JPH03251336A - Loading and unloading method of board onto board holder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To drastically shorten the time necessary for loading and unloading of a board onto a board holder, by composing it so as to include the corrected distance from the reference position detected by a distance sensor to the part to be detected for correcting the reference position at the time when a robot is driven to the reference position next. CONSTITUTION:When the board loading and unloading position apart in the 2nd specific distance from the part to be detected located on the plate face provided in the vicinity of a board holding part 2 is detected by distance sensors 12a, 12b, the board is fitted to the board holding part 2 with its separation from a hand 7 by stopping the hand 7 driving, or the board fitted to the board holding part 2 by the hand 7 is transferred by a robot 1 to the specific place with its fixing. In this case, the correction distance from the reference position detected by the distance sensors 12a, 12b to the part to be detected is included for correcting the reference position next. Consequently, the loading and unloading operation time of the board holding part 2 of the board can be shortened.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method for attaching and detaching a substrate to and from a substrate holder using a robot.

[Prior art and its problems] Figures 3 to 6 show a conventional device for attaching and detaching a magnetic disk to and from a substrate holder using a robot.
In the figure, the robot is indicated as a whole by (1), and a substrate holder (2), which is clearly shown in FIG. 7, is disposed close to the front of the robot. The robot (1) consists of a robot body (3) containing various drive mechanisms and a computer, a drive section (4) containing gears, rotating shafts, etc., and arms (5) (6) and arms (6) that are driven by the robot body (3). It consists of a hand part (7) attached to the tip of the hand part (6). arm f5
1 f6) are rotatable around axes (8) and (9), respectively. Examples of possible positions other than the hand part (7) are shown in dotted lines in FIGS. 3 and 5. Fig. 4 shows details of the hand part (7), and a pair of distance sensors (12a) (12b) are attached to both sides of the hand part (7), and three fingers (10a) (lob) are attached between them.
(loc) are attached so that they move in a direction in which they move away from each other (diameter reduction direction) and in a direction in which they approach each other (diameter expansion direction). As shown in Figure 5, these are installed at each vertex of an equilateral triangle. Figure 6 shows this hand part (7
) is shown, and the magnetic disk M is held with a finger (
10a) (10b) (10c) shows the state in which it is held firmly, that is, the finger (10al (fob)
), (Inc) are moved in the direction of separating from each other, and the situation is shown in which they are attached to the substrate holder (13) of the substrate holder (2), which is also shown enlarged in FIG. ing. That is, the substrate holder (2) is made of a thin plate,
In this conventional example, nine substrate holding parts (13) are formed, and these have a circular opening (I).
4), and a ■-shaped groove (13a) as clearly shown in FIG. 6 is formed on the lower peripheral edge of this. The structure is such that the lower edge of the magnetic disk M is held by this as shown by the broken line in FIG. FIG. 6 shows the situation in which an unprocessed magnetic disk M is mounted on the substrate holder (13). When the distance from the distance sensor (12a) (12b) is a predetermined position X with respect to the detection position (formed as a recess) (16) formed as a reference, , the magnetic disk M held firmly by the fingers (10al (10b) (Inc)
g) (10b) (The robot is taught to move the locl in a direction close to each other and detach it, that is, drop it into the groove (13a) at a short distance by gravity, and thus be held in position. The hand section (7) moves back and transports the next unprocessed magnetic disk M from a predetermined location, and similarly positions and holds it on another substrate holding section, but this is also taught to the robot. The positioning program is shown in a chart in Figure 8. That is, the finger (1
0al (10bl) The magnetic disk M is removed from (10c), but when the hand part (7) approaches the position Xl (usually when it approaches the position X by about 1 mm), the distance sensor ( 12al (12bl) is configured to start position detection. That is, the position detection start is shown in step a in FIG. While gradually moving the hand part (7) closer to the substrate holder (2) from the X position, while reading the coordinates, for example, xyz coordinates (only the This close hand trajectory and X, and the distance from the distant position to the X position are read by a position detection program.Then, this program determines the position appropriately. If the answer is Yes at Step C, the robot drive unit is stopped and the fingers (LOA) (LOB) (IOc) are moved in the direction of approaching each other, and the magnetic disk M is detached and attached to the substrate holding unit (13). The robot (1) is held in position (step d).If the position is not appropriate, that is, No, a position correction signal is supplied to the robot (1) (step e).
), for example, by moving the magnetic disk M back and forth in the X direction, the detachment position X of the magnetic disk M can be determined. It is designed to bring to the table.

However, when such a substrate holder (2) is used in an in-line sputtering apparatus, a predetermined number of substrates (for example, 20
It is necessary to teach the robot the position of the substrate holder (2) (about 100 sheets).

In addition, the magnetic disk M must be attached and detached within a specified time, but the temperature of the substrate holder (2) is increased (approximately 200°C).
) ~ The robot 1-(1) is at the detached position X because it gradually deforms (warps and bends) due to repeating the thermal cycle of temperature drop (room temperature). When detecting the position, the deviation from the teaching position becomes large. Therefore, the correct departure position X. Because the distance sensor (12a) (12b) detects the problem while carrying the device, it may take a long time or it may not be possible to attach or detach the device within a predetermined time. On the other hand, before performing such a sputtering operation, a human being uses a teaching device to move the robot in a simulation to the substrate holding part of each substrate holder, and initially teaches the combination 1-1 of the robot/soto main body of each disk attachment/detachment position. However, in order to do this accurately, it is necessary to teach each substrate holder how to attach and detach each substrate, which requires a huge amount of time. (Currently, even a skilled worker needs one hour per substrate holder.) [Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the problem mentioned in -F. Even if the substrate is significantly deformed due to repeated thermal cycles of temperature drop, the time required for the distance sensor to detect the detected part in a predetermined relationship with the board holding part when positioning the board for attachment/detachment by the robot can be greatly reduced. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for attaching and detaching a substrate to a substrate holder.

[Means for Solving the Problem] The above object is to store a reference position for attaching and detaching a substrate to a predetermined substrate holder, and to drive a robot hand toward the reference position based on the memory. When it reaches a position detection start position separated by a first predetermined distance from the reference position, a position detection program is started by the distance sensor attached to the hand, and When the distance sensor detects a substrate attachment/detachment position separated by a second predetermined distance from the detected part, the driving of the hand is stopped and the substrate is detached from the hand and attached to the substrate holding part, or the substrate is removed from the hand and attached to the substrate holding part; In the method for attaching and detaching a substrate to and from a substrate holder, the substrate mounted on the substrate holder is held firmly by a hand and is transported to a predetermined location by the robot, from the reference position detected by the distance sensor. Attaching and detaching a substrate to and from a substrate holder, characterized in that the correction distance to the detected part is included in order to correct the reference position when the robot is next driven to the reference position. achieved by the method.

[For production]

It is possible to quickly detect the attachment/detachment position of the substrate with respect to the substrate holding portion of the substrate holder, thereby shortening the time required for the operation of attaching/detaching the substrate. Moreover, the operation time for teaching can be shortened, and therefore the production cost can be significantly reduced compared to the conventional method.

[Example] This example is applied to an in-line sputtering device for hard disks.
About 0 substrate holders (2) as shown in FIG. 7 are periodically transported from this sputtering apparatus to a substrate loading/unloading position. Note that the robot for this attachment/detachment has the same configuration as the conventional one. However, the computer program built into this robot is different from the conventional one, as shown in FIG.

First, the operation for mounting an unprocessed substrate on the substrate holder (2) will be explained according to the program shown in FIG. According to this embodiment, the substrate holder (2) holds approximately 20 to 100 sheets.
Each has its own holder number,
For example, one of the substrate holders (2) shown in FIG. 7 is designated as No. 3. Since it is an in-line method, unprocessed substrates are sequentially mounted according to this number, subjected to a prescribed sputtering action in the sputtering equipment, and then positioned at a prescribed position by a transport mechanism to be placed on the ROBO-SO 1.
- is placed against. In addition, when the robot (1) starts operating this device, as in the past, a worker performs a so-called teaching operation on the substrate holder placed at a predetermined position, thereby opening each of the openings (1) to (9). ) (see FIG. 7), the position coordinates for attachment and detachment are stored in the computer. Although various coordinates such as polar coordinates and rectangular coordinates are used as the coordinates, in this embodiment, only the X coordinate will be explained to make the explanation easier to understand. In addition, there are 20 to 10
The following data is stored in association with each number of the substrate holder applied to this apparatus, which has approximately 0 substrates.

First, we will explain the first board mounting operation for the board holder (2) of l1lo, 3, that is, this N
Although the substrate holder α3 has not yet undergone the sputtering operation and has just finished the teaching operation, it is assumed that it is positioned at a predetermined position. The hand section of the robot is transported to the substrate attachment/detachment position based on the memory generated by the above-mentioned teaching operation, but prior to this, the hand section ( It is assumed that the device is driven while being held firmly by the fingers (10a, 10b, and 10c) of 7). Nine holder parts (13) are formed in the substrate holder (2), among which, for example, (
It is assumed that the substrate is held and attached to the holder part (13) of 1). X in Figure 2. Let x2 be the true position for mounting the board, and x2 be the position determined by teaching. In addition, this board holder (2) may have moved a little due to some kind of interference after teaching, or it may be due to a teaching error by the teaching worker.
It is assumed that a difference ΔX has occurred. The robot (1) moves to the position x2 based on the data stored by the teaching operation. When the program reaches xl, which is separated by β from this teaching position x2, the distance sensor (12
a) The distance side is determined by (12b). That is, position detection is started at step a shown in FIG. For example, the future movement distance with respect to the (The moving speed is much lower than the previous one, and in order to perform accurate positioning, the speed is further reduced when approaching the attachment/detachment position x0. This is all incorporated into the position detection program (step b). Distance sensor f
12a) When (12b) detects the detection surface (16) for the holder part (1), the drive of the robot's hand section is stopped. In addition, as shown in step C in Fig. 1, we have always judged whether the position is appropriate, that is, whether the detection surface (16) has been detected, that is, whether it is No or Yes.
s is judged, and if No, the position is corrected in step e, and it is determined whether to move further forward or backward, or the speed is adjusted according to the distance to this detection position, and then the detection surface (16)
When the distance x0 is detected, that is, when it is determined that the position is appropriate, the drive of the robot's hand section is stopped.

Then the finger (10al (10b) (locl
The diameter of the disk M is reduced, and the disk M which was held firmly by this is placed in the groove (13a) of a part of this holder, and after a predetermined period of time, the hand part (
7) retreats from the central opening of the disk M, after which the robot is driven to the cassette placed at a predetermined position and picks up the next unprocessed substrate with the fingers (10a) (10b).
flOc) is held in place by expanding the diameter, and the substrate is placed on the next holder part (2) under the same action as described above. Thereafter, unprocessed substrates are similarly mounted on the holder part (13) in (9), but in each mounting, according to the present invention, the teaching position X2 and the distance sensor (1
2a) The difference ΔX from the true attachment/detachment position x0 detected by f12b) is read, and this is the operation for determining the difference from the teaching position in step f. Differences ΔX are read corresponding to holder parts (1) to 3 (9) (step g).

In other words, ΔX is, for example, No. 3 substrate holder (2)
Part of the holder (1) (2) (3)...
+0.088, +0.130, -0.0 for (9)
35, -0.180, and so on, and this is added as the data correction value stored by teaching (step i).

According to this embodiment, before the hand part of the robot is driven to the teaching position, the previously read correction data, that is, △ driven to. At this position, in FIG. 2, when the position approaches x2 to β, position detection is started.

When the unprocessed substrate is mounted on the No. 3 substrate holder (2) in the above manner, it is introduced into an in-line sputtering device, subjected to a predetermined heating action and a sputtering action, and then subjected to a predetermined treatment. It is carried out again to the attachment/detachment position. Note that since the temperature at this position is room temperature, it undergoes a thermal cycle from about 200°C to room temperature, and 4 has already been slightly deformed in the first sputtering operation. When taking out the processed substrate from the substrate holder (2) with the robot hand, the hand moves toward the teaching position, and when it reaches the xl position as described above, the distance sensor (12al (12bl)
However, prior to this, the previous ΔX has been corrected, so it is a more true attachment/detachment position. Position detection will be started from a point a distance away from a position close to . Therefore, the travel distance and travel time for position detection can be made much smaller than in the case shown in FIG. The hand part is positioned for attachment/detachment even when taking out some of the processed substrates one by one from the substrate holder (3). After taking out all the substrates from this substrate holder (2), the substrates are is inserted into the sputtering equipment again, and the same sputtering action occurs.
Subject to heating action.

Next, another substrate holder is transported from within the apparatus to the attachment/detachment position and is subjected to the same detachment action as described above by the robot. Further, after all five substrates have been taken out from this substrate holder, even when unprocessed substrates are to be mounted, the teaching position is driven to the reference position with ΔX corrected in the same manner as described above. In this case as well, the previously stored ΔX is corrected to the reference position as the teaching position in this case, and position detection is started at a point approaching β.

According to this embodiment, as shown in step g in FIG. 1, the average value of the final three times is determined for each substrate holder (step h). In other words, it is possible to find the true attachment/detachment position by adding the correction value obtained by averaging the ΔX of the last time and the time before the last, rather than the ΔX immediately before, so this is done, of course. However, the present invention is not limited to this (the correction may be made using only the correction value of the immediately previous cycle).

Through these operations, the teaching position in the computer's memory is corrected as shown in the steps, so that the starting point for position detection is always constant with respect to the substrate holder. Strictly speaking, it cannot be said to be constant, but the detection amount is far greater than that of the conventional method.6 It guarantees the consistency of the starting point. Conventionally, each time a board is attached to or removed from the substrate holder, a correction amount from the initial teaching position must be added to the hand, and the travel distance of this distance sensor and the time required to reach the attachment/detachment position are extremely long. In this embodiment, in order to attach and detach the substrates to the substrate holder, it is necessary to position nine boards, which requires a huge amount of time, but according to this embodiment, this time can be significantly shortened. I can do it. Especially in one device 20
~ When approximately 100 substrate holders must be sequentially placed in a predetermined position, and the substrates must be attached and removed, the operation cycle is time-constrained, especially due to positioning for attachment and detachment, but this has been significantly reduced. As a result, the total operation time can be significantly shortened.
Therefore, production costs can be significantly reduced.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but of course the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

For example, in the following embodiment, one robot is used to load unprocessed substrates into each of the seven substrate holders and to take out the substrates from the substrate holders after performing a predetermined sputtering process at the same location. However, instead of this, for example, a robot body is provided in each of the unloading room and the preparation room, and the unprocessed substrate is mounted in the preparation room by the operation described above, and the unprocessed substrate is mounted in the unloading room. The processed substrate may be taken out by another robot.

Furthermore, in the above embodiments, the application was applied to an in-line sputtering apparatus for hard disks, but the invention is of course not limited to this, and a substrate holder is generally used, and a substrate of some kind (not necessarily a hard disk) is positioned on this and attached/detached. It can be applied to any device that does the following.

Further, in the above embodiments, the teaching position for the first attachment/detachment was used as the reference position, but instead of this, some roughly set reference point may be used.

〔Effect of the invention〕

8 As described above, according to the method for attaching and detaching a substrate to and from a substrate holder of the present invention, the time required for attaching and detaching a substrate to and from a substrate holder can be significantly shortened compared to the conventional method, and the work for teaching is also significantly reduced. Therefore, production costs can be significantly reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a substrate attachment/detachment program in an in-line sputtering apparatus for hard disks according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between a distance sensor and a substrate holder in a robot to explain the same operation. 3 is a schematic plan view showing the relationship between the conventional robot body and the substrate holder, FIG. 4 is an enlarged plan view of the hand section of the same robot, FIG. 5 is a side view of the robot in FIG. 3, and FIG. 7 is an enlarged plan view of the substrate holder in FIG. 3, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a conventional substrate attachment/detachment program. In the figure, (1)................................... (2)................................... (12a) (12b)... Sen 9 0

Claims (1)

[Claims] Memorizing a reference position for attaching and detaching the substrate to a predetermined substrate holder, driving the robot hand toward the reference position based on the memory, and detecting a position separated by a first predetermined distance from the reference position. When the starting position is reached, a position detection program is started using a distance sensor attached to the hand, and a board attachment/detachment position is located at a second predetermined distance from the detected part on the board surface provided near the board holding part. When detected by the distance sensor, the drive of the hand is stopped, and the substrate is detached from the hand and mounted on the substrate holder, or the substrate mounted on the substrate holder is fixedly held by the hand. In the method for attaching and detaching a substrate to and from a substrate holder, the robot transports the substrate to a predetermined location by the robot. A method for attaching and detaching a substrate to and from a substrate holder, characterized in that when the substrate is driven to the reference position, calculation is performed to correct the reference position.