end portion of the connection column 55b. The hand 51b, the holder 53b, the connection column 55b, and the slider 63 are integrated. Therefore, it is movable in the forward / backward direction X. As described above, in this embodiment, the hand 51b, the holder 53b, and the connecting column 55b correspond to the “substrate holding portion” of the present invention, and the advancing / retreating direction X is achieved by the linear guide including the fixed rail 62, the slider 63, and the steel ball. It has become freely movable.

  Further, a belt fixing portion 66 is provided at the lower end portion of the connection column 55b, and is connected to a belt 67 driven by a drive motor. This belt 67 is stretched between two pulleys 68 and 69 that are spaced apart in the advance / retreat direction X inside the support base 52, and one pulley 68 is rotationally driven by the rotational driving force from the drive motor. Then, the belt 67 circulates according to the rotational movement. Then, the hand 51b, the holder 53b, the connecting column 55b, and the slider 63 are integrally moved in the forward / backward direction X according to the belt drive. In this embodiment, the hand 51b is driven by the belt driving method, but the driving method is not limited to this, and any driving method, for example, a ball screw driving method may be adopted. Thus, the moving mechanism 6 of this embodiment corresponds to the “moving means” of the present invention.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, a contact 7 having a substantially letter-shaped cross section projects downward from the lower end surface of the connecting column 55b, and the hand 51b and the support base 52 are always electrically connected. Yes. That is, the contact 7 is made of a conductive material, for example, a spring member such as a spring steel plate, and the upper end of the contact 7 is attached to the lower end surface of the connection column 55b. On the other hand, the lower end portion is a refracting portion 71, and an elastic force acts in a direction in which the refracting portion 71 is pressed against the conductive plate 522 by contacting the conductive plate 522 disposed on the inner bottom surface of the support base 52. . For this reason, even when the hand 51b moves, the refracting portion 71 slides while being in mechanical contact with the upper surface of the conductive plate 522 with a certain elastic force. For this reason, the hand 51b and the support base 52 are always electrically connected. Moreover, since the conductive plate 522 is electrically connected to the ground potential, a static elimination path of hand 51b-holder 53b-connection column 55b-contact 7-conductive plate 522 is always formed. Thus, in the present embodiment, the contact 7 corresponds to the “energizing means” of the present invention.

  As described above, by providing the contact 7, a static elimination path (holder 53 b -connection column 55 b -contact 7-conductive plate 522) is always formed, and static electricity is forcibly grounded from the substrate W through the static elimination path. As described above, the non-conductive lubricant is applied to the bearings (fixed rails, steel balls, sliders) as described above, but static electricity can always be reliably removed from the substrate W. In addition, about this effect, it is completely the same also about the hand 51a side.

  The contact 7 is formed of a spring member and slides while being in mechanical contact with the upper surface of the conductive plate 522 with a certain elastic force. For this reason, the hand 51b and the support base 52 are always electrically connected while forming a good contact state. As a result, static elimination can be performed stably. In this embodiment, the contact 7 is attached to the connection column 55b among the elements (the hand 51b, the holder 53b, and the connection column 55b) constituting the substrate holding unit. However, even if the contact is provided to other elements. Good. Further, in the present embodiment, the substrate holding portion of the substrate holding portion (hand 51b, holder 53b and connecting column 55b) and the support base 52 is the “mounting portion” of the present invention, and the support base 52 is the “contact” of the present invention. Although they function as “parts”, they may be set in reverse.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications other than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the contact 7 is used as the “energizing means” of the present invention, but the substrate holding portion (hand 51b, holder 53b and connecting column 55b) and the support base 52 are connected by a conductive cable such as a flat cable. You may connect electrically. That is, one end of the conductive cable may be attached to the board holding part, while the other end of the conductive cable may be attached to the support part, and the central part of the conductive cable may be moved according to the movement of the board holding part in the forward / backward direction X. The energized state can be maintained while being bent and a static elimination path can always be formed.

  In the above embodiment, the static elimination path is always formed. However, as shown in FIG. 4, for example, the support base 52 is provided on one end side (the right hand side in FIG. 4A) of the movement range R of the substrate holder. A conductive current-carrying member electrically connected to, for example, a spring member 72 may be provided as the “energization means” in the present invention. In the substrate transport apparatus configured as described above, when the substrate holding portion including the hand moves in the forward / backward direction X and comes into contact with the spring member 72 ((b) in the same figure), the substrate holding portion is interposed via the spring member 72. And the support base 52 are electrically connected. In this way, each time the substrate holding portion moves, a static elimination path of the substrate holding portion-spring member 72-support base 52 is formed, and static electricity is forcibly discharged from the substrate W. Further, when the energizing means is constituted by the spring member 72 as described above, the elastic force is applied in a direction to push back the substrate holding portion that has moved to one end side (the right hand side in FIG. 4) of the moving range R. The impact at the time when the holding portion and the support base 52 come into contact with each other can be suppressed, and at the same time, the electrical contact can be ensured and the charge removal can be performed well.

  In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to the substrate transfer apparatus that linearly moves the two hands in the forward / backward direction X. However, the number of hands and the moving direction limit the application range of the present invention. It is not a thing. In short, the present invention can be applied to any substrate transport apparatus that employs a configuration in which a hand is moved using a bearing provided with a non-conductive lubricant. For example, you may apply to the indexer robot 22 of the said embodiment.

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for photomask, a glass substrate for liquid crystal display, a glass substrate for plasma display, a substrate for FED (Field Emission Display), a substrate for optical disk, a substrate for magnetic disk, a substrate for magneto-optical disk, etc. The present invention can be applied to a substrate transfer apparatus that transfers a substrate including the substrate.

It is a figure which shows the substrate processing apparatus equipped with one Embodiment of the substrate conveying apparatus concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the board | substrate conveyance part of the board | substrate conveyance robot which is one Embodiment of the board | substrate conveyance apparatus concerning this invention. It is a fragmentary sectional view which shows the structure of a moving mechanism. It is a figure which shows other embodiment of the board | substrate conveying apparatus concerning this invention.

Explanation of symbols

5 ... Substrate transfer robot (substrate transfer device)
6 ... Moving mechanism (moving means)
7 ... Contact (energizing means, energizing member)
51a, 51b ... hand (substrate holding part)
52 ... Support base (support part)
53a, 53b ... conductive holder (substrate holding part)
55b ... Connection column (substrate holding part)
61b ... Upper moving mechanism (moving means)
71: Refraction part 71
72 ... Spring member (energizing means, energizing member)
522 ... Conductive plate (supporting part)
R ... Movement range W ... Substrate X ... Forward / backward direction

Claims (6)

A conductive support electrically connected to ground potential;
A conductive substrate holding unit provided with a hand for holding a substrate and provided so as to be movable with respect to the support unit integrally with the hand;
Moving means for moving the substrate holder relative to the support using a bearing provided with a non-conductive lubricant;
An apparatus for transporting a substrate, comprising: energizing means for electrically connecting the substrate holding part and the support part at all times or whenever the substrate holding part is moved. The substrate holding part is provided movably at a position above the support part,
When one of the substrate holding part and the support part is an attachment part and the other is a contact part,
The one end portion of the energizing means is attached to the attachment portion, and the other end portion of the energizing means is extended toward the contact portion so as to be slidable on the surface of the contact portion. The substrate transfer apparatus according to 1.   The substrate transfer apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the energizing means is a spring member and applies an elastic force in a direction in which the other end is pressed against the surface of the contact portion. The energizing means is a conductive cable;
One end of the conductive cable is attached to the substrate holding portion, while the other end of the conductive cable is attached to the support portion, and the central portion of the conductive cable is curved and deformed as the substrate holding portion moves. The substrate transfer apparatus according to claim 1. The substrate holding part is provided movably within a predetermined movement range,
2. The substrate transport according to claim 1, wherein the energization means is provided in the support portion and contacts the substrate holding portion that has moved to one end of the moving range to electrically connect the substrate holding portion and the support portion. apparatus.   The substrate transfer apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the energizing means is a spring member, and applies an elastic force in a direction to push back the substrate holding portion that has moved to one end of the moving range.

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