JP2552017B2 - Substrate alignment support device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial field of application> The present invention provides a plurality of contact pieces with a plurality of contact pieces in a state where a substrate such as a semiconductor substrate or a glass substrate is placed on a plurality of support pins. The present invention relates to a substrate alignment support device that aligns a substrate by bringing it into contact with and separates it from an outer edge, and then drives a support pin to rise to raise the aligned substrate to a substrate delivery height.

<Prior Art> With reference to FIG. 10, a schematic configuration of a conventional substrate alignment support device will be described.

In the figure, a substrate W taken out from a cassette or the like in which semiconductor substrates and the like are stored in multiple stages is placed on a plurality of support pins 1 at the origin position. A pair of matching plates 2 supported so as to be slidable in the horizontal direction are arranged on both sides of the support pin 1, and each matching plate 2 is brought into contact with and separated from the outer edge of the substrate W on the support pin 1. A plurality of contact pieces 3 are provided respectively. Each matching plate 2 is connected to an air cylinder 5 via a link mechanism 4. When the substrate W is placed on the support pins 1, the sequence controller 6 issues a command to the air cylinder 5 to drive the air cylinder 5 and horizontally drive the matching plate 2 via the link mechanism 4. .
As a result, the contact piece 3 comes into contact with and separates from the substrate W on the support pin 1, and the substrate W is aligned.

When the alignment of the substrate W is completed, the sequence controller 6 issues a command to the air cylinder 8 connected to the elevating member 7 supporting the support pin 1 to extend the rod of the air cylinder 8. Thereby, the support pin 1
And the substrate W rises to a predetermined substrate delivery height. When the substrate W is raised to the substrate delivery height, the substrate support arm 9 provided in the substrate transfer mechanism (not shown) enters below the substrate W, and then the air cylinder 8 is contracted and driven, and the support pin 1 is lowered. As a result, the substrate W is delivered to the substrate support arm 9.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, the conventional device having such a configuration has the following problems.

That is, in the above-described conventional substrate alignment support device, the actuators for driving the support pins and the alignment plate are individually provided (that is, in FIG. 10, since the two air cylinders 5 and 8 are provided), Since it is necessary to control the operation sequence of each actuator, there is a problem that the configuration of the control system becomes complicated and the reliability of the operation is lacking.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and includes a substrate alignment mechanism for aligning a substrate placed on a support pin, and a predetermined substrate delivery of the aligned substrate. It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate alignment support device capable of simplifying the configuration of the control system of the device by unifying the drive source of the support pin elevating mechanism for lifting to the height.

<Means for Solving the Problems> The present invention has the following configuration in order to achieve such an object.

That is, the present invention, by horizontally reciprocating a plurality of contact pieces, a position abutting the outer edge of the substrate placed on the plurality of support pins, and a position away from the outer edge of the substrate, This is a substrate alignment support device that aligns the substrate, raises the support pins after the substrate alignment and raises the substrate to the substrate transfer height, and is a vertically movable cam. Member, an actuator that drives the cam member in the vertical direction, a driven mechanism that reciprocates in the horizontal direction in conjunction with the vertical movement of the cam member, and a plurality of abutment pieces that interlock with the horizontal reciprocation of the driven mechanism. By doing so, a plurality of contact pieces are horizontally reciprocated between a position where the plurality of contact pieces contact the outer edge of the substrate placed on the plurality of support pins and a position separated from the outer edge of the substrate; Book Support A pin support mechanism that supports the pin and multiple support pins and can move vertically, and a push-up mechanism that interlocks with the vertical movement of the cam member and hits the pin support mechanism during the upward movement to raise it. The cam member positions the plurality of abutment pieces at a position away from the outer edge of the substrate placed on the plurality of support pins, and positions the support pins at the alignment position of the substrate. The origin position and the multiple contact pieces should be moved from the outer edge of the substrate placed on the support pins to the position of contact with the outer edge of the substrate and then away from the outer edge of the substrate. And a support pin is located at a position where the substrate is aligned, and a plurality of abutment pieces are located at a position away from the outer edge of the substrate. , From the board alignment position This is for moving upward by following the second upward movement curved surface for upward movement to the substrate transfer height, and is provided with the above.

<Operation> The operation of the present invention is as follows.

When the cam member is at the original position, the contact piece of the substrate alignment mechanism is located away from the outer edge of the substrate. Further, the support pin is located at the alignment position (lower limit position) of the substrate. The substrate is placed on the support pins at the lower limit position. Next, when the cam member is driven by the actuator, the driven mechanism located at the origin position of the cam member follows the first upward movement curved surface of the cam member, and the position is displaced. In conjunction with this, the contact piece of the substrate alignment mechanism moves from a position separated from the outer edge of the substrate placed on the support pin to a position contacted with the outer edge of the substrate, and then separated from the outer edge of the substrate. Moving. As a result, the substrate placed on the support pins is aligned. After the substrates are aligned in this way, when the cam member is further driven by the actuator, the driven mechanism reaches the second upward movement curved surface of the cam member. As a result, the contact piece of the substrate alignment mechanism is located at a position away from the outer edge of the substrate. Then, in association with the upward movement of the cam member, the lifting mechanism is raised. The push-up mechanism hits the pin support mechanism in the middle of the process and raises the pin support mechanism to raise the aligned substrate to a predetermined substrate transfer height.

<Example> Hereinafter, one example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a substrate alignment supporting device according to this embodiment is used.

This semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is an apparatus for coating a semiconductor substrate with a photoresist or the like and heat-treating it, and roughly divides it into parts for supplying unprocessed substrates and collecting processed substrates (hereinafter referred to as an index). 10) and a process module 20 relating to substrate processing.

On the stationary base 11 of the indexer module 10, a plurality of (in this case, four) cassettes C as substrate storage containers for storing semiconductor substrates (hereinafter, simply referred to as substrates) W such as silicon wafers in multiple stages. Are placed in a line. Each of the cassettes C is included in the indexer module 10.
An indexer transport unit 30 for transporting the substrate W is provided between the substrate transfer position P and a predetermined substrate transfer position P. The substrate transfer position P includes a process transfer unit 21 and an indexer transfer unit 30 that transfer the substrate W to the processing units 23 ₁ , 23 ₂ , 24 ₁ , 24 ₂ , 24 ₃ in the process module 20 in a predetermined order. It is a position where the substrate W is transferred between the two.

The reason for aligning the substrate W when transferring the substrate W between the indexer transport unit 30 and the process transport unit 21 is as follows.

Since the substrates W are not necessarily arranged and stored in the cassette C, the position of the substrates W in the indexer transport unit 30 is held in the state where the substrate W taken out of the cassette C is held by the indexer transport unit 30. Is not specified. Therefore, if the substrate W is not transferred to the process transport unit 21 after the alignment, the position of the substrate W in the process transport unit 21 cannot be specified, and the substrate W may fall from the process transport unit 21, This is because the substrate W cannot be accurately transported to each of the processing units 23 ₁ , 23 ₂ , 24 ₁ , 24 ₂ , 24 ₃ , which causes various inconveniences.

In addition, when the substrate W is transferred from the process transport unit 21 to the indexer transport unit 30, the position of the substrate W in the process transport unit 21 may not be specified, and after the substrate W is aligned, the indexer transport unit 30 Does not allow the substrate W to be transferred to the cassette C, the substrate W in the indexer transfer unit 30
This is because the position of is not specified and the substrate W cannot be stored in the cassette C, which causes various inconveniences.

Please refer to FIG. Figure 2 shows the indexer module
10 shows a plan view of 10. FIG.

As will be described in detail later, the indexer transport unit 30 is configured to be movable between each cassette C and the substrate transfer position P, and has an arm 31 that holds the substrate by sucking the lower surface of the substrate, Although not shown in FIG. 2, an arm advancing / retreating drive mechanism for advancing / retreating the arm 31 with respect to the cassette C and an arm elevating / lowering mechanism for raising / lowering the arm 31 are mounted, and the substrate W is placed. There are mounted three vertically movable support pins 32 as a substrate mounting tool for performing the operation, a substrate alignment mechanism for aligning the substrate W placed on these support pins 32, and the like. The substrate alignment mechanism will be described in detail later, but an alignment plate slidably disposed on both sides of the support pin 32.
34a, 34b, a plurality of convex contact pieces 33 are arranged in an arc shape so as to have substantially the same curvature as the substrate W, and the contact pieces 33 contact the outer edge of the substrate W on the support pins 32. The alignment plates 34a and 34b are reciprocally driven so as to be in contact with and separated from each other, whereby the substrate W is aligned with the support pins 32.

Inserting the front and back of the cassette C placed on the substrate 11,
A U-shaped bracket 35 that can be raised and lowered is provided,
The bracket 35 is attached to both ends of the light emitting element 36 and the light receiving element 37.
An optical sensor consisting of and is attached. In the present embodiment, before the substrate W is taken out by the arm 31, the bracket 35 is moved up and down along the cassette C to determine whether the substrate W is stored in each storage groove of each cassette C by the optical sensor. The information on the presence or absence of the substrate for each storage groove of each cassette C obtained by the detection is stored in a memory of a control device (not shown), and when the substrate is taken out by the arm 31, the information in the memory is stored in the memory. The position of the arm 31 is set based on this.

Returning to FIG. 1, the indexer transfer unit 30 takes the substrate W out of the cassette C, moves it to the delivery position P, positions the substrate W at the position P, and then receives the substrate W in the process transfer unit 21. hand over.

The process transfer unit 21 transfers the substrate W while the substrate W is placed on the rotatable U-shaped substrate support arm 22, and the spinner units 23 ₁ and 23 _{2 included} in the process module 20 and heat treatment. The substrates W are set in order in the units 24 _{1 to} 24 ₃ . The substrate W processed by the process module 20 is transferred from the process transfer unit 21 to the indexer transfer unit 30 at the substrate transfer position P, and then returned to the cassette C by the indexer transfer unit 30.

Hereinafter, the detailed configuration of the indexer transport unit 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the moving mechanism 40, the arm elevating mechanism 50, and the arm advancing / retreating drive mechanism 60 included in the indexer transport unit 30. In addition, in FIG.
For ease of understanding, illustration of the support pins 32, the contact pieces 33, and the mechanism for driving these provided on the substrate transfer device 30 is omitted.

The movable base member 41 of the moving mechanism 40 is a pair of guide rails arranged side by side on the base 11 for installing the cassette shown in FIG.
It is slidably fitted to 42. Movable base member 41
Is screwed onto a screw shaft 43 juxtaposed on the guide rail 42, and is connected to one end of the screw shaft 43 by a motor (not shown).
Is rotated in the forward and reverse directions to horizontally move along the base 11.

The moving mechanism 40 includes an arm lifting mechanism 50 having the following configuration.
Is installed.

That is, the movable base member 41 is provided with a portal frame 51 standing upright, and the lifting member 53 is slidably fitted to a pair of guide shafts 52 that are vertically installed on the portal frame 51. . The elevating member 53 is screwed into a screw shaft 54 provided in parallel with the guide shaft 52, and the screw shaft 54 is used to connect the screw shaft 54 to the beam member 51.
The motor 55 attached to a drives the belt in the forward and reverse directions to move up and down. Lifting member 53
Is provided with a pair of brackets 56, and an arm advancing / retreating drive mechanism 60 is disposed on the brackets 56.

A guide rail 62 is provided on a base plate 61 of the arm advancing / retreating drive mechanism 60 in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the movable base member 41, and an arm base 63 is slidably fitted to the guide rail 62. ing. A thin plate-shaped arm 31 for attracting and holding the substrate W is cantilevered in a horizontal state on an upper portion of a support rod 64 erected on the arm base 63.
At the tip of this arm 31, there is a suction hole 31a for vacuum-sucking the substrate W.

An endless belt 65 is provided on the base plate 61 of the arm advancing / retreating drive mechanism 60 in parallel with the guide rail 62.
The belt 65 is stretched between 66a and 66b, and a part of the belt 65 is connected to the arm base 63. Further, an endless belt 68 is stretched between the driven pulley 66b and the driving pulley 67, and the driving pulley 67 is driven in the forward and reverse directions by a stepping motor 69, so that the arm base 63 is guided to the guide rail 62. It is designed to reciprocate along it.

An optical sensor 70 is attached to the base plate 61 to detect the origin position of the arm base 63.
The origin of the arm 31 is detected by detecting the L-shaped light-shielding plate 71 in which 70 horizontally extends from the arm base 63.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4 to FIG. 6, the support pin 32, the contact piece 33, and the mechanism for driving them provided in the substrate transfer device 30 will be described.

FIG. 4 shows the substrate transfer apparatus 30 in which the support pins 32, the contact pieces 33, and a drive mechanism for them are mounted,
FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway view seen from the direction of the arrow. FIG.
FIG. 6 is a view as seen from the direction of the arrow B in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway plan view of the substrate alignment mechanism mounted on the substrate transfer device 30.

The substrate alignment mechanism for bringing the contact piece 33 into contact with and separating from the outer edge of the substrate W is configured as follows.

The matching plate described in FIG. 2 is provided on the upper surface of the gate frame 51.
A base plate 80 for slidably supporting 34a, 36b is attached in a cantilever manner. In the central portion of the base plate 80, a long hole 80a (FIGS. 2 and 6) for guiding the support rod 64 of the arm 31 shown in FIG. 3 and allowing the support rod 64 to move back and forth when the substrate is taken in and out (see FIGS. 2 and 6). (See the figure) is formed. As shown in FIG. 4, a pair of guide rails 81a are provided in a direction orthogonal to the elongated hole 80a, and a sliding plate 82a is slidably installed on the guide rails 81a. One matching plate 34a is supported by the sliding plate 82a via a supporting plate 83a. There is a pair of similar guide rails 81b at positions facing the guide rails 81a across the long hole 80a (see FIG. 5), and a sliding plate 82b slidably installed on the guide rails 81b has the other pair of guide rails 81b. The matching plate 34b is supported via the support plate 83b.

As shown in FIG. 4, below the sliding plates 82a and 82b,
Link members 85 are swingably attached to the base plate 80 via the support shafts 84, respectively. Each link member
85 is loosely connected to the sliding plates 82a and 82b via connecting pins 86, respectively. Further, below each link member 85,
There is a U-shaped pusher plate 88 which is slidably fitted to a guide rail 87 provided on the base plate 80 (see FIGS. 6 and 7), and this pusher plate 88 is a connecting pin 89.
Is loosely coupled to each link member 85 via. Seventh
As shown in the figure, when the pusher plate 88 is pushed out in the direction of arrow C in the figure by a cam mechanism described later, the acting force is transmitted to each link member 85 via the connecting pin 89, and each link member 85. Swings in the direction of arrow D around the support shaft 84. As a result, the matching plates 34a, 34b connected to the connecting pins 86 of the respective link members 85 move in the directions approaching each other (arrow E direction), and the contact pieces 33 provided on the matching plates 34a, 34b move to the substrate W. Contact the outer edge.

Next, a pin support mechanism that supports the support pin 32 so as to be vertically movable will be described.

As shown in FIG. 6, the three support pins 32 between the matching plates 34a and 34b are supported by a U-shaped support plate 90. A base portion of the support plate 90 is connected to an elevating member 91, and the elevating member 91 is slidably fitted to a guide rail 92 attached to the portal frame 51 in the vertical direction. As shown in FIG. 5, the elevating member 91 is urged downward by the coil spring 93, and when the arm 31 is loading / unloading the substrate W to / from the cassette C, the lower limit as shown in FIG. In position. The arm 31 shown by the chain line in the figure shows the arm position when it is at the lower limit position.

The upper ends of the contact pieces 33 provided on the matching plates 34a, 34b,
By setting the upper end of the support pin 32 at the lower limit position to a position lower than the storage height of the substrate W'at the lowermost stage of the cassette C, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The contact piece 33 and the support pin 32 do not hinder the transfer of the substrate when the arm 31 moves the substrate W into and out of the cassette C.

Next, a mechanism for driving the contact piece 33 and the support pin 32 described above will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, a guide rail 94 is vertically provided on one side wall of the portal frame 51, and a member 97c is slidably fitted to the guide rail 94. The member 97c is connected to the cam member 95 via the member 97b. An air cylinder 96 is attached to the inside of the side wall of the portal frame 51 provided with the cam member 95, and the rod 96a of the air cylinder 96 and the cam member 95 are connected via connecting members 97a and 97b. ing. The operating curved surface of the cam groove 95a formed in the cam member 95 is
The upper portion thereof has a curved portion 95b that is convex in the sliding direction of the pusher plate 88 (leftward in FIG. 4), and the lower portion of the curved portion 95b extends vertically. This cam member 95
A cam follower 99 attached below the L-shaped follower member 98 is fitted in, and the other end of the follower member 98 is connected to the pusher plate 88. Pusher plate mentioned above
The 88 and the driven member 98 correspond to the driven mechanism in the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, a member 97 connected to the cam member 95.
Below b, a push-up member 100 is attached in a state of being separated from the lower end of the elevating member 91, and the push-up member 100 contacts the lower end of the elevating member 91 while the cam member 95 is being driven to rise. By making contact, the subsequent cam member 95
The push-up member 100 is configured to push up the elevating member 91 against the biasing force of the coil spring 98 in accordance with the rise of the support pin 32 and to rise. The push-up member 100 connected to the cam member 95 corresponds to the push-up mechanism in the present invention. In addition, reference numeral 101 shown in FIG.
It is a stopper that contacts the lower end of 00 to restrict the downward movement of the cam member 95.

Next, the operation of the indexer transport unit 30 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

The operation of taking out a predetermined substrate W from the cassette C is as follows.

First, when the screw shaft 43 of the moving mechanism 40 shown in FIG. 3 is rotationally driven, the movable base member 41 horizontally moves,
It comes to a position facing a predetermined cassette C. Motor 55 of arm lifting mechanism 50 during or after the above-mentioned movement
Is driven to move the arm 31 up and down,
31 is a substrate W from which the cassette C is taken out
Set the height corresponding to the storage groove position of. Next, when the stepping motor 69 of the arm advance / retreat drive mechanism 60 is driven to rotate forward, the arm 31 is advanced below the substrate W to be taken out from the cassette C. Then, the substrate W is moved to the arm 31 by raising the arm 31 a little.
The substrate W is transferred to the upper side, and the arm 31 sucks and holds the substrate W. Substrate W
After the suction, the stepping motor 69 is driven in the reverse direction to move the arm 31 back to the origin position (position shown in FIG. 2).
At the time of such a substrate taking-out operation, the support pins 32 are lowered to the lower limit position.

When the arm 31 returns to the origin position while holding the substrate W by suction, the movable base member 41 of the moving mechanism 40 horizontally moves,
The substrate W is transported to the substrate delivery position P shown in FIG. During or after this horizontal movement, the motor 55 of the arm lifting mechanism 50 is driven to lower the arm 31 to the lower limit position. Since the lower limit position of the arm 31 is set below the upper end of the support pin 32 at the standby position,
By releasing the suction when the arm 31 descends, the substrate W on the arm 31 is transferred onto the support pin 32 in the standby position, as shown in FIGS. 8 (A1) and (B1). It At this time, since the rod 96a of the air cylinder 96 shown in FIG. 4 is retracted (state shown in FIG. 4), the cam member 95 is at the lower limit position (origin position). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, the cam follower 99 provided on the driven member 98 is
Since it is at the upper limit position P _{0 of} 95a, the matching plates 34a, 34b are in an open state.

When the arm 31 reaches the lower limit position, the air cylinder 96 is driven, the rod 96a extends, and the cam member 95 moves upward. As the cam member 95 rises, the cam follower 99 moves along the curved portion 95b of the cam groove 95a, as shown in FIG.
Since it is displaced to the left in the figure, the driven member 98 is displaced in the same direction, and as a result, the matching plates 34a and 34b move toward each other. When the cam follower 99 reaches the apex P ₁ of the curved portion 95b, that is, when the matching plates 34a and 34b are closest to each other, the matching plate is adjusted so that the inscribed circle for each contact piece 33 is approximately the same as the substrate diameter. Since the positional relationship between 34a and 34b is adjusted in advance, even if the temporary substrate W is placed on the support pin 32 in a state where the positional deviation occurs, the above-mentioned matching plate 34
During the movement of a and 34b, the contact piece 33 comes into contact with the outer edge of the substrate W and horizontally displaces the substrate W, so that the substrate W is supported by the support pins 32.
Are aligned so that they always have a fixed positional relationship (see FIGS. 8A2 and 8B2).

When the cam member 95 further rises, the cam follower 99 moves to the 9th position.
It gradually returns to the right from the P ₁ position in the figure, and returns to the original position when it reaches the P ₂ position. Thereby, the matching plates 34a, 34
b returns to the original open state. The curved portion 95b of the operation curved surface of the cam member 95 described above corresponds to the first upward movement curved surface of the cam member in the present invention.

When the cam member 95 rises until the cam follower 99 reaches the P ₂ position, the push-up member 100 connected to the cam member 95
Comes into contact with the lower end of the elevating member 91, and thereafter, the cam member 95
The elevating member 91 rises with the rise of the. This allows
The support pins 32 are lifted while the aligned substrate W is placed, and the substrate W is lifted to the substrate transfer height (see FIGS. 8A3 and 8B3). The substrate delivery position corresponds to the P ₃ position of the cam follower 99 shown in Figure 9. The operation curved surface of the cam member 95 from the P ₂ position to the P ₃ position described above corresponds to the second upward movement curved surface of the cam member in the present invention.

When the moving mechanism 40 reaches the substrate delivery position P and the positioning of the substrate W is completed, the substrate support arm 22 of the process transfer unit 21 that has come to this position, as shown in FIGS. 8 (A4) and (B4), It enters below the substrate W placed on the support pins 32. Thereafter, as the substrate support arm 22 is raised, the substrate W is transferred to the substrate support arm 22, and the substrate support arm 22 transfers the substrate W to each processing unit of the process module 20, as described above.

Next, the operation of loading the substrate W into the cassette C will be described.

The loading of the substrate W is performed in substantially the reverse order of the above-described unloading operation of the substrate W. That is, the process transfer unit 30
Is at the substrate transfer position P, the arm 31 is in the lowered state,
The support pin 32 stands by in a raised state. Thereafter, the substrate W processed by the process module 20 is transferred to the substrate transfer position P while being placed on the substrate support arm 22. After that, the substrate W is transferred to the support pins 32 by lowering the substrate support arm 22 of the process transport unit 21.

In this state, the cam follower 99, as shown in FIG.
The cam member 95 is at the P ₃ position. When the substrate W is delivery, by loading the air cylinder 96 96a is degenerated, the cam member 95 is lowered, the cam followers 99 move toward the P ₂ position from the P ₃ position. During this time, as the cam member 95 descends,
When the elevating member 91 descends, the support pins 32 descend and set the substrate W to the lower limit position. Cam member 95
Is further lowered and the cam follower 99 is moved from the P ₂ position to the P ₁ position, whereby the contact piece 33 is driven to contact the outer edge of the substrate W in the same manner as described above, and the position of the substrate W is moved. Matching is done. When the cam member 95 descends to the home position, the cam follower 99 returns to the P ₀ position, which causes the contact piece 33
Returns to the initial state away from the outer edge of the substrate W.

After the above-mentioned alignment, the arm 31 rises and the support pin
The substrate W aligned on 32 is placed on the arm 31 and suction-held. After that, the moving mechanism 40 is horizontally driven to a position facing the original cassette C, and the arm 31 is moved up and down to the height of the storage groove in which the substrate W was stored.

When the movement of the moving mechanism 40 and the height setting of the arm 31 are completed, the arm advancing / retreating drive mechanism 60 is driven, the arm 31 enters the cassette C, and the substrate W is carried into a predetermined storage groove. After that, the substrate W is transferred to the storage groove by slightly descending with the arm 31 releasing the adsorption of the substrate W. When the transfer of the substrate W is completed, the arm
31 is driven to exit and returns to the home position.

As described above, when the loading of the substrate W is completed, the substrate transfer apparatus 30 waits for the next operation of taking out the substrate W.

The present invention can also be configured as follows.

(1) In the embodiment, by inserting the cam follower 99 into the cam groove 95a of the cam member 95, the driven mechanism connected to the cam follower 99 is horizontally displaced along with the vertical movement of the cam member 95. The operating surface of the cam member 95 does not necessarily have to be the cam groove, but may be a curved surface formed on the side of the cam member. In this case, the cam follower 99 may be configured to follow the operating curved surface by pressing it with a spring or the like.

(2) In the embodiment, the air cylinder 96 is used as the actuator for driving the cam member 95.
This may be one that raises and lowers the cam member by a screw feeding mechanism driven by a motor.

(3) As an example of the substrate processing apparatus in which the apparatus of the present invention is used, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for coating a substrate with a photoresist or the like has been described as an example.
For example, the present invention can be applied to various substrate processing apparatuses such as a developing, etching, and diffusion processing apparatus.

(4) Further, the target substrate is not limited to the semiconductor substrate as in the embodiment, and various substrates such as a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display and a metal plate can be targeted.

(5) Further, the contact piece of the substrate alignment mechanism is not limited to the pin structure, and a plate-shaped member whose end side is formed in a concave shape having a curvature similar to the outer diameter of the substrate is brought into contact with and separated from the outer edge of the substrate. Then, the substrates may be aligned. When the substrate is rectangular, it goes without saying that the contact pieces are arranged and formed according to the shape.

As described above, each part of the present invention can be variously modified and implemented, and the modified modes are also included in the present invention without departing from the scope of the present invention.

<Effects of the Invention> As is apparent from the above description, the substrate alignment support device according to the present invention is a substrate alignment mechanism for aligning substrates by moving a cam member up and down by a single actuator. And the pin support mechanism that supports the support pins on which the substrate is placed are driven, so there is no need to perform mutual timing control of the substrate alignment operation and substrate lifting operation, and the control system is simplified. In addition, the operation can be performed with high reliability.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 9 relate to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a substrate processing apparatus in which a substrate alignment support device according to the embodiment is used, and FIG. 2 is an indexer module. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the moving mechanism provided in the indexer transport unit in the indexer module,
FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the arm elevating mechanism and the arm advancing / retreating drive mechanism. FIG. 4 is a view taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3 showing the configurations of the substrate placing mechanism and the substrate aligning mechanism provided in the indexer transport unit. 5 is a view in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway view of the substrate placing mechanism and the substrate aligning mechanism in plan view, FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of the substrate aligning mechanism, and FIG. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the example device, and FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the position of the cam follower as the cam member moves up and down. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional device. W, W '... Semiconductor substrate (substrate) 32..Support pin 33..Abutment piece (substrate alignment mechanism) 34a, 34b .... Alignment plate (substrate alignment mechanism) 85 ... Link member (substrate alignment mechanism) 88 ...... Pusher plate (driven mechanism) 98 …… Driven member (driven mechanism) 99 …… Cam follower (driven mechanism) 90 …… Support plate (pin support mechanism) 91 …… Elevation member (pin support mechanism) 92 …… Guide rail (Pin support mechanism) 95 …… Cam member 96 …… Air cylinder (actuator) 100 …… Pushing member (Pushing mechanism)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Takeo Okamoto 322 Furukawa-cho, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. 322 Furukawacho Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A substrate is horizontally reciprocated between a position where a plurality of abutting pieces abut on an outer edge of a substrate placed on a plurality of support pins and a position apart from the outer edge of the substrate. Is a substrate alignment support device that raises the substrate to the substrate transfer height by moving the support pins upward after the substrate alignment has been performed, and a cam member that can move in the vertical direction. An actuator that drives the cam member in the vertical direction, a driven mechanism that reciprocates in the horizontal direction by interlocking with the vertical movement of the cam member, and a plurality of contact pieces that interlock with the horizontal reciprocation of the driven mechanism. This allows a plurality of contact pieces to horizontally reciprocate between a position where the plurality of contact pieces contact the outer edge of the substrate placed on the plurality of support pins and a position separated from the outer edge of the substrate. With support pins Equipped with a pin support mechanism that supports multiple support pins and can move in the vertical direction, and a push-up mechanism that interlocks with the vertical movement of the cam member and hits the pin support mechanism during the upward movement to raise it. The cam member positions the plurality of contact pieces at positions away from the outer edge of the board placed on the plurality of support pins, and positions the support pins at the board alignment position. Position and move the multiple contact pieces away from the outer edge of the substrate after reaching from the position away from the outer edge of the substrate placed on the multiple support pins to the position where it contacts the outer edge of the substrate And the support pin is located at the alignment position of the substrate, and the plurality of abutment pieces are located at a position away from the outer edge of the substrate, and the support pin is located at the substrate. Substrate receiving from the alignment position A substrate positioning and supporting device for moving up and down along a second rising movement curved surface for moving up to the transfer height, comprising the above.