JP2847489B2 - Disk transport device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an apparatus for transporting a disk such as a semiconductor substrate such as a silicon wafer or a magnetic recording medium substrate.

[0002]

For example, in semiconductor manufacturing, cleaning of a silicon wafer has an important meaning. This cleaning process is conventionally performed manually. At this time, as shown in FIG. 17, the transfer of the silicon wafer is performed. That is, the silicon wafer housed and placed in the resin container (resin carrier) 60 at a pitch of 4.76 mm is washed and then transferred to the quartz glass container (quartz boat) 61 at a pitch of 3 mm. .

[0003] However, in such a manual process in the advanced technology field, not only is there concern about contamination, but also the work efficiency is significantly reduced. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus capable of conveying a disk with a changed pitch. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus used for transporting a silicon wafer before and after a semiconductor silicon wafer cleaning step.

[0004]

The above object is achieved by forming a plurality of disks with disk holding grooves formed at a predetermined pitch.
From the first container, dice at a pitch different from that of the first container.
A device for transporting to a second container provided with a disk holding groove.
I receive a disk from the first container, the receiving
Move the disc to the gripping position by the disk gripping means.
A first auxiliary transfer means for pushing up by the disc gripping
Moving the means from the first container position to the second container position
Transfer means for transferring and a disk from the disk gripping means
And the disc is received in the second container
And a second auxiliary transfer means to be lowered and stored in the
The disk gripping means grips a plurality of disks at once.
It is configured so that the disc interval can be changed while holding
And the distance between each other provided in the facing state is
A first pair of movable gripping arms;
The disc holding groove of the vessel and the second container is
Is inclined by an angle θ with respect to the vertical line, and the first container and
Configured it will be so housed in the spare second container, before
The first auxiliary transfer means and the second auxiliary transfer means are
Is tilted by an angle θ with respect to the vertical line.
And the disk gripping means is moved to the first position.
Transfer means for transferring from a container position to the second container position
Is tilted by an angle θ with respect to the horizontal plane.
The present invention solves the above problem by a disk transport device characterized by being configured as described above .

[0005] In this disk gripping means, in particular, a disk holding member is provided at a predetermined pitch on the opposing surface side of the gripping arm, and the pitch of the disk holding member is enlarged or reduced to reduce the disk interval between the gripping arms. Can be configured to change.

Further, as the gripping arm, a first horizontal link, a second horizontal link, and an upper end are rotatable with respect to the first horizontal link, and a lower end is rotatable with respect to the second horizontal link. A parallel link structure having a plurality of vertical links connected to the vertical link, wherein a disc holding member is provided on the vertical link and the grip arm is deformed to increase or decrease the pitch of the disc holding member. In addition, there can be cited one configured to change the disk interval between the gripping arms.

The disk holding member may be provided so as to be inclined with respect to a vertical line so that the disk held by the disk holding member is substantially in the same direction as the disk stored in the disk storage container. preferable. this is,
Normally, this is for accommodating that the disk is stored in the container in an inclined state, and the disk holding member is substantially parallel to the disk surface, so that the disk can be easily gripped.

Preferably, the disk holding member is detachable from the vertical link. With such a structure, it is possible to cope with discs having different thicknesses and diameters only by replacing the claws with different ones.

When a partially cut-out disk is used, the disk is rotated while being stored in the first container or the second container so that the notch is at the same position. It is preferable to provide a notch alignment means for alignment. That is, when using a disk provided with a notch, the disks must be aligned so that the notch exists directly above or below. By providing the notch alignment means, this process can be performed quickly, and further labor saving can be achieved.

Further, in the direction in which the gripping arms approach each other,
It is preferable to include an urging means for always applying a force. Thus, even if the output of the driving means for bringing the gripping arm close to suddenly becomes zero during the operation, the gripping state of the disk is maintained by the urging means, so that damage to the disk due to falling can be prevented. In the disk transport device configured as described above, a disk, particularly a silicon wafer, can be transferred from container to container without relying on humans, so that there is no danger of contamination. In addition, since a large number of disks can be handled at a time, the processing speed can be remarkably increased as compared with the conventional method in which the disks are transferred one by one, and the working efficiency can be greatly improved. Furthermore, a grip arm having a parallel link structure is provided, and by deforming the grip arm, the interval between the vertical links on which the disk holding members are arranged is changed, so that the disk interval between the grip arms can be set almost steplessly. Can be changed. Therefore, it is possible to easily cope with the case where a special container having the disc holding grooves formed at a pitch different from the usual case is used.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6 show the structure of a silicon wafer (disk) transfer device. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the silicon wafer transfer device, FIG. 2 is a side view of the device, and FIG. ), FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the tip of the gripping arm, FIG. 5 is a front view of the carriage, and FIGS. 6A and 6B are side views for explaining a mechanism for deforming the gripping arm. 7 to 1
6 relates to the description of the operation of the silicon wafer transfer device.

A silicon wafer transfer apparatus according to the present embodiment, whose overall structure is shown in FIG. 1, generally includes a base 1 and a carriage 2.
Consists of The carriage 2 includes a rail 4 provided on a back plate 3.
a, 4b. A ball screw mechanism composed of a shaft 6 connected to an output shaft of a motor 5 and a nut 8 (see FIG. 3 or 5) fixed to a casing 7 of the carriage 2 is used for the driving. A groove 9 is provided in the back plate 3 along the shaft 6 to provide a passage for the nut 8.

As shown in FIG. 2, the rails 4a and 4b and the shaft 6 are inclined by an angle θ with respect to a horizontal plane. This is to cope with the fact that the silicon wafer is pushed up while being inclined by the same angle θ with respect to the vertical line. On the top surface of the base 1, from the right side, an orientation flat (notch) alignment table 10, a resin carrier table 11, and a quartz boat table 12 are arranged.

The orientation flat aligning table 10 includes a roller 1
3 (notch alignment means). When a resin carrier is set on the orientation flat aligning table 10, the roller 13 comes into contact with an edge of a silicon wafer housed in the resin carrier. The surface of the roller 13 is made of a material having a high coefficient of friction and a high elasticity, and is rotated by a belt driven by a motor 14 provided in the base 1. Although not shown in detail, the roller 13 is vertically displaceable and can protrude from the steady position by about several mm.

The central portion of the resin carrier table 11 is cut out, and the resin carrier table 11
The head 15 (first auxiliary transfer means) that receives the silicon wafer from the resin carrier set in the standby state is on standby. The dimensions of the head 15 are slightly smaller than the openings formed in the bottom surface of the resin carrier, and the number of silicon wafer holding grooves and the pitch thereof are the same as those of the resin carrier. The head 15 is attached to the tip of a push rod 16 driven by a ball screw mechanism, and pushes up the silicon wafer to a gripping position by the carriage 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the push rod 16 projects in a direction inclined by an angle θ with respect to a vertical line, that is, in a direction orthogonal to the rails 4a and 4b and the shaft 6.

The basic structure of the quartz boat table 12 is the same as that of the resin carrier table 11. That is, the central portion is cut out, and the heads 17a, 17b, 18a, 18b (second auxiliary transfer means) stand by in this notch. The heads 17a and 17b and the heads 18a and 18b can receive the same number of silicon wafers as the head 15, and function alternately. For example, while the heads 17a and 17b are operating, the heads 18a and 18b are in a standby state, and when receiving the next silicon wafer, only the heads 18a and 18b operate.

The heads 17a and 17b are provided at the tips of push rods 19a and 19b driven by a ball screw mechanism, and the heads 18a and 18b are also provided with push rods 20 similarly driven by a ball screw mechanism.
a, 20b. Then, the silicon wafer is moved up to the receiving position of the silicon wafer gripped and conveyed by the carriage 2, and the received silicon wafer is lowered into the quartz boat set on the quartz boat table 12.
Let it be stored. The push rods 19a, 19b and the push rods 20a, 20b also protrude in a direction inclined by an angle θ with respect to the vertical line, as shown in FIG.

Next, the structure of the carriage 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 3, 21, 22
Is a gripping arm, and as will be described later, the distance can be changed by the action of a drive mechanism provided in the casing 7. Since the gripping arm 21 and the gripping arm 22 are bilaterally symmetric, the structure of the gripping arm 21 will be described as an example.

As shown in FIG. 4, the holding arm 21 has an upper link 23 and a lower link 24 connected by a plurality of L-shaped vertical links 25. Bearings are used at all connection points, and the vertical links 25 rotate smoothly. Therefore, the grip arm 21 can be smoothly deformed. The connection point interval is equal to the silicon wafer holding groove interval (4.76 mm) of the resin carrier. A link 26 connecting the upper link 23 and the lower link 24 on the side.
Serves as a reinforcement. Although FIG. 4 shows only six vertical links 25 for convenience, there are 19 similar links following them.

At the end of the vertical link 25, a claw 27 is detachably provided. The claw 27 has a silicon wafer holding groove 27a having a wedge-shaped cross section. The reason why the claw 27 is detachable is that when a silicon wafer having a different diameter or thickness is handled, it can be easily replaced with another claw corresponding thereto. The distance between the gripping arms 21 and 22 is variable as described above. Thereby, the silicon wafer is switched from the gripped state to the non-gripped state, and from the non-gripped state to the gripped state. FIG. 5 shows a mechanism for changing the distance between the gripping arms 21 and 22.

In FIG. 5, reference numerals 28 and 29 denote air cylinder tubes to which the lower links of the gripping arms 21 and 22 are attached. The shaft indicated by 30 is a piston rod shared by the air cylinder tubes 28 and 29. The cross section of the shaft 30 is a perfect circle, and the air cylinder tubes 28 and 29 can freely rotate around them. A tension spring (biasing means) 31 is stretched between the air cylinder tube 28 and the air cylinder tube 29, and a force is constantly applied in a direction in which the two approach each other.

Numerals 32 and 33 are sliders to which upper links of the gripping arms 21 and 22 are attached. The sliders 32 and 33 are spline-coupled to a shaft 34 provided in parallel with the shaft 30. That is, the ridges are provided on the peripheral surface of the shaft 34 at 120 ° intervals, and the ridges are provided on the inner peripheral surfaces of the bearing portions of the sliders 32, 33 at the corresponding 120 ° intervals. Therefore, the sliders 32 and 33 can be displaced along the axial direction of the shaft 34, but cannot rotate around the shaft 34 (however, they can rotate together with the shaft 34).

Between the slider 32 and the slider 33,
The tension spring 35 is stretched and the air cylinder tube 2
As in the case of 8, 29, both are always
The force is acting. The air cylinder tube 28 and the slider 32 are connected via the grip arm 21. On the other hand, the air cylinder tube 29 and the slider 33 are connected via the grip arm 22. Therefore, by supplying air to the air cylinder tubes 28 and 29, the distance between the grip arms 21 and 22 changes.

The reason why the tension springs 31 and 35 are provided is to prevent the silicon wafer from unexpectedly dropping. That is, even if the air pressure suddenly drops during the operation, the gripping state of the silicon wafer is maintained by the action of the tension springs 31 and 35, and the silicon wafer does not drop.
Next, a mechanism for deforming the gripping arms 21 and 22 will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, reference numeral 36 denotes a crank attached to the shaft 34. A roller 37 is provided at the end of the crank arm of the crank 36. A lever 40 is rotatably supported by a pin 39 erected on a base plate 38 to which the casing 7 is attached. A long hole 40a is formed at the upper end of the lever 40,
7 is loosely fitted.

The upper end of the lever 40 and the base plate 3
A tension spring 41 is stretched between the pin 39 ′ protruding from the pin 8 and a counterclockwise force is applied to the lever 40 by the tension spring 41. A roller 42 is provided at the lower end of the lever 40, and the roller 42 is brought into contact with the eccentric cam 43. The eccentric cam 43 is driven by a motor 44 attached to the base plate 38,
Rotate around 5. The notch 46 (see FIG. 1) formed in the back plate 3
When it moves with 8, it serves as its path.

The gripping arms 21 and 22 are deformed as follows. First, the eccentric cam 4 is operated by operating the motor 44.
3 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 6A. Then
The position regulation of the lever 40 is released by the eccentric cam 43,
The pin 39 is rotated about the pin 39 by the tension of the tension spring 41. At this time, since the roller 37 receives an upward force from the inner peripheral surface of the long hole 40a, the crank 37, the shaft 34, and the sliders 32, 33 are rotated counterclockwise. Thus, the upper link and the lower link of the gripping arms 21 and 22 are inclined as shown in FIG. 6B, and the gripping arms 21 and 22 are deformed into a parallelogram.

In the state shown in FIG. 6B, the grip arms 21 and
The vertical link 22 is in close contact with the front and rear links. In particular, the interval between the silicon wafer holding grooves 27a is equal to the pitch of the silicon wafer holding grooves of the quartz boat and is 3 mm. Incidentally, the distance between the silicon wafer holding grooves 27a after the gripping arms 21 and 22 are deformed depends on the rotation angles of the upper link and the lower link. Therefore, the distance between the silicon wafers can be adjusted almost steplessly within the range of 3 to 4.76 mm. However, when the interval is larger than 3 mm, it is necessary to stop the carriage 2 slightly before the case where the interval is 3 mm. This is because, when the amount of rotation of the upper link and the lower link is small, the amount of deformation of the gripping arms 21 and 22 is smaller than in the case where the distance is 3 mm, and therefore the amount of retreat of the silicon wafer is insufficient. That is, the carriage 2 must be stopped slightly before to compensate for the shortage of the retreat amount.

The carriage 2 has a mechanism for restricting the gripping arms 21 and 22 from being too close. As shown in FIG. 3, stoppers 47 and 48 attached to gripping arms 21 and 22, respectively,
It consists of a rail 49 on which 48 is mounted. At the center of the rail 49, there is a projection 49a, and when the gripping arms 21 and 22 are brought close to each other, the adjuster 47 screwed to the stoppers 47 and 48
a, 48a contact the convex portion 49a from the left and right. As a result, the gripping arms 21 and 22 can no longer approach each other. The protrusion lengths of the adjusters 47a and 48a are variable.
The maximum proximity distance of 22 can be as desired.

Next, how the transfer device having the above structure transfers a silicon wafer from a resin carrier to a quartz boat will be described with reference to FIGS. However, the front views (FIGS. 10, 11, and 15) are not looking from the horizontal direction but looking up at the same angle as the inclination angle of the rails 4a and 4b. Prior to the transfer of the silicon wafer, orientation flat alignment is performed. This is an operation for adjusting the orientation of the silicon wafer that has been disturbed by the cleaning process, and is performed as follows.

First, the resin carrier 50 is set on the orientation flat alignment table 10. In this state, the edge of the silicon wafer protruding from the opening on the bottom surface of the resin carrier is in pressure contact with the roller 13, and the portion is depressed. When the roller 13 is rotated, the silicon wafer
3 until the frictional force stops working. That is, the silicon wafer F stored as shown in FIG. 8A rotates until the orientation flat (strictly, the center of the orientation flat) reaches the position of 6 o'clock, and is in the state as shown in FIG. 8B.

The motor 14 for driving the roller 13 is controlled by a timer, and the roller 13 rotates for several seconds. As a result, the orientation of the silicon wafer F disturbed by the cleaning process becomes uniform. It should be noted that the silicon wafer stored in the proper position from the beginning does not come into contact with the roller 13 and thus remains as it is. When the process of aligning the orientations of all the silicon wafers F so that the orientation flat is at the position of 6 o'clock is completed, the roller 13 becomes several mm
It rises to the extent, and again presses against the edge of the silicon wafer F.
Then, the silicon wafer F is rotated by 180 ° to bring the orientation flat to a final state at the 12 o'clock position.

Next, the resin carrier 50 is set on the resin carrier table 11. The head 15 is on standby below the set resin carrier 50, and projects through an opening in the bottom surface of the resin carrier. At this time, the head 15 receives the silicon wafer F from the resin carrier 50 and pushes up the silicon wafer F to the gripping position of the carriage 2 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 shows a state where the silicon wafer F is pushed up to the maximum height. In this state, the holding arm 2
The heads 15 and 22 approach and the head 15 descends to its original position. Thus, the silicon wafer F is brought into a gripping state as shown in FIG. When the holding of the silicon wafer F is completed, the carriage 2 moves to the quartz boat table 12 side as shown in FIG. Then, the grip arms 21 and 22 are deformed into a parallelogram as shown in FIG. As a result, the silicon wafer F which was initially 4.76 mm in a state of being housed in the resin carrier 50 was obtained.
Is changed to 3 mm.

When the interval change is completed, the quartz boat table 12 on which the quartz boat 51 is set is moved from FIG.
As shown in FIG.
a, 17b protrude. The heads 17a and 17b receive the silicon wafer F in order from the one located below. At this time, the distance between the gripping arms 21 and 22 does not change. This is because the silicon wafer F can be extracted upward without expanding the gripping arms 21 and 22.

FIG. 15 shows a state immediately before the removal of the silicon wafer F is completed.
In between, several silicon wafers F remain in a gripped state. When the heads 17a and 17b receive all the silicon wafers F, the gripping arms 21 and 22 expand. Then, as shown in FIG. 16, the heads 17a and 17b are lowered to the original positions while the silicon wafer F is mounted. On the way, the silicon wafer F is stored in the storage space in the front half of the quartz boat 51.

Since the number of stored quartz boats 51 is twice as large as that of the resin carrier 50, the above-described transport process is repeated once. In the second transport step, the carriage 2
Stops shortly before the first time. And quartz boat 1
Heads 18a and 18b protrude from 2 and these receive the silicon wafer F from the gripping arms 21 and 22 and store it in the storage space in the rear half of the quartz boat 51.
Thus, the transfer of the silicon wafer F from the resin carrier 50 to the quartz boat 51 is completed.

Since the silicon wafer F is subjected to the heat treatment for impurity diffusion and the cleaning treatment alternately and repeatedly, the silicon wafer F is transferred from the resin carrier 50 to the quartz boat 51,
The transfer from the quartz boat 51 to the resin carrier 50 is also performed alternately. The transfer from the resin carrier 50 to the quartz boat 51 is as described above.
The transfer from the resin carrier 50 to the resin carrier 50 is performed in a procedure in which the process of transferring the resin carrier 50 to the quartz boat 51 is reversed. That is, the heads 17a and 17b (18
a, 18b) serve as first auxiliary transfer means for pushing up the silicon wafer F received from the quartz boat 51 to a holding position by the holding arms 21, 22. Also, the head 15 plays a role as a second auxiliary transfer means. That is, both functions are reversed.

As described above, in the silicon wafer transfer device of the present embodiment, the transfer of the silicon wafer from the resin carrier to the quartz boat and from the quartz boat to the resin carrier can be performed at one time, so that the working efficiency can be greatly improved. .
And there is no fear of contaminating the silicon wafer as in the case of manual operation. In particular, in the present embodiment, the spacing between the silicon wafers is changed using the gripping arm having the parallel link structure. Therefore, the interval between the silicon wafers can be freely set, and it is possible to cope with a special resin carrier or quartz boat in which the silicon wafer holding grooves are not formed at a regular pitch.

[0040]

According to the present invention, a plurality of discs can be transported at a time while changing the pitch, and transfer from container to container can be performed efficiently. In particular, when targeting silicon wafers,
There is no need to worry about pollution as when relying on manual labor.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a silicon wafer transfer device.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the silicon wafer transfer device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a carriage.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a tip portion of a gripping arm.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the carriage.

6A and 6B are side views showing a mechanism for tilting a gripping arm in both FIGS.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a state where a resin carrier is set on a resin carrier table.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are side views for explaining processing by an orientation flat alignment table;

FIG. 9 is a side view showing a state where the silicon wafer is placed on the head and is being pushed up to the carriage position.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing a state where the silicon wafer is pushed up to a maximum height.

FIG. 11 is a front view showing a state where the gripping arm grips the silicon wafer.

FIG. 12 is a side view showing a state where the carriage has been moved to a position above the quartz boat table.

FIG. 13 is a side view showing a state in which the gripping arm of the carriage is deformed to reduce the distance between the silicon wafers.

FIG. 14 is a side view showing a state where a head for receiving a silicon wafer is protruded from a quartz boat table.

FIG. 15 is a front view showing a state in which the head is receiving a silicon wafer from the carriage.

FIG. 16 is a side view showing a state where the head which has received all the silicon wafers is returning to the original position.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of a resin carrier and a quartz boat to which a silicon wafer is transferred.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 base 2 carriage 10 orientation flat alignment table 11 resin carrier table 12 quartz boat table 13 roller 15 head 17a, 17b head 18a, 18b head 21, 22 gripping arm 27 claw 50 resin carrier 51 quartz boat F silicon wafer

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for recording a plurality of disks at a predetermined pitch.
From the first container in which the disk holding groove is formed, the first container
A disk holding groove formed at a pitch different from that of the
An apparatus for transporting a disc to a container, the disc receiving the disc from the first container,
Press the disc to the gripping position by the disc gripping means.
Raising the first auxiliary transfer means and the disk holding means from the first container position to the second
Transfer means for transferring to the second container position and the disk gripper
Receiving the disk from the means, this received disk
Auxiliary transfer for lowering and storing in the second container
Means, and the disk gripping means grips a plurality of disks at once.
It is configured so that the disc interval can be changed while holding
And the distance between each other provided in the facing state is
It comprises a pair of variable gripping arms, wherein the disk holding grooves of the first container and the second container are
The disk is inclined by an angle θ with respect to a vertical line and
And configured to be housed in the first container and the second container.
Is made by the first auxiliary transport means and the second auxiliary transfer means,
Its operation direction is inclined by an angle θ with respect to the vertical line
The disc gripping means is moved from the first container position to the second container position.
The transfer means for transferring to the second container position has
It is configured to be inclined by an angle θ with respect to the horizontal plane
Disk carrying apparatus characterized by comprising. 2. A structure in which disk holding members are provided at a predetermined pitch on the opposing surface side of the gripping arms, and the pitch of the disk holding members is enlarged or reduced to change a disk interval between the gripping arms. 2. The disk transport device according to claim 1 , wherein: 3. The gripping arm includes a first lateral link, a second lateral link, and an upper end connected to the first lateral link, and
A lower link having a parallel link structure having a plurality of vertical links rotatably connected to the second horizontal link, wherein the vertical link is provided with a disk holding member; 3. The disk transport according to claim 1, wherein a pitch of the disk holding member is enlarged or reduced to change a disk interval between the gripping arms. 4. apparatus. 4. The disk transport device according to claim 3 , wherein the disk holding member is detachable from a vertical link. 5. The disk holding member is provided so as to be inclined with respect to a vertical line so that the disk held by the disk holding member is substantially in the same direction as the disk stored in the disk storage container. The disk transport device according to claim 3 or 4 , wherein 6. When a partially cut-out disk is used, the disk is rotated while being stored in the first container or the second container, and the notch is positioned at the same position. disc conveying device according to any claims 1 to 5, characterized in that comprises a positioning means notches align. 7. A direction gripping arms are close to each other, at all times, the disc carrying device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that comprises a biasing means for applying a force.