JPH0580659U - Carrier plate carrier for polishing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] The purpose of the present invention is to carry in and carry out a carrier plate in a polishing machine continuously while preventing damage to the object to be polished. [Construction] A conveyor which is extended to the vicinity of a polishing machine and is conveyed with the carrier plate with the object to be polished upward, and is arranged at the end of the conveyor to receive the carrier plate from the conveyor. The transfer robot is provided with an elevating mechanism for moving it upward and a transfer robot arranged between the elevating mechanism and the polishing machine for transferring the carrier plate held by the elevating mechanism to the polishing machine. When the carrier plate is pulled out from the elevating mechanism, the carrier plate is provided with a reversing mechanism that rotates the carrier plate so that the object to be polished is located downward.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a transfer device for use in, for example, a polishing machine for polishing a thin plate-shaped object to be polished such as a silicon wafer, and for feeding and unloading a carrier plate on which a silicon wafer or the like is mounted. Is.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 Conventionally, in a polishing machine used for polishing a thin plate-shaped object to be polished such as a silicon wafer, the object to be polished is mounted on one side of a disk-shaped carrier plate, and the carrier plate is attached to a polishing cloth or the like. The object to be polished is placed on a turntable that has been turned down, and the carrier plate and the turntable are relatively rotated while pressing the carrier plate toward the turntable. I try to polish the surface of my body.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 By the way, in such a polishing machine, the object to be polished is handled while being mounted on one side of the carrier plate, and when it is supplied to the polishing machine, the object to be polished is moved downward as described above. On the other hand, during transportation, in order to prevent damage to the object to be polished, it is necessary to raise the object to be polished and prevent contact with transportation equipment.

Therefore, since it is necessary to reverse the posture of the carrier plate during transport and during supply, this is an obstacle to continuously performing the polishing process. The purpose is to solve existing problems.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention extends to the vicinity of a polishing machine, and a carrier conveyer is carried with the carrier plate with the object to be polished facing upward, and is arranged at the end of this conveyer. Then, the elevating mechanism for receiving the carrier plate from the conveyor and moving it upward and the carrier plate held between the elevating mechanism and the polishing machine to the polishing machine. The transfer robot is provided with a reversing mechanism that rotates the carrier plate so that the object to be polished is downward when the carrier plate is pulled out from the lifting mechanism. It is characterized by being

[0006]

[Action]

 In the carrier plate carrier of the polishing machine according to the present invention, first, the carrier plate is carried by the carrier conveyor with the object to be polished facing upward. Then, the carrier plate is moved upward by the elevating mechanism in a state where the carrier plate is held, the carrier robot is positioned below the carrier plate at the upper part of the elevating mechanism, and the carrier plate is gripped from below. As a result, the carrier robot is moved toward the polishing machine while holding the carrier plate, and the carrier plate is turned upside down by the carrier robot so that the object to be polished is on the lower side. Then, the transport robot moves to place the carrier plate on the polishing machine.

[0007]

【Example】

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the figure, reference numeral 1 indicates a polishing machine to which the present embodiment is applied, a base 2, a turntable 3 rotatably attached to the base 2 and having a polishing cloth or the like attached thereto, and a turntable 3 on the turntable 3. The polishing machine 1 configured as described above is provided with an upper shaft mechanism 4 that presses a carrier plate P, which will be described later, mounted on the turntable 3 toward the turntable 3. A carrier plate transport device according to the embodiment is also provided.

A carrier plate carrier device (hereinafter, abbreviated as carrier device) 5 according to the present embodiment has an end on a side portion of the base 2, and the carrier plate P is mounted on one side surface thereof. A conveyor 6 for conveying the object W to be polished upward, and an elevating mechanism 7 arranged at the terminal end of the conveyor 6 for receiving the carrier plate P from the conveyor 6 and moving it upward. The carrier robot 8 transfers the carrier plate P between the lifting mechanism 7 and the polishing machine 1.

[0009] Next, to explain these details, the transport conveyor 6 is selectively connected on the upstream side to a stocker (not shown) for the carrier plate P and a post-processing device such as a cleaning device. Thus, one batch of carrier plates P processed in the polishing machine 1 are supplied from the stocker, and the carrier plates P polished in the polishing machine 1 are carried out to the post-processing device. It is like this.

The elevating mechanism 7 is supported by a frame 9 assembled in the vicinity of the end of the transfer conveyor 6, and a fork 10 that is vertically movably mounted on the frame 9 and a frame 9 that is mounted on the frame 9. It is composed of an actuator 11 for vertically moving the hawk 10 and a locking means 12 which is mounted near the rising end of the hawk 10 of the frame 9 and holds the carrier plate P transferred upward. ..

The locking means 12 includes a locking piece 13 that is projected downward from the carrier plate P when the carrier plate P is transferred to the rising end, and is fixed to the frame 9. The rotary actuator 14 is selectively rotated between the locking position and the waiting position.

Further, the transfer robot 8 is attached to a side portion of the base 2 and an arm 15 that is rotated within a range of a predetermined angle in a horizontal plane, and is configured to rotate the arm 15. A moving motor 16, an actuator 17 provided on the rotating motor 16 for moving the arm 15 upward and downward by a predetermined distance, and an actuator 17 provided on the upper end of the actuator 17 for rotating the arm 15 around its axis. It comprises a reversing motor 18 and a suction means 19 integrally attached to the tip of the arm 15.

The base 20 constituting the suction means 19 is attached to the tip of the arm 15 so as to be substantially horizontal, and a plurality of suction pads 21 are attached to one side surface of the base 20. Further, it is connected to a vacuum device such as a vacuum pump, which is separately provided, through a communication pipe (not shown) inserted through the inside of the arm 15.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment having such a configuration will be described. First, the case of supplying the object W to be polished to the polishing machine 1 will be described. From the stocker, the carrier plate P having the object W to be polished attached to one side surface corresponds to one batch of the processing in the polishing machine 1 (main In the embodiment, four carrier plates P are sequentially supplied to the conveyor 6 with the object W to be polished facing upward, and the conveyor 6 conveys them to the elevating mechanism 7.

In this state, the hawk 10 of the elevating mechanism 7 is located at the lowest position, and when the carrier plate P reaches the end of the conveyor 6, the further movement of the conveyor 6 causes The carrier plate P is moved onto the forks 10 of the lifting mechanism 7.

The carrier plate P transferred to the elevating mechanism 7 is moved to the upper part of the frame 9 together with the hawk 10 by the actuator 11 raising the hawk 10.

When the carrier plate P is moved to the upper part of the frame 9 in this way, the respective rotary actuators 14 are actuated so that the respective locking pieces 13 are projected below the peripheral edge portion of the carrier plate P. Then, the hawk 10 is moved toward the lowest position, so that the carrier plate P is supported on the upper portion of the frame 9 via the locking piece 13 as shown by a chain line in FIG. R.

As a result, the transfer robot 8 is actuated, and the end of the arm 15 on the rotation side is moved toward the elevating mechanism 5, so that the suction pad 21 of the suction means 19 is moved to the frame 9. Is made to face the lower surface of the carrier plate P which is locked to the upper part of the.

Next, the actuator 17 is operated to bring the suction pad 21 closer to the lower surface of the carrier plate P, and the vacuum device is operated to move the carrier plate P through the suction pad 21. The tip of the arm 15 is sucked and held.

The arm 15 holding the carrier plate P is rotated toward the polishing machine 1 side by the action of the rotation motor 16 so that the carrier plate P is moved toward the polishing machine 1. The carrier plate P is moved toward the suction stage 19 and the arm as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 2 by operating the reversing motor 18 in the middle thereof (for example, at the position shown in FIG. 2). It is inverted by 180 ° together with 15, whereby the carrier plate P is held in a state in which the object W to be polished is placed downward.

Further, by rotating the arm 15 toward the polishing machine 1, the carrier plate P is moved onto the turntable 3 of the polishing machine 1, and thereafter, the arm 15 is operated by the actuator 17. Is lowered and the carrier plate P is placed on the turntable 3, and then the suction force of the suction means 19 is released, whereby the suction of the carrier plate P by the arm 15 is released.

In this way, while the leading carrier plate P is being carried into the turntable 3, the second carrier plate P is received from the transport conveyor 6 and lifted up in the lifting mechanism 7, and the upper part is lifted. It is made to stand by in the state held by the locking means 12 of the above.

After that, by repeating the above-described operation, one batch of carrier plates P are carried into the turntable 3.

Then, after the polishing process is performed in the polishing machine 1, the reverse operation to the above operation is performed, and the carrier plate P 1 is sequentially discharged from the turntable 3 to the transport conveyor 6, It is sent to the post-processing device by this conveyor 6.

Even in such a discharging operation, the carrier plate P is turned upside down by the transfer robot 8 before reaching the elevating mechanism 7, and has the same posture as when it is carried in.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the carrier plate P 1 to which the object W to be polished is mounted is conveyed with the object W to be polished upward and is carried into the polishing machine 1. It can be inverted, and even when it is discharged from the polishing machine 1, it is possible to change the posture so that the workpiece W is placed upward while reaching the transport conveyor 6, so that the carrier is flowed by a series of flows. The plate P is carried in and out, and at the same time, the object W to be polished is prevented from coming into contact with the carrying device or the like during carrying, so that the damage is prevented.

The shapes, dimensions, etc. of the respective constituent members shown in the above embodiment are merely examples, and can be variously changed based on the type of the workpiece W to be applied, design requirements, and the like.

For example, in the above-mentioned embodiment, a silicon wafer is illustrated as the object W to be polished, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it is a thin plate-shaped object that is attached to the carrier plate P and used for polishing. Anything will do.

Further, an example of continuously supplying four batches was shown, but the number is arbitrary.

[0030]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, the carrier plate transporting device in the polishing machine according to the present invention is a transporting device that feeds and discharges the carrier plate in which the object to be polished is mounted to the polishing machine, and is in the vicinity of the polishing machine. A carrier conveyer that is extended to the carrier plate and is conveyed with the object to be polished facing upward, and a lifter that is arranged at the end of the carrier conveyer to receive the carrier plate from the carrier conveyor and move it upward. And a transfer robot arranged between the lifting mechanism and the polishing machine for transferring the carrier plate held by the lifting mechanism to the polishing machine.The transfer robot moves the carrier plate up and down. When the carrier plate is pulled out from the mechanism, Characterized in that it comprises a reversing mechanism for rotating such that the person, excellent effects as follows. The carrier plate on which the object to be polished is mounted can be transported with the object to be polished facing up, and it can be inverted when it is loaded into the polishing machine, and even when it is discharged from the polishing machine. Since the posture can be changed so that the object to be polished is up while reaching the conveyor, the carrier plate can be loaded and unloaded by a series of flows. Moreover, it is possible to prevent the object to be polished from coming into contact with the conveying device or the like during the conveyance, and to prevent the damage.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Polishing Machine 3 Turntable 5 Transfer Device 6 Transfer Conveyor 7 Lifting Mechanism 8 Transfer Robot 12 Locking Means 15 Arm 18 Inversion Motor 19 Adsorption Means

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A transporting device for feeding and discharging a carrier plate on which an object to be polished is attached to a polishing machine, the carrier device extending to the vicinity of the polishing machine, and the carrier plate with the object to be polished upward. It is arranged at the end of the conveyor and the conveyor to be transported,
An elevating mechanism for receiving the carrier plate from the conveyor and moving it upward, and a conveying robot arranged between the elevating mechanism and the polishing machine for transferring the carrier plate held by the elevating mechanism to the polishing machine. The polishing machine is provided with a reversing mechanism for rotating the carrier plate so that the object to be polished is turned downward when the carrier plate is pulled out from the lifting mechanism. Carrier plate carrier.