JPH04158508A - Semiconductor wafer transfer system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To effectively utilize a space and to shorten one total time required for working process by perpendicularly laying out various kinds of apparatus constituting the system such as a semiconductor wafer working processor and a transfer truck. CONSTITUTION:A wafer cassette 13 is locked with a transfer truck 5 moved perpendicularly and is transferred to a step 3 of a tower 1 where a required working processor 10 is laid out. With semiconductor wafers stored, they are received and held by a delivery robot 7 provided in every working processor 10 and then supplied to the working processor 10. Each of semiconductor wafers supplied every wafer cassette 13 is subjected to a necessary working process. Further, a processed semiconductor wafer is stored again in the wafer cassette 13, discharged out of the working processor 10, received and held by the delivery robot 7, replaced onto a tray 6 of the transfer truck 5, and transferred to a next step.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer transport system used when processing semiconductor wafers, and in particular relates to the arrangement of various g2 constituting this system. .

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, when configuring this type of semiconductor wafer transport system, as shown in the partially omitted plan view of FIG.
2. Description of the Related Art It has become common practice to arrange various devices necessary for processing and transporting semiconductor wafers on the same plane.

That is, the reference numeral 10 in this figure indicates an individual processing device that performs necessary processing on a semiconductor wafer (not shown), and 11 indicates a plurality of processing devices that are assembled as a necessary part for each required processing step. A processing equipment group includes processing equipment 10, and reference numeral 12 denotes a transport vehicle for transporting semiconductor wafers to each of the processing equipment group 11.

Note that a plurality of these semiconductor wafers to be processed are stored in wafer cassettes 13, and the plurality of wafer cassettes 13 are placed on the transport carriage 12 and transported.

Then, the necessary processing equipment group 1 is transported by the transport vehicle 12.
Each of the wafer cassettes 13 that have been transferred to the processing equipment group 11 is received and held by a cassette transfer robot 14 provided for each processing equipment group 11, and this cassette transfer robot 14 runs on a transfer rail 15. As a result, it is transferred to the required processing apparatus 10.

Further, the semiconductor wafers transferred in this manner are supplied together with the wafer cassette I3 from the cassette transfer robot 14 to the processing equipment 10, and in this processing equipment 10, the necessary processing is performed on each semiconductor wafer. Ru.

Further, the processed semiconductor wafer is again stored in the wafer cassette 13 and discharged from the processing apparatus 10, and is received and held by the cassette transfer robot 14. The wafer cassette 1 transferred by the running of this cassette delivery robot] 4.
3 will be transferred onto the conveyor truck 12 and sent v1 to the next process. Note that this semiconductor wafer transfer system is equipped with a ':17 viewer, and is entirely controlled by this computer while maintaining consistency among the various devices.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, in the semiconductor wafer transfer system of the conventional configuration, various devices constituting the system, such as the processing device 10 and the transfer vehicle 12, are arranged on the same plane. This resulted in the inconvenience that the occupied space would be expanded, making it impossible to utilize the space effectively. Additionally, a wafer cassette 13 is connected between the processing device 10 and the transport vehicle 12.
Since it is necessary to transport the semiconductor wafers, the overall route required for transporting and transferring the semiconductor wafers becomes longer, resulting in the inconvenience that the overall time required for processing the semiconductor wafers becomes longer, making it impossible to improve productivity. there were.

The present invention was devised in view of the disadvantages of the conventional example, and provides a semiconductor wafer transport system having a configuration that allows effective use of space and easily increases productivity. The purpose is to

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve such an objective, the semiconductor wafer transport system according to the present embodiment includes a tower body having a plurality of floors spaced apart in the vertical direction, and a tower body having a plurality of floors spaced apart in the vertical direction. a transport vehicle that moves along a vertical axis disposed at the center position of the body in a plan view and stops at a height position corresponding to each of the floors; , comprising a plurality of processing devices located radially with respect to the vertical axis, and a transfer device that transfers semiconductor wafers between each processing device and the transport vehicle. be.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, since the various devices constituting the semiconductor wafer transport system are arranged along the vertical direction, the semiconductor wafer is transported by the transport carriage that moves along the vertical axis and then stops, and then is transferred. It will be directly supplied to the required processing equipment by the loading device.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

1 is a partially omitted vertical sectional side view showing a simplified overall configuration of the semiconductor wafer transfer system, and FIG. 2 is a lateral plan view taken along line nn in FIG. 1.

In these FIGS. 1 and 2, parts and portions that are the same or corresponding to those in FIG. 3 showing the conventional example are given the same reference numerals.

The semiconductor wafer transfer system according to the present embodiment includes a tower body 1 vertically erected on a floor surface G, and a vertical shaft 2 fixedly positioned and supported at the center position in plan view. An outer wall 1a is provided along the outer peripheral surface of the tower body 1, while an inner wall 1b is provided around a vertical axis 2 through which a transport vehicle (described later) passes6. These walls 1a and lb do not necessarily have to be provided, but if the outer wall 1a is provided, the tower body 1
It has the advantage that the inside of the can be separated from the outside atmosphere and then cleaned.

This tower body 1 has a plurality of floors 3 spaced apart from each other along the vertical direction, and on each floor 3, necessary processing is performed on semiconductor wafers (not shown). A plurality of processing and feeding devices 10 for
They are positioned and placed radially relative to each other. In addition, at this time, it is distributed as part of each layer 3!
It is desirable that the plurality of processing transport bags aF10 are grouped together as a processing transport device group required for each required processing step to be performed on the semiconductor wafer, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

This semiconductor wafer transport system also includes a transport carriage 5 that moves up and down along the vertical axis 2, and a drive stop means (
(not shown), and this transport vehicle 5 is adapted to be stopped at a height position corresponding to each of the floors 3 of the tower body 1. The carrier 5 is provided with a plurality of semiconductor wafer mounting tables, so-called trays 6, which are divided along the vertical direction, which is the direction of movement thereof, and each tray 6 has a plurality of semiconductor wafers mounted thereon. Processing and feeding device 1 that requires a wafer cassette 13 containing wafers
0 is placed to be transported. It goes without saying that this carrier 5 may have only a single tray 6.

Furthermore, on each floor 2 of the tower body 1 where the transport vehicle 5 stops, there is a delivery robot 7 as a transfer device located between the tray 6 of the stopped transport vehicle 2 and each processing device 10. A wafer cassette 13 containing semiconductor wafers is provided by the transfer robot 7.
The transfer is now done directly. Note that these wafer cassettes 13 are transferred through the inner wall 1 of the tower body 1.
Openings 1c through which the wafer cassette 13 can pass are formed at predetermined positions on the inner wall 1b.

Next, the operation of the semiconductor wafer transfer system according to this embodiment will be explained.

First, the wafer cassette 13 containing semiconductor wafers is transported to the floor 3 of the tower body 1 where the required processing equipment 10 is arranged by the transport vehicle 5 moving in the vertical direction and then stopping. Each of the transported wafer cassettes 13 is then transferred to a delivery robot 7 provided for each processing apparatus 10 while storing semiconductor wafers therein.
After being received and held by the transfer robot 7, it is supplied to the processing device 10. Therefore, in this processing apparatus 10, necessary processing is performed on each of the semiconductor wafers supplied together with the wafer cassette 13.

Furthermore, the processed semiconductor wafer is again stored in the wafer cassette 13 and discharged from the processing apparatus 10, received and held by the transfer robot 7, and then transferred onto the tray 6 of the transport vehicle 5. and transported to the next process.

Incidentally, in the above explanation, it is assumed that the semiconductor wafers to be processed are stored in the wafer cassette 13 and then transported, but, for example, the semiconductor wafers are transported one by one and then processed. In this case, the transfer robot 7 transfers the semiconductor wafers one by one between the tray 6 of the transport vehicle 5 and the processing device 10. It goes without saying that this semiconductor wafer transport system is equipped with a computer, and that the entire system is controlled by this computer while maintaining consistency among the various devices.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the semiconductor wafer transfer system according to the present invention, various devices constituting the system, such as a semiconductor wafer processing device and a transfer vehicle, are arranged along the vertical direction. The material is transported by a transport vehicle that moves along a vertical axis and then stops, and is then directly supplied to a required processing device via a transfer device. Therefore, according to the present invention, even if the system becomes larger, the planar 6-year-old space does not expand, and the space can be used effectively. At the same time, as the overall path required to transport semiconductor wafers is shortened, the overall time required for processing semiconductor wafers can be shortened, and productivity can be easily improved. It will be done.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 relate to this embodiment, FIG. 1 is a partially omitted vertical side view showing the overall configuration of the semiconductor wafer transfer system, and FIG. 2 is along the line ■-■ in FIG. 1. FIG. Further, FIG. 3 is a partially omitted plan view showing a simplified overall configuration of a semiconductor wafer transfer system according to a conventional example. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a tower body, 2 is a vertical axis, 3 is a floor, 5 is a transport vehicle, 6 is a tray (semiconductor wafer mounting table), and 7 is a delivery robot (transfer device). Note that the same reference numerals in the drawings indicate parts and portions that are the same or correspond to each other.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A tower body having a plurality of floors spaced apart along the vertical direction, moving along a vertical axis located at the center position of the tower body in plan view, and corresponding to each of the floors. a transportation vehicle that stops at a height position, a plurality of processing devices arranged on each floor of the tower body and located radially with respect to the vertical axis, and each processing device and the transportation vehicle. 1. A semiconductor wafer transfer system comprising: a transfer device for transferring semiconductor wafers between devices. (2) The semiconductor wafer transport system according to claim 1, wherein the transport vehicle has a plurality of semiconductor wafer mounting tables divided along the vertical direction.