JP6716418B2 - Transport mechanism - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a transfer mechanism that sucks and holds an integrated annular frame by adhering an adhesive tape on the back surface side of a wafer.

In processing equipment such as cutting equipment used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices and electronic components, the back side of a plate-like body such as a wafer is attached to an adhesive tape, and the plate-like body and the annular frame are integrated by the adhesive force of the adhesive tape. Then, it will be ejected from the cassette. Then, a transfer mechanism having a suction pad sucks the upper surface of the annular frame and transfers it to a processing position where processing such as cutting is performed. If the vacuum line is lost for some reason while vacuum-sucking and transporting the annular frame in such a transport mechanism, the suction pad reduces the force of sucking the annular frame, and as a result, the annular frame can be held. It may disappear. Therefore, even if the suction force of the suction pad decreases due to vibration during the vacuum line cutting or transfer operation, and the annular frame comes off the suction pad, the annular frame can be received by the fall prevention claws. A feeding mechanism is adopted (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP, 2007-157996, A

The mechanism for preventing the annular frame from falling by operating the claws as in Patent Document 1 has a large number of mechanically operating parts, so that the structure is complicated and it is difficult to save space.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide a transport mechanism that has a simple structure and can prevent the annular frame from dropping even when the suction force of the suction pad is lost. ..

The present invention is a transport mechanism for transporting a plate-shaped object unit, which comprises an adhesive tape adhered to an inner opening of an annular frame and a plate-shaped object adhered on the adhesive tape. A reciprocating transport plate, a suction pad disposed on the lower surface of the transport plate and abutting on the upper surface of the annular frame to suction-hold the annular frame, and a magnetic frame that attracts and holds the annular frame by suction. A magnetic force holding portion for preventing the annular frame from falling, the magnetic force holding portion includes a magnet that holds the upper surface of the annular frame, and a guide portion that is disposed on the transport plate and that guides the magnet so that the magnet can move in the vertical direction. The suction pad is provided with a moving means for vertically moving the magnet guided by the guide portion to a lower working position for attracting and holding the annular frame and an upper non-working position where no magnetic force acts on the annular frame. When abutting against the upper surface and holding by suction, the magnetic force holding unit moves the magnet to the operating position by the moving means to suck and hold the annular frame by magnetic force, and the suction pad holding the annular frame by suction releases the suction force. In doing so, the magnetic force holding unit moves the magnet to a non-acting position to release the suction holding on the upper surface of the annular frame.

According to this configuration, when the suction pad is in contact with the upper surface of the annular frame and suction-held, the magnetic force holding unit moves the magnet to the operating position and attracts and holds the annular frame by magnetic force. Even if the suction force due to is lost, it is possible to prevent the annular frame from dropping due to the holding by the magnetic force of the magnetic holding unit. The magnetic force holding unit has a simple structure that moves the magnet up and down between the non-acting position and the working position by the moving means, and can be installed in a small space.

The guide portion is a housing having a space inside, and when the magnet moves up and down in the space of the guide portion and the magnet is positioned at the working position, magnetic force acts on the outer wall of the housing to move the annular frame. It may be configured to be adsorbed and held on the outer wall of the housing.

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a transport mechanism having a simple structure and capable of preventing the annular frame from dropping when the suction force of the suction pad is lost.

It is a perspective view of a processing apparatus provided with a conveyance mechanism concerning this embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows a conveyance mechanism. It is the figure which partially showed the conveyance mechanism in the state which is not holding|maintaining a plate-shaped object unit by the cross section. It is the figure which partially showed the conveyance mechanism in the state which hold|maintained the plate-shaped object unit by the suction pad and the magnetic force holding|maintenance part by sectional view. FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of the transport mechanism in a state where the suction force of the suction pad is lost and the plate-shaped unit is held by the magnetic force holding unit.

The present embodiment will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a processing apparatus equipped with a transport mechanism according to this embodiment. In the following description, a cutting device that cuts a workpiece with a cutting blade will be described as an example of the processing device, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. The processing device may be any device as long as it is a device for processing a workpiece. In the following description, the directions along the double-headed arrows X, Y, and Z in the drawing will be referred to as the X-axis direction, the Y-axis direction, and the Z-axis direction, respectively. The X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction are horizontal directions, and the Z-axis direction is the vertical direction (vertical direction). Further, the front-back direction of the processing device in the Y-axis direction is indicated by an arrow in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the processing apparatus 1 is configured to process the plate-shaped object unit 9 held by the holding means 3 on the housing 2 by the processing means 4. The plate-shaped object unit 9 is configured by adhering an adhesive tape 92 to the inner opening of the annular frame 91, and adhering a circular plate-shaped object 93 on the adhesive tape 92. The annular frame 91 is made of metal. The plate-shaped material 93 is a semiconductor wafer, an optical device wafer, or the like. The surface of the plate-like object 93 is divided into a plurality of regions by dividing lines arranged in a grid pattern, and various devices such as ICs, LSIs, and LEDs are formed in the divided regions. The plate-like object unit 9 is loaded into the processing apparatus 1 while being accommodated in the cassette 5.

A rectangular opening (not shown) extending in the X-axis direction is formed on the upper surface of the housing 2, and the opening is movable along with the holding means 3 and a bellows-like waterproof cover. It is covered with 32. Below the waterproof cover 32, a moving mechanism (not shown) for moving the holding means 3 in the X-axis direction is provided. A holding surface 33 for sucking and holding the plate-shaped object unit 9 is formed on the surface of the holding means 3. The holding surface 33 is connected to a suction source through a flow path in the holding means 3.

The holding means 3 is a so-called chuck table, and is reciprocated between a transfer position at a substantially center in the X-axis direction and a processing position facing the processing means 4. FIG. 1 shows a state in which the holding means 3 stands by at the delivery position. In the housing 2, a corner portion adjacent to the delivery position is lowered by one step, and a mounting table 6 is provided so as to be able to move up and down. On the mounting table 6, the cassette 5 accommodating the plate-shaped material unit 9 is mounted. By moving the mounting table 6 up and down while the cassette 5 is mounted, the pull-out position and the push-in position of the plate-shaped object unit 9 are adjusted in the Z-axis direction.

On the upper surface of the housing 2, a pair of parallel guide rails 7 extending in the Y-axis direction and a pusher for transporting the plate-shaped article unit 9 between the pair of guide rails 7 and the cassette 5 are provided behind the mounting table 6. A pull mechanism 8 is provided. The pair of guide rails 7 guide the conveyance of the plate-shaped unit 9 by the push-pull mechanism 8 and position the plate-shaped unit 9 in the X-axis direction. The push-pull mechanism 8 pulls out the plate-shaped object unit 9 before processing from the cassette 5 onto the pair of guide rails 7 and pushes the processed plate-shaped object unit 9 into the cassette 5 from above the pair of guide rails 7. It is possible to The push-pull mechanism 8 positions the plate unit 9 in the Y-axis direction.

In the vicinity of the pair of guide rails 7, a transport mechanism 10 that transports the plate-shaped article unit 9 between the guide rails 7 and the holding means 3 is provided. The transport mechanism 10 has an L-shaped arm portion 11 when viewed from above, and suction-holds the annular frame 91 of the plate-shaped object unit 9 by a plurality of suction pads provided on the lower surface side of the arm portion 11. Then, the arm unit 11 pivots about the axis in the Z-axis direction to convey the plate-shaped object unit 9.

A spinner type cleaning mechanism 12 is provided behind the transfer position of the holding means 3. In the cleaning mechanism 12, cleaning water is sprayed toward the rotating spinner table 13 to clean the plate-shaped unit 9, and then dry air is blown to dry the plate-shaped unit 9.

A support base 14 that supports the processing means 4 is provided on the housing 2. The processing means 4 is moved in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction by a ball screw type moving mechanism (not shown). The processing means 4 has a cutting blade 41 provided at the tip of a spindle (not shown). The periphery of the cutting blade 41 is covered by a blade cover 42, and the blade cover 42 is provided with an injection nozzle 43 that injects cutting water toward a cutting portion. The cutting blade 41 is rotated at high speed, and the plate-shaped material 93 of the plate-shaped material unit 9 is cut while spraying cutting water from the spray nozzle 43.

A transport mechanism 16 that transports the plate-shaped article unit 9 between the holding means 3 and the cleaning mechanism 12 is provided at a position along the side surface 15 of the support base 14. An elongated hole 15a extending in the Y-axis direction is formed on the side surface 15. The transport mechanism 16 includes an arm portion 17 that projects from the elongated hole 15a and extends obliquely forward, and a suction holding portion that holds the plate-shaped object unit 9 by suction is provided at the tip of the arm portion 17. The suction holding unit will be described later. The plate-shaped material unit 9 is transported by moving the arm portion 17 in the Y-axis direction while holding the annular frame 91 by the suction holding portion.

The support base 14 is further provided with a cantilever support portion 19 for supporting the image pickup portion 18 so as to cross the moving path of the holding means 3. The imaging unit 18 projects from the lower surface of the cantilever support unit 19, and the plate unit 9 is imaged by the imaging unit 18. The image captured by the image capturing unit 18 is used for alignment between the processing unit 4 and the holding unit 3.

At the frontmost part of the housing 2, an input means 20 for receiving an instruction to each part of the apparatus is provided. Further, inside the housing 2, a control means 21 for integrally controlling each part of the processing apparatus 1 is provided. Various instructions are input to the control means 21 from the input means 20, and the operations of the components such as the holding means 3 and the processing means 4 of the processing apparatus 1 are controlled based on the various instructions. The control unit 21 is configured by a processor, a memory, and the like that operate each component of the processing device 1.

In the processing apparatus 1 configured as described above, a series of processing operations for the plate-shaped object unit 9 are automatically performed by interlocking the respective component parts in response to an input instruction to the input means 20 to start processing.

As described above, the transport mechanism 16 included in the processing apparatus 1 suctions and transports the plate-shaped material unit 9 to the suction holding portion provided at the tip of the arm portion 17. The details of the suction holding unit of the transport mechanism 16 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5.

As shown in FIG. 2, the suction holding unit of the transport mechanism 16 includes a pair of transport plates 50. Each of the transport plates 50 has an elongated rectangular shape, and the pair of transport plates 50 are connected by a connection plate 51 near the center in the longitudinal direction. The size of the plate-shaped unit 9 to be held can be exchanged by sliding each transport plate 50 on the connection plate 51. The connection plate 51 is supported below the tip of the arm 17 via a support mechanism 52.

The support mechanism 52 includes an upper block 52a provided on the lower surface side of the arm portion 17, a lower block 52b provided on the upper surface side of the connection plate 51, and a pair of elevating shafts 52c extending in the Z-axis direction. Each elevating shaft 52c is supported movably in the Z-axis direction with respect to the upper block 52a, and a lower block 52b is supported at the lower end of each elevating shaft 52c. The elevating shaft 52c and the lower block 52b are reciprocally moved in the Z-axis direction by moving means (not shown), and the positions of the connection plate 51 and the respective transport plates 50 in the Z-axis direction are changed by this movement. That is, the transport plate 50 moves in the Y-axis direction by the movement of the arm portion 17 with respect to the support base 14 in the Y-axis direction and the movement of the connection plate 51 in the Z-axis direction with respect to the arm portion 17 via the support mechanism 52. It is reciprocated in the (horizontal direction) and the Z-axis direction (vertical direction).

Each transport plate 50 is provided with a pair of suction pads 53 at positions near both ends in the longitudinal direction, and a magnetic force holding portion 54 is provided at a position between the pair of suction pads 53. That is, the suction holding unit of the transport mechanism 16 is provided with a total of four suction pads 53 and two magnetic holding units 54. The suction pad 53 and the magnetic force holding portion 54 are arranged in a positional relationship capable of facing the annular frame 91 that constitutes the plate-shaped unit 9.

As shown in FIG. 3, the suction pad 53 includes a shaft portion 55 that is inserted into a through hole formed in the transport plate 50 so as to be movable in the Z-axis direction, and a conical suction provided at the lower end of the shaft portion 55. A portion 56 and a movement restricting portion 57 provided on the upper end of the shaft portion 55 are provided. The suction unit 56 is located below the transport plate 50, and the movement restricting unit 57 is located above the transport plate 50. A cylindrical coil spring 58 surrounding the shaft portion 55 is inserted between the attraction portion 56 and the transport plate 50. The movement of the suction pad 53 is restricted downward by the movement restricting portion 57 contacting the upper surface of the transport plate 50 (see FIG. 3 ), and the suction pad 53 is moved upward relative to the transport plate 50 while compressing the coil spring 58. The position can be changed to (see FIG. 4 and FIG. 5).

The internal space of the suction pad 53 is connected to a pump 60, which is a suction source, through a flow path 59 through which air can flow. When the pump 60 is driven, the air in the suction pad 53 is discharged from the valve 61 through the flow path 59. By suctioning with the pump 60 while bringing the suction part 56 into contact with the upper surface of the annular frame 91, the suction part 56 can be vacuum-sucked to the annular frame 91.

As shown in FIG. 3, the magnetic force holding unit 54 has a cylinder 62 fixed to the upper surface of the transport plate 50 and a housing 63 fixed to the lower surface of the transport plate 50. The cylinder 62 has a box shape having a closed internal space. A piston 64 is supported in the cylinder 62 so as to be movable in the Z-axis direction. A rod 65 protruding downward from the piston 64 penetrates the transport plate 50 and is connected to a magnet support plate 66 located inside the housing 63. A magnet 67 is fixed to the lower surface side of the magnet support plate 66. The magnet 67 is a plate-shaped permanent magnet.

The internal space of the cylinder 62 is connected to a pump 70 through a flow passage 68 and a flow passage 69 through which air can flow. The flow path 68 is connected to the space above the piston 64 in the cylinder 62, and the flow path 69 is connected to the space below the piston 64 in the cylinder 62. When the pump 70 is driven, exhaust and intake are performed through a valve 71 provided in the middle of the flow path 68 and a valve 72 provided in the middle of the flow path 69. As a result, the internal pressures of the upper space and the lower space of the piston 64 relatively change in the cylinder 62, and the piston 64 moves up and down. When the internal pressure of the space above the piston 64 in the cylinder 62 becomes relatively high, the piston 64 moves downward, and when the internal pressure of the space below the piston 64 in the cylinder 62 becomes relatively high, the piston 64 moves upward. .. As the piston 64 moves up and down, the magnet support plate 66 moves up and down via the rod 65.

It should be noted that the pump 60 and the pump 70 can be arranged at arbitrary positions such as inside the housing 2 and inside the support base 14. The flow paths 59, 68, 69 are configured by using a flexible tube or the like so as to follow the movement of the suction pad 53 and the magnetic force holding unit 54.

The housing 63 is a box-shaped body whose upper surface is covered with the transport plate 50, and includes four side walls 63a protruding downward from the lower surface of the transport plate 50 and a bottom wall 63b closing the bottoms of the four side walls 63a. The four side walls 63a are a pair of side walls 63a (not shown in FIGS. 3 to 5) along the X-axis direction and the Z-axis direction, and a pair of side walls 63a (not shown in FIG. 3 to FIG. 5) along the Y-axis direction. (Shown in FIG. 5). A magnet support plate 66 and a magnet 67 are arranged in an internal space of the housing 63 surrounded by the four side walls 63a and the bottom wall 63b. The magnet 67 supported on the lower surface side of the magnet support plate 66 is guided so as to be movable up and down along the side wall 63a, and approaches the lower surface of the transport plate 50 in the upper non-acting position shown in FIG. 4 and the lower working position shown in FIG. 5, it descends to a position in contact with the bottom wall 63b.

As the piston 64 moves up and down in the cylinder 62, the magnet 67 moves up and down in the housing 63 between the non-acting position and the working position. That is, in the magnetic force holding portion 54, the housing 63 constitutes a guide portion that guides the magnet 67 so as to be movable in the Z-axis direction. Further, the piston 64 constitutes a moving means for moving the magnet 67 to the working position and the non-working position in the Z-axis direction. The cylinder 62, the flow paths 68 and 69, the pump 70, and the valves 71 and 72, which are involved in the operation of the piston 64, are also elements constituting the moving means.

The transport mechanism 16 having the above configuration operates as follows. 3 to 5, only one of each of the four suction pads 53 and the two magnetic force holding portions 54 provided in the transport mechanism 16 is illustrated, but the suction pad 53 and the magnetic force not shown are shown. The holding unit 54 also operates in the same manner as illustrated.

FIG. 3 shows a non-holding state in which neither the suction pad 53 nor the magnetic force holding portion 54 that configures the transport mechanism 16 holds the annular frame 91 of the plate-shaped object unit 9. At this time, the pump 60 is not driven and the suction pad 53 is not sucking the annular frame 91. In the state of FIG. 3, the suction pad 53 is at the most lowered position with respect to the transport plate 50, the movement regulating portion 57 contacts the upper surface of the transport plate 50, and the lower end surface of the suction portion 56 is the magnetic force holding portion 54. Is located below the bottom wall 63b of the housing 63. In the magnetic force holding portion 54, the magnet 67 is held in the upper non-acting position inside the housing 63, and magnetic force is not held against the annular frame 91.

When the transport mechanism 16 receives and transports the plate-shaped article unit 9 from the holding means 3 or the cleaning mechanism 12, the suction portion 53 of the suction pad 53 is in contact with the upper surface of the annular frame 91, as shown in FIG. At this time, the control unit 21 (FIG. 1) operates the support mechanism 52 to lower the transport plate 50 in the Z-axis direction and reduce the distance between the suction unit 56 and the transport plate 50. Then, the amount of compression of the coil spring 58 increases, and a downward biasing force acts on the suction pad 53, and the suction portion 56 is strongly pressed against the upper surface of the annular frame 91. Further, the bottom wall 63b of the housing 63 that constitutes the magnetic force holding portion 54 approaches the upper surface of the annular frame 91 by the lowering of the transport plate 50.

As shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 21 drives the pump 60 to suck the air in the suction pad 53 while the suction unit 56 is pressed against the upper surface of the annular frame 91. Then, the suction portion 56 is vacuum-sucked on the upper surface of the annular frame 91, and the annular frame 91 is suction-held by the suction pad 53.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the control means 21 drives the pump 70 to move the piston 64 downward in the cylinder 62 and move the magnet 67 from the non-acting position to the working position. The magnet 67 in the operating position exerts a magnetic force on the metallic annular frame 91 through the bottom wall 63b which is the outer wall of the housing 63, and attracts and holds the annular frame 91 by the magnetic force. That is, in the holding state of the plate-like object unit 9 shown in FIG. 4, the annular frame 91 receives the magnetic force held by the magnetic force holding portion 54 in addition to the suction holding by the suction pad 53.

The housing 63 may be formed of either a magnetic material or a non-magnetic material. When the housing 63 is formed of a magnetic material, when the magnet 67 is moved to the operating position, a magnetic force that attracts the annular frame 91 also acts on the bottom wall 63b of the housing 63, so that the annular frame 91 is efficiently magnetized. Can be held. When the housing 63 is formed of a non-magnetic material, conditions such as the thickness of the bottom wall 63b may be appropriately set so that the annular frame 91 can be reliably attracted by the magnetic force of the magnet 67 in the operating position.

In the holding state of the plate-like object unit 9 shown in FIG. 4, in order to maintain the suction holding by the suction pad 53, the suction portion 56 needs to be in close contact with the upper surface of the annular frame 91 without a gap. For example, if the lower surface of the bottom wall 63b of the housing 63 projects below the suction portion 56, the bottom wall 63b comes into contact with the upper surface of the annular frame 91 before the suction portion 56, so that the bottom surface of the annular frame 91 is not supported. The close contact of the suction part 56 is hindered. Therefore, in the holding state of FIG. 4, a clearance may be set between the upper surface of the annular frame 91 and the lower surface of the bottom wall 63b of the housing 63. As a result, even if there is some variation in the accuracy of the parts, the vacuum suction of the suction portion 56 with respect to the upper surface of the annular frame 91 can be reliably performed without being obstructed by the housing 63. Even if the bottom wall 63b of the housing 63 is slightly separated from the upper surface of the annular frame 91, the magnetic force holding portion 54 can apply a suction force by a magnetic force to the annular frame 91.

When the transportation of the plate-shaped material unit 9 by the transportation mechanism 16 is completed and the plate-shaped material unit 9 is transferred to the holding means 3 or the cleaning mechanism 12, the control means 21 turns off the suction by the pump 60 and the suction pad 53. Release the suction hold by. Further, the control means 21 drives the pump 70 to move the piston 64 upward in the cylinder 62 and move the magnet 67 to the non-acting position shown in FIG. As a result, the magnetic force holding in the magnetic force holding portion 54 is also released. As a sequence for releasing the holding of the plate-shaped unit 9, it is preferable to release the magnetic holding by the magnetic holding unit 54 after the releasing of the suction holding by the suction pad 53 is completed.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which the transport mechanism 16 needs to hold the plate-shaped unit 9 (during transport of the plate-shaped unit 9) and the vacuum line of the suction pad 53 is lost due to the pump 60 being stopped. , The suction force of the suction pad 53 does not act on the annular frame 91. At this time, the magnetic force holding portion 54 holds the annular frame 91 by attracting it to the bottom wall 63b of the housing 63 by the magnetic force of the magnet 67 in the operating position, and prevents the plate-shaped unit 9 from falling. In FIG. 5, the lower surface of the bottom wall 63b is in contact with the upper surface of the annular frame 91, and there is no clearance between the bottom wall 63b and the annular frame 91.

As shown in FIG. 5, since the magnet 67 is held in the operating position by the magnetic attraction force acting between the magnet 67 and the annular frame 91, even if the pump 70 becomes inoperable, the magnetic force holding portion 54 causes the annular frame 91 to move. The retention of magnetic force will not be released. Therefore, even if all the suction sources including the pumps 60 and 70 are stopped due to a defect in the factory facility or the like, the plate-shaped unit 9 can be reliably prevented from falling.

As described above, in the transport mechanism 16 of the present embodiment, in addition to suction-holding the annular frame 91 by the suction pad 53, magnetic holding of the annular frame 91 is performed by the magnetic force holding portion 54, so that the suction pad 53 is being conveyed. Even if the suction holding by is canceled, the plate-shaped unit 9 can be prevented from falling. The magnetic force holding portion 54 has a simple structure in which the magnet 67 is moved up and down between the non-acting position and the acting position, and space saving can be achieved.

In the magnetic force holding unit 54 of the present embodiment, a magnet 67 made of a permanent magnet is used as a means for generating a magnetic force instead of an electromagnet. Since it takes time and time to remove the residual magnetism of the electromagnet after the energization is turned off, the release of the plate-shaped object unit 9 after the completion of the conveyance may be delayed. Further, the electromagnet may lose its magnetic force retention force when it is de-energized due to a trouble such as a loss of power to the entire apparatus, and thus may not function as a fall prevention mechanism. On the other hand, the magnet 67 can immediately release the magnetic force holding to the annular frame 91 only by moving it from the operating position to the non-operating position, and the plate-shaped unit 9 can be quickly delivered after the completion of the conveyance. .. Further, as described above, since the magnet 67 can maintain the working position by its own magnetic force without requiring energization like the electromagnet, after the magnet 67 is moved to the working position, the pump 70 does not operate properly due to external operation. It is highly effective as a fall prevention mechanism because the holding force is not lost due to physical factors.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications can be carried out. In the above-described embodiment, the size and shape shown in the accompanying drawings are not limited to this, and can be appropriately changed within the range where the effect of the present invention is exhibited. Other than the above, the present invention can be appropriately modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the object of the present invention.

The housing 63 of the above-described embodiment forms a closed internal space surrounded by the four side walls 63a, the bottom wall 63b, and the lower surface of the transport plate 50. Therefore, there is an advantage that contamination generated by processing is unlikely to enter the housing 63, and in particular, foreign matter including a magnetic material can be prevented from adhering to the magnet 67 in the housing 63. However, instead of such a housing 63, it is also possible to guide the vertical movement of the magnet 67 by a guide portion whose internal space is not closed.

For example, as a modified example of the guide portion, a rectangular tubular guide portion in which the bottom wall 63b is omitted from the housing 63 may be used. In this case, when the plate-shaped material unit 9 is prevented from falling by the magnetic force holding portion 54 as shown in FIG. 5, the magnet 67 directly contacts the upper surface of the annular frame 91 to hold the magnetic force.

As another modification of the guide portion, at least one of the four side walls 63a of the housing 63 has a slit-shaped guide groove that is long in the Z-axis direction. It is also possible to employ a guide structure in which the protrusion provided on the support plate 66 is slidably inserted.

Further, although the housing 63 of the above-described embodiment is fixedly supported on the lower surface of the transport plate 50, the vertical movement of the magnet 67 is guided by the guide portion arranged at a position apart from the lower surface of the transport plate 50. You may.

In the above-described embodiment, as the moving means for moving the magnet 67 up and down, the type in which the pump 70 is driven and the piston 64 in the cylinder 62 is moved up and down by air pressure is used. It is also possible to use. For example, a solenoid or the like that uses electromagnetic force to convert electric energy into mechanical linear motion may be used as the moving means.

The above-described embodiment has been described by exemplifying the processing device 1 including the processing means 4 that performs the cutting process on the plate-shaped object 93 of the plate-shaped object unit 9, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. The processing device may be any device as long as it is a device that processes the plate-shaped object unit 9, and the present invention can be applied as, for example, a transport mechanism mounted on a grinding device.

Further, the present invention can be applied to the transport mechanism 10 provided separately from the transport mechanism 16 in the processing apparatus 1 of the above-described embodiment.

As described above, the present invention has an effect that the annular frame can be prevented from falling by the magnetic force retaining portion having a simple structure, and in particular, the plate-like object unit is held while retaining the annular frame by the suction force of the suction pad. It is useful as a transport mechanism for transporting.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Processing device 3 Holding means 4 Processing means 5 Cassette 6 Mounting table 7 Guide rail 8 Push-pull mechanism 9 Plate-like object unit 10 Transfer mechanism 11 Arm part 12 Cleaning mechanism 14 Supporting base 16 Transfer mechanism 17 Arm part 18 Imaging part 20 Input Means 21 Control means 50 Conveying plate 51 Connection plate 52 Support mechanism 53 Suction pad 54 Magnetic force holding part 56 Adsorption part 58 Coil spring 59 68 69 Flow path 60 70 Pump 61 71 72 Valve 62 Cylinder 63 Housing 63a Side wall 63b Bottom wall 64 Piston 66 magnet support plate 67 magnet 91 annular frame 92 adhesive tape 93 plate

Claims (2)

A transport mechanism for transporting a plate-shaped article unit, which comprises an adhesive tape attached to an inner opening of an annular frame and a plate-shaped article attached on the adhesive tape,
A transport plate that reciprocates vertically and horizontally,
A suction pad disposed on the lower surface of the transport plate and abutting on the upper surface of the annular frame to suck and hold the annular frame;
A magnetic force holding portion for holding the annular frame by magnetic attraction to prevent the annular frame from being sucked and held by the suction pad from falling.
The magnetic force holding unit includes a magnet that holds the upper surface of the annular frame, a guide unit that is provided on the transport plate and that guides the magnet so as to be movable in the vertical direction, and a magnet that is guided by the guide unit. A moving means for vertically moving the lower working position for holding the annular frame by suction and an upper non-working position where magnetic force does not act on the annular frame;
When the suction pad abuts and holds the upper surface of the annular frame by suction, the magnetic force holding unit moves the magnet to the operating position by the moving means to attract and hold the annular frame by magnetic force,
When the suction pad holding the annular frame by suction releases the suction force, the magnetic force holding unit moves the magnet to the non-acting position to release the suction holding on the upper surface of the annular frame. Characteristic transport mechanism. The guide portion is a housing having a space inside, and the magnet moves up and down in the space,
2. The transport mechanism according to claim 1, wherein, when positioned at the operating position, a magnetic force is exerted on the outer wall of the housing and the annular frame is adsorbed and held on the outer wall of the housing.

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