JPH04154144A - Substrate carrying-in and taking-out mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To adjust the parallelism of grooves of a cassette to that of substrates and to surely take out and house the substrates by a method wherein a cassette stand is tilted by using a tilting mechanism until three detectors can detect each substrate inside the cassette. CONSTITUTION:When the taking-out operation of a wafer 11 is started, a motor at an ascending and descending mechanism 14 is driven up to a position where a wafer detection sensor 15A detects the wafer; a cassette 12 is loaded; and a stand 16 is lowered. Tilting mechanisms 17A, 17B are actuated until wafer detection sensors 15A to 15C detect the wafer. The stand 16 is tilted to the front and the rear and to the right and the left; and it is adjusted in such a way that the wafer 11 is situated on the same plane as three sensors 17A to 17C. Then, the wafer 11 is sucked and conveyed by using a wafer-holding utensil 18.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Summary] The present invention relates to a substrate loading/unloading mechanism for a cassette that horizontally stores a plurality of substrates such as silicon wafers in a wafer process.

When taking out a substrate from a cassette using a substrate holder, adjust the substrate holder so that it is always parallel to the substrate in the cassette when it is in the waiting state for removal, to eliminate variations in the parallelism of the substrates in the cassette. The purpose is to be able to always take out the board in the same state, and when storing the board in the cassette, to adjust the parallelism of the groove to be the same as the board, so that the board can always be stored in the same state. year.

A plurality of substrates are stored horizontally one by one in a plurality of grooves cut into the inner wall of the cassette, and when loading and unloading the substrates, the cassette is moved up and down to the surface where the substrates are loaded and unloaded, and then A vertical mechanism for horizontally loading and unloading substrates from a cassette, which moves the cassette up and down according to the pitch of the groove, and three sensors for detecting the substrate level from at least three directions kept parallel to each other on a horizontal plane. Until the above board detection mechanism and the board detection mechanism all detect the board,
a tilting mechanism that operates a cassette platform for storing the substrate;
The device is configured to include a substrate holder for moving the substrate in and out after keeping the substrate horizontal.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention provides a mechanism for taking out a substrate from a cassette (hereinafter referred to as a substrate taking out mechanism) or a mechanism for storing a substrate in a cassette (
The following board storage mechanism) is securely installed.

Concerning functions for taking out and storing.

In recent years, the automation of semiconductor manufacturing equipment has progressed significantly due to the increase in the diameter of substrates due to the high integration and ultra-fine design of semiconductor devices. There is an increasing demand for reliable removal and storage of substrates, such as the reliable storage of substrates from processing equipment into cassettes.

For this purpose, it is necessary to accurately position the substrate with respect to the groove of the cassette.

[Conventional technology]

In the conventional cassette up/down mechanism, when taking out a board, the cassette containing the board is lowered at each groove pitch of the cassette using a pitch sensor, etc., and when the board is detected by the board detection sensor, the lowering of the cassette is stopped and the cassette is taken out. It will be in a standby state.

However, the parallelism of the board while waiting to be taken out is...

Detection of a portion of the substrate only causes the cassette to stop lowering, but accurate positioning is not performed.

Furthermore, when storing the substrate, the cassette is simply raised at each pitch of the grooves of the cassette using a pitch sensor or the like, and the parallelism of the grooves of the cassette is not guaranteed.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Therefore, when removing the board from the cassette.

Even if the substrates are in the same cassette, depending on the condition of the substrate, the substrate holder may not be able to hold the substrate and it may not be possible to take it out, or even if it can be taken out, dust may be generated due to contact between the cassette and the substrate. was there.

Further, a similar problem occurs when a substrate is stored in a cassette.

In view of the above problems, the present invention adjusts the substrate holder so that it is always at the same parallelism with respect to the substrate in the cassette when it is in the waiting state for taking out the substrate in the cassette. Eliminate variations in parallelism,
Provided so that the board can always be taken out in the same state, and when storing the board in a cassette, the parallelism of the groove can be adjusted to match the board, so that the board can always be stored in the same state. It is something that will be done.

[Means to solve the problem]

FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is a substrate, 2 is a cassette, and 3 is a groove.

4 is a vertical mechanism, 5 is a substrate detection mechanism, 6 is a stand, 7 is a tilting mechanism, and 8 is a substrate holder.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is characterized by providing a plurality of substrate detection mechanisms, and providing a mechanism for tilting the substrate so that all the detection mechanisms detect the substrate, thereby positioning a single substrate. It is done one by one.

That is, one object of the present invention is to provide a plurality of grooves 3 carved in the inner wall of the cassette 2, as shown in FIG. 1(b).

A plurality of substrates 1 are stored horizontally one by one, and when loading and unloading the substrates 1, the cassette 2 is moved up and down to the surface where the substrates 1 are loaded and unloaded, and then the substrates 1 are horizontally moved from the cassette 2. In the mechanism for loading and unloading.

and a vertical mechanism 4 that moves the cassette 2 up and down at each pitch of the groove 3.

As shown in FIG. 1(a), there are three or more board detection mechanisms 5 that detect the board level from at least three directions kept parallel to each other on a horizontal plane, and as shown in FIG. 1(b). and a tilting mechanism 7 that operates the platform 6 of the cassette 2 that stores the substrates 1 until the substrate detection mechanism 5 detects all the substrates 1.

As shown in FIG. 1(a), this is achieved by having a substrate holder 8 that holds each substrate 1 horizontally and then moves the substrate 1 in and out.

[Function] As shown in the previous section, the present invention has a function to always correct the parallelism of each substrate in the cassette to a constant value for each groove with the parallelism of the substrate holder. Since the parallelism of the substrate holder can always be kept the same for each substrate, it is possible to maintain the same parallelism for each substrate by fixing the positions of the substrate detection mechanism and the substrate holder.

The removal of the board from the cassette or the storage of the board into the cassette becomes reliable, and there is no problem with loading the 12 boards into the board loading/unloading tool or generation of dust due to contact between the cassette and the board.

[Embodiment] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 11 is a wafer, 12 is a cassette, 13 is a groove, 14 is a vertical mechanism 215, a wafer detection sensor, 16 is a stand, 17 is a tilting mechanism, and 18 is a wafer holder.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, in the first embodiment, a silicon wafer 11 is used as the substrate, and three wafer detection sensors 15A, 15B, and 15C are used as the substrate detection mechanism.

A Keyence laser photoelectric switch LZ-151 type was used as this detection sensor.

Detection distance is 40-60+ with spot diameter within 1m
u+.

The minimum detectable object is a copper wire of 0.01Φ.

Of these sensors 15, 15A is mounted at a position where it can continue to detect the wafer 11 even when the table 16 is tilted by the tilting mechanism 17A.

When starting to take out the wafer 11, first, the wafer detection sensor 15A drives the motor of the vertical mechanism 14 to lower the table 16 on which the cassette 12 is placed to the position where the wafer 11 is detected.

Next, the wafer detection sensors 15B and 15C are checked, and if both sensors 15 are detected, a standby state for taking out the wafer 11 is entered.

On the other hand, if either of the wafer detection sensors 15B, 15C does not detect a wafer, the tilting mechanisms 17A, 17B are operated to move the wafer 16 left and right and back and forth until both sensors detect the wafer. The wafer 11 is tilted 3
Repeat the adjustment so that it is on the same plane as each sensor.

Then, when the wafer 11 is completely adjusted to be on the same plane as the sensor 15, the wafer 11 is attracted by the wafer holder 18 and transported by 'R'.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the second embodiment, and as shown in FIG. 9, the difference from the first embodiment is that two cassettes 16 are tilted as in the first embodiment.

As in the second embodiment, only the wafers 11 in the cassette 12 are adjusted by tilting, but the basic operation is the same.

In this case, the tilting mechanisms 17C1 and 17D are the vertical mechanisms 14
It is independent from the wafer detection sensor 15, and is linked to the wafer detection sensor 15.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the parallelism of the substrates in the cassette and the parallelism of the grooves can always be maintained in the same state, so that the detection mechanism, the substrate ejection mechanism, or By fixing the position of the substrate storage mechanism, removal from the cassette or storage is ensured, and there is no contact between the cassette and the substrate, preventing dust from being generated, which also helps improve the yield and throughput of semiconductor devices. This is a major contribution.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention. It is. In fig. 1 is the board, 2 is the cassette. 3 is the groove, 4 is the vertical mechanism. 5 is a board detection mechanism, and 6 is a stand. 7 is a tilting mechanism; 8 is a substrate holder 11 for a wafer;
12 is Kase Nto. 13 is a groove, and 14 is a vertical mechanism. 15 is a wafer detection sensor. 16 is a stand, 17 is a tilting mechanism 18 is a wafer holder.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a plurality of grooves (3) carved in the inner wall of the cassette (2),
A plurality of substrates (1) are stored horizontally one by one, and the substrates (1) are stored horizontally one by one.
When loading and unloading the substrate (1), move the cassette (2) up and down to the surface where the substrate (1) is loaded and unloaded, and then
) horizontally in and out of the cassette (2), the cassette (2) is moved up and down by the pitch of the groove (3), and the up-and-down mechanism (4) is maintained in a parallel position on a horizontal plane. At least 3 dripped
three or more substrate detection mechanisms (5) that detect the substrate level from the direction; and the cassette (2) that stores the substrate (1) until the substrate detection mechanisms (5) all detect the substrate (1). stand (6
) and a tilting mechanism (7) that operates the substrate (1) after keeping the substrate (1) horizontal one by one.
) A substrate loading/unloading mechanism characterized by having a substrate holder (8) for loading/unloading the board.