JP2509227Y2 - Arm swivel type substrate transfer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial application field> The present invention relates to a transporting device for a thin substrate (hereinafter simply referred to as a substrate) such as a semiconductor substrate, and in particular, it is capable of transporting a substrate in a vertically movable position. The present invention relates to an arm rotation type substrate transfer device.

<< Prior Art >> As an arm-turning type substrate transfer device of this type, there is a conventional device shown in FIG. 4, for example.

It includes a base frame 101 that supports the arm interlocking mechanism 110, a pair of lifting drive screws 102 and a spline shaft 103 that support the base frame 101 so that the base frame 101 can move up and down, and a vertical drive screw 102 and a spline shaft 103, respectively. It is equipped with a lifting drive motor 106 and an arm drive motor 107, and rotary position detectors 104 and 105 attached to the lifting drive screw 102 and the spline shaft 103. By controlling the turning angle of the arm 114 and the extension position of the substrate transfer arm 116, the substrate W is transferred in the direction of arrow A and loaded onto the hot plate P ₁ , and the substrate is appropriately placed on the cool plate P ₂ . It is configured so that it can be transferred.

Then, the arm interlocking mechanism 110 enables the substrate transfer arm 116 that adsorbs and holds the substrate W, the swing arm 114 that supports the base end of the substrate transfer arm 116 to be horizontally swingable, and the base end of the swing arm 114 to be horizontally swingable. An arm support frame 112 for supporting,
It is composed of the spline shaft 103, and is configured so that the spline shaft 103 turns the base end support shaft of the turning arm 114 via a transmission belt provided in the arm support frame 112 and the base frame 101.

The detailed structure of the swivel arm 114 and the like is described in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 60-176548.

<Problems to be solved by the invention> In the above-mentioned conventional example, since the raising / lowering drive screw 102 for raising / lowering the arm interlocking mechanism 110 and the spline shaft 103 for operating the arm interlocking mechanism 110 are separately arranged, the arm revolving type As a result, the board transfer device becomes large as a whole,
The size of the substrate processing equipment installed in the clean room must be increased.

The present invention was made in consideration of such circumstances,
A technical problem is to reduce the size of an arm rotation type substrate transfer device.

<< Means for Solving the Problems >> The present invention is configured as follows to solve the above problems.

That is, the spline cylinder shaft is movably supported on the fixed base via the spline cylinder shaft, and is rotatably supported by penetrating the arm swivel shaft of the arm interlocking mechanism in the spline cylinder shaft. The arm swivel shaft supported by the swivel arm, the swivel arm whose base end is fixed to the projecting upper end of the arm swivel shaft, the connecting shaft rotatably supported at the tip of the swivel arm, and one end of this connecting shaft. Substrate transfer arm fixed to the end portion, a movable wheel fixed to the other end of the connecting shaft, a fixed ring fixed to the upper end of the spline cylinder shaft, a transmission means for interlocking the fixed wheel and the movable wheel, and a spline. It is provided at the lower end of the cylinder shaft and comprises arm drive means for rotating the arm revolving shaft. A screw is formed on the outer periphery of the spline cylinder shaft, and a lifting drive nut is screwed onto the screw to attach it to the fixed base. Lifting drive nut Rolling freely pivoted, it is characterized in that the spline tube axis and the arm interlocking mechanism and vertical position capable of controlling by rotating the elevation drive nut in the rotary drive means.

<Operation> In the present invention, the arm swivel shaft of the arm interlocking mechanism is concentrically incorporated in the spline cylinder shaft, and the entire arm interlocking mechanism moves up and down by driving the spline cylinder shaft up and down with the lifting drive nut. Then, by rotating the arm revolving shaft by the arm driving means provided at the lower end of the spline cylinder shaft, the arm interlocking mechanism is operated to transfer the substrate.

That is, on the fixed base, an extra supporting frame, a base frame, and the like are removed, and the arm interlocking mechanism operates substantially as if it is supported by one spindle. As a result, the arm rotation type substrate transfer device can be downsized as a whole.

<< Embodiment >> FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a first embodiment of an arm-swivel type substrate transfer apparatus according to the present invention.

In the device of this embodiment, a spline bearing 2 is fixed on a fixed base 1 and a spline cylinder shaft 3 is movably supported via the spline bearing 2, and an arm pivot shaft 11 of an arm interlocking mechanism 10 is provided in the spline cylinder shaft 3. Rotatably supported through
A screw 4 is formed on the outer circumference of the spline cylinder shaft 3 and the screw 4
The lifting drive nut 5 is screwed onto the fixed base 1, and the lifting drive nut 5 rotatably supported on the fixed base 1 is rotated by the rotary drive motor 8 to move the arm interlocking mechanism 10 to the lifting position via the spline cylinder shaft 3. It is configured to be controllable.

The lifting drive nut 5 has a boss 1B for a support shaft formed on the lower surface of the fixed base 1, and is rotatably supported by the boss 1B via a ball bearing 6, and is mounted on the lower end surface of the lifting drive nut 5. The fixed driven pulley 7 is configured to be rotated by a drive pulley 8a of a rotary drive motor 8 via a transmission belt 9. The rotary drive motor 8 is fixed to the fixed base 1, and a pulse motor or the like is appropriately used in order to control the rotational position of the rotary drive motor 8 with high accuracy. As a result, the spline cylinder shaft 3
Accurately raises and lowers without rotating, and raises and lowers the entire arm interlocking mechanism 10.

The arm interlocking mechanism 10 includes an arm swivel shaft 11 penetrating into the spline cylinder shaft 3 so as to be rotatably supported, and a swivel arm 14 having a base end portion fixed to a protruding upper end portion of the arm swivel shaft 11.
A connecting shaft 15 rotatably erected on the tip of the swivel arm 14, a substrate transfer arm 16 fixed to the upper end of the connecting shaft 15, and a movable wheel 17 fixed to the lower end of the connecting shaft 15. When,
A fixed ring 13 fixed to the upper end of the spline cylinder shaft 3, a transmission belt 18 connecting the fixed ring 13 and the movable wheel 17, and an arm provided at the lower end of the spline cylinder shaft 3 for rotating the arm swivel shaft 11. The substrate W is sucked and held via the drive motor 20 and the communication passages 26 that are attached to the lower end of the arm turning shaft 11 and are formed in the arm turning shaft 11, the turning arm 14, the connecting shaft 15, and the substrate transfer arm 16, respectively. The substrate W is sucked and held by the substrate transfer arm 16 from one side to the other side, and the direction of the substrate W is changed by 180 °.

The diameter of the fixed wheel 13 is set to be twice that of the movable wheel 17, and the center of the board moves linearly on the axis of the arm turning shaft 11 when the board is transported. Instead of the transmission belt 18 that connects the fixed wheel 13 and the movable wheel 17, an idle wheel for transmission such as a spur gear may be used.

The arm drive motor 20 is composed of a pulse motor or the like, and is fixed to the lower end of the spline cylinder shaft 3 via a fixture 21, and is fixed to the drive pulley 22 of the motor 20 and the protruding lower end of the arm swivel shaft 11. The transmission belt 23 is wound around the driven pulley 24 to rotate the arm turning shaft 11, and the turning arm 14
As a result, the substrate transfer arm 16 is configured to accurately control its positioning.

The intake means 25 is an electromagnetic device capable of appropriately blocking and communicating the intake communication port 27 rotatably attached to one end of the arm swivel shaft 11 with the negative pressure passage 29 and the intake port 27, and opening the intake communication report 27 to the atmosphere. The switching valve 28 is provided, and when the substrate W is transferred by the substrate transfer arm 16, the electromagnetic switching valve 28 is opened to adsorb the substrate W.

It is also possible to place an ejector in place of the switching valve 28, and to connect or block pressurized gas to or from the ejector so that the intake communication port 27 has a vacuum pressure or an atmospheric pressure.

According to the apparatus of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration, the conventional example (fourth
Similarly to (), by rotating the arm swing shaft 11 by driving the arm drive motor 20, the swing arm 14 and the substrate transfer arm 16 of the arm interlocking mechanism 10 are swung and moved,
The substrate W adsorbed and held by the substrate transfer arm 16 is transferred from one side to the other, and the rotation drive motor 8 drives the spline cylinder shaft 3 to move up and down, whereby the entire arm interlocking mechanism is moved through the spline cylinder shaft 3. The substrate can be transferred by moving up and down. At that time, the arm interlocking mechanism 10
Operates substantially as if supported by a single spindle. That is, the support frame, the base frame, and the like as in the conventional example can be eliminated from the fixed base, and the size of the entire apparatus can be reduced.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

The apparatus of this embodiment is different from the previous embodiment in that the spline bearing 2 is rotatably supported by the fixed base 1 in the first embodiment and the spline bearing 2 is rotated by the swing drive motor 30. different.

That is, the spline bearing 2 has a boss 1A for a support shaft formed on the upper surface of the fixed base 1, and is rotatably supported by the boss 1A via a ball bearing 35 and fixed to the upper end surface of the spline bearing 2. The driven pulley 34 is rotated by the drive pulley 32 of the turning drive motor 30 via the transmission belt 33. The swing drive motor 30 is also fixed to the fixed base 1, and a pulse motor or the like is used to perform the swing position control with high accuracy.

In the apparatus of this embodiment, when the lifting drive nut 5 is rotationally driven while the spline bearing 2 is stopped, the revolving arm 14 and the substrate transfer arm 16 are integrated as in the embodiment shown in FIG. Move vertically. When the lifting drive nut 5 and the spline bearing 2 are driven to rotate in the same direction and at the same rotation speed, the swing arm 14 and the substrate transfer arm 16 integrally swing about the arm swing shaft 11. Furthermore, the spline bearing 2 and the lifting drive nut 5
When and are driven to rotate at different rotational speeds at the same time,
The operations described above are appropriately performed simultaneously.

Therefore, according to the apparatus of this embodiment, in addition to the function of the apparatus of the first embodiment, the carrying direction of the substrate W can be appropriately changed by a required angle.

Incidentally, FIG. 3 exemplifies a case where the substrate W received from the direction A shown by the solid line is turned by about 90 ° to the direction B shown by the phantom line and conveyed. By adding such a function, it is possible to greatly improve the flexibility when the substrate is transported.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the example in which the pulse motor or the like is used as each driving means has been exemplified, but it can be implemented by appropriately changing.

Further, as the spline bearing, it is possible to employ an appropriate configuration that includes a key portion that engages with a tooth line of the spline cylinder shaft and that can regulate rotation of the spline cylinder shaft.

<Effect of the device> As is clear from the above description, in the present invention, the arm pivot shaft of the arm interlocking mechanism is concentrically incorporated into the spline cylinder shaft, and the spline cylinder shaft is moved up and down by the lifting drive nut to move the arm interlock. Since the entire mechanism is lifted and the arm swivel shaft that penetrates into the spline cylinder shaft is rotated, the arm interlocking mechanism is operated.
The supporting frame, the base frame, and the like as in the conventional example can be eliminated from the fixed base. As a result, the arm rotation type substrate transfer device can be further downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing a second embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory view according to the second embodiment. The figure is a perspective view showing a conventional example. 1 ... Fixed base, 2 ... Spline bearing, 3 ... Spline cylinder shaft, 4 ... Screw, 5 ... Lifting drive nut, 8 ... Rotation drive means (rotation drive motor), 10 ... Arm interlocking mechanism, 11 …… Arm swivel axis, 13 …… Fixed wheel, 14 …… Swivel arm, 15 …… Coupling axis, 16 …… Board transfer arm, 17 …… Movable wheel, 20 …… Arm drive means (arm drive motor), 30
...... Swing drive means (swing drive motor).

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A spline cylinder shaft is movably supported on a fixed base through a spline bearing, and is rotatably supported by penetrating an arm swivel shaft of an arm interlocking mechanism in the spline cylinder shaft. The arm interlocking mechanism is a spline. An arm swivel shaft supported by a cylinder shaft, a swivel arm having its base end fixed to the projecting upper end of the arm swivel shaft, a connecting shaft rotatably supported at the tip of the swivel arm, and this connecting shaft. A substrate transfer arm fixed to one end of the, a movable wheel fixed to the other end of the connecting shaft,
It is provided with a fixed wheel fixed to the upper end of the spline cylinder shaft, a transmission means for interlockingly connecting the fixed wheel and the movable wheel, and an arm drive means provided at the lower end of the spline cylinder shaft for rotating the arm turning shaft. A screw is formed on the outer circumference of the spline cylinder shaft, and the lifting drive nut is screwed onto the screw, the lifting drive nut is rotatably supported on the fixed base, and the lifting drive nut is rotated by the rotation drive means. The arm swivel type substrate transfer device characterized in that the spline cylinder shaft and the arm interlocking mechanism can be controlled to move up and down. 2. An arm interlocking mechanism is rotatably and vertically moved via a spline cylinder shaft by rotatably supporting a spline bearing on a fixed base and rotating the spline bearing by a swing drive means provided on the fixed base. An arm swivel type substrate transfer apparatus according to claim 1, which is configured to be controllable.