JP2013254985A - Substrate processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate processing apparatus which enables an arm part of a transfer robot to be moved down to a minimum height position while increasing the lifting range of the arm part of the transfer robot.SOLUTION: A substrate processing apparatus includes: a housing enabling the interior to be cleaned; and a transfer robot which transfers a substrate and is disposed in the housing with a base part embedded in a recessed part formed on a bottom wall part of the housing. The base part supports an arm part having a hand capable of holding the substrate so that the arm part moves up and down and rotates in a horizontal direction.

Description

  The disclosed embodiment relates to a substrate processing apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an example of a horizontal articulated transfer robot that transfers a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal, a robot arranged in a housing called an EFEM (Equipment Front End Module) is known (for example, Patent Documents). 1).

  The EFEM is one of the modules provided on the front side of the semiconductor processing apparatus, and the substrate is transferred between the substrate supply unit and a predetermined substrate processing unit using a transfer robot while being locally cleaned. It can be carried out.

  In general, the transfer robot is connected to the arm unit along the vertical axis in the base unit, an arm unit having a hand capable of holding the object to be transported, a base unit that rotatably supports the arm unit in the horizontal direction. An elevating mechanism that can elevate and lower the arm portion by elevating the elevating member.

JP 2008-103755 A

  In the above-described EFEM, in addition to the substrate storage container serving as the substrate supply unit, other devices such as an aligner device that detects and arranges (aligns) the direction of the substrate may be provided. Moreover, such an apparatus may be disposed above the substrate storage container in the housing from the viewpoint of reducing the installation area of the EFEM.

  Therefore, for the transfer robot used in the EFEM equipped with other devices such as an aligner device, the range of raising and lowering of the arm extends further upward than between the lower end and the upper end of the substrate storage container necessary for taking out the substrate. Range may be desired.

  For this purpose, it is conceivable to simply extend the height of the transfer robot, but the height from the bottom surface of the housing to the lower end of the substrate storage container is defined by the standard. For this reason, in the transfer robot having the above-described lifting mechanism, when the base portion supporting the arm is extended upward in order to obtain a necessary lifting range, the arm lowered to the lowest limit is lowered to the lower end of the substrate storage container. It may be located above.

  That is, if the arm is lowered to the lower end position of the substrate storage container, it interferes with the upper surface of the base part.

  One aspect of the embodiment has been made in view of the above, and provides a substrate processing apparatus capable of lowering an arm part to a minimum required height position while increasing a lifting range of an arm part of a transfer robot. The purpose is to provide.

  A substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a housing that can be cleaned inside, and a substrate that can be transported inside a recess formed in a bottom wall portion of the housing. And a transfer robot disposed in a state where the base portion is buried.

  According to one aspect of the embodiment, the access range in the height direction of the arm unit including the hand can be expanded while preventing an increase in size of the transfer robot.

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a substrate processing apparatus including a transfer robot according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the transfer robot according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a transfer robot according to a comparative example.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a transfer robot and a substrate processing apparatus disclosed in the present application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the examples in the following embodiments.

(Substrate processing equipment)
First, the substrate processing apparatus 1 according to the embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a substrate processing apparatus 1 including a transfer robot 10 according to an embodiment.

  As shown in the figure, the substrate processing apparatus 1 includes a transfer robot 10, a casing 20 in which the transfer robot 10 is disposed at a substantially central portion inside, and a substrate supply unit 3 provided on one side surface 21 of the casing 20. And the substrate processing unit 4 provided on the other side surface 22 of the housing 20. In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes a floor surface on which the substrate processing apparatus 1 is installed.

  The case 20 includes a filter 2 for purifying gas, and a so-called EFEM (Equipment Front End Module) that can clean the inside by blocking the clean air flow purified and downflowed by the filter 2 from the outside. ). Legs 24 are provided on the lower surface of the base installation frame 23 forming the bottom wall portion of the housing 20 so that the housing 20 can be supported by being separated from the floor surface 100 by a predetermined distance D (for example, 100 mm). ing.

  The transfer robot 10 includes an arm unit 12 having a hand 11 that can hold a substrate 5 such as a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal panel as a transfer object. The arm part 12 is supported on a base part 13 installed on a base installation frame 23 that forms the bottom wall part of the housing 20 and is movable up and down and rotatable in the horizontal direction. The transfer robot 10 will be described in detail later.

  Specifically, the substrate supply unit 3 can take out the substrate 5 into the housing 20 by opening and closing a box-shaped cassette 30 in which a plurality of substrates 5 are stored in multiple stages in the height direction and a lid of the cassette 30. A cassette opener (not shown) is provided. A set of the cassette 30 and the cassette opener is provided on a table 31 having a predetermined height, and is arranged in parallel on one side surface 21 of the housing 20 with a predetermined interval.

  On the other hand, the substrate processing unit 4 performs predetermined processing such as CVD, etching, and exposure on the substrate 5. In the substrate processing unit 4 of the substrate processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, a necessary processing apparatus 40 is provided on the other side surface 22 of the housing 20 so as to face each substrate supply unit 3.

  As described above, the substrate supply unit 3 and the substrate processing unit 4 are disposed to face each other with the transfer robot 10 in between.

  An aligner device 6 is provided inside the housing 20. The aligner device 6 is located above the cassette 30 of the substrate supply unit 3 and the processing device 40 of the substrate processing unit 4.

  With this configuration, the transport robot 10 in the substrate processing apparatus 1 transports the substrate 5 mounted on the hand 11 to a target position while raising / lowering or rotating the arm unit 12 upward from the base unit 13. be able to.

  That is, the transfer robot 10 in the present embodiment first takes out the substrate 5 in the cassette 30 and transfers it to the aligner device 6 in the locally cleaned housing 20. After aligning the substrate 5 with the aligner device 6, the aligned substrate 5 is transferred to the processing device 40. Then, the substrate 5 processed by the processing apparatus 40 is stored in the cassette 30 again.

(Transport robot)
Here, the transfer robot 10 according to the present embodiment will be described more specifically with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view of the transfer robot 10 according to the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory view of the transfer robot 50 according to a comparative example.

  The transfer robot 50 according to the comparative example illustrated in FIG. 3 is different from the transfer robot 10 according to the embodiment in that the height dimension of the base portion 53 and the mounting position of the base fixing flange 8 are the transfer robot 10 according to the embodiment. It is only functionally the same as the base portion 13 of the present invention. Therefore, in FIG. 3, the same components as those of the transfer robot 10 according to the embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 2 except for the base portion 13, and the description of the transfer robot 50 according to the comparative example is as follows. Omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the transfer robot 10 includes the arm unit 12 having the hand 11 that can hold the substrate 5 as described above. The arm portion 12 includes a first arm 121 having a base end portion connected to the connecting body 120, a second arm 122 having a base end portion connected to the distal end portion of the first arm 121, and the second arm 122. A hand 11 having a proximal end connected to the distal end.

  The structure of the hand 11 that can hold the substrate 5 is a structure that can be placed in a state in which the substrate 5 can be transported, like the transport robot 10 according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. However, in addition to this, for example, although not illustrated, a structure that adsorbs the substrate 5 may be used, or a structure that can hold or hold the substrate 5 may be used.

  The first arm 121 is connected to the upper end of a connecting body 120 that can be moved up and down via a lifting mechanism 7 to be described later, so as to be rotatable in a horizontal direction through a rotation shaft (not shown). The second arm 122 is rotatably connected to the distal end portion of the first arm 121 via a first rotation shaft 123 extending in the vertical direction. The hand 11 is rotatably connected to the distal end portion of the second arm 122 via a second rotating shaft 124 extending in the vertical direction.

  Further, the transfer robot 10 supports the arm unit 12 so as to be rotatable in the horizontal direction, and a base unit 13 installed on a base installation frame 23 that forms the bottom wall of the housing 20, and the base unit 13 and an elevating mechanism 7 that will be described in detail below.

  The base unit 13 is configured in a box shape from a bottom wall 131, a ceiling wall 132, and a side wall 133. The outer shape of the base portion 13 in the present embodiment is a quadrangle in plan view, but is not necessarily a quadrangle, and may be an appropriate polygon or a circle.

  The elevating mechanism 7 built in the base unit 13 includes a motor 70 serving as a driving source, and a screw 71 that is linked to the motor 70 and is a vertical axis that stands upright inside the base unit 13. . As shown in the figure, the motor 70 and the screw 71 are coupled to each other via a transmission belt 703 by a first pulley 701 provided on the motor shaft 700 and a second pulley 702 provided near the lower end of the screw 71. ing.

  The elevating mechanism 7 is further connected to the connecting body 120 of the arm portion 12 and is also engaged with an elevating member 72 that is screwed into the screw 71 and a pair of linear guides 73 and 73 that guide the elevating operation of the elevating member 72. It has. The linear guide 73 is erected in an opposing state along the side wall 133 from the bottom wall 131 to the ceiling wall 132 of the base portion 13.

  With this configuration of the lifting mechanism 7, when the motor 70 is driven to rotate the screw 71, the lifting member 72 is lifted and lowered linearly within a predetermined lifting range along the screw 71, above the base portion 13. The arm portion 12 moves up and down within the arm portion lifting range α defined in (1). Here, the raising / lowering range of the raising / lowering member 72 in the inside of the base part 13 is prescribed | regulated to the arm part raising / lowering range (alpha) which is the raising / lowering range of the arm part 12 prescribed | regulated above the base part 13 at substantially the same distance. . It should be noted that the transfer robot 10 needs to be able to access the substrate 5 with a sufficient margin in the vertical direction for the variation in the height direction at the time of installation and the delivery of the substrate 5. The raising / lowering range of the raising / lowering member 72 inside is actually slightly larger than the arm part raising / lowering range α.

  The screw 71 has a lower end supported on the bottom wall 131 of the base portion 13 and a top end rotatably supported on the ceiling wall 132 of the base portion 13 via bearings 74, respectively. It is not limited to the wall 131 or the ceiling wall 132.

  The screw 71 only needs to be formed with a screw portion that allows the elevating member 72 to elevate within a certain elevating range, and is disposed via a bracket or the like appropriately provided between the bottom wall 131 and the ceiling wall 132. Also good.

  Note that, for example, a ball screw shaft can be suitably used as the screw 71 in the present embodiment, and a ball screw nut can be provided on the elevating member 72.

  In the above configuration, as shown in FIG. 2, the base portion 13 according to the present embodiment is placed on the side wall 133 that is the side surface of the base portion 13 at a position that is a predetermined height h from the bottom wall 131. A base fixing flange 8 is provided as an attachment portion.

  Then, a base housing recess 25 is formed in the base installation frame 23 of the housing 20, and the base portion is embedded in the base housing recess 25 from the bottom wall 131 to the base fixing flange 8. 13 is fixed. Although not shown, the base fixing flange 8 is provided with a bolt insertion hole, and the base fixing flange 8 and the base installation frame 23 are connected and fixed via a connecting bolt.

  That is, in the substrate processing apparatus 1, in order to allow the hand 11 to access the substrate 5 stored in the lowermost stage in the cassette 30 in a state where the transfer robot 10 is disposed in the housing 20, The height H0 is defined in advance. Here, the base part height H0 is the height from the upper surface of the base installation frame 23 to the ceiling wall 132 of the base part 13.

  On the other hand, in order to allow the hand 11 to reach the aligner device 6, the arm part raising / lowering range α is simply set between the substrate 51 positioned at the bottom of the cassette 30 and the substrate 52 positioned at the top. The first lifting range X1 defined by the separation distance is not enough. That is, it must extend beyond the first lifting range X1 by a predetermined length.

  Here, the predetermined length is a dimension of a predetermined height from the substrate 52 located at the uppermost stage of the cassette 30. That is, the separation distance corresponding to the second lifting range X2 defined between the substrate 52 positioned at the uppermost stage of the cassette 30 and the aligner device 6 provided above the substrate 52 positioned at the uppermost stage. It is.

  Therefore, the transport robot 10 according to the present embodiment has a length corresponding to the height H1 of the base portion 13 corresponding to the second lifting range X2 in order to secure the second lifting range X2 in the arm lifting range α. It's just that long.

  That is, by raising the upper back of the base portion 13 by a length corresponding to the second lifting range X2, the lifting range of the lifting member 72 inside the base portion 13 is increased by this extension. Is possible.

  Moreover, the length corresponding to the extended second lifting range X2 is made the same as the mounting height of the base fixing flange 8, and the extension of the height of the base portion 13 is used as the base installation frame. It absorbs in the thickness t of 23.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the dimension of the predetermined height h from the bottom wall 131, which is the mounting height of the base fixing flange 8, is equal to the dimension of the thickness t of the base installation frame 23. doing. Therefore, as illustrated, the back surface of the bottom wall 131 of the base unit 13 and the back surface of the base installation frame 23 are substantially flush with each other.

  Thus, the base part 13 of the transfer robot 10 according to the present embodiment has a base part height H0 defined as the substrate processing apparatus 1 as the height H1 (from the upper surface of the base installation frame 23 to the base part). 13 to the ceiling wall 132). However, in spite of this, the hand 11 of the arm portion 12 can smoothly access the substrate 5 stored in the lowermost stage in the cassette 30 without interfering with the ceiling wall 132 of the base portion 13.

  Needless to say, since the second lifting range X2 is secured in the arm portion lifting range α, the hand 11 of the arm portion 12 reaches the aligner device 6 without any problem.

  Here, the configuration of the base portion 13 of the transfer robot 10 according to the embodiment is compared with the transfer robot 50 illustrated in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the base 53 of the transfer robot 50 according to the comparative example is provided with a base fixing flange 8 at the lowermost end of the side wall 133. That is, the base portion 53 is connected and fixed via the base fixing flange 8 while being placed on the base installation frame 23 of the housing 20, and the upper surface and the bottom wall 131 of the base installation frame 23 are fixed. The back surface is in contact.

  That is, in the transfer robot 50 according to the comparative example, the height H2 of the base 53 is defined as the base processing unit 1 height H0 (from the upper surface of the base installation frame 23 to the ceiling wall 132 of the base 53. Must be equal to the height).

  Therefore, as long as the above-described lifting mechanism 7 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) is provided, it is difficult for the transfer robot 50 according to the comparative example to extend the arm part lifting range α more than the first lifting range X1. That is, in the transfer robot 50 according to the comparative example, as shown in FIG. 3, the first lifting range X1 becomes the arm lifting range α as it is.

  As described above, the transfer robot 10 according to this embodiment includes the base portion 13 that is set at a predetermined height h from the bottom wall 131 in the base accommodating recess 25 formed in the base installation frame 23. The fixing flange 8 is fixed in a buried state.

  Therefore, the hand 11 reaches the aligner device 6 positioned above the cassette 30 and, for example, the first arm 121 is positioned at the lowermost stage of the cassette 30 without interfering with the ceiling wall 132 of the base portion 13. The substrate 51 can also be accessed.

  Further, by fixing the base unit 13 to the base installation frame 23 in this way, the base unit 53 is placed on the base installation frame 23 like the transfer robot 50 according to the comparative example. The fixing strength can be increased rather than fixing in a state.

  In addition, the arm elevation range α is located at the first elevation range X1 defined by the separation distance between the substrate 51 located at the bottom of the cassette 30 and the substrate 52 located at the top, and the top. The second elevating range X2 defined by the separation distance between the substrate 52 and a position set higher than the substrate 52 by a predetermined height is included.

  A predetermined height h from the bottom wall 131 to the base fixing flange 8 is set according to the second lifting range X2. The predetermined height h is set within a dimension corresponding to the thickness t of the base installation frame 23. Therefore, the bottom wall 131 of the base part 13 does not protrude below the base installation frame 23.

  Therefore, for example, when the case 20 is transported by a forklift or the like, there is no possibility of hitting the bottom wall 131 of the base unit 13 even if the fork of the forklift is inserted into the lower part of the base installation frame 23.

  Further, in the transfer robot 10 according to the present embodiment, the lower end of the screw portion of the ball screw shaft that is the screw 71 is positioned within the range of the thickness t of the base installation frame 23 as shown in FIG. The lower end of the range in which the elevating member 72 can be raised and lowered is also positioned within the range of the thickness t of the base installation frame 23.

  Therefore, while the base part height H0, which is the height from the upper surface of the base installation frame 23 to the ceiling wall 132 of the base part 13, is limited, the arm part ascending / descending range α within the base part 13 is limited. Thus, the lifting range of the lifting member 72 can be set efficiently.

  Further effects and modifications of the above-described embodiment can be easily derived by those skilled in the art. Thus, the broader aspects of the present invention are not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described above. Accordingly, various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

  For example, the mounting height of the base fixing flange 8 in this embodiment, that is, the dimension of the predetermined height h from the bottom wall 131 is made equal to the dimension of the thickness t of the base installation frame 23, but it is not necessarily equal. There is no need. The dimension of the predetermined height h only needs to be set within the dimension of the thickness t of the base installation frame 23. That is, it is only necessary that the bottom wall 131 of the base part 13 does not protrude below the base installation frame 23.

  As for the structure of the elevating mechanism 7, if the elevating member 72 connected to the arm portion 12 moves up and down along the vertical axis standing inside the base portion 13, the vertical axis is not necessarily the above-described ball screw. It is not necessary for the screw 71 to be a shaft. Further, the layout of the motor 70, the power transmission structure to the screw 71, and the like do not necessarily require the use of pulleys or belts (for example, the first pulley 701, the second pulley 702, the transmission belt 703).

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate processing apparatus 2 Filter 3 Substrate supply part 4 Substrate processing part 5, 51, 52 Substrate (conveyed object)
6 Aligner device 7 Lifting mechanism 8 Base fixing flange (base mounting part)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10,50 Transfer robot 11 Hand 12 Arm part 13,53 Base part 20 Case 23 Base installation frame 30 Cassette 71 Screw (vertical axis)
72 Lift member α Arm lift range (lift range)
X1 first lifting range X2 second lifting range

Claims (5)

A housing that can be cleaned inside,
A transport robot capable of transporting a substrate and disposed in a state in which a base portion is buried in a recess formed in a bottom wall portion of the housing inside the housing;
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: The base is
The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an arm portion having a hand capable of holding the substrate is supported so as to be movable up and down and rotatable in a horizontal direction. The housing is
3. The substrate supply unit is provided on one side surface, and a substrate processing unit is provided on the other side surface so as to face the substrate supply unit with the transfer robot interposed therebetween. Substrate processing equipment. The transfer robot is
In any one of Claims 1-3, it is being fixed in the state to which the base mounting part set to predetermined height from the bottom wall of the said base part was buried in the said recessed part. The substrate processing apparatus as described. The substrate is arranged in multiple stages within a predetermined region in the height direction,
The lifting range of the arm part is
A first ascending / descending range defined by a separation distance between a substrate located at the bottom of the predetermined region and a substrate located at the top;
A second lifting range defined by a separation distance between the substrate located on the uppermost stage and a position set above the substrate located on the uppermost stage by a predetermined height;
Including
The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined height from a bottom wall of the base portion to the base mounting portion is set according to the second lifting range.

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