JP2011199218A - Substrate conveyance device and substrate inspection system using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate conveyance device that conveys even a substrate with warpage without coming into contact with an upper surface of the substrate, and has no movable portion for conveying above the height of the substrate, and a substrate inspection system.SOLUTION: The substrate inspection system 100 includes the substrate conveyance device 1, an imaging apparatus 2 which picks up an image of a surface of the substrate W being conveyed, an inspection device 3 which inspects the picked-up image, and a display device 4 which displays an inspection result. The substrate conveyance device 1 includes a flotation stage 8 which floats the substrate W by blowing air from below, and a moving mechanism 10 provided movably along the flotation stage 8 and having a suction portion 9 for sucking a side edge of the reverse surface side of the substrate W. A moving table 10d of the moving mechanism 10 has an elevation mechanism 12 with an auxiliary suction portion 11 nearby the suction portion 9. The auxiliary suction portion 11 is elevated toward the substrate W with warpage to suck and lift the side edge, the suction portion 9 sucks the substrate W, and while the moving table 10d moves to convey the substrate W, the imaging apparatus 2 picks up the image to inspect the substrate.

Description

  The present invention, for example, a substrate transport apparatus for transporting various substrates such as a liquid crystal display panel, a plasma display panel, a solar cell, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc. used for manufacturing a glass substrate, a mask substrate for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and the like. The present invention relates to a substrate inspection system.

  Conventionally, as one method for inspecting a wiring pattern formed on an object such as a glass substrate used for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel or the like, for example, while carrying a glass substrate on which a wiring pattern is formed on a conveyor, There has been proposed an apparatus in which the glass substrate is photographed by an imaging device fixed upward, and the wiring pattern is inspected for abnormality by image recognition.

  In recent years, glass substrates used for manufacturing liquid crystal display panels and the like are required to be thin and large in terms of production efficiency. However, for example, in the production process of a liquid crystal display panel, the substrate may be warped by forming a film of various substances or performing a heat treatment. When a substrate with warpage is placed on a general conveyor for inspection as described above, it may not be transported due to the warp of the substrate, or the imaging device may not be focused even if it can be transported. It was difficult to perform a good inspection.

JP 2008-63020 A

  In Patent Document 1, the substrate is levitated on a stage for levitating, and a pressing roller that presses the substrate from the upper surface against the adsorption portion that adsorbs the substrate is pressed against the adsorption portion even if the substrate is warped. So that it can be transported. However, the upper surface of the substrate is a part that is subjected to microfabrication such as electrical wiring, and even if it is an end portion of the substrate, if it is mechanically contacted and pressed, minute dust adheres to it, resulting in disconnection or short circuit In addition, there is a possibility that there is an extra movable part above the transport height (so-called pass line) of the substrate, and dust generated from it may contaminate the substrate. Improvement was desired.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate transport apparatus that can transport a warped substrate without contacting the upper surface of the substrate, and a substrate inspection system using the same.

In order to solve such a problem, the invention according to claim 1 includes a stage for levitating a substrate,
A moving mechanism provided movably along the stage and having a suction part that sucks any side edge of the back side of the substrate on the upper side, and the side on the back side of the substrate in the vicinity of the suction part An auxiliary suction unit that is provided so as to be capable of advancing and retreating with respect to an edge portion and attracts the side edge portion of the substrate to the suction portion.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the substrate transfer apparatus according to the first aspect, the auxiliary suction portion is provided closer to the edge of the substrate than the suction portion.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the substrate transfer apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the moving mechanism includes a moving base that is movable along the stage and includes the suction portion, and the auxiliary suction. The section is provided on the moving table.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the substrate transfer apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the auxiliary suction portion is disposed in the vicinity of the suction port at the front end so that the substrate surface is inclined by the warp of the peripheral portion of the substrate. It is characterized by having a copying section for copying.

  The invention according to claim 5 includes a stage for levitating the substrate, a fixing portion that is provided so as to be movable along the stage, and that fixes any side edge on the back side of the substrate. And the fixing portion is provided on a moving base of the moving mechanism, and is provided so as to be movable forward and backward with respect to the side edge portion on the back surface side of the substrate. A substrate transfer device comprising an adsorption mechanism for adsorbing the substrate.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the substrate transport apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, an image capturing apparatus that images the surface of the substrate transported to the substrate transport apparatus, and an image captured by the image capturing apparatus. And a substrate inspection system.

  According to the present invention, the present invention is capable of transporting even a warped substrate without contacting the upper surface of the substrate, and having no movable part for transporting above the height of the substrate. And a substrate inspection system using the same can be provided.

It is a top view which shows the outline | summary of the board | substrate conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and a board | substrate inspection system using the same. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the operation | movement of the roller conveyor of a board | substrate conveyance apparatus, and a moving mechanism. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically operation | movement of the auxiliary suction part of a board | substrate conveyance apparatus.

  [Overall configuration of substrate inspection system]

  A substrate transfer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and a substrate inspection system using the same will be described below. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an outline of a substrate transfer apparatus 1 and a substrate inspection system 100 using the same according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, the two-dot chain line indicates the size of the substrate W. The substrate inspection system 100 includes a substrate transport device 1, an image capturing device 2 that captures an image of the surface of the substrate W transported by the substrate transport device 1, an inspection device 3 that inspects an image captured by the image capturing device 2, and The display device 4 is configured to display the inspection result of the inspection device 3.

  The apparatus for the pre-process of the substrate transport apparatus 1 is arranged on the right side in FIG. 1, and the substrate W is carried out from the roller conveyor 5 which is a part of the pre-process apparatus. The substrate transfer device 1 is arranged in a row with the roller conveyor 5 of the previous process device, receives the substrate W from the roller conveyor 5 and delivers the substrate W to the roller conveyor 6 of the subsequent process device as will be described later. 7, a floating stage 8 that blows air slightly from below to the substrate W received by the roller conveyor 7, and is provided so as to be movable along the floating stage 8. And a moving mechanism 10 having an adsorbing portion 9 that adsorbs one of the side edge portions.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the substrate transfer apparatus 1. The roller conveyor 7 has a roller 7b attached to each of a plurality of rotating shafts 7a provided in parallel to a predetermined height at a predetermined interval, and a driving source such as a motor or a driving belt (not shown) is attached to each rotating shaft 7a. Provided and configured. All the rotating shafts 7a are connected and supported via a common bearing member 7c, and are supported so as to be lifted and lowered by driving a lifting drive source 7d such as an air cylinder.

  The levitation stage 8 is provided between adjacent rollers 7b of the roller conveyor 7 so as to be long in the transport direction of the substrate W and straddle the plurality of rotating shafts 7a, and has a gas blowing port 8a formed on the upper surface thereof. It is connected to a gas supply device (not shown). The upper surface of the levitation stage 8 is higher when the roller conveyor 7 is raised by the above-described lifting drive source 7d, and the upper surface of the levitation stage 8 is higher when the roller conveyor 7 is lowered. Installation is fixed.

  The moving mechanism 10 includes a linear motor 10c including a linear guide member 10a provided on the side of the roller conveyor 7 and a moving unit 10b that moves on the linear guide member 10a. Is fixedly attached to the moving part 10b. The moving table 10d has a length substantially equal to the substrate W in the transport direction of the substrate W, that is, the direction of the linear motion guide member 10a, and on the upper surface thereof, the back surface side of the substrate W supported by the roller conveyor 7, That is, the suction part 9 that vacuum-sucks the lower surface side from below is attached and fixed. The suction part 9 opens upward so that the upper end of the suction part 9 is substantially the same as the upper surface of the levitation stage 8, or the suction part 9 is slightly higher but lower than the upper end of the roller 7b. It is slightly shorter than the length, and is connected to a vacuum suction source, an opening / closing valve or the like (not shown) via a pipe, and the substrate W can be sucked from below and fixed and moved.

  The moving platform 10d of the moving mechanism 10 is further provided with an auxiliary suction unit 11 in the vicinity of the suction unit 9 for sucking the side edge of the back surface side, that is, the lower surface side of the substrate W. The auxiliary suction part 11 is attached to an elevating mechanism 12 such as an air cylinder and can move up and down. The auxiliary suction part 11 is located above the suction surface at the upper end of the fixed suction part 9, at the same height, It is possible to move between positions. The auxiliary suction part 11 is located slightly outside the suction part 9 as viewed from the center side of the substrate W, that is, near the edge of the substrate W, and is provided so as to be able to advance and retreat with respect to the side edge on the back side of the substrate W. Yes. Moreover, since the moving mechanism 10, the suction part 9, the auxiliary suction part 11, and the raising / lowering mechanism 12 for driving the same are provided at positions lower than the transport height (so-called pass line) of the substrate W, these are the causes. The possibility that the generated dust contaminates the substrate W is low.

  The imaging device 2 includes a gate-shaped support portion 2a provided so as to straddle the roller conveyor 7 and the linear motion guide member 10a of the moving mechanism 10, and a top surface of the support portion 2a in a direction intersecting the transport direction of the substrate W. It comprises a linear motion guide member 2b provided, a moving table 2c that moves on the linear motion guide member 2b by a drive source (not shown), and a camera 2d provided on the moving table 2c. The camera 2d images the surface of the substrate W passing under the support portion 2a while being scanned in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the substrate W by the movement of the movable table 2c. It consists of a camera 2d.

  The inspection device 3 is formed of a so-called microcomputer, and inputs an image of the surface of the substrate W imaged by the camera 2d of the imaging device 2, and inspects for the presence or absence of defects on the surface. The microcomputer of the inspection apparatus 3 also controls the driving of the substrate transfer apparatus 1 such as the roller conveyor 7, the lifting drive source 7 d, the floating stage 8, and the moving mechanism 10, and the overall operation of the imaging apparatus 2. The display device 4 displays the inspection result by the inspection device 3.

  [Operation of PCB inspection system]

  Next, the operation of the substrate inspection system 100 will be described. When the substrate inspection system 100 receives the substrate W from the roller conveyor 5 of the previous process apparatus, the substrate inspection system 100 is at a position where the roller 7b of the roller conveyor 7 is raised by the elevating drive source 7d of the substrate transport apparatus 1, and the auxiliary suction unit 11 Is moved to a position below the suction surface at the upper end of the suction portion 9 by the lifting mechanism 12. At this time, when the substrate W is conveyed to the roller conveyor 7, the state shown in FIG. At this time, if the substrate W is not warped, the rollers 7b of the roller conveyor 7 are lowered by the lifting drive source 7d from the state shown in FIG. As a result, the substrate W is transferred from the roller 7b of the roller conveyor 7 to the floating stage 8 as shown in FIG. 2B, and the substrate is supported in a normal state where it is slightly lifted by the gas blown out from the outlet 8a of the floating stage 8. At the same time, it is adsorbed and fixed by the adsorbing portion 9. In this state, the moving mechanism 10 is driven to move the moving table 10d, whereby the substrate W adsorbed by the adsorption unit 9 moving together with the moving table 10d is conveyed in the conveying direction, that is, in the direction of the imaging device 2. It passes under the portal-shaped support part 2a of the image pickup apparatus 2 and is conveyed to the post-process apparatus side. Then, when passing under the support portion 2a, the camera 2d installed on the upper surface images the surface of the substrate W while scanning in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the substrate W. An image captured by the camera 2d is input to the inspection apparatus 3, and the presence or absence of defects on the surface thereof is inspected. Inspection results such as the presence / absence of defects are displayed on the display device 4 and also transmitted to the post-processing device side as necessary. When the entire substrate W passes under the imaging device 2 and moves to the left side of the imaging device 2 in FIG. 1 to complete the inspection, the suction and fixing of the substrate W by the suction unit 9 is released and the lifting drive source 7d is driven. Then, the roller conveyor 7 is raised, and the substrate W is held by the rollers 7b of the roller conveyor 7. And the roller conveyor 7 is driven and the board | substrate W is carried out to the roller conveyor 6 of a post-process apparatus.

  Next, an operation when the side edge portion of the substrate W that has been transported to the substrate inspection system 100 is warped will be described. When the substrate W is transported to the substrate inspection system 100 and transferred to the floating stage 8, if the substrate W has a warp on the side where the moving mechanism 10 is present, the side of the substrate W as shown in FIG. Since the edge is warped upward, the suction portion 9 of the moving mechanism 10 cannot suck the side edge of the substrate W. The fact that the adsorption unit 9 could not adsorb the substrate W means that a sensor is provided in a pipe connected to the adsorption unit 9 with a vacuum adsorption source and an on-off valve, and the pressure, wind speed, etc. are measured and the result is inspected. 3 is detected by inputting to the microcomputer.

  When the state shown in FIG. 3A is detected, the microcomputer drives the elevating mechanism 12 to raise the auxiliary suction unit 11 and sucks the side edge of the substrate W by the auxiliary suction unit 11. At this time, the tip of the auxiliary suction portion 11 is tilted to swing the tip so as to follow the tilt of the substrate surface due to the warp of the substrate W (the left end is high in FIGS. 3A and 3B). A scanning mechanism is provided, and the substrate W inclined by the warp can be reliably adsorbed.

  When the auxiliary suction unit 11 sucks the substrate W, the lifting mechanism 12 is driven while the suction is maintained, and the auxiliary suction unit 11 is lowered. As shown in FIG. The warped side edge portion of the substrate W is pulled down so that the suction portion 9 can suck the substrate W. Then, when it is detected that the suction unit 9 has sucked the substrate W, the suction of the auxiliary suction unit 11 is released, and further descends as shown in FIG. As a result, the substrate W can be adsorbed by the adsorbing unit 9, so that the surface inspection of the substrate W can be similarly performed thereafter.

  [Modification]

  In the above embodiment, the auxiliary suction unit 11 is provided on the moving table 10d. However, if the auxiliary suction unit 11 is used only at the transfer start position of the substrate w, the auxiliary suction unit 11 is provided on the moving table 10d. This is not always necessary, and may be fixedly provided near the loading position of the substrate W on the roller conveyor 7, but in order to attract the substrate W to the suction portion 9 against the warping force of the substrate W, It is desirable to provide it on the edge side of the substrate W with respect to the suction portion 9.

  Further, if the suction mechanism provided so as to be able to advance and retreat with respect to the back surface of the substrate W has a sufficient suction force for transporting the substrate W, it is not necessary to separately provide the suction portion 9 and the auxiliary suction portion 11, and the moving table 10 d One suction mechanism can be provided so as to be able to advance and retract. In this case, when the substrate W is warped, the suction mechanism is moved up and down to suck the back surface of the substrate W, and the moving table 10d is moved while the substrate W is sucked by the suction mechanism to transport the substrate W.

  A known drive source such as a ball screw may be used instead of the linear motor 10c.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Board | substrate inspection system 1 Board | substrate conveyance apparatus 2 Imaging apparatus 3 Inspection apparatus 7 Roller conveyor 8 Lifting stage 9 Adsorption part 10 Movement mechanism 10c Linear motor 10d Movement stand 11 Auxiliary adsorption part 12 Lifting mechanism

Claims (6)

A stage for floating the substrate;
A moving mechanism that is provided movably along the stage and has a suction part that sucks any side edge of the back side of the substrate;
An auxiliary suction part that is provided so as to be able to advance and retreat with respect to the side edge part on the back surface side of the substrate in the vicinity of the suction part, and that attracts the side edge part of the substrate and attracts it to the suction part;
A substrate transfer device comprising: The substrate transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The substrate transporting apparatus, wherein the auxiliary suction unit is provided closer to an edge of the substrate than the suction unit. In the board | substrate conveyance apparatus of Claim 1 or 2,
The moving mechanism has a moving table that is movable along the stage and includes the suction portion;
The substrate transfer apparatus, wherein the auxiliary suction unit is provided on the movable table. In the board | substrate conveyance apparatus in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3,
The substrate transporting apparatus, wherein the auxiliary suction part includes a copying part that follows the inclination of the substrate surface due to the warp of the peripheral part of the substrate in the vicinity of the suction port at the tip. A stage for floating the substrate;
A movable mechanism that is provided movably along the stage, has a fixing portion that fixes any side edge of the back side of the upper substrate, and has a moving mechanism that moves the substrate;
The fixed portion is provided on a moving base of the moving mechanism, and is provided with an adsorbing mechanism that is provided so as to be able to advance and retreat with respect to the side edge on the back surface side of the substrate and adsorbs the side edge of the substrate. A substrate transfer device. A substrate transfer apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5;
An imaging device for imaging the surface of the substrate conveyed to the substrate conveyance device;
An inspection apparatus for inspecting an image captured by the imaging apparatus;
A board inspection system comprising:

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