JP2642990B2 - Transfer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a transport device.

(Prior Art) In a sputtering apparatus roughly divided into a process section side and a loader section side, a plurality of sputter processing vessels, a chamber communicating with each of the sputter processing vessels,
A first transfer arm disposed in the chamber and capable of loading and unloading an object to be processed into and out of each sputter processing container. On the other hand, on the loader section side, a carrier cassette on which the object to be processed is mounted, a second transfer arm for carrying in and out the object to and from the carrier cassette,
And a table on which the object is placed to transfer the object between the arms.

Then, one object to be processed mounted in the carrier cassette is taken out by the second transfer arm, and is placed on a table. The target object placed on the table is supported by the first transfer arm on the process section side, and is transferred into one sputter processing container after being transferred in the chamber.

On the other hand, the object to be processed, which has been subjected to the sputter processing in the sputter processing container, uses the first and second transfer arms and a table, and carries out the reverse of the step of loading the object to be processed. To be transported.

By carrying out the loading / unloading operation of the object to be processed as described above for each of the plurality of sputter processing containers connected to the chamber, the plurality of objects to be processed are sputtered in parallel in each of the sputter processing containers. To be processed.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the sputtering apparatus as described above, the time for carrying in and out the wafer cannot be reduced, so that the throughput has been reduced.

That is, assuming that the sputter processing in one of the sputter processing containers on the processing unit side has been completed, the wafer on which this processing has been completed is carried out of the container by the first transfer arm and placed on the table. The wafer placed on this table is transported back into the carrier cassette by the second transport arm, and then a new wafer is taken out of the carrier cassette and placed on the table by the second transport arm. Become. Therefore,
The first transfer arm on the process unit side is connected to the second transfer arm on the loader unit side.
Of the processed wafer by driving the transfer arm
Until the process of unloading a new wafer has been completed, it has to wait at that position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a transfer device capable of improving throughput by greatly reducing a standby time until a transfer arm receives a transferred object on a table.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The transfer device according to the first aspect of the present invention supports an object to be processed and loads the object between a processing unit and a storage unit. A first transfer arm for transferring the object into and out of the processing unit, and a height different from that of the first transfer arm; A second transfer arm for carrying the object in and out; and a second transfer arm formed between the first and second transfer arms so as to be movable up and down. A plurality of support tables for transferring the object to be processed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the transfer apparatus according to the first aspect, a plurality of the processing units are connected to a chamber accommodating the first transfer arm, and the first transfer arm includes a plurality of the processing units. The transfer of the object to be processed is performed between the unit and the plurality of support tables.

(Operation) According to the invention described in claim 1, the following operation and effect are obtained.

(A) In order to transport the object to be processed between the storage unit and the processing unit, the object to be processed is transferred into and out of the storage unit using the second transfer arm, and the object to be processed is transferred to the processing unit. Is carried out by the first transfer arm. Then, the object to be processed may be transferred between the first and second transfer arms by using a plurality of stages of support arms arranged to be able to move up and down between the first and second transfer arms.

Here, the first transfer arm is used for operation in the processing unit,
The second transfer arms are used independently for operations in the storage unit. Conventionally, as in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-288677, for example, the arm is formed of one member that is moved to both the processing section and the storage section. Therefore, when the distance between the processing unit and the storage unit is long, it is necessary to lengthen the arm of the arm,
This has led to an increase in the size of the device. In contrast, in the present claim,
Since the first and second transfer arms for loading and unloading in the processing unit and the storage unit are provided, it is not necessary to increase the size of the arm when the distance between the processing unit and the storage unit is long.

(B) Since the first and second transfer arms can be moved independently of each other, the first transfer arm moves the object to be processed up and down when the object is stacked on the processing unit, and the object to be processed is stored in the storage unit. Vertical movement during stacking can be performed independently by the second transfer arms.

In this regard, in the case of a device in which two arms cannot be operated independently by being connected to each other, such as a conventional Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-288677, one arm has a height relative to the processing unit. During the adjustment, the other arm is restricted by the movement of the one arm, so that the storing operation to the storing section cannot be performed.

On the other hand, in the present invention, the first and second arms are not restricted to each other, and can freely move independently in the height direction in addition to the movement in the plane. For this reason, during the height adjustment of one arm caused by the conventional device, the other arm cannot be moved independently due to the restraint of the movement of one arm, and the other time when the movement of the other arm is adjusted in the height direction. The period during which one arm cannot be moved independently due to the movement of one arm can be effectively used, and another transfer process can be performed during the process during this period. Thus, for example, by using the second transfer arm while using the first transfer arm in the height direction, it is possible to quickly perform the entire transfer process.

In addition, for example, when the conventional apparatus is used when a plurality of processing units and a plurality of storage units are formed, a period in which the one or the other arm is restrained increases. For this reason, all of the useless periods in the conventional apparatus can be effectively used in the present invention, and this is particularly effective when a plurality of processing units and storage units are formed.

(C) The support table for transferring the object to be processed between the processing unit and the storage unit has a configuration in which a plurality of tables are raised and lowered, so that the first and second heights set at different heights are different. The object to be processed can be transferred between the transfer arms of the first and second transfer arms.
The object to be processed can be efficiently delivered while shortening each moving distance of the transfer arm.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, each loading / unloading operation for a plurality of processing units can be performed by the first transport arm.

As described above, when a plurality of processing units are provided, each layer of the support table formed in a plurality of stages has each processed object processed by each processing unit, and is to be processed by each processing unit. An object to be processed or the like can be kept on standby. For this reason, the moving distance of each of the first and second transfer arms can be reduced as compared with the case where the arm is transferred from the processing unit to the storage unit each time the processing in each processing unit is performed. Delivery of the unprocessed object and the processed object to and from the unit can be efficiently performed.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of a transport device to which the present invention is applied will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

This transport device is roughly divided into a process section 10 and a loader section 20, as shown in FIG. On the process unit 10 side,
For example, a plurality of sputter processing vessels 12 arranged radially
And a chamber 14 which is located at the center thereof and communicates with each sputter processing container 12, and a first transfer arm 16 arranged in the chamber 14.

On the other hand, the loader section 20 includes a loader chamber 20a that communicates with the chamber 14, and a cassette storage section 20b for storing, for example, two carrier cassettes 22 each having a large number of wafers 24 mounted thereon. I have. A second transfer arm 26 and a hand-off table 28 are arranged in the loader chamber 20a, and the second transfer arm 26 enables transfer between the carrier cassette 22 and the hand-off table 28. Each of the above blocks is evacuated, and the cassette storage section 20b, the loader room 20a, the chamber 14, and the sputter processing container 12 are evacuated to a high degree of vacuum in this order. The second transfer arm 26 includes
In this configuration, two flat plates are connected at a pivot point. And
The second transfer arm 26 is mounted on the transfer unit 30, and can reciprocate in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 by the driving force of the transfer unit drive motor 32 provided outside the loader chamber 20a. Further, in order to radiate the heat accumulated in the second transfer arm drive unit to the outside of the loader chamber 20a in a vacuum,
A cooling tube 34 is connected to the transfer unit 30.

Next, the first transfer arm 16 on the process section 10 side will be described with reference to FIG.

The first transfer arm 16 includes an upper arm 42 to which a wafer holder 40 is connected, and a lower arm 44.
The lower arm 44 fixed to the rotating shaft 60 and the upper arm 42 rotatably supported on the free end side of the lower arm 44 are driven to rotate, respectively, so that each of the sputter processing containers 12 shown in FIG. The transfer of the wafer 24 to and from the handoff table 28 on the loader unit 20 side is enabled.

A first motor 46 is provided to rotationally drive the lower arm 44. The output of the motor is two pairs of pulleys 48, 50 and 54, 56 and a belt 52 stretched over each pair of pulleys. And 58 to the rotating shaft 60. On the other hand, a second motor 62 is arranged coaxially with the rotation shaft 60 to rotationally drive the upper arm 42, and the rotation output of this motor is a pair of pulleys 64, 66 and a belt 68 wrapped around the pair of pulleys 64, 66. Through the rotation shaft of the upper arm 42.

The wafer holder 40 has an arc-shaped holder shape as shown in FIG.
40a and notches 40b are formed alternately. Then, the wafer 24 can be placed on the holding section 40a.

Next, the handoff table 28 which is a characteristic configuration of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 (A) and 1 (B).

The hand-off table 28 has a two-stage table structure, and has a U-shaped connecting member 74 above the lower table 72.
The upper table 70 is arranged in parallel with the intermediary of the upper table 70.
The two tables 70 and 72 are fixed to the table base 76,
A bellows 80 is arranged between the table base 76 and a base plate 78 below the table base 76 so as to be able to expand and contract. The member above the base plate 78 is
14 will be placed in the vacuum chamber. A pipe 84 is provided which is fixed to the lower end of the table base 76 and extends downward through the inside of the bellows 80 and the hole of the base plate 78. A movable portion 86 is connected and fixed to the lower end of the pipe 84, and the movable portion 86 can move up and down along a linear guide 88 fixed in a housing 82 provided below the base plate 78. ing. Further, a ball screw 90 whose lower end is rotatably supported by the housing 82 and whose upper end is accommodated in the inner peripheral portion of the pipe 84 is provided. A motor for rotating the ball screw 90
A belt 92 is provided between the pulley 94 fixed to the output shaft of the motor 92 and the pulley 96 fixed to the lower end of the ball screw 90. Then, by the reversible rotation drive of the ball screw 90, the movable portion 86 coupled to the ball screw nut portion, and the pipe 84 fixed to the movable portion 86 move up and down along the linear guide 88, and as a result, the upper table 70 The lower table 72 can be integrally moved up and down.

The upper table 70 and the lower table 72 have the same configuration, and as shown in FIG.
A first peripheral rising portion 102 is formed in the peripheral circular arc region of. On the upper surface side of the first peripheral rising portion 102, a wafer mounting surface 104 protruding in a radial direction is formed at a plurality of locations at predetermined intervals, and an outer peripheral edge of the wafer mounting surface 104 is Second peripheral rising portion 106 for preventing falling of wafer 24
Are formed.

Next, the operation of the above-described embodiment apparatus, in particular, the operation of the handoff table 28 for transferring the wafer 24 between the first and second transfer arms 16 and 26 will be described with reference to FIGS. Will be explained. As shown in the above figures, the position of the first transfer arm 16 in the height direction is different from the position of the second transfer arm 26 in the height direction in the apparatus of the present embodiment. The table 28 has eight stop positions as described later.

In the present embodiment, since the handoff table 28 has a two-stage table configuration, a new wafer 24 to be processed next is handed off during the parallel processing of the sputters in the sputter processing containers 12 on the process section 10 side. It can be placed on one of the tables 28. First, this operation will be described with reference to FIG. Handoff table 28
Are the positions of the origin a shown in FIG. The position of the origin a is defined as the second transfer arm
This is a position where the upper table 70 is set below the position 26. FIG. 6A shows a state in which the handoff table 28 is set at the position of the origin a and the wafer 24 is placed on the handoff table 28 by the second transfer arm 26. Thereafter, the handoff table 28 is raised to the position b as shown in FIG.
Then, the upper table of the handoff table 28
The wafer 24 supported by the wafer mounting surface 104 formed on 70 is separated from the upper surface of the second transfer arm 26. Then, the second transfer arm 26 is disposed between the lower surface of the wafer 24 and the bottom surface 100 of the upper table 70. Thereafter, by driving the second transfer arm 26, the second transfer arm 26 can be detached from below the wafer 24.

Thereafter, the handoff table 28 is raised to a position c shown in FIG. 7A, and the first transfer arm 16
And waits for unloading of the processed wafer 24.
When the sputter processing is completed in one sputter processing vessel 12 on the processing section 10 side, the processed wafer 24 is taken out by the first transfer arm 16 and, as shown in FIG. This wafer 24 is set above. Thereafter, the hand-off table 28 is raised to a position d shown in FIG. At this time, the lower table 72 rises after passing through the wafer holder 40 of the first transfer arm 16. At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, the wafer mounting surface 104 of the lower table 72 Since the light passes through the notch 40b provided in the holder 40, interference between the two is prevented. Then, the processed wafer 24 is supported by the wafer mounting surface 104 of the lower table 72 by the above-described lifting operation, and is separated from the wafer holder 40.

The wafer 24 processed as described above is transferred to the first transfer arm 16.
After the transfer to the lower table 72, the transfer of the new wafer 24 to the first transfer arm 16 can be immediately performed. For this purpose, after the first transfer arm 16 is retracted, the hand-off tail 28 is lowered from the position d shown in FIG. 7B, and the first transfer arm is again moved to the position e shown in FIG. 8A. Is stopped or waited below the upper table 70, and the hand-off table 28 is lowered to the position f. By this lowering operation, the new wafer 24 placed on the upper table 70 is supported by the wafer holder 40 of the first transfer arm 16. Therefore, the first
Transfer arm 16 requires little standby time
24 can be received. After that, the first transfer arm 16 is driven so that the new wafer
24 can be carried in.

Next, in order to transfer the processed wafer 24 placed on the lower table 72 to the second transfer arm 26, the hand-off table 28 is further lowered from the position f shown in FIG. 9 Stop at the position g shown in FIG. Thereafter, the second transfer arm 26 is moved between the processed wafer 24 and the bottom surface 10 of the lower table 72 as shown in FIG.
Insert between 0. Thereafter, the hand-off table 28 is further lowered and transferred to a position h shown in FIG. Then, the processed wafer 24 supported on the lower table 72 is supported on the second transfer arm 26. Therefore, after this, the second transfer arm 26
, The processed wafer 24 can be returned and transferred into the carrier cassette 22.

Hereinafter, if a new wafer 24 is previously placed on the hand-off table 28 in accordance with the processing end timing in each of the sputter processing containers 12 in which the processing is completed one after another, the first transfer arm Since the waiting time for transferring the processed wafer and the new wafer to the wafer 16 can be minimized, the throughput of the transfer device can be greatly improved.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment,
Various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention.

For example, the handoff table 28 is not necessarily limited to a two-stage table configuration, but may be a table having three or more stages. At this time, a heating unit or a cooling unit or the like may be provided on the table of each stage as necessary, and heating or cooling of the wafer 24 may be performed while the wafer 24 is held by the hand-off table 28.

[Constitution of the Invention] According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the first and second transfer arms for carrying in and out of the processing section and the storage section are provided, the distance between the processing section and the storage section is long. In this case, it is not necessary to increase the size of the arm.

In addition, the vertical movement when stacking the object to be processed on the processing unit is the first movement.
In the transfer arm, the vertical movement when stacking the object to be processed in the storage section can be performed independently by the second transfer arm, so that the transfer time can be effectively used and the entire transfer process can be performed quickly. Can be performed.

According to the invention of claim 2, when a plurality of processing units are provided, each loading / unloading operation for the plurality of processing units is performed by the first processing unit.
And a plurality of support tables for carrying out the transfer between the first and second transfer arms. Delivery to and from the processed object can be efficiently performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 (A) and 1 (B) are schematic explanatory diagrams for explaining a hand-off table which is a main part of a transport apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the overall configuration of the apparatus of the embodiment. FIGS. 3 (A) and 3 (B) are a plan view and a cross-sectional view taken along line AA, respectively, for explaining the table configuration of each stage, and FIG. 4 is arranged on the process unit side. FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of a first transfer arm, FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory view for explaining a positional relationship between a wafer holder and a table of the first transfer arm, and FIGS. FIG. 9 is a schematic explanatory diagram for explaining a wafer transfer operation performed between the first and second transfer arms and the table. 10 process part, 12 sputter processing container, 14 chamber, 16 first transfer arm, 20 loader part, 22 carrier cassette, 24 object to be processed, 26th 2 transfer arm, 28 ... table, 70 ... upper table, 72 ... lower table.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A transfer device for supporting the object to be processed and loading and unloading the object between a processing unit and a storage unit, wherein the processing unit transports the object to and from the processing unit. A first transfer arm, a second transfer arm set at a different height from the first transfer arm, and carrying the object in and out of the storage unit; and a first transfer arm. And a plurality of stages of support tables formed so as to be able to ascend and descend between the first and second transfer arms and transferring the object to be processed from the first and second transfer arms. Transport device. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the processing units are connected to a chamber accommodating the first transfer arm, and the first transfer arm is connected to the plurality of the processing units and the plurality of stages. A transfer device for transferring the object to and from a support table.