JP2662450B2 - Interface device between substrate processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a method of coating, exposing, developing, and applying a photoresist to various substrates such as a semiconductor wafer and a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display.
The present invention relates to an interface device used between substrate processing devices that sequentially perform various processes such as etching.

<Prior Art> For example, process devices such as a coating process device for applying and drying a photoresist on a substrate, an exposure device for exposing a substrate coated with a photoresist, and a development process device for developing the exposed substrate are known. Are installed so as to form a required processing line by connecting several types of process devices.

Each process device is composed of one or more process units. For example, the coating process device includes an adhesion strengthening processing unit for bringing the vapor of a resist adhesion enhancing agent into contact with the substrate surface, a spin coating processing unit, a heating unit, a cooling unit for returning the temperature of the substrate to room temperature, and the like. Further, each processing apparatus includes a substrate transfer unit that transfers a substrate by moving an arm on which the substrate is mounted, and various process units are arranged around the unit.

In such a substrate processing apparatus, a substrate is transported between two processing apparatuses. To transport a substrate between the processing apparatuses, an interface device is provided between the two processing apparatuses, and an interface is provided from a substrate transporting unit of one of the processing apparatuses. The substrate is once delivered to the apparatus, and thereafter, the substrate transfer means of the other process apparatus receives the substrate placed on the interface device.

By the way, in such an interface device that only transfers a substrate, when a process device on the side that receives a substrate from the interface device (hereinafter, referred to as a poor side) stops due to trouble, the side that transfers the substrate to the interface device ( The transfer of the substrate from the process apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as a good side) becomes impossible. Therefore, the applicant filed a utility model registration application filed on July 23, 1990 (the name of the device "Interface device between substrate processing devices").
The following interface devices are proposed.

That is, a substrate transfer mechanism for transferring substrates between the two process apparatuses, a substrate storage unit capable of storing a plurality of substrates, and a substrate storage and unloading mechanism for transferring substrates between the substrate storage unit and the substrate transfer unit. An interface device between substrate processing apparatuses, comprising:

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> The above-described interface device is an effective device, but as a result of further studies, the following new problems have been found.

In other words, before a trouble occurs in the lower process device and the interface device receives a substrate from the better process device, the substrate supported by the substrate transfer mechanism of the interface device is stored in the substrate storage section before the interface device receives the substrate from the better process device. However, it usually takes considerable time to store the substrate in the substrate storage unit. For this reason, if a trouble occurs in the lower process device when the substrate transfer mechanism of the interface device receives the substrate from the upper process device and has not yet transferred it to the lower process device, the substrate transfer mechanism is used when the trouble occurs. While the substrate in the mechanism is stored in the substrate storage unit, the substrate cannot be received from the better process device, and the operating rate of the process device is reduced by the waiting time.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and in an interface device interposed between both process devices, even if a trouble occurs in one process device, the waiting time of the other process device is minimized. It is an object to provide an interface device that can be shortened.

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

That is, the interface device between the substrate processing devices according to the present invention is an interface device interposed between the first process device and the second process device for processing a substrate, wherein A substrate transfer mechanism for transferring a substrate between the plurality of substrates, a substrate storage unit capable of storing a plurality of substrates, and a substrate storage and unloading mechanism for loading and unloading the substrate between the substrate storage unit and the substrate transfer mechanism. It is provided with a temporarily movable substrate temporary receiving arm that lifts and holds the substrate supported by the transfer mechanism above the substrate transfer mechanism.

<Operation> According to the above configuration, when a trouble occurs in the lower process device and processing becomes impossible, the first substrate carried out from the better process device to the interface device is transferred to the temporary substrate receiving arm. It is supported and lifted and held above the substrate delivery mechanism. Substrates transported thereafter are sequentially stored in the substrate storage unit by the substrate storage and unloading mechanism sequentially sending the substrates in the substrate transfer mechanism to the substrate storage unit.

When the trouble of the lower process device is resolved, first, the substrate held on the temporary substrate receiving arm is sent out to the lower process device, and thereafter, the substrate stored in the substrate storage unit is transferred by the substrate storage / unloading mechanism. After being carried out to the mechanism, the substrate is transferred from the substrate transfer mechanism to the lower process device, and then returned to the normal operation state in which the substrate from the upper process device is transferred to the lower process device.

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

FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a main part of a substrate processing apparatus, in which reference numeral 1 denotes an upper process device, 2 denotes a lower process device, and 3 denotes a process interposed between the process devices 1 and 2. This is an interface device for transferring substrates.

The process apparatus 1 on the upstream side is configured to sequentially carry in and carry out the substrates W to and from the plurality of process units 4 by the substrate transport means 101 and to perform a plurality of processes on the substrates W. Similarly, the lower process device 2 also includes a substrate transport unit 102 for loading and unloading the substrate W, and a plurality of process units 5.

Note that the portion on which the substrate is placed in the substrate transfer means 101, 102 of both process apparatuses 1, 2 is the substrate W in each process apparatus.
Is frequently conveyed, so that it is necessary to keep the back surface of the substrate free from contamination as much as possible.
A support piece extending toward the center of the substrate from an arc portion surrounding at least half of the outer periphery of the substrate supports the back surface of the substrate in a state close to point contact.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the interface device 3 is provided with a substrate unloading section of the upper process device 1 and a substrate transfer mechanism 6 so as to face the substrate load of the lower process device 2. , The substrate W beside it
Are provided with a substrate storage section 8 in which a cassette 7 capable of accommodating multi-stages is installed, and an arm 9 corresponding to the substrate storage / unloading mechanism in the configuration of the present invention.

3 to 6 show the details of the substrate transfer mechanism 6.

The substrate transfer mechanism 6 includes an arm 9 configured to adsorb and hold the lower surface of the central portion of the mounted substrate W and capable of moving horizontally and horizontally, and three support pins for mounting and dismounting the substrate. 10, substrate alignment means 11 for aligning a substrate W placed on support pins 10, temporary substrate receiving arm 12 for placing and elevating the positioned substrate W, and substrate alignment means
11 and a driving means for the substrate temporary receiving arm 12 are provided.
The detailed structure and operation of each part will be described below.

A hollow frame-shaped fixed frame 14 is erected on the base frame 13, and an elevating block 16 is slidable via a slide bearing 17 on a pair of guide shafts 15 erected vertically in the fixed frame 14. It is supported by. The lifting block 16 is screwed via a nut member 19 to a screw shaft 18 provided in parallel with the guide shaft 15, and the screw shaft 18 is attached to a motor 20 (see FIG. 6) mounted on the upper portion of the fixed frame 14. )
The belt is driven in the forward and reverse directions to move up and down. The lifting block 16 includes a pair of brackets.
A lifting frame 22 is mounted on the bracket 21.

A guide rail 23 is provided on the elevating frame 22 in the left-right direction, and an arm base 24 is slidably fitted on the guide rail 23. The arm 9 is cantilevered in a horizontal state above a support bar 25 erected on the arm base 24. On the upper surface of the tip of this arm 9,
A suction hole 9a for vacuum suction of the substrate W is provided.

An endless belt 26 is stretched between the pair of pulleys 27 and 28 on the elevating frame 22 in parallel with the guide rail 23, and a part of the belt 26 is connected to the arm base 24. ing. An endless belt 30 is stretched between one pulley 27 and the driving pulley 29, and the driving pulley 29 is driven by a stepping motor 31 in forward and reverse directions.
The arm base 24 reciprocates left and right along the guide rail 23.

The board aligning means 11 includes a plurality of (four in the embodiment) abutting pieces 33 which are convex on the aligning plates 32a and 32b slidably disposed on both sides of the support pin 10, respectively. The alignment plates 32a and 32b are reciprocally driven so that the contact piece 33 contacts and separates from the outer edge of the substrate W on the support pin 10 so as to have substantially the same curvature. By doing so, the position of the substrate W with respect to the support pins 10 is adjusted.

On the upper surface of the fixed frame 14, a matching plate 32a,
A base plate 34 for slidably supporting the base 32b is mounted in a cantilever manner. A long hole 35 is formed in the center of the base plate 34 to allow the support rod 25 of the arm 9 to be led out and to allow the support rod 25 to move left and right when the substrate is taken in and out. A pair of left and right guide rails 36a is provided in a direction orthogonal to the elongated holes 35, and a slide plate 37a is slidably mounted on the guide rails 36a. This sliding plate 37a
One matching plate 32a is supported on the upper end of the vertical wall plate 38a
Supported via 39a. A similar pair of guide rails 36b is located at a position facing the guide rail 35a with the long hole 35 interposed therebetween.
The other matching plate 32b is supported by a sliding plate 37b slidably mounted on the guide rail 36b via a vertical wall plate 38b and a supporting plate 39b.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, each sliding plate 32a, 32b
Below, are provided link members 41 slidably attached to the base plate 34 via support shafts 40, respectively.
Each link member 41 is connected to a sliding plate 37a, 37b via a connecting pin 42.
Are respectively connected to a long hole pin. Below each link member 41, there is a U-shaped pusher plate 44 slidably fitted on a guide rail 43 provided on the base plate 34, and this pusher plate 44 is connected to a connecting pin 45. , And is connected to each link member 41 by a long hole pin. As shown in FIG. 7, when the pusher plate 44 is pushed in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 7 by a cam structure described later, the acting force is transmitted to each link member 41 via the connecting pin 45, and Reference numeral 41 swings about the support shaft 40 in the direction of the arrow. As a result, the alignment plates 32a, 32b connected to the connection pins 42 of the link members 41 move in a direction approaching each other, and as shown in FIG. 8, the respective contact pieces 33 provided on the alignment plates 32a, 32b It contacts the outer edge of the substrate W.

Next, a pin supporting means for supporting the support pin 10 movably in the vertical direction will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the three support pins 10 between the alignment plates 32a and 32b are supported by a U-shaped support plate 46. The base of the support plate 46 is connected to an elevating member 47, and the elevating member 47 is slidably fitted on a guide rail 48 that is vertically attached to the fixed frame 14. As shown in FIG. 5, the lifting member 47 is urged downward by a coil spring 49, and is in the lower limit position as shown in FIG. 5 when the arm 9 is lowered.

The upper ends of the contact pieces 33 provided on the alignment plates 32a and 32b,
By setting the upper end of the support pin 10 at the lower limit position to a position lower than the substrate storage height at the lowermost stage of the cassette 7 as shown in FIG. When the substrate W is taken in and out, the contact pieces 33 and the support pins 10 do not hinder the substrate transport.

Next, means for driving the contact piece 33 and the support pin 10 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 4, a guide rail 50 is provided on one side wall of the fixed frame 14 in a vertical direction, and the guide rail 50 and the movable member 51 are slidably fitted. A cam member 53 is connected to a plate member 52 connected to the member 51. An air cylinder 54 is attached to the inside of the side wall of the fixed frame 14 provided with the cam member 53, and a rod 54a of the air cylinder 54 is connected to the upper ends of the cam member 53 and the plate member 52 by a connecting member 55.
Are connected via The operating curved surface of the cam groove 56 formed in the cam member 53 has a curved portion 56a whose upper portion is convex in the sliding direction of the pusher plate 44, and extends vertically below the curved portion 56a. This cam member 53
A cam follower 58 attached below the L-shaped driven member 57 is fitted into the L-shaped driven member 57, and the other end of the driven member 57 is connected to the pusher plate 44.

As shown in FIG. 4, below the plate member 52 to which the cam member 53 is connected, a push-up member 59 is attached in a state separated from the downward step 47a of the elevating member 47, and the cam member 53 rises. During the driving, the push-up member 59 comes into contact with the downward step portion 47a of the elevating member 47, so that the push-up member 59
Is configured to push up the elevating member 47 against the urging force of the coil spring 49 and raise the support pin 10.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a pair of guide shafts 61 and rodless cylinders 62 are vertically installed over brackets 60 provided above and below the other side wall of the fixed frame 14, and the rodless cylinders A movable member 63 which is raised and lowered by 62 is externally fitted and supported by these members. A connecting member 65 is attached to the upper end of a support member 64 erected from the movable member 63.
The board temporary receiving arm 12 is mounted in a cantilever manner via the. A small projection 66 is provided on the upper surface of the substrate temporary receiving arm 12 to prevent the mounted substrate W from dropping in the event of a displacement.

The vertical stroke of the substrate temporary receiving arm 12 is such that the arm 9 moves the substrate from the position below the substrate supported with the substrate supporting pins 10 at the lower limit position to the uppermost substrate storage height in the cassette 7. The upper and lower ranges reach a height at which the board temporary receiving arm 12 does not hinder the arm 9 when performing the operation.

The present invention is configured as described above, and its operation will be described below.

(1) In normal delivery from the process device 1 to the process device 2, the substrate W carried out of the process device 1 is first placed on the support pins 10.

(2) Next, the air cylinder 54 extends to operate the cam member.
53 rises, and in the initial stage of the rise, the cam follower 58 acts on the curved portion 56a of the cam groove 56 to move the pusher plate 44 to the left in the drawing, and the alignment plates 32a-32b of the substrate alignment means 11 move closer to each other. Thus, the substrate W is positioned.

(3) The alignment plate 32a,
32b is separated from the substrate W.

(4) As the plate member 52 is further raised, the push-up member 59 comes into contact with the downward step portion 47a of the elevating member 47. Thereafter, the elevating member 47 ascends integrally with the plate member 52, and the substrate is positioned. The support pin 10 on which W is placed rises and stands by at a predetermined height.

(5) Thereafter, the process transport unit of the process device 2 takes out the substrate W on the support pins 10.

In the above-described substrate transfer operation, for example, when a trouble occurs in the process device 2 and the substrate cannot be received. In particular, although the support pins 10 receive the substrate W from the process device 1, the support pins 10 still transfer the substrate W to the process device 2. If a trouble occurs in the process apparatus 2 when the substrate W is not in operation, the rodless cylinder 62 is raised to receive the substrate W on the substrate temporary receiving arm 12, and the position is higher than the upper limit position of the arm 9 shown in FIG. As a result, the substrate temporary receiving arm 12 is raised and waits, so that the support pins 10 can immediately receive the substrate W from the process apparatus 1. Thereafter, the substrate W discharged from the process apparatus 1 is received on the support pins 10 and positioned as described above, and then the movable block 16 is raised to transfer the holding plate W on the support pins 10 onto the arm 9. Then, the stepping motor 31 is operated to move the arm 9 to the substrate storage unit 8, and the substrate W is stored in, for example, the uppermost stage of the cassette 7.

Until the trouble of the process device 2 is resolved, the substrates W from the process device 1 are sequentially transported and stored in the substrate storage unit 8 in the above-described manner. During this time, the substrate W held by the temporary board receiving arm 12 from the support pins 10 is still held by the temporary board receiving arm 12 immediately after the occurrence of the trouble.

It should be noted that the substrate W transferred from the process apparatus 1 to the substrate storage unit 8 until the trouble of the process apparatus 2 is resolved is the same as when the trouble of the process apparatus 2 occurs.
The substrate W was in the process apparatus 1. In other words, when a trouble occurs in the process device 2, the supply of the new substrate W to the process device 1 is stopped, but the processing on the substrate W already in the process device 1 is continued without stopping. The substrate W has been received by the substrate storage unit 8.

When the trouble in the lower process device 2 is resolved, the substrate temporary receiving arm 12 is lowered, and the substrate W mounted and stored thereon is firstly transferred onto the support pins 10. In consideration of the fact that the substrate may be displaced, the substrate W is positioned by the substrate alignment means 11 and then sent out to the process apparatus 2 and thereafter transferred to the substrate transfer mechanism 6 in the order of the substrate storage unit 8. Then, the substrate W stored in the storage device is taken out and discharged to the process device 2.

As described above, when a trouble occurs in the lower process device 2, the interface device 3 immediately transfers the substrate W supported by the support pins 10 to the substrate temporary receiving arm 12.
Is lifted upward, the interface device 3 is in a state where it can receive the substrate W from the upper process device 1, and without stopping the upper process device 1,
The interface device 3 receives the substrate W from the better process device 1. After that, since the substrate W is transferred to the interface device 3 only in synchronization with the processing device 1 on the better side processing the substrate W, the arm 9 of the interface device 3 stores the substrate W in the substrate storage unit 8. The substrate W is received at a sufficient time interval. Thus, the board transfer mechanism 6 of the interface device 3
Even if a trouble occurs in the lower process device 2 when the substrate is present, the substrate can be stored without affecting the better process device 1.

In the above-described embodiment, the substrate W is positioned by the substrate aligning means 11 when the substrate is transferred. However, the process device on the better side can provide the substrate transfer mechanism 6 of the interface device 3 with a sufficiently accurate positioning accuracy. If it is possible to transfer the substrate by the above, there is no need to perform positioning in the interface device 3. Further, the substrate W is transferred from the substrate temporary receiving arm 12 in the interface device 3 to the substrate delivery mechanism 6.
During the transfer, the positioning was performed by the substrate aligning means 11, but this was due to the fact that the substrate may have shifted on the temporary substrate receiving arm 12 as described above. If there is no such positioning, there is no need to perform such positioning. As described above, the substrate alignment means 11 in the above-described embodiment is not always necessary in the present invention.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, assuming that the process device 1 is the upper process device and the process device 2 is the lower process device, the movement of the substrate W is performed in one way from the process device 1 to the process device 2. However, the following may be performed.

That is, a substrate supply / recovery device for supplying an unprocessed substrate or recovering a processed substrate is provided adjacent to the process apparatus 1,
The unprocessed substrate supplied from the substrate supply / recovery device is subjected to the first processing by the process device 1, transported to the process device 2 via the interface device 3, and subjected to the second process by the process device 2.
After that, the processed substrate may be recovered to the substrate supply / recovery device via the process device 1 via the interface device 3. The interface device 3 transfers the processed substrate from the process device 1 to the process device 2. Both the conveyed substrate being processed and the processed substrate returning from the process apparatus 2 to the process apparatus 1 may be transferred.

In this case, the processing apparatus 1 is on the lower side and the processing apparatus 2 is on the lower side for the substrate being processed, and the processing apparatus 2 is on the lower side and the processing apparatus 1 is on the lower side for the processed substrate.

Further, the substrate delivery mechanism described in the above-described embodiment, the substrate storage / unloading mechanism for taking in and out the substrate between the substrate delivery mechanism and the substrate storage unit, and the mechanism for driving the substrate temporary receiving arm are variously modified. It is possible and not limited to those described in the embodiments.

<Effect of the Invention> In the present invention, in addition to the substrate storage unit for storing and storing a plurality of substrates, a temporary substrate receiving arm for lifting and holding only one substrate on the substrate transfer mechanism is provided. Effect.

In other words, if the substrate transfer mechanism of the interface device receives a substrate from the upstream process device, but the substrate has not yet been transferred to the downstream process device and a trouble occurs in the downstream process device, the substrate is transferred when the trouble occurs. The substrate supported by the mechanism is held by the substrate temporary receiving arm and immediately rises and stands by.After that, the substrate is delivered only in a cycle in which the better process device processes the substrate. Substrates are received at a time interval sufficient to store the substrates in the substrate storage unit. In short, even if a problem occurs in the lower process device when there is a substrate in the substrate transfer mechanism, the upper process device is affected. The substrate can be stored without exerting any influence.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a plan view of a main part of an interface device between substrate processing apparatuses according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the interface device, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a substrate delivery mechanism, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a front view of a substrate delivery mechanism, FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a substrate storage mechanism extracted to a substrate storage unit, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are operation explanatory diagrams of a substrate positioning mechanism. is there. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Upper process device 2 ... Lower process device 3 ... Interface device 6 ... Substrate delivery mechanism 8 ... Substrate storage part 9 ... Arm (substrate storage / unloading mechanism) 12 ... Substrate temporary receiving arm

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────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] A first processing apparatus for processing a substrate and a second processing apparatus for processing the substrate;
An interface device interposed between the two process devices, a substrate transfer mechanism for transferring a substrate between the substrate transfer means of the two process devices, a substrate storage unit capable of storing a plurality of substrates, It has a substrate storage and unloading mechanism for taking in and out the substrate between the storage unit and the substrate transfer mechanism, and a vertically movable substrate temporary receiving arm that lifts and holds the substrate supported by the substrate transfer mechanism above the substrate transfer mechanism. An interface device between substrate processing apparatuses, comprising: