JP2889657B2 - Plate transfer device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a plate-shaped object conveying device.

(Conventional technology) A transfer device that collectively transfers five wafers between a wafer carrier and a wafer holding jig has a plurality of screw shafts having different feed screw pitches coaxial for a right-hand screw and a left-hand screw, respectively. And a nut to be fitted to the screw, a wafer holder is provided on the nut, and the pitch at which the wafer is transferred is steplessly changed.
There is an official gazette.

Also, a plurality of movable bases for holding the wafer are arranged at equal pitches, the movable base is configured to be movable by a rotating screw shaft and a nut, and the rotating screw shaft is connected via an axially movable rotation transmitting unit. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-171237 discloses a method of changing the pitch of the movable base in a stepless manner by rotating the rotary screw shaft.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the technique of the former document, a screw shaft and a nut are provided respectively corresponding to the wafer holder, and the screw shaft is provided coaxially, so that the total length of the screw shaft is greatly increased. It is getting longer.
Therefore, there is a problem that the wafer pitch converter is unnecessarily increased in size.

Further, since the screw shaft and the nut of the right-handed screw or the left-handed screw are provided at an expensive dedicated screw pitch corresponding to the wafer holder, there is a problem that the wafer transfer device is complicated and expensive.

In addition, since a plurality of screw shafts and nuts are provided, there is a problem in that dust is largely generated from this portion, and the dust adheres to the transferred wafer to lower the yield of semiconductor elements.

The technique of the latter document is provided with a rotary screw shaft, a nut, and a rotation transmission unit that can move in the axial direction, respectively, corresponding to a movable base that holds a wafer. Therefore, there is a problem that the wafer pitch converter has a more complicated configuration than the former document.

In addition, since expensive rotary screw shafts, nuts and rotation transmitting parts are provided corresponding to the movable base for holding the wafer, there is a problem that the wafer transfer device becomes expensive.

In addition, there is a problem that the dust generated from the screw shaft, the nut, and the rotation transmitting portion is large, and the dust adheres to the transferred wafer, thereby lowering the yield of semiconductor devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has a simple and inexpensive configuration in which, when a plurality of plate-like bodies are held and transported by a plurality of arms, the arm intervals can be changed steplessly at equal intervals. The present invention is to provide a plate-shaped body conveying device which can generate less dust.

[Configuration of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) The plate-like body transport device according to claim 1 of the present invention transports a plurality of plate-like bodies while holding the plurality of plate-like bodies on a plurality of arms stacked at equal intervals in the vertical direction. In the plate-shaped body transfer device, the plurality of arms are connected so as to be able to move in parallel via a pantograph-type parallel movement mechanism, one end of the arm is fixed, and the other end of the arm is connected to a motor of one end. A moving means for approaching / separating by rotation is connected, optical sensors for detecting the position of the arm on the moving side are arranged at a predetermined pitch, and the optical sensor stops the rotation of the motor by a signal for detecting the position of the arm. Thus, the distance between the arms is changed at equal intervals.

Further, the plate-like body conveying device according to claim 2 is a plate-like body conveying device that holds and conveys a plurality of plate-like bodies on a plurality of arms stacked and arranged at equal intervals in a vertical direction. Are connected so as to be able to move in parallel via a pantograph-type parallel moving mechanism, and an arm at one end is fixed, and a moving means for moving the arm closer to or away from the arm at one end by the rotation of a stepping motor is connected to the arm at the other end. An origin sensor unit for detecting a predetermined origin position of the arm on the moving side is provided. By rotating the stepping motor by a predetermined angle based on the origin position of the arm detected by the origin sensor unit, the distance between the arms is Are changed at equal intervals.

(Operation) According to the plate-like body transfer device of the first aspect, the plurality of arms are connected so as to be able to move in parallel via a pantograph-type parallel movement mechanism, one end of the arm is fixed, and the other end is connected to the other end of the arm. A moving means for moving the arm closer to or away from the arm at one end by a rotation of a motor is connected, and optical sensors for detecting the position of the arm on the moving side are arranged at a predetermined pitch, and the optical sensor detects the position of the arm. Since the rotation of the motor is stopped by a signal to change the distance between the arms at equal intervals, it is possible to accurately change the distance between the arms at a predetermined pitch with a simple configuration. Thus, it is possible to reduce the generation of dust and improve the yield of the element made from the plate-like body.

Further, according to the plate-like body transfer device of the second aspect, the plurality of arms are connected so as to be able to move in parallel via a pantograph-type parallel movement mechanism, one end of the arm is fixed, and this is connected to the other end of the arm. An arm at one end is connected to a moving means for moving toward and away from the arm by rotation of a stepping motor, and an origin sensor unit for detecting a predetermined origin position of the arm on the moving side is provided, and the origin position of the arm detected by the origin sensor unit is provided. By rotating the stepping motor at a predetermined angle based on the reference, the distance between the arms can be changed at regular intervals. It is possible to reduce the generation of dust and improve the yield of the element made from the plate-like body.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, five arms 2 made of, for example, ceramics in the form of a thin plate for holding and transporting, for example, a semiconductor wafer 1, which is a plate-like body, are stacked at equal intervals.

A movable plate 3 is provided at one end of the lowermost arm 2,
A nut 5 fitted to the screw shaft 4 is provided at the center of the movable plate 3.
On both sides of the nut 5, there are provided two linear sliders 7 fitted with the round bar 6 and having, for example, a plurality of ball bearings therein. A moving plate 8 is provided at one end of the three arms 2 provided at the intermediate portion, and holes 9 are provided at three places on the moving plate 8 as shown in FIG.
The round bar 6 and the screw shaft 4 are penetrated. A fixed plate 10 is provided at one end of the arm 2 provided at the top, and bearings 11 for receiving one end of the screw shaft 4 are provided at the center of the fixed plate 10. The round bar 6 is fitted and held.

A base 12 is provided below the movable plate 3, the screw shaft 4 is held via a bearing 11, and one end of the screw shaft 4 is penetrated through the lower surface of the base 12, A belt 14 is stretched between the base and a shaft of a motor 13 provided on the base 12, for example, a stepping motor. The round bar 6 is fitted and held in the base 12.

The movable plate 3, the movable plate 8, and the fixed plate 10 are connected so as to be able to move in parallel through two pairs of pantograph-type parallel moving mechanisms 15. The parallel moving mechanism 15 has a plurality of links connected by pins (shafts) intersecting links and is connected to a plurality of pins so that a plurality of diamonds are formed. They are connected via pins. The screw shaft 4, the nut 5, the belt 14, and the motor 13 are used as moving means for moving the movable arm 2 at the other end (lower end) closer to and away from the arm 2 on the fixed side at one end (upper end). .

Other intersections of the intersection 16 and the parallel moving mechanism 15
17 has a ball bearing (not shown),
It is configured to be able to rotate smoothly around the intersections 16 and 17.

As shown in FIG. 2, the arm 2 is provided with a concave portion 18 which is fitted to the peripheral edge of the wafer 1 to receive the wafer. I'm trying to do it.

In FIG. 1, a flat light-shielding body 20 is provided on the moving plate 8, and an optical sensor 21 such as a photo interrupter
A plurality of, for example, three, and the optical sensor when the moving plate 8 is moved to a predetermined position.
The light-shielding body 20 is fitted into the light-receiving member 21, and the optical change of the optical sensor 21 is sent to a detection device (not shown) as a change in an electric signal and detected.

In the above embodiment, the pitch of the arm 2 is 3/16 inch (9.76 mm), which is a groove pitch in a normal carrier, 6/16 inch, which is twice the pitch, and 9 times, which is three times the pitch. At / 16 inches, the position of the arm 2 is detected by the optical sensor 21, the rotation of the motor 13 for moving the arm 2 is stopped, and the five arms 2 are stopped at the correct position. It is configured to be able to. Pitch conversion mechanism composed of five arms 2 as described above
28 are configured.

The pitch conversion mechanism 28 is provided on the arm mechanism 25 as shown in FIG. 3, and is configured to be movable in the horizontal direction by a movement mechanism (not shown).

An arm 24 used when transferring one wafer 1 is used.
Is provided so as to be movable in the horizontal direction by a moving mechanism (not shown), similarly to the pitch conversion mechanism.

The arm mechanism 25 is configured to be vertically movable by a lifting mechanism 26 and horizontally rotatable by a horizontal rotating mechanism 27. Then, a heat treatment furnace having a predetermined soaking temperature range that can be appropriately set in a temperature range of, for example, 500 to 1200 ° C. (not shown) is provided. A lid 32 for sealing is provided.
A holding table 33 is mounted on the holding table 33, and a boat 34 made of a heat-resistant material such as quartz and provided with a groove (not shown) for accommodating the wafer 1 is mounted on the holding table 33. This boat 34
The wafer 1 housed in the heat treatment furnace is configured to be carried in and out of the heat treatment furnace by the elevating mechanism 31.

The arm mechanism is configured to transfer the wafer 1 between the carrier 30 that stores a plurality of wafers 1 and the boat 34.

Next, a case where the wafers 1 stored in the carrier 30 are stored in the boat 34 by converting the pitch of the wafers will be described below.

The motor 11 of the five arms 2 of the arm mechanism 25 is rotated in a predetermined direction so that the interval between the arms 2 is 3/16 inches, which is the same as the groove pitch of the carrier 30.

Whether the interval is 3/16 inch is detected by the light shield 20 closing the optical sensor 21 and sending an electrical signal from the optical sensor 21 to a detection device (not shown).

The arm mechanism 25 is arranged in front of the carrier 30 by a predetermined movement of the elevating mechanism 25 and the horizontal rotating mechanism 27. The five arms 2 of the arm mechanism 25 are inserted between the wafers stored in the carrier 30 by rotation of a motor (not shown).

By moving the elevating mechanism 26 upward, for example, by 2 mm, the wafer 1 is fitted and stored in the concave portion 18 provided in the arm 2, and five wafers 1 are placed on the five arms 2 at a time.

The five arms 2 holding the wafer 1 of the arm mechanism 25 are taken out of the carrier 30 by rotation of a motor (not shown).

Next, the motor 11 is rotated in a predetermined direction so that the interval between the arms 2 of the arm mechanism 25 on which the wafer 1 is mounted is 9/16 inches, which is the same as the groove pitch of the boat 34. That the distance is 9/16 inches,
Detection is performed by the optical sensor 20, the optical sensor 21, and a detection device (not shown) in the same manner as described above.

The arm mechanism 25 is disposed at a predetermined position in front of the boat 34 by a predetermined movement of the lifting mechanism 26 and the horizontal rotation mechanism 27.

The five arms 2 of the arm mechanism 25 are moved by rotation of a motor (not shown) so that the wafer 1 placed on the arm 2 fits into a groove (not shown) of the boat 34.

Then, when the elevating mechanism 26 is lowered by, for example, 2 mm,
Five wafers 1 are stored and placed in a boat 34 having a 9/16 inch pitch groove.

By repeating the above operation, groove pitch 3/16
Inch carrier 30 to groove pitch 9/16 inch boat 34
The number of wafers can be transferred after converting the pitch.

Next, in order to manage the variation of the batch heat treatment, the monitoring wafer 1 is stored at a predetermined position of the boat 34, for example, at an upper portion, an intermediate portion, and a lower portion of the boat 34.

In order to transfer the monitor wafers 1 one by one, a mechanism provided on the arm mechanism 25 that can move one arm 24 independently is used, and the arm mechanism 25, the elevating mechanism 26 and the horizontal The monitor wafer 1 is transferred by a predetermined operation of the machine 27.

As described above, in the above embodiment, the two sets of parallel movement mechanisms 15 provided with the arms 2 are connected to the screw shaft 4 and the nut 5.
By using the moving means consisting of the motor 13 and the motor 13, it can be continuously and continuously changed at equal intervals, so that the plate-shaped body transfer device can be configured simply and inexpensively.

Further, since only one set of the screw shaft and the nut is used, the dust is less generated, and there is no possibility that the dust adheres to the transferred wafer and lowers the yield of the semiconductor elements.

In addition, since the single transfer arm 24 is provided, the transfer of the monitor wafer 1 can be easily performed. The moving means may use any method such as a rack and a pinion, or a means for rotating an eccentric cam by a motor.

Further, an origin sensor unit including an unillustrated light shield and an optical sensor for detecting a predetermined position of the movable plate 3 is provided,
The interval between the arms 2 may be changed steplessly by rotating the stepping motor 11 by a predetermined angle based on the origin position of the moving plate 3 detected by the origin sensor unit.

Further, in order to detect that the moving plate 3 has exceeded a predetermined moving range, two sets of overrun sensor units for detecting the upper and lower limit positions of the same configuration (not shown) are provided. The plate-shaped body conveying device may be configured to detect the run and perform a predetermined abnormality process when the run is performed.

 Another embodiment is shown in FIG.

The same parts as those in the above embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

The three movable plates 8 are provided with two sliders 7 which are fitted to the round bar 6 and can slide smoothly. Parallel movement mechanism 15
Are provided on the fixed plate 10, the movable plate 8 and the movable plate 3.

With the configuration described above, the pitch conversion mechanism 28 can be easily configured by using only one set of the parallel movement mechanism.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. In the above-described embodiment, the number of arms to be pitch-converted is five. However, any number of two or more arms may be subjected to pitch conversion, for example, 25 arms.

The arm for holding the wafer may hold a part of the back surface of the wafer by vacuum suction, and the present invention can be used even when the wafer is stored vertically by using the vacuum suction arm. . The object to be transferred is not limited to a semiconductor wafer but may be a glass substrate or the like, and may have any shape such as a square or a rectangle.

The application examples of the above-described plate-shaped body transfer device can be effectively utilized in each process of a semiconductor manufacturing device and a liquid crystal manufacturing device, and include a heat treatment device such as a CVD device and an oxidation diffusion device, a plasma processing device, a carrier stocker device, and a boat. It can be used for stocker equipment.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the plate-shaped body transfer device of the present invention, a plurality of arms are connected so as to be able to move in parallel via a pantograph-type parallel movement mechanism, one end is fixed, and the other end is connected to the other end. A moving means for moving the arm closer to or away from the arm at one end by a rotation of a motor is connected, and optical sensors for detecting the position of the arm on the moving side are arranged at a predetermined pitch, and the optical sensor detects the position of the arm. Since the rotation of the motor is stopped by a signal to change the distance between the arms at equal intervals, it is possible to accurately change the distance between the arms at a predetermined pitch with a simple configuration. Thus, it is possible to reduce the generation of dust and improve the yield of the element made from the plate-like body.

Further, according to the plate-like body transfer device of the second aspect, the plurality of arms are connected so as to be able to move in parallel via a pantograph-type parallel movement mechanism, one end of the arm is fixed, and this is connected to the other end of the arm. An arm at one end is connected to moving means for moving toward and away from each other by rotation of a stepping motor, and an origin sensor unit for detecting a predetermined origin position of the arm on the moving side is provided. The origin position of the arm detected by the origin sensor unit By rotating the stepping motor at a predetermined angle based on the reference, the distance between the arms can be changed at regular intervals. It is possible to reduce the generation of dust and improve the yield of the element made from the plate-like body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a wafer pitch conversion mechanism of an embodiment of a plate-like body transfer device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view used in the heat treatment apparatus, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of another embodiment of FIG. 1 ... wafer 2 ... arm 4 ... screw shaft 5 ... nut 15 ... parallel movement mechanism

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H01L 21/68 B65G 49/07

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An apparatus for transporting a plurality of plate-like bodies which is held and transported by a plurality of arms arranged at equal intervals in a vertical direction, wherein the plurality of arms are transferred via a pantograph-type parallel movement mechanism. The arm at one end is fixed, and the arm at the other end is connected to a moving means for moving the arm closer to or away from the arm at one end by rotation of a motor,
Optical sensors for detecting the position of the arm on the moving side are arranged at a predetermined pitch, and the optical sensor stops the rotation of the motor by a signal for detecting the position of the arm, so that the intervals between the arms are equal. A plate-shaped object conveying device characterized by being configured to change. 2. A plate-like body transfer apparatus for holding and transferring a plurality of plate-like bodies on a plurality of arms stacked and arranged at equal intervals in a vertical direction, wherein said plurality of arms are provided via a pantograph-type parallel movement mechanism. The arm at one end is fixed, and the arm at the other end is connected to moving means for moving the arm closer to or away from the arm at one end by rotation of a stepping motor, and the arm on the moving side is fixed in advance. An origin sensor unit for detecting the origin position is provided, and the interval between the arms is changed at equal intervals by rotating the stepping motor by a predetermined angle with reference to the origin position of the arm detected by the origin sensor unit. A plate-like body conveying device characterized by the above-mentioned.