JPH0150103B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a wafer cassette, and particularly to a wafer cassette fixedly installed on an elevator.

[Conventional technology and its problems]

BACKGROUND ART Semiconductor manufacturing equipment uses a wafer buffer cassette that temporarily stores wafers that have been subjected to a predetermined process and transports them to the next process. Such a buffer cassette for wafers is used as a loader/unloader mechanism, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1983-
As shown in Publication No. 59128, the set is set so as to straddle the belt conveyor, and the set includes:
Pairs of protrusions are attached to the two opposing side plates, and the protrusions support both ends of the wafer, thereby storing the wafer in the form of a shelf. In such an apparatus, when a wafer is unloaded, the cassette is lowered, and when the wafer comes down and its center bottom comes into contact with the conveyor, the wafer is placed on the conveyor due to the frictional force with the conveyor and is unloaded. be done.

However, in such a wafer cassette, the transport line in the wafer storage direction and the wafer unloading direction is linear, and therefore the transport line becomes long. Particularly, when a wafer processing device (for example, an etching chamber, an ion implantation processing chamber) is installed in a perpendicular position in the middle of a wafer transfer line and a storage buffer cassette is used, a dead space is created.

[Means for solving problems]

Therefore, the present invention was created to eliminate such problems in the prior art, and consists of four or three plates each having a large number of comb-like protrusions and grooves located at the same horizontal position. These plates are set upright on an elevator, and the intervals between the plates are set so that they do not get caught on the wafer conveyor when the elevator goes up and down, and a top plate is placed on the upper end of these plates. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wafer cassette in which these plates are fixedly fixed to each other and the wafers are carried out in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which they are carried in.

[Effect]

A wafer cassette according to the present invention is placed on an elevator located at the intersection of a full-length conveyor or a three-way conveyor. Therefore, when storing wafers in cassettes, the wafers are placed on one of the conveyors and transported while being held by frictional force.
The wafer is carried into the groove of the plate in the cassette. Once the wafers are loaded, the conveyor may be stopped, and the cassettes may then be raised one step. The wafer is housed in a cassette with its periphery supported by projections. Next, when carrying out the wafers from the cassettes, for example, by driving a conveyor perpendicular to the cassette carry-in conveyor and lowering the cassettes one step at a time, the wafers stored in the cassettes are friction-locked to the conveyor. and then transported out. Of course, if the conveyor forms a crossroads, the cassettes can also be carried out in a straight line relative to the conveyor for carrying in the cassettes.

〔Example〕

The configuration of the present invention will be explained in detail based on examples.

FIG. 1 is an overall side view of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view of the main part as seen from arrow A, FIG. 3 is a diagram of the wafer storage state and loading/unloading state in FIG. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the main part of FIG. 4, and FIG. 5 is an exploded sectional view of the main part of FIG.

In this embodiment, a wafer cassette 2, which is raised and lowered by an elevator 1, is fixed on the elevator 1. The cassette 2 is constructed by standing upright on the elevator 1 with four plates 3 facing toward the center.

The plate body 3 is provided with comb-tooth-shaped protrusions 8 and grooves 9, the tip of the protrusion 9 is provided with a stepped portion 10 on which the wafer a can be placed, and the upper end of the plate body 3 is provided with a top plate. The wafer cassette 2 is constructed by fixing the wafers 6 and integrating the four plates 3.

To set up cassette 2 on elevator 1,
A post hole 15 is bored at the lower end of the plate body 3,
Four pillars 7 of the elevator 1 are fitted into the pillar holes 15, respectively. The elevator 1 is raised and lowered by a stepping motor 4 as shown in FIG. ’ move up and down. The lower ends of the four pillars 7 are respectively fixed to the lower frame 5', and the pillars 7 are respectively inserted through the upper frame 5 and moved up and down by the drive of the motor 4.

These elevators 1 and wafer cassettes 2
Conveyors 12 and 13 for transporting cassettes are located at the center of the
is installed. These conveyors 12 and 13 intersect in a cross-path shape, and one conveyor 12 is separated into 12 and 12'.

It should be noted that the conveyor 12' may be omitted and configured in a three-way configuration. In this case, the number of plates 3 may be three.

Since this embodiment has the configuration described above, it has the following effects. The wafer a is stored as shown in FIG. 3A. That is, it is carried into the cassette 2 by the conveyor 12, 12' or 13,
The four plates 3 are placed on the stepped portions 10 of the protrusions 8 and housed in the cassette 2. Loading and unloading into and out of the cassette 2 can be performed from any of the four directions as indicated by the arrows in FIG. Also, elevator 1
The wafer a may be stopped at an appropriate position and the wafer a may be allowed to pass through the groove 9 of the cassette 2.

The set of elevator 1 and wafer cassette 2 of this embodiment is used as a buffer cassette, for example, when ion implantation is performed, the wafer a is transferred from the wafer transfer device (cassette 2) and the wafer disk (not shown) is used. It is suitable for use in an apparatus in which the wafer a is placed on a wafer disk, and after ion implantation, the wafer a is carried out from the wafer disk and placed in the cassette 2 again. When used as a buffer cassette, if it is used either before being placed on the wafer disk or after being taken out from the wafer disk, the processing order in one batch of wafers will not be disrupted.
The present invention can also be applied to process cassettes by attaching stabilizing feet to the lower ends of each plate.

In summary, since the present invention adopts the configuration described in the claims, the following effects are achieved.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the cassette of the present invention, it is possible to carry out the wafer in a direction perpendicular to the carry-in side, so that the wafer processing line can be changed as appropriate, and the processing apparatus can be made more compact. In particular, since there is nothing inside the cassette that obstructs the passage of the wafers, the wafers can be passed through the cassette.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall side view of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view of the main part as seen from arrow A, FIG. 3 is a diagram of the wafer storage state and loading/unloading state in FIG. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the main part of FIG. 4, and FIG. 5 is an exploded sectional view of the main part of FIG. 1...Elevator, 2...Wafer cassette, 3...
Plate body, 8...Protrusion, 9...Groove, 12, 12', 13...
Conveyor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Four or three plates each having a large number of comb-tooth-like protrusions and grooves in the same horizontal position are erected on an elevator that goes up and down, and the intervals between these erected plates are adjusted. The wafers are positioned so as not to get caught on the wafer conveyor when the elevator goes up and down, and a top plate is fixed to the upper end of these plates to integrate these plates, so that the unloading direction of the wafer cassette is aligned with the loading direction. A wafer cassette that can be placed perpendicular to the wafer.