JP2831820B2 - Substrate transfer device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate transfer apparatus in a processing apparatus for performing processing such as etching on a substrate such as a semiconductor substrate.

[Prior Art] As is well known, in semiconductor manufacturing technology, the size of semiconductor substrates is increasing in order to improve productivity, and with the advancement of silicon single crystal technology, large diameters of 5 inches to 8 inches are used. Things have appeared. In addition, the demand for liquid crystal displays is large but large, and large liquid crystal substrates are increasing.

When the size of a semiconductor substrate or a liquid crystal substrate (hereinafter, referred to as a substrate) becomes large, a substrate processing apparatus that performs a process such as plasma ashing or plasma etching on these substrates has a uniform processing speed and a high processing speed. High speed is required.

For this reason, in recent years, this substrate processing apparatus has become the mainstream, instead of the conventional batch-type apparatus, a single-wafer-type apparatus having excellent performance as described above.

The single-wafer-type substrate processing apparatus is a type of substrate processing apparatus that processes substrates one by one, and generally includes a chamber in which processing is performed and a cassette for loading and unloading substrates.

This type of plasma processing apparatus requires a transfer device for transferring substrates one by one between a processing chamber and both cassettes. Conventionally, this transfer device includes a rotating belt. In general, the belt has a structure in which a substrate is placed on the belt and transported.

By the way, in the case of the substrate transfer device using the belt, a large amount of dust is generated from the belt by the movement of the belt, and the dust easily adheres to the substrate which is extremely susceptible to contamination. There was a problem that became worse.

Further, since the substrate is transported by the frictional force (adhesive force) of the belt, the positioning is likely to be inaccurate, and there has been a problem that an accident such as breakage of the substrate often occurs.

Therefore, a transfer device including a manipulator (a so-called robot) having an arm portion provided with a hand for mounting a substrate at the tip is being used as a solution to the above problem.

"Problems to be solved by the invention" However, the transfer device composed of this robot
Conventionally, only one robot is mounted.For example, to set the next substrate in the chamber, first take out the processed substrate in the chamber, store it in the unloading cassette, and then The processed substrate and the unprocessed substrate must be transported sequentially, such as taking out the substrate from the load cassette and setting it in the chamber.

Therefore, there is a problem that the time required for transporting the substrate is long, and the throughput of the processing apparatus (the number of processed substrates per unit time) is reduced.

By the way, it is conceivable to arrange a transfer device by arranging two robots side by side. However, even in this case, the throughput cannot be improved because of the interference between the robots. The problem is that the area becomes large and the area occupied in an expensive clean room increases.

For example, as shown in FIG.
When robots 4a and 4b having arms 3a and 3b operating along the upper surface of the robot and rotating and moving the hands 2a and 2b are arranged side by side, the robot 4a turns the hand 2a in the direction indicated by the symbol A1 to When 2a moves forward, the robot
It interferes with 4b hand 2b. The same occurs in the direction indicated by reference numeral A2, and the range indicated by reference numeral A is a blind spot where both hands 2a, 2b of the two robots 4a, 4b cannot be extended. The same applies when viewed from the robot 4b side, and the range indicated by the reference sign B (the range between the directions indicated by the reference signs B1 and B2) has the same blind spot.

For this reason, when chambers are placed in the blind spots A and B, two robots cannot be used to transfer substrates in and out at the same time. Become. In a processing apparatus in which each device must be arranged at a high density in order to make the whole compact, a transfer apparatus having such a large blind spot is practically less than a transfer apparatus including one robot. It can hardly be expected to improve the throughput.

In addition, not only the transfer time cannot be shortened, but also the space for arranging the robot becomes long, so that in a multi-chamber processing apparatus having a plurality of processing chambers, it is not possible to arrange the processing chambers at a high density. As a result, the processing apparatus becomes larger.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional circumstances, and has as its object to provide a substrate transfer apparatus which requires a small arrangement space and can transfer a substrate in a substrate processing apparatus in a short time.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The substrate transfer apparatus of the present invention is provided in a polygonal transfer chamber in a semiconductor substrate processing apparatus, and includes a driving unit and an arm unit that operates along one side surface of the driving unit. A substrate provided on a hand provided at the tip of the arm unit, the substrate being moved by a robot, wherein a drive source and a drive shaft are provided above and below the transfer chamber so that the one side faces each other. And a drive unit having the following configuration. Each of the drive units is provided, and the arm unit is connected to each of the drive shafts.

[Operation] According to the substrate transfer apparatus of the present invention, the arm, the hand, or the substrate mounted on the hand does not interfere with each other regardless of the direction in which the respective arm of each robot operates. The robot hands can be simultaneously inserted into the processing chamber such that they overlap each other.

For this reason, regardless of the direction in which the processing chamber or the cassette is arranged with respect to the transfer device, the transfer of the substrates can be performed at substantially the same time by using the upper and lower robots, thereby significantly reducing the transfer time of the substrates.

Moreover, since the robots are arranged vertically, the installation space can be kept at least as small as in the prior art.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a plasma processing apparatus configured using the substrate transfer apparatus of the present invention, and FIG.
It is II sectional drawing.

This plasma processing apparatus has a pentagonal column-shaped transfer chamber 10.
And a processing chamber 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d and a loading / unloading chamber 12 provided so as to protrude from each side of the transfer chamber 10, and the substrate transfer device 13 is installed in the transfer chamber 10. I have.

 First, parts other than the substrate transfer device 13 will be described.

Stages 14a, 14b, 14c, and 14d are provided at the bottom of the processing chambers 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d, respectively.
Various types of plasma processing (plasma etching, plasma ashing, etc.) are performed on the substrate (semiconductor substrate, liquid crystal substrate, or the like) mounted on the substrates 4a, 14b, 14c, and 14d.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, a vacuum pump (not shown) is provided through an exhaust passage 15 formed at the bottom of each processing chamber.
While the inside is evacuated to a predetermined processing pressure, the reaction gas flows from inside the electrode 16 provided on the
By applying high-frequency power to 16 to ionize the reaction gas, plasma can be generated on the stage and processing such as etching can be performed on the substrate surface.

The substrates are loaded and unloaded via a loading cassette 18 and an unloading cassette 19 provided in the loading and unloading chamber 12, respectively, between the processing chamber and each cassette (or The transfer of the substrates between the processing chambers is performed one by one via the transfer chamber 10 by the transfer device 13.

For example, the substrate loaded in the loading cassette 18 is put into the processing chamber via the transfer chamber 10, and after the processing, the substrate is moved again to the unloading cassette 19 via the transfer chamber 10. Has become.

In addition, each stage has a pusher 20 that raises and lowers the substrate.
The transfer of the substrate from the transport device 13 to each stage is performed by a cooperative operation of the pusher 20 and the transport device 13 described below. this is,
The same applies to each of the cassettes 18, 19,
19 also has a mechanism for raising and lowering the substrate.

The communication ports between the transfer chamber 10 and each processing chamber are provided with gate valves 21 for opening and closing the communication ports, respectively. During processing, the inside of the processing chamber is isolated from the transfer chamber 10 and sealed, so that the processing chamber is closed. Only inside is set to the processing pressure.

Also, the gate valve 22a, the opening to the outside of the loading and unloading chamber 12 and the communication port to the transfer chamber 10, respectively.
A base 22b is provided so that the base pressure in the transfer chamber 10 can be maintained.

That is, the inside of the loading / unloading chamber 12 can be evacuated by an exhaust system (not shown). After the gate valve 22a is opened and the loading / unloading of the substrate to / from the outside is performed, the cassette by the transport device is used. When the transfer is performed, the base pressure can be maintained by first reducing the internal pressure to the base pressure with both gate valves 22a and 22b closed, and then opening only the gate valve 22b.

 Next, the transport device 13 will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the transport device 13 includes a driving unit.
30 and a robot 32, 33 having an arm 31 that operates along one side surface 30a of the drive unit 30,
These robots 32 and 33 are arranged vertically so that the one side surface 30a faces each other. The center of rotation of each arm 31, that is, the center of the axis of the drive unit 30 is aligned with the center of the transfer chamber 10, the arm 31 is located in the transfer chamber 10, and the drive unit 30 extends vertically from the transfer chamber 10. The substrate is mounted on the transfer chamber 10 so as to be unloaded, and is moved by placing the substrate on a handle 34 provided at the tip of each arm 31.

Hereinafter, the transfer device 13 (that is, the robots 32 and 33)
The configuration of each part will be described.

First, as shown in FIG.
A case 40 having 40a and a flange portion 4 in the case 40
The second motor 42 disposed on the center line of the first motor 41a, the first motor 41 disposed in the case 40 alongside the second motor 42, and the base end of the second motor 42 on the center line of the flange portion 40a. A first drive shaft 43 that is located above and has a distal end protruding from the flange portion 40a, and a proximal end fixed to the output shaft of the second motor 42 and a distal end passing through the first drive shaft 43 The second drive shaft 44 provided to extend, the first drive shaft 43 and the flange portion 40a
And a magnetic seal 45 provided between them.

Then, at a position above the second motor 42 in the case 40,
A pulley 47 rotatably supported by a bearing 46a and fixed to the outer periphery of the base end of the first drive shaft 43 is provided.
The first drive shaft 43 is driven by the first motor 41 via a toothed belt 49 wound around a pulley 48 fixed to an output shaft of the first motor 41.

Here, the case 40 is attached to the upper or lower wall of the transfer chamber 10 with its axis (that is, the center line of the flange portion 40a) coincident with the center line of the transfer chamber 10 as described above. As shown in the figure, the flange portion 40a
The O-ring 39 attached to the
The joint between a and the transfer chamber 10 is sealed. The joining surface of the flange portion 40a is the one side surface 30a.

The motors 41 and 42 are, for example, pulse motors, and are servo-controlled by a pulse encoder (rotational position detector) or a controller (not shown) based on a taught operation program.

The first drive shaft 43 is supported by a case by a bearing 46b, and has a boss 50
a is fitted and fixed.

The tip of the second drive shaft 44 is formed by a bearing 46c.
The inner surface of the drive shaft 43 is rotatably supported, and a hole is formed in the end surface of the drive shaft 43, in which a flat claw 59 of a pulley 56 described later is fitted. With this fitting, the second drive shaft 44 is described later. The pulley 56 is connected to a shaft 56a.

Further, the magnetic seal 45 is a shaft sealing part having good sealing performance and sliding resistance characteristics using a magnetic fluid.

Next, the arm portion 31 is fixed to the tip of the first drive shaft 43 and extends along the one side surface 30a. The first arm 50 has a box shape, and is rotatably mounted on the top surface of the tip of the first arm 50. It is provided with a box-shaped second arm 51 which is connected and extends in the same direction as the first arm 50.

The first arm 50 has a boss 50 located on the lower surface of its base end.
The first arm 50 is fixed to the first drive shaft, and the first arm 50 is rotated by the rotation of the first drive shaft. It rotates along the one side surface 30a.

The second arm 51 also has a boss 51a extending from the lower surface of the base end thereof.
The second arm 51 is connected to the first arm 50 by bearings 53 and 54 attached to the outer periphery of a shaft 52 that extends into the distal end of the shaft 50 and is fixed to the bottom of the distal end. It can rotate along the side surface 30a.

A pulley 55 for a toothed belt is provided on the outer periphery of the boss portion 51a.
A toothed belt 57 is wound around the pulley 55 and a pulley 56 disposed in the base end of the first arm 50.

Here, the pulley 56 is disposed coaxially with the boss 50a, and the shaft 56a is rotatably mounted on the first arm 50 by being mounted via the bearing 58 in the boss 50a. Have been. The shaft of the pulley 56
A flat claw 59 is formed at the tip of 56a. As described above, this flat claw 59 is fitted to the tip of the second drive shaft 44,
The pulley 56 is connected to and driven by the second drive shaft 44. The number of teeth of the pulley 56 is twice as large as the number of teeth of the pulley 55.

A pulley 60 for a toothed belt is fixed to the tip of the shaft 52 extending into the second arm 51. The pulley 60, the second arm 51, and a pulley 61 disposed inside the tip are fixed to the pulley 60. A toothed belt 62 is wound.

Here, the pulley 61 is mounted on the bottom of the second arm 51 by a bearing 63.
The rotation axis is the shaft 52
Is parallel to The number of teeth of the pulley 61 is twice as large as the number of teeth of the pulley 60.

A shaft portion 61 a is formed on the upper surface of the pulley 61, and the tip of the shaft portion 61 a projects slightly outside the upper part of the second arm 51.

In FIG. 3, reference numerals 64 and 65 denote parts similar to those of the magnetic seal 45. The parts are the insertion part of the boss part 51a into the first arm 50 or the second part of the shaft part 61a. The gap between the projecting portion from the arm 51 is sealed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the hand 34 has a substrate mounting portion (for a semiconductor wafer in this case) 70 formed at the distal end, and the base end thereof is fixed to the upper surface of the shaft portion 61a. As a result, it also rotates along the one side surface 30a.

The substrate mounting portion 70 of the hand 34 has guides 71a, 71
It has a U-shaped mounting surface 70a formed with b, 71c, and when the substrate is placed between these guide portions, the substrate is supported in a state where the lower surface of the central part is desired on the back side of this hand 34. It is supposed to be.

The hand 34 is attached in such a manner that the mounting surface 70a in the upper robot 32 faces the drive unit 30 side, and the hand 34 is mounted in the lower robot 33.
a is mounted so as to face the opposite side to the drive unit 30, and in both cases, the mounting surface 70a faces upward.

In addition, in these robots 32 and 33, each arm 50 and 51
The distances L ₁ and L ₂ between the connecting portions of the hand 34 and the hand 34 are equal, and at least these arms 50 and 51 and the hand 34
Are extended in a straight line, the distances L ₁ , L ₂ and the length of the hand 34 are set so that the mounting portion 70 of the hand 34 can sufficiently reach the stage in each processing chamber or the cassettes 18 and 19 in the loading / unloading chamber 12. Is set.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the upper and lower robots 32, 3
The arrangement distance H of 3 is such that the distance h in the height direction between the two hands 34, 34 is sufficiently small, and each hand can be inserted into each chamber at the same time.
Also the lifting mechanism in each chamber (eg pusher 20)
It is set so that it can be located in the movable range of.

Next, the operation of the transfer device 13 in the substrate processing apparatus configured as described above will be described.

First, in the robot 32 or 33, the first motor 41
When only the first drive shaft 43 is actuated, the first arm 50 and the second arm 51 expand and contract like a pantograph, and the hand 34 advances and retreats horizontally as indicated by the symbol X in FIG. .

That is, for example, when the first drive shaft 43 rotates clockwise by 30 degrees when viewed from the direction (upward) in FIG. 1, the first arm 50 also rotates by 30 degrees in the same direction. At this time, since the pulley 56 is in a fixed state, the pulley 55 rotates in a direction opposite to the first arm 50 (counterclockwise in FIG. 1). In addition, the pulley 55, that is, the second arm 51 is 60
As a result, the first arm 50 in FIG.
Connection center A at the base end (rotation center of first drive shaft 43) and hand
The direction of the line connecting the connection center B at the base end (the rotation center of the pulley 61) does not change, and only its length increases. Similarly, at this time, the hand 34 rotates 30 degrees counterclockwise in FIG. 1 with respect to the second arm 51 by the action of the pulleys 60 and 61. , The hand 34 is positioned at the center A, B
Are moved forward in the direction of the tip (in the direction in which the mounting portion 70 is open) on a straight line connecting.

Further, if the first motor 41 and the second motor 42 are simultaneously operated and the first drive shaft 43 and the second drive shaft 44 are rotated in the same direction, the arms 50 and 51 and the hand 34 can move relative to each other. The one side surface 30a around the first drive shaft 43 without changing the position.
Rotate along.

In other words, as is clear from the above description, robot 3
Each of the hands 33 can move two-dimensionally by turning and moving back and forth along the one side surface 30a (that is, the horizontal plane) by the operation of the motors 41 and 42. According to the sequence of the operation program, the hand 34 can be sequentially moved to any position in each chamber in any direction.

The transport device 13 of the present embodiment has the robots 32 and 33 as described above, which are vertically opposed to each other.
The transfer of the substrate between the chambers can be performed in a much shorter time than before.

That is, no matter how the robots 32, 33 are moved, the arms 50, 51, the hand 34, or the substrate placed on the hand 34 do not interfere with each other. Since the substrates can be inserted into the respective processing chambers at the same time so as to be overlapped with each other, the substrates can be taken in and out of the processing chambers at the same time, and the transport time of the substrates can be significantly reduced.

Hereinafter, this operation and effect will be described with reference to actual examples. now,
For example, when processing is completed in the processing chamber 11a and processing of the next substrate is to be started, the following step S0
The transfer operation can be performed in a short time by the operation of Step S3.

[Step S0] advance the substrate K ₀ next to be processed (when the previous processing is performed), taken out from the load cassette 18, for example by the upper robot 32, previously placed on the hand 34. Further, the arm units 31 of the robots 32 and 33 are set in a standby posture. This step is a preparatory operation, and the processing time is sufficiently longer than the time required for moving the substrate, so that the step can be performed with a margin.

Here, the standby posture is a posture in which the hand 34 is retracted to the drive unit 30 side, as indicated by a symbol R in FIG. 1, and a posture in which a triangle is formed by the arms 50 and 51 and the hand 34. Therefore, if the robot is always moved based on such a posture, interference and the like can be surely prevented and safety is ensured.
(Hereinafter, the position of the hand when the robot is in the standby posture is referred to as a standby position.) [Step S1] As shown in FIG. 2, the pusher 2 of the processing chamber 14a
0 is raised to a height indicated at P _2, the processed substrate K
₁ is lifted to a position slightly above the mounting surface 70a of the lower hand 34. Then, the upper and lower robots 32 and 33 are simultaneously moved, the respective hands 34 and 34 are inserted into the processing chamber 11a, and the mounting unit 70 is positioned above the stage 14a.

At this time, since the mounting portion 70 of the hand 34 is in a U-shape, as described above, the lower mounting portion 70 of the substrate K ₁ so as to avoid interference with the pusher 20 of the lower hand 34 Inserted on the side.

By lowering to the lowest position indicated by reference numeral P ₁ at the step S2] pusher 20 Figure 2, placing the substrate K ₁ on the mounting portion 70 of the lower hand 34. Then, the lower robot 33 is operated to move the hand 34 backward and return to the standby position.

[Step S3] with the pusher 20 is raised to the position indicated by reference numeral P ₃ in FIG. 2, to float the upper hand 34 lift the substrate K _0. Then, by operating the upper robot 32 with return to the waiting position retracted the hand 34, the substrate K ₀ lowers the pusher 20 to the lowest position P ₁ stage 14
Set on a.

That is, out of the substrate is finished in the processing chamber 11a by the operation of these only three steps S1 to S3, after the by closing the gate valve 21, it is possible to start the process for processing the next substrate K ₀ .

On the other hand, in the case of a conventional transfer apparatus (even in a configuration in which two robots are arranged), the same operation must be performed by one robot, and as shown in FIG. The next process cannot be started unless 8 steps involving the movement of the hand at the same distance as S3 are executed.

Therefore, the time required for the operation of the pusher 20 and the like is the same, and in this case, according to the transport device 13 of the present embodiment, the transport time is reduced to half or less.

In the operation of the conventional robot (that is, hand) shown in FIG. 6, steps 1 to 3 are operations for taking out the processed substrate in the processing chamber and putting it in the unloading cassette. Steps 5 to 7 are operations for taking out an unprocessed substrate from the loading cassette and setting it in the processing chamber, and step 8 is an operation necessary for closing the gate valve.

And yet, even the 3 steps S1~S3 of this embodiment is performed, is a state in which the processed substrate K ₁ is placed still in the lower hand 34, the cassette unloading the substrate K ₁ 19
Can be executed with a sufficient margin during the next processing, and there is no effect on the transport time for loading and unloading the substrate.

As is clear from the above description, according to the substrate transfer apparatus 13 of the present embodiment, the substrate transfer time in the substrate processing apparatus is significantly reduced as compared with the conventional case, and the throughput of the substrate processing apparatus can be significantly improved. In addition, since the robots are arranged vertically, the size in the horizontal direction is at least the same as that of the related art, and the area occupied in the clean room of the substrate processing apparatus is not larger than that of the related art.

In the above embodiment, the specific operation of the transfer apparatus has been described in the case where only one processing chamber is used. However, the substrate processing apparatus has a large number of processing chambers as described above. Therefore, various kinds of processing to be performed on one substrate can be sequentially performed. In this case, the substrate needs to be transferred between the processing chambers, and the transfer can be performed in a much shorter time than before by using two upper and lower robots.

The upper and lower robots are arranged coaxially, but this is necessary for the ease of teaching (teaching of operation program) work and the compatibility of program data between the upper and lower robots. Yes, it is not essential for obtaining the effects of the present invention, and may be slightly shifted due to, for example, the arrangement of other devices.

Further, the present invention is not limited to disposing one robot at a time one by one, and two robots may be disposed at an upper part and a lower part, for example, when the processing apparatus has a larger number of processing chambers. In this case as well, there is no blind spot in the operating range between the upper and lower robots, and a processing device that is much smaller and has a higher throughput than when four robots are arranged side by side can be obtained.

Further, one aspect of the drive unit of the robot according to the present invention includes:
It is not necessary to be formed substantially in the drive unit as in the one side surface 30a of the above-described embodiment, and it is a matter of course that it may be a virtual reference plane parallel to the movement direction of the arm unit.

The configuration of the robot according to the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment as long as it has an arm that operates two-dimensionally to transfer a substrate. For example, a robot having a configuration as shown in FIG. It may be 79. Hereinafter, the robot 79 will be described.

The robot 79 includes a driving unit 8 similar to the robots 32 and 33.
Surface of the flange 83 formed on the case 82
0a) has an arm portion 81 composed of a first arm 84 and a second arm 85 that operate two-dimensionally along 0a), and a hand 86 similar to the hand 34 is connected to the tip of the second arm 85. It is.

However, as shown in FIG. 5, a rotating case 87 is rotatably provided in the case 82 by a bearing (not shown), and a first motor 88 for moving the hand 86 forward and backward is fixed in the rotating case 87. Cage, hand 86 and each arm 84, 85
Is configured to rotate with the rotary case 87 by a second motor 89 fixed to the case 82, and the like.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 90 denotes a rotating case.
A pulley formed at the lower end of the pulley 87. The rotating case 87 is driven through a belt 92 wound around the pulley 90 and a pulley 91 fixed to the output shaft of the second motor 89. It has become.

Reference numerals 93, 94, 95, 96 and 97, 98 indicate the pulleys 55, 56, 60, 61 and the belts 57, 62 of the above-described embodiment, respectively.
And a pulley and a belt that perform the same functions as the pulley. Here, the pulley 55 is formed at the upper end of the rotary case 87, and the pulley 93 is fixed to the second arm 85 by a shaft 99 that is rotatably supported through the first arm 84. Is fixed to the hand 86 by a shaft 100 that is rotatably supported through the second arm 85.

The reference numeral 101 denotes a case 8 of the rotating case 87.
This is a magnetic seal that seals the gap between the protruding portions from 2.

According to the robot 80, the hand 86 can be moved forward and backward by operating only the first motor 88, and the hand 86 can be turned together with the arms 84 and 85 by operating only the second motor 89. Robots 32, 33
By arranging them vertically in the same manner as described above, the transport device of the present invention can be configured to achieve the same effect.

Further, the robot of the present invention is not limited to a robot in which the hand can operate only two-dimensionally, and has, for example, a function of moving the hand up and down with respect to the arm, and a function of moving the arm and the entire hand up and down. The robot may have a configuration and can move the hand with more degrees of freedom. Even in this case, the same effect is exerted without any interference or blind spot occurring in the operation of the hand along one side surface of the drive unit.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the substrate transfer apparatus of the present invention, the substrate transfer time in the substrate processing apparatus is greatly reduced as compared with the conventional case, and the effect that the throughput of the substrate processing apparatus can be significantly improved is exhibited.

In addition, since the robots are arranged vertically, the size in the horizontal direction is at least the same as the conventional one, and the area occupied in the clean room of the substrate processing apparatus does not become larger than before.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 to 4 are views for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1 is a plan view of a substrate processing apparatus, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the robot, and FIG.
The figure is a plan view of the hand. FIG. 5 is a view for explaining a modified embodiment of the present invention, and is a sectional view of a robot. FIG. 6 is a comparative example for explaining a difference in transfer time between the conventional substrate transfer device and the substrate transfer device of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a problem of the conventional substrate transfer device. 30, 80 ...... drive unit, 30a, 80a ...... one aspect, 31, 81 ...... arm, 32,33,79 ...... robot, 34,86 ...... hand, K _1, K ₀ ...... substrate.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A robot provided in a polygonal transfer chamber of a semiconductor substrate processing apparatus, the robot comprising a driving unit and an arm operating along one side of the driving unit, and provided at a tip of the arm. A substrate transport apparatus for placing and moving a substrate on a hand, wherein a drive unit having a drive source and a drive shaft is disposed above and below the transport chamber so that the one side faces each other, A substrate transport device, wherein the arm unit is connected to each drive shaft.