JPH05198B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a robotic device that operates in a clean room such as that used in semiconductor manufacturing.

Background technology and its problems The semiconductor manufacturing process is carried out in a clean room to improve the performance and yield of semiconductors, but in order to improve the cleaning effect, the clean room is unmanned and equipped with resist coating machines, exposure machines, and developing machines. machine,
It is conceivable to use robots to operate machines such as etching machines in each process and to transport cassettes and the like between each process.

In order to improve work efficiency, it is preferable that each manufacturing device in the process is arranged in a straight line, and the robot is guided in movement by a guide rail along the length of the process. In this case, as the distance the robot moves becomes longer, it becomes difficult to supply power to the robot through the cable, so a configuration is used in which the current collector is brought into contact with the surface of a longitudinal power supply rail along the guide rail and the current is collected in a sliding state. becomes.

However, with this configuration, fine metal powder and oxides (brown powder) are generated due to the large current exchange due to sliding between the power supply rail and the current collector, which significantly contaminates the inside of the clean room.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems and provide a current collection system that does not generate any fine metal powder or brown powder.

Summary of the Invention A clean room working robot device of the present invention includes a linear motor that moves a working robot along a working device longitudinally arranged in a clean room. A power supply rail is continuously attached along the movement path of the work robot, and a current collector is provided on the work robot side via a control means for contacting and separating from the power supply rail. Furthermore, a secondary battery for moving the work robot is provided on the work robot side.

When the work robot is positioned at the work position, the current collector is brought into contact with the power supply rail by the control means, and in this state, the work robot is operated and the secondary battery is charged. Also, when the work robot is moved,
The current collector is separated from the power supply rail by the control means, and power is supplied from the secondary battery to the work robot side armature of the linear motor.

With this configuration, power can be supplied without passing through the sliding portion, and the inside of the clean room is completely prevented from being contaminated by fine powder generated as a result of sliding.

In addition, since the power supply rail is attached continuously, power can be supplied to the work robot and the secondary battery at any position within the movement range of the work robot, so even if there is a change in the work line in the clean room, it can be done quickly. Can correspond to

Example The present invention will be described below with reference to drawings of embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a semiconductor manufacturing process to which the clean room working robot apparatus of the present invention is applied. Inside the manufacturing room, a clean room 1 and a monitoring room 2 are separated by a transparent partition wall 3. This partition wall 3 has a filtering effect to remove harmful light to the resist process. An operation console 4 is provided in the monitoring room 2, and the operator 5 sends operation commands from the console 4 to a control computer (not shown) by key input, and from this control computer each semiconductor manufacturing device 6a, 6b, 6c... And operation commands are given to the robot 7 based on a predetermined program.

The semiconductor manufacturing equipment 6a, 6b, 6c, . . . may be a resist coating device, an exposure device, a developing device, a check device attached to these devices, etc. in a resist process. These manufacturing devices 6a, 6b, . . . are arranged in a line, and guide rails 8, 9 are provided at the top to move the robot 7 along the longitudinal direction. The carriage 10 of the robot 7 is self-propelled in the direction of arrow A by a field device of a linear pulse motor provided along these guide rails 8 and 9 and an armature built into the carriage, and is positioned at a predetermined position. be done. The main body of the robot 7 is moved up and down in the direction of arrow B by a lifting mechanism provided on the carriage 10, and each joint of the robot 7 is moved up and down in the direction of arrow C, D, E,
It is rotatable in the F direction, and the manipulator 11 at the tip is controlled by a pulse motor provided at each joint so that it performs the required operation.

Air in the clean room 1 is introduced through a filter 12 on the ceiling, and is then introduced into the clean zone 1 through a filter 13 installed along guide rails 8 and 9.
4, and is further blown from above each device 6a, 6b, . . . through a filter 15 to form an air curtain. With this air cleaning system, dust (metal powder, etc.) that is easily generated from moving and sliding parts of the robot 7 during work or movement is collected in the clean zone 14, and together with unmanned operation, an extremely clean clean room 1 can be created. available.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the carriage 10,
The carriage body is slidably supported on the lower guide rail 9 via a bearing 16, and is held on the upper guide rail 8 via a pair of rollers 17 so as not to tilt. The robot 7 is suspended by a spline shaft 18 in a carriage 10 so as to be able to rise and fall. Note that each joint of the robot 7 is rotationally controlled by pulse motors 19-22.

The carriage 10 is self-propelled by a linear pulse motor provided along the direction of movement of the robot. This linear pulse motor has a fixed linear field device 2 installed near the lower guide rail 9.
3, and an armature device 24 provided on the moving side (carriage side) opposite thereto. Third
As shown in the detailed perspective view of the figure, the linear field device 2
3 has slots 25 arranged at a predetermined pitch, and the armature device 24 has a plurality of salient poles 26 at a corresponding pitch. These field devices 23
The armature device 24 is a well-known pulse motor or stepping motor developed linearly and with the fixed side field portion extended by a required length.

A current collector 28 is provided at the top of the carriage 10. As shown in FIG. 4, which is an enlarged sectional view of this part, a pair of (positive and negative) power supply rails 29, 3
0 is the insulating layer 3 along the direction of movement of the carriage 10.
It is attached via 1. On the side of the carriage 10, spring-shaped current collectors 32 and 33 are attached to the distal end side of a moving member 34, facing the power supply rails 29 and 30. This moving member 34 is connected to the guide rod 3
5 so as to be movable in the horizontal direction, and is horizontally moved by a feed screw 37 coupled to a feed motor 36.

The collectors 32 and 33 are brought into contact with the power supply rails 29 and 30, as shown in a partially detailed view of FIG. 5, only when the carriage 10 is stopped under control to be described later. That is, with the robot 7 positioned at the working position, current is supplied from the current collectors 32 and 33 to the controller of the robot 7, the joint pulse motors 19 to 22, and the like. The forward movement position of the movable member 34 during current collection is detected by a photo sensor 38 (on the movable member side) and a marker 39 (on the fixed side).

When the carriage 10 is moved, the current collectors 32 and 33 are separated from the power supply rails 29 and 30, as shown in FIG. Therefore, the current collectors 32, 33 and the power supply rail 2
9 and 30 do not slide, and there is almost no generation of metal fine powder or brown powder, so the inside of the clean room 1 can be kept clean. Since the collectors 32 and 33 do not slide, they may be spring-shaped, or they may have a structure in which a contact piece is attached to the tip of a spring like a normal electrical contact. Since there is no need to particularly consider sliding resistance, there is a large degree of freedom in design.

Since power is not supplied when the carriage 10 is moved, the carriage 10 is equipped with a battery 41 (secondary battery).
Power is supplied to the carriage-side armature device 24 of the linear pulse motor, thereby causing the carriage 10 to travel by itself. When the vehicle is stopped, the battery 41 is charged through the charger 42.

FIG. 6 is an electrical system diagram inside the carriage 10, and shows command signals S1 and S2 from the control computer.
As a result, the collector feed motor 36 and the armature device 24 of the linear pulse motor are switched to switches 43 and 44.
controlled by. When switch 44 is on and the carriage 10 is being driven by the linear pulse motor, switch 43 is off. When the carriage 10 is positioned at a predetermined working position, the switch 43 is connected to the forward rotation side +, and the feed motor 36 rotates forward to rotate the collectors 32,
33 are brought into contact with the power supply rails 29 and 30. In this state, power is supplied to each robot actuator through the robot controller 45. At the same time, the battery 41 is charged through the charger 42.

When the robot 7 moves to the next working position, the switch 43 is connected to the reverse rotation side, and the current collectors 32, 33 are separated from the power supply rails 29, 30 by the reverse rotation of the feed motor 36. Next, the switch 44 is turned on, and a drive current is applied from the battery 41 to the armature device 24.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an outline of the system. In order to minimize the number of sliding parts, the control computer 46 and the robot 7 are connected by an optical transmission line as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, command data from the control computer 46 is transmitted to each manufacturing device 6a,
It is conveyed to b, 6c... Further, at each positioning point of the robot 7 along the guide rails 8, 9 in FIG. 1, there are optical data ports 48a, 48b, 48c...
... is placed and the robot 7 is positioned at its working position, the optical data port 4 of the robot 7
9 are these optical data ports 48a, 48b...
to face. In this state, the control computer 46
Control information is sent from the robot 7 to the robot 7, and necessary monitor data is sent back from the robot 7 to the control computer 46, so that the robot work is controlled according to a predetermined program.

When the robot 7 performs work outside the program, operation commands can be given to the robot 7 through the control computer 46 by key input from the operation console 4 shown in FIG. In addition, the worker 5 directly faces the robot 7 across the partition wall, and operates the remote control unit 5 in FIG.
1 can also be used to directly give operation commands to the optical data port 50 of the robot 7 as shown in FIG. The operation commands include a command to interrupt program work, a command to rotate each joint, a command to operate the manipulator 11, a command to move the robot carriage 10, and the like. These operation commands are issued by selecting one of the operation modes and turning it on or off on the operation panel of the remote control unit 51.

Effects of the Invention As described above, when the work robot is positioned at the work position, the current collector is brought into contact with the continuously attached power supply rail, and in this state, the work robot is operated and the work robot mounted on the robot is operated. The mobile secondary battery is charged, and when moving, the current collector is separated from the power supply rail, and power is supplied from the secondary battery to the robot side armature of the linear motor for moving the work robot.
The power necessary for operating and moving the work robot can be supplied without sliding between the power supply rail and the current collector. Therefore, no metal powder or brown powder is generated during sliding, so the interior of the clean room can be kept clean.

In addition, since the power supply rail is attached continuously, power can be supplied to the work robot and the secondary battery at any position within the movement range of the work robot, so even if there is a change in the work line in the clean room, it can be done quickly. can correspond to

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a robot device for working in a clean room in a semiconductor manufacturing process to which the present invention is applied, FIG. FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the current collector of the carriage shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view showing the forward movement of the current collector in FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of the system of FIG. 1. In addition, in the symbols used in the drawings, 1...Clean room, 2...Monitoring room, 3...Partition wall,
4...operation console, 6a, 6b,
6c...Semiconductor manufacturing equipment, 7...Robot, 8,
9... Guide rail, 10... Carriage, 11
...Manipulator, 23...Field device, 24...
... Armature device, 28 ... Current collector, 29, 30 ...
Power supply rail, 32, 33... collector, 34... moving member, 35... guide rod, 36... feed motor, 37... feed screw, 41... battery,
42...It is a charger.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A linear motor that moves a work robot along a work device arranged longitudinally in a clean room; a power supply rail that is continuously attached along a movement path of the work robot; A power collector is provided on the work robot side via a control means for contacting and separating from the power supply rail, and a secondary battery for moving the work robot is provided on the work robot side, and the work robot is in a work position. when the current collector is brought into contact with the power supply rail by the control means, and in this state, the work robot is operated and the secondary battery for moving the work robot is charged, and the work robot is moved. when the control means separates the current collector from the power supply rail and supplies power from the secondary battery for moving the work robot to the work robot side armature of the linear motor. Internal work robot equipment.