JP2522252B2 - Transporting device for thin substrates - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a carrier device for carrying a thin substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or an X-ray exposure mask.

(Background of the Invention) A transfer device is known that includes a moving member that holds a thin substrate and moves from a first position to a second position.

In this device, a thin plate substrate, which is positioned at a predetermined position before being conveyed, is transferred to a moving member at a first position, and then the thin plate substrate is held by the moving member by sucking with air to move the moving member to a second position. It is configured to move to.

Therefore, the conventional transfer device has a drawback that a positional deviation occurs when the positioned thin plate substrate is transferred to the moving member at the first position.

(Object of the Invention) An object of the present invention is to obtain a transfer device that eliminates the influence of positional displacement when the thin plate substrate is transferred at the first position.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is an embodiment of the present invention, and shows a transfer device for transferring a square substrate as a thin plate substrate together with three states of sliders, and FIG. 2 is an AA line in FIG. ′ It is a cross-sectional view.

The slider support base 2 is a linear guide 1a arranged in parallel,
It is guided from the upper side to the lower side by 1b. Although not shown in the figure, a ball screw is provided in parallel with the linear guides 1a and 1b, the ball screw is made rotatable by a motor, and a rotation-stopped nut member is screwed onto the ball screw,
By fixing this nut member to the slider support base 2, the ball screw is rotated by the rotation of the motor, and the nut member is linearly moved along the ball screw. As a result, the slider support base 2 is moved along the linear guides 1a and 1b. The movement is controlled.

The slider support base 2 extends in a direction orthogonal to the linear guides 1a and 1b, the linear guides 3a and 3b, the positioning / detection blocks 4a and 4b, the positioning rollers 7a, 7b and 7c, and the positioning enable roller 8
It has a positioning member including a and 8b and movable roller drive units 9a and 9b.

The positioning rollers 7a, 7b, 7c are provided in a surface slightly protruding from the upper surface of the slider support base 2, and the rollers 7a, 7b perform positioning of one side of the square substrate, and the roller 7c is orthogonal to the one side. The surface is being positioned. On the other hand, the positioning movable roller 8a is a slider support base 2
In the plane slightly above the top surface of (the same plane as the above-mentioned plane)
Drive unit 9a in the direction orthogonal to the linear guides 3a and 3b.
The positioning roller 8b is normally provided below the upper surface of the slider support base 2 by the drive unit 9b and is slightly above the upper surface of the slider support base 2 (in the same plane as the above-mentioned surface). It is provided to be movable up to and along the linear guides 3a and 3b.

Therefore, the positioning member positions the square substrate by pressing the square substrate against the positioning rollers 7a and 7b by the positioning movable roller 8a and then pressing the square substrate against the positioning roller 7c by the positioning movable roller 8b.

The slider 5 is a linear guide 3a, 3b of the slider base 2.
Is slidably guided by. Although not shown in the figure,
A belt is movably provided in parallel with the linear guides 3a and 3b, and the belt is fixed to the slider 5, whereby the movement of the slider 5 is controlled by the movement of the belt by the rotation of the motor.

The slider 5 has vacuum suction holes 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d for suctioning the lower surface of the square substrate.

The slider 5 has a notch 5a formed in the vicinity of the center thereof, and at the first position (loading position ... (a)) shown in the upper part of FIG.
Is allowed to move up and down, and the second position (unloading position ...
In (c), the unloading station 12 is allowed to move up and down.

FIG. 3 is an electric block diagram for controlling the operation of the transfer device shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Computer 30
Signals are exchanged between the loading station 11, the unloading station 12, the positioning / detection blocks 4a and 4b, the movable roller drive units 9a and 9b, the slider motor 31, the slider support movement motor 32, and the vacuum suction device 33. Do.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. 4, which is a flowchart of the computer 30.

The initial position is the first position which is the loading position, and in the state of FIG.
Judges that when the loading station 11 descends to a predetermined position, the square substrate 10 is placed on the slider 5 (step 40 in FIG. 4), and the vacuum suction device 33 is operated to move the quadrilateral substrate 10 to the slider 5. Vacuum adsorption on top (step 41). After that, the slider motor 31 is rotated in the forward direction to move the slider 5 to the left in FIG. 1 (a) (step 42), and the positioning / slider detection block is detected.
When the left end of the slider 5 comes into contact with 4a and a detection signal is obtained (step 43), the slider motor 31 is stopped and the moving motor 32 of the slider support base 2 is rotated in the forward direction to move the slider support base 2 up. It is moved to the lower part of FIG. 1 through the position of FIG. 1 (b) together with the slider 5 (step 44).

If the slider support 2 is moving (step 45) and the alignment is not completed (step 46), the vacuum suction is released (step 47), and a signal is sent to the movable roller drive unit 9a that drives the positioning movable roller 8a. To move the positioning rollers 7a and 7b to press the quadrilateral substrate 10 (step 48), and then send a signal to the movable roller driving unit 9b that drives the positioning movable roller 8b to move the positioning rollers.
While the quadrilateral substrate 10 is pressed against the 7a and 7b, the quadrilateral substrate 10 is further pressed against the positioning roller 7c (step 49). After that, the vacuum suction device 33 is activated to suck the square substrate 10 onto the slider 5 (step 50), and a control signal is sent to the movable roller drive units 9a and 9b to move the movable roller.
8a and 8b are moved away from the quadrilateral substrate 10 and moved to the initial position (steps 51 and 52).

When it is detected that the slider support base 2 has moved to a predetermined position by a signal from a limit switch not shown (step 45), the movement motor 32 of the slider support base 2 is stopped and the slider motor 31 is moved in the reverse direction. The slider 5 is rotated to move it to the right in FIG. 1 (c) (step 53). When the slider 5 comes into contact with the positioning / detection block 4b (step 54), the slider motor 31 is stopped and a signal for releasing the vacuum suction to the vacuum suction device 33 is sent (step 55). Then, in order to transfer the square substrate 10 to the unloading station 12, a control signal is sent to the unloading station 12 (step 56). Then, when the completion of the transfer is detected by the signal from the unloading station 12 (the transfer section may be detected to be in the raised position) (step 56), the slider motor 31 is rotated in the forward direction. Then, the slider 5 is moved to the left in FIG. 1 (c) (step 57). When the slider 5 comes into contact with the positioning / detection block 4a (step 58), the slider motor 31 is stopped and the slider support base moving motor 32 is rotated in the reverse direction to move the slider support base 2 to the position shown in FIG. 1 (c). From the position to the position shown in FIG. 1 (a) (step 59). When it is known that the slider support base 2 has come to the position shown in FIG. 1 (a) by a signal from a limit switch (not shown) (step 60), the slider support base movement motor 32 is stopped and the slider motor 31 is turned on. Reverse (step 61). Then, when the slider 5 comes into contact with the positioning / detection block 4b, the slider motor 31 is stopped and returns to the initial position.

In the above description, the transfer of the square member 10 to the loading station 11 and the reception of the square member 10 from the unloading station 12 were not described at all, but the loading station 11 in the raised position, for example, an arm that rotates. It suffices that the material is delivered from the member (the delivery relationship is the same as the loading station 11 and the slider 5). However, after the square-shaped substrate 10 is transferred to the loading station 11, the arm-shaped member is rotated in the reverse direction so as not to hinder the downward movement of the square-shaped substrate 10 for mounting the square-shaped substrate 10 on the slider 5. Need to be evacuated from. Of course, other means, for example, an operator may manually place the substrate on the loading station.

Further, as the positioning member described in the above description, a well-known structure can be used without any trouble. And
Although the positioning member is provided on the slider support base 2 in the above description, there is no problem if it is provided on the slider 5 or across the both.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the transfer device for transferring the square substrate is taken as an example, but if the structure of the positioning member is changed as shown in FIG. 5, the positioning notch (orientation flat) is formed. The same applies to a certain circular substrate 13. In FIG. 5, except for the positioning member,
Since it is exactly the same as FIG. 1, only the loading position (a) corresponding to FIG. 1 (a) and the middle of conveyance (b) corresponding to FIG. 1 (b) are shown.

As can be seen from FIG. 5, the positioning roller 7 is provided on the slider 5, and the positioning movable rollers 8a and 8b provided on the slider support base 2 are both sliders 5.
Is located below the upper surface of the support base 2 when it is protruding from the support base 2, and the slider 5 moves to position and detect the positioning block 4a.
When a detection signal is obtained from the circuit, it rises and moves to the left in FIG. 5, and the circular substrate 13 is aligned with the positioning roller 7.

In addition, in both the case of FIG. 5 and the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 4, upon positioning, not only stopping the suction but also sending positive pressure air from the vacuum suction hole to the substrate 10, Positioning the 13 in a floating state in a non-contacting manner is preferable because it prevents generation of dust and dirt and improves durability on the slider.

Further, in the above embodiments, the transfer device has a structure for linearly moving the substrate, but the transfer device may have a structure in which the substrate is rotated by an arm member. Also in this case, a substrate positioning member may be provided in the substrate storage unit of the arm-shaped member.

Further, in the above example, the conveyance is performed horizontally, but the same is true even if the conveyance is performed in the vertical direction.

(Advantages of the Invention) According to the present invention as described above, since positioning is performed during conveyance, there is not only an advantage of shortening the time in the entire flow, but also no special space for positioning is required. It is expected that an effect of avoiding the occurrence of a deviation when the transfer is performed on the carrier table after the positioning as in the conventional case is avoided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, showing a thin plate substrate in a loading position (a), in the middle of conveyance (b) and in an unloading position (c), respectively. Fig. 2 shows A- in Fig. 1.
A'section view, FIG. 3 is an electric block diagram for controlling the operation of the conveying apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the computer of FIG. 3, and FIG. FIG. 4B is a diagram showing a case where the thin plate substrate is in the loading position (a) and a case where the thin plate substrate is in the middle of conveyance (b), respectively. (Explanation of symbols of main parts) 2 ... Slider support, 5 ... Slider, 7a, 7b, 7c
...... Positioning rollers, 8a, 8b …… Moveable rollers for positioning, 9a, 9b …… Movable roller drive unit, 7 …… Positioning rollers.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A transporting device for a thin substrate, comprising: a moving member for moving the thin substrate from a first position to a second position; and a positioning device for positioning the thin substrate. And a control device that drives the positioning device by setting the suction device in the non-suction state when moving the thin plate substrate from the first position to the second position. A thin substrate transfer device characterized by the above.