JP3190392U - Transfer case - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a lightweight, compact, and inexpensive substrate transport container that can be carried by hand while being held in a vacuum or clean atmospheric pressure environment between process processing apparatuses.
A spring 8 of a spring-type substrate lifting mechanism 7 disposed in a sealed container of a transfer case expands and contracts in conjunction with opening and closing of an upper lid 3 so that a substrate 10 accommodated in the container can be lifted and lowered. The substrate rises to a height that can be delivered by opening the upper lid, and descends to the storage height when the upper lid is closed. Further, by fixing the container body 2 brought from outside the process processing apparatus into the load lock chamber of the process processing apparatus and connecting the container upper cover to the upper cover opening / closing mechanism 11 attached to the load lock chamber, the upper cover opening / closing of the load lock chamber side is performed. Using the mechanism, the container upper lid can be opened and closed, and the substrate can be transferred and stored. After the delivery and completion of the substrate, the upper lid is closed, and the container body and the upper lid can be removed from the load lock chamber and moved to another location.
[Selection] Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to a substrate transfer container capable of moving a substrate between a process processing apparatus load lock chamber and a glove box in a vacuum or a clean atmospheric pressure environment.

Substrate moving means between independent process processing equipment such as heating, cooling, film formation, etching, analysis, etc. while maintaining the conventional vacuum, it is necessary to connect the substrate delivery mechanism, gate valve, and vacuum exhaust system to the vacuum vessel In addition, since the entire structure is complicated and large, it is expensive, not easy to handle, and difficult to carry by hand.

On the other hand, the method of storing the substrate in the container in the glove box and transporting it by hand can make the container compact, but it can be connected directly to the process processing equipment load lock chamber and the substrate can be kept in a clean atmosphere. There were no cases of incorporation into the device.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate transport container that is simple and lightweight and has a structure that can be carried by hand while maintaining a vacuum or clean atmospheric pressure environment when moving a processing substrate between a process processing apparatus load lock chamber and a glove box. To do.

By installing a spring-type substrate lifting mechanism that can move the substrate up and down by the expansion and contraction of the spring that is linked to the opening and closing of the upper lid in the airtight container of the transfer case, the substrate can be delivered to the stored substrate when the upper lid is opened. When the upper lid is closed, the substrate can be lowered to the storage height.

Using the upper lid opening and closing mechanism on the load lock chamber side by fixing the container body brought from outside the process processing apparatus into the load lock chamber of the process processing apparatus and connecting the container upper lid to the upper lid opening and closing mechanism attached to the load lock chamber The container upper lid can be opened and closed, and the substrate can be transferred and stored. After the delivery and completion of the substrate, the upper lid is closed, and the container body and the upper lid can be removed from the load lock chamber and moved to another location.

By sealing the container main body and the upper lid with an O-ring to make the container an airtight structure, a substrate stored in a vacuum or clean atmospheric pressure can be transported in the container.

The structure of the transfer case of the present invention has been simplified by adopting a spring-type substrate lifting mechanism, making it lighter and more compact and portable by hand. In addition, by adopting a container body and top lid attachment / detachment mechanism in the load lock chamber, not only can substrates be easily exchanged between vacuum devices such as process processing devices and analysis devices, or between glove boxes in an atmospheric pressure environment. In addition, it can be used to exchange substrates between vacuum devices and glove boxes. Since the container has an airtight structure, the substrate stored in the container can be transported with vacuum or clean atmospheric pressure. Furthermore, since the substrate transfer mechanism, gate valve, and dedicated evacuation system are not required, the manufacturing cost can be greatly reduced.

Transfer case top cover closed state diagram Transfer case top cover open state diagram Cross section of transfer case with lid open Cross section of transfer case with lid closed Transfer case load lock indoor storage state diagram

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a state where the upper lid 3 is closed in a state where the upper lid of the transfer case is closed. The transfer case 1 forms the outside with a container body 2 and an upper lid 3. A claw 4 is attached to the upper portion of the upper lid 3, and an upper lid opening / closing mechanism (not shown) can be hooked on the claw 4 to be attached and detached. A patch 5 is used to fix the container body 2 and the upper lid 3.

FIG. 2 is a state where the transfer case upper cover is opened, and the upper cover 3 is open. A spring type substrate lifting mechanism 8 is attached to the inside of the transfer case 1. A rubber O-ring 6 is embedded in the upper groove of the container body 2 and the upper lid 3 is pressed against the container body 2 to enable vacuum sealing.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the transfer case when the upper lid is opened, and shows a state where the upper lid 3 is open. When the upper lid opening / closing mechanism 11 is hooked on the claw 4 attached to the upper lid 3 and the upper lid 3 is opened, the spring 8 of the spring type substrate elevating mechanism 7 is extended to the substrate holder 9 placed on the spring type substrate elevating mechanism 7. The fixed substrate 10 is raised to the delivery height, and the substrate delivery robot 14 can deliver the substrate. In this embodiment, the substrate 10 is fixed to the substrate holder 9 and the whole substrate holder 9 is delivered, but delivery may be performed by a single substrate. In this embodiment, a 100 mm square substrate is used, but the substrate size is not limited, and the substrate size and container size can be changed according to the process processing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the transfer case when the upper lid is closed, and shows a state where the upper lid 3 is closed. When the upper lid 3 is lowered, the spring 8 of the spring-type substrate raising / lowering mechanism 7 is contracted, and the substrate 10 fixed to the substrate holder 9 is lowered to the container storage height.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a state in which the transfer case load lock is housed in the room. After receiving the substrate 10 fixed to the substrate holder 9 by the substrate transfer robot 14, the upper lid 3 is closed using the upper lid opening / closing mechanism 11 attached to the load lock chamber main body 12, and the container main body 2 and the upper lid 3 are kept in close contact with each other. After the load lock chamber main body 12 is vented to return to atmospheric pressure, the load lock chamber side door 15 is opened, the upper lid 3 is fixed to the container main body 2 with the patch 5 and then taken out and carried to another device by hand. Can do. In this embodiment, the structure of the container body 2 and the upper lid 3 to and from the load lock chamber body 12 is slid to simplify the structure. However, other methods such as screwing may be used. .

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Transfer case 2 Container body 3 Upper lid 4 Claw 5 Patchon lock 6 O-ring 7 Substrate lifting mechanism 8 Spring 9 Substrate holder 10 Substrate 11 Upper lid opening / closing mechanism 12 Load lock chamber 13 Partition valve 14 Substrate transport robot 15 Side door

Claims (3)

A closed container for transporting substrates between process processing devices. When the upper lid is opened, the substrate stored in the container rises to a height that can be delivered, and when the upper lid is closed, the spring lowers to the storage height. A substrate transfer container having a type substrate lifting mechanism. 2. The substrate transport container according to claim 1, wherein the container main body is detachable from the load lock chamber of the process processing apparatus, and the substrate can be transferred and stored by opening and closing the upper lid by an upper lid opening / closing mechanism attached to the load lock chamber. The substrate transport container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the container main body and the upper lid are sealed with an O-ring, and the substrate stored in the container can be transported with vacuum or clean atmospheric pressure.