JPH0444421B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a device for carrying out and transporting an original such as a photomask or reticle used in a semiconductor printing apparatus in a dust-proof condition.

[Conventional technology]

When manufacturing semiconductor devices such as ICs, LSIs, and VLSIs, one of the issues that must be solved is the problem of dust adhesion to masks or reticles.

Since these ultra-fine semiconductor integrated circuit patterns are printed onto wafers, dust on the mask or reticle can damage the transferred semiconductor circuit patterns and reduce the performance of commercialized semiconductors such as LSIs. Not only that, but in the worst case, it paralyzes the entire function of the semiconductor.

In particular, with step-and-repeat projection exposure equipment, which has become mainstream in recent years, many shots of semiconductor integrated circuit patterns are printed onto a single wafer using a single mask or reticle. If there is, there is a problem that all the chips on that wafer will become defective. Because of these problems, it is better for people who are the cause of dust generation to not come close to the mask or reticle as much as possible.

By the way, a conveying device that automatically takes out originals from a dust-proof cassette containing originals such as masks and reticles and transports them to a predetermined position is known, for example, as proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-64928. It is being

[Problem that the invention is trying to solve]

However, with this device, in order to take out and transport the stored originals from inside the cassette, it is necessary to open a door provided on the side wall of the cassette and insert a fork for removing the originals into the cassette. . Also, with this conventional device,
Since the original is always transported by itself from immediately after being taken out of the cassette to a predetermined transport completion position, there is a high possibility that dust, dirt, etc. may adhere to the original during transport.

The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide an original plate that can quickly and in a clean state take out and transport an original plate from the inside of a dust-proof cassette that stores an original plate such as a mask or reticle. The object of the present invention is to provide a conveying device for the following.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve this object, the present invention has a lower member on which an original such as a mask or a reticle is placed, and an upper member that is formed to be detachably attached to the lower member. It has a cassette carrier into which a plurality of dust-proof cassettes are loaded forming a storage chamber for storing the dust-proof cassettes, and a fork that moves forward and backward with respect to the cassette carrier, and supports the lower part of the dust-proof cassette with the fork. A first ejecting mechanism that removes the original from the cassette carrier together with the lower member of the dust-proof cassette while leaving the upper member of the dust-proof cassette in the cassette carrier by pulling out the lower member from the cassette carrier; A second ejecting mechanism is provided for removing the original from the lower member of the dust-proof cassette by holding the original in the lower member of the dust-proof cassette after the original is taken out from the cassette carrier together with the lower member of the dust-proof cassette.

Furthermore, preferably, the second ejecting mechanism is adapted to hold the substrate in the lower member of the dust-proof cassette by vacuum suction.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the original plate conveying device of the present invention will be described in detail based on the embodiment shown in the drawings.

1 to 9 show a cassette portion of an embodiment of a mask or reticle transport device.

Figure 1 is a fragmented perspective view of the lid member, Figure 2 is a perspective view of the box member, Figure 3 is a partial view of the A view in Figure 1, and Figure 4 is the B view of Figure 2. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a cassette in which a lid member and a box member are combined;
6 is a sectional view taken along line c-c' in FIG. 5, FIG. 7 is a detailed explanatory view of the claw member, FIG. Each figure shows a view from E in FIG. 8.

In the figure, 1 is a lid member, 2 is a handle 3 that makes it easier to handle the lid member 1, and a claw member that prevents the box member 4 and the lid member 1 from being easily separated when they are combined. It engages with the hook portion 4b. 1
A is a protruding holding portion of the lid member 1, and the box member 4 is held by the lid member 1 by placing the protruding portion 4a on the holding portion 1a.

1b is an entrance end of the lid member 1, and 4c is a stop member that is a combination of the lid member 1 and the box member 4. Reference numeral 4d denotes a step surface having a step and a bottom surface corresponding to a support portion on which a mask or reticle is placed and supported. 1c is the bottom of the lid member 1, and when it is combined with the box member 4 as shown in FIG. 5, this becomes the bottommost part.
Reference numeral 5 denotes a handle provided at the end of the box member 4 on the side where the stopper member 4c is located for easily uncoupling the lid member 1 and the box member 4 by hand. Reference numeral 6 denotes a reticle, whose cross-sectional view when placed on the stepped surface 4d of the box member 4 is shown in FIG. Frame 7
A is also drawn. 4a' is a portion where the holding portion 1a of the lid member 1 and the protruding portion 4a of the box member 4 do not overlap when they are overlapped, and the engaging portion 10 of the fork 11, which will be described later, comes into contact with this end.

FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view schematically showing the relationship between the claw member 3 shown in FIG. 1 and the hook portion 4b shown in FIG. 2, where 1d is a side wall of the lid member 1, and 3a is a claw member. 3 is a pushing end, 3b is a cylindrical locking portion provided at the other end of the claw member 3, 3e is a rotation axis of the claw member 3,
Both ends of the shaft are rotatably supported by the side wall 1d. Further, 3f is a torsion spring, one end of which engages with the claw member 3 and the other end of which engages with the side wall 1d, and as a result, a counterclockwise rotational force is applied to the claw member 3. When the box member 4 is inserted into the lid member 1 as shown in this figure and FIG. 6, the locking end 3b falls into the hook portion 4b and locks it, but as shown in FIG. Box member 1 is used as a cassette as shown in Figure 9.
When the carrier 9 is inserted into the carrier 9, which will be described later, the inner wall 9d of the carrier 9 pushes the pushing end 3a toward the box member 4, the locking portion 3b is retracted from the hook portion 4b, and the hook portion 4b is released. In addition, torsion spring 3
The claw member 3 presses the inner wall 9d of the carrier 9 due to the counterclockwise bias of f, so that the lid member 1 is frictionally engaged with the carrier 9.

9 is a carrier, and the cassette when the lid member 1 and box member 4 are combined as shown in Fig. 6 is shown in Figs. 8 and 9.
This is for accommodating a large number of containers as shown in the figure. Reference numeral 9b denotes a stopper connected to the carrier 9 in a protruding shape, which is provided on both sides of one side of a partition plate or a bottom plate that partitions the upper and lower parts of the carrier 9 into a number of areas.

FIG. 9 shows the state in which the cassette is separated from the automatic carrier 9 and only the box member 4 (which, of course, includes the reticle 6 as shown in FIG. 6) is taken out. A fork 11 is inserted into a hole 8 between the cassette and the carrier 9. Although the mechanism is not shown in the figure, the direction of the arrow, that is, the reticle 6
It is possible to move in parallel and perpendicular directions to the plane. The width L of the fork 11 in the longitudinal direction and the perpendicular direction is
The width is set smaller than the width obtained by subtracting the width of the holding portion 1a in the longitudinal direction and the perpendicular direction from the width of the protruding portion 4a in the longitudinal direction and the perpendicular direction. Therefore, when the fork 11 is inserted into the cassette, the fork arm (width L)
can support the protruding part 4a of the portion 4a' where the holding part 1a and the protruding part 4a do not overlap each other. Reference numeral 9a designates a stopper at the entrance end 1b of the lid member 1, which is a partition plate that partitions the upper and lower parts of the carrier 9 into a number of areas, and protrusions provided on the other two sides of the bottom. When the box member 4 and the lid member 1 are separated when the box member 4 is taken out from the carrier 9, the lid member 1 is held in the carrier 9. Reference numeral 10 denotes an engaging portion of the fork 11, which engages with a recess (not shown) at the end of the portion 4a' of the box member 4.

FIGS. 10 and 11 are explanatory diagrams showing the entire embodiment of a mask or reticle conveying apparatus according to the present invention. Figure 10 shows box member 4 and fork 1.
The reticle housed in the box member 4 is not shown in the figure in which the reticle is placed on the box member 1 and carried out from the carrier 9. 12
12a and 12b are guide rods of the fork 11, and 13 is a screw which is rotated by a motor 15 via a gear 14b provided on the shaft of the motor 15 and a gear 14a meshing with the gear 14b. This screw 13 is supported by a support member 17 with a bearing, and is screwed into a screw hole provided in the fork 11. As the screw 13 rotates, the fork 11 moves forward or backward, and enters or exits the carrier 9 through the hole 8 shown in FIG. 9 as described above. 16 and 17 are guide rods 12
The support member 18 that supports the support members a and 12b is a base plate of a mechanism that allows the fork 11 to enter and exit the carrier 9 by supporting the support members 16 and 17. This board 18 includes everything placed on it, ie, the fork 11, the support members 16, 1, etc.
7. The guide rods 12a and 12b, the screw 13, the motor 15, and the gears 14a and 14b move up and down. 23 is the lower plate at the bottom, 24 is the upper plate at the top, 19
Numerals a and 19b are fixing rods for connecting and fixing the lower plate 23 and the upper plate 24 to each other, and at the same time, they penetrate through the substrate 18 and serve as guide rods for the substrate 18. 20
is a screw, and rotates by receiving the rotational force of the motor 22 via a gear 21b provided on the shaft of the motor 22 and a gear 21a that meshes with the gear 21b and is fixed to the end of the screw 22. Since the screw 20 is screwed into a screw hole provided in the board 18, when the screw 20 rotates once, the board 18 moves up and down by the pitch. Note that this screw 20 is supported by a bearing on the upper plate 24. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a mechanism section for taking out a reticle or mask from the box member 4.

6 is a reticle, 7 is a pellicle membrane, 26a, 26
b is a suction cup, 25a, 25b, 25c are suction cups 2
Upper plate 2 with a suction cup support rod that supports 6a, 26b, etc.
4 and is supported by means not shown. Although the mechanical parts of the suction plate support rods 25a, 25b, and 25c are not shown, they can be moved up and down slightly to adjust their positions. In FIG. 10, the carrier 9 containing the cassettes is arranged at a position where the box member 4 of the cassettes therein faces the fork 11 as shown.

Next, the operation of the mask or reticle conveying device in the above configuration will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 11.

A mask or reticle (reticle 6 in this embodiment) is manually placed on the step surface 4d of the box member 4 shown in FIG. 2 as shown in FIG.
The lid member 1 is inserted into the box member 1 from the entrance end 1b shown in FIG. 1 so that the protruding portion 4a rests on the holding portion 1a. At the position where the entrance end 1b of the lid member 1 and the stopper member 4c of the box member 4 are tightly fitted together, the claw member 3 engages the catch portion 4 of the box member 4 as described above.
b, and locks the lid member 1 and the box member 4 so that they do not separate.

The combined view at this time is FIG. 5 and FIG. 7, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the two. The cassette in the state shown in FIG. 5 is manually inserted into the carrier 9 from direction D shown in FIG. A space 9c is provided in the carrier 9 so that the cassette can pass over the stopper 9b. The cassette inserted into the carrier 9 is positioned by a stopper 9a so that it does not go too far to the opposite side.

Next, referring to FIG. 10, the operation of automatically unloading the box member 4 from the carrier 9 will be explained. Due to the rotational positioning of the motor 22, the screw 20 rotates via the gears 21b, 21a, and the guide rods 19a, 19b
The substrate 18 and fork 11 move and stop in front of a desired cassette. This position is freely detected by an encoder or the like that detects the number of rotations of the motor, and a light 9 is also provided for safety, although not shown. Therefore, due to the rotation of motor 15, gear 1
4b and 14a, the screw 13 rotates, and the fork 11 in the state shown in FIG. 9 enters the carrier 9 through the clearance hole 8 without contacting the box member 4, etc. The approach is terminated at a predetermined position by the action of a limit switch (not shown) or the like.

When the fork 11 has entered the carrier 9, the motor 22 rotates slightly and the gears 21b, 21
By slightly pushing up the board 18 through the screws 20 and 20, the fork 11 rises slightly to a position where it touches the part 4a' of the box member 4 shown in FIG. The engaging portion 10 of the fork 11 shown in FIG. 9 engages with the recessed portion. Next, the motor 15 rotates, and the gears 14b, 14a and the screw 1
3, the fork 11 returns to the motor 15 side, and the fork 11 can be carried out of the carrier 9 together with the box member 4 and the reticle 6 as shown in FIG. At this time, the cover member 1 is moved to the stopper 9 of the carrier 9.
The fork 11 carries out only the box member 4 because it is hooked on the box member 4 and the claw member 3 is frictionally engaged with the inner wall 9d of the carrier 9 as described above.

The unloading of the box member 4 is completed at a predetermined position by the action of a limit switch (not shown) or the like. This time, the gear 21 is rotated by the rotation of the motor 22 for vertical movement.
The substrate 18, the fork 11, and the box member 4 are transported to the uppermost reticle or mask removal position via the screws 20 and 21a, and are stopped at a predetermined position.

Next, in FIG. 11, the mask or reticle is taken out from the box member 4 in a direction substantially perpendicular to its supporting surface and delivered to the second conveyance means. This part will be explained. For the uppermost mask, the reticle extraction position is at the same time that the suction cups 26a and 26b are at the reticle 6.
At this position, the reticle 6 is attracted to the suction cups 26a and 26b. When the adsorption of the reticle 6 is completed, the gear 21 is rotated by the rotation of the motor 22.
The board 18, fork 11, box member 4, etc. move significantly downward via a, 21b and the screw 20.
As a result, the reticle 6 is taken out from the box member 4.

Next, although not shown, when the second conveying means enters from the direction of arrow F to a position where it does not contact the reticle or mask, suction cup support rods 25a, 25b, 25c
is driven together with the reticle 6 by means not shown to begin its downward movement and transfer the reticle 6 onto this second conveying means. At that position, suction cups 26a, 26
The suction by b is broken and the reticle 6 becomes free again. Note that the adsorption may be a type of vacuum adsorption. Although not shown, there is a reticle or mask positioning mechanism on the upper plate 24, and a second
The reticle or mask is positioned at a predetermined position on the transport means.

When the above operations are completed, the second transport means transports the reticle or mask to the exposure position. The exposed reticle or mask is accommodated in the carrier 9 by a substantially reverse operation.

In the above embodiment, the fork that pulled out the cassette is moved up and down, but the fork itself does not move up and down, but a second conveyance means that moves up and down is separately provided, and the cassette is transferred to the second conveyance means. It is then possible to carry it to the top and remove the reticle or mask from the cassette there. Then the third
The conveying means may also include means for transferring the mask or reticle to the exposure position.

In recent years, for the purpose of avoiding dust imaging, a method has been proposed in which the effective film surface of a mask or reticle is surrounded by a pellicle frame and covered with a pellicle film, as shown in FIG. This embodiment is particularly effective for masks or reticles coated with this pellicle film.

This method uses a pellicle frame on the mask or reticle,
When attaching the pellicle membrane, the space made up of these three members is kept in a dust-free and completely sealed state, thereby preventing rubber from adhering to the mask or reticle membrane surface from the outside.

Dust attached to the pellicle film surface is not imaged on the wafer because it is separated from the mask or reticle film surface by an amount equivalent to the thickness of the pellicle frame. This pellicle membrane is thin, very weak and expensive.

Therefore, in consideration of destruction and contamination, it is better not to move the conveying means near this area. If the mask or reticle is taken out from the box member in a direction parallel to the mask or reticle support surface of the box member, there is a possibility that the pellicle frame and the fork or the pellicle membrane and the fork come into contact. Since the pellicle membrane is weak when it comes into contact, there is a risk that the pellicle membrane will be destroyed by the impact.

However, if the mask or reticle is taken out from the box member in a direction perpendicular to the mask or reticle support surface of the box member as in this embodiment, the pellicle film may be destroyed because it is not taken out using a moving member such as a fork. , no risk of contamination.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, when a substrate such as a mask or a reticle is taken out from a cassette carrier, the substrate is taken out together with the lower part while leaving the upper part in the cassette carrier. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the risk that the substrate will be damaged by a fork entering the cassette carrier, and the risk that dust will adhere to the substrate during transportation to the exposure position.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a partially fragmented perspective view of a lid member of a cassette used in the conveying device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a box member of the cassette, and Fig. 3 is a part of Fig. 1 viewed from direction A. FIG. 4 is a partially omitted perspective view of FIG. 2 seen from direction B, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the cassette, and FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view showing the state of the claw member, FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the cassette inserted into the carrier, and FIG. 9 is a view of the carrier etc. in FIG. 10th perspective view showing the relationship between
The figure is an overall perspective view of the conveyance device according to the present invention, and the first
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the suction mechanism of the conveying device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Lid member, 1a... Holding part, 1b... Lid entrance end, 1c... Bottom, 2... Handle, 3... Claw member, 4... Box member, 4a... Protrusion part, 4b... ...Hatch portion, 4c... Stop member, 4d... Step surface, 4
a'...part, 5...handle, 6...reticle, 7...
... Pellicle frame, 8 ... Hole, 9a, 9b ... Stopper, 9c ... Space, 10 ... Engagement part, 11
...Fork, 12a, 12b...Guide rod, 1
3...screw, 14a, 14b...gear, 15...
Motor, 16, 17... Supporting member, 18... Board, 19a, 19b... Fixing rod, 20... Screw,
21a, 21b...gear, 22...motor, 23
...Lower plate, 24...Upper plate, 25a, 25b, 25
c... Suction cup support rod, 26a, 26b... Suction cup.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A storage device having a lower member on which an original such as a mask or a reticle is placed, and an upper member detachably formed with respect to the lower member, in which the original is stored. The cassette carrier has a cassette carrier into which a plurality of dustproof cassettes forming a chamber are loaded, and a fork that moves forward and backward with respect to the cassette carrier, and supports the lower member of the dustproof cassette with the fork. a first take-out mechanism for taking out the original from the cassette carrier together with the lower member of the dust-proof cassette with the upper member of the dust-proof cassette remaining in the cassette carrier by pulling out the side member from the cassette carrier; , after the original is taken out from the cassette carrier together with the lower member of the dust-proof cassette, the original is removed from the lower member of the dust-proof cassette by holding the original in the lower member of the dust-proof cassette. An original transport device characterized by having a second take-out mechanism for taking out the original. 2. The original transport device according to claim 1, wherein the second take-out mechanism holds the substrate in the lower member of the dust-proof cassette by vacuum suction.