JPH06177224A - Wafer transferring apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a wafer transferring apparatus in which a containing space of the apparatus may be small and which has a simple structure and a light weight in the case of transferring a wafer in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. CONSTITUTION:A horizontal mechanism 38 is rotatably provided at a vertically movable elevation arm. The mechanism 38 has two independently telescopic sliders, and chucking heads 39, 40 are respectively provided at the two sliders. The heads 39, 40 respectively have wafer chucks 41 which can receive wafers. In the case of simultaneously transferring the wafers, integral telescoping of the two slides, vertical movements of the arm and rotation of the mechanism 38 are cooperated. In the case of partially moving the wafers, telescoping of one slider, vertical movements of the arm and the rotation of the mechanism 38 are cooperated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wafer transfer device in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional wafer transfer device will be described with reference to FIG.

The wafer transfer device has a plurality of plate-shaped wafer chucks for transferring wafers, and receives and transfers the wafers on the wafer chucks.

In FIG. 12, 101 is an elevating arm extending from an elevating slider of an elevating mechanism of the wafer transfer device,
A wafer handler 102 is rotatably provided on the elevating arm 101, and a rotation drive unit for rotating the wafer handler 102 is built in the elevating arm 101.

The wafer handler 102 is a chucking head 103 having a plurality of plate-shaped wafer chucks.
And a horizontal mechanism section 104 having a built-in drive section for driving the chucking head 103 in the horizontal direction. The chucking head 103 will be further described.

The chucking head 103 is horizontally movable along a guide rail 105 provided on the upper surface of the horizontal mechanism 104. Multiple wafer chucks 1
Reference numeral 06 denotes a chuck holder 107, except for the wafer chuck 106a at the lowermost stage, and the chuck holder 107 is screwed through a screw block 108 to screw portions having different lead pitches of a pitch changing screw rod 109. The lowermost wafer chuck 106a is chucked by the chuck holder 107a.
Fixed to the upper surface of.

The pitch changing screw rod 109 is a gear 1
10. The pitch change motor 112 is connected via a gear 111, and the pitch change motor 112 is driven to change the pitch while maintaining the plurality of wafer chucks 106 at equal intervals.

Further, the pitch changing motor 112, the pitch changing screw rod 109, etc. are provided with a rotatable base plate 113.
It is provided above. Driven teeth are engraved around the rotary substrate 113, the driven teeth mesh with the drive gear 114, and the drive gear 114 is fitted to the output shaft of the retracting motor 115.

Thus, the wafer handler 102 rotates about the vertical axis and the chucking head 103.
Moves horizontally along the guide rail 105.

When a plurality of wafers are collectively transferred, all the wafer chucks 106 are aligned with the wafer chucks 106a as shown by the solid line in FIG. The wafer is advanced toward the loaded cassette, the wafer chuck 106 is inserted between the wafers in the cassette, and the lifting arm 10 is moved.
1 is slightly raised to move the wafer to the wafer chuck 106.
Place it on top. The chucking head 103 is retracted, the wafer is taken out from the wafer cassette, the wafer handler 102 is rotated by 90 °, and the elevating arm 101 is elevated and lowered to a required height.

When transferring a single wafer, the evacuation motor 115 is driven to drive the wafer chuck 106a through the drive gear 114 and the rotary substrate 113, leaving the wafer chuck 106a at two points in FIG. The wafer chuck 106 is retracted to the position shown by the chain line. Then, as described above, one wafer is transferred by elevating the elevating arm 101, advancing and retracting the chucking head 103, and rotating.

[0012]

In the above-mentioned conventional example, 1
When transferring a single wafer, the wafer chuck 106 is rotated and evacuated while leaving the wafer chuck 106a at the lowermost stage, but the storage space of the wafer transfer device is a space that allows the rotation of the wafer chuck 106. is necessary. Further, since the chucking head 103 is moved back and forth and the wafer handler 102 is rotated while the wafer chuck 106 is further retracted, the required space is further increased. Therefore, when dealing with larger wafers, the wafer chuck 106 becomes longer,
The entire semiconductor manufacturing apparatus provided with the wafer transfer apparatus becomes large. Further, when the size of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is limited, there is a problem that a larger wafer cannot be handled.

Further, mechanically, the chucking head 10 is also provided.
Since the rotation driving mechanism of the wafer chuck 106 must be housed in the chuck 3, there is a problem that the structure of the chucking head 103 becomes complicated and the number of parts increases and the weight also increases.

In view of the above situation, the present invention aims to provide a wafer transfer device which has a small storage space for the wafer transfer device, has a simple structure, and is lightweight.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a horizontal mechanism is rotatably provided on a lift arm that can be raised and lowered, and the horizontal mechanism includes two independently movable sliders. Each has a chucking head,
The two chucking heads each have a wafer chuck capable of receiving a wafer.

[0016]

The wafers are collectively transferred by all the wafer chucks by moving the two sliders together, moving the elevating arm up and down, and rotating the horizontal mechanism. The mounting is performed by the cooperation of the advancing / retreating of one slider, the raising / lowering of the elevating arm, and the rotation of the horizontal mechanism.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a vertical reactor will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. A controller panel 1 is provided in the middle of the front surface, and a cassette loading / unloading window 2 that can be opened and closed below the controller panel 1.
Is provided. With the required number of wafers 3 loaded in the wafer cassette 4, the wafers 3 are loaded into and unloaded from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an internal mechanism of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, which is a cassette transfer mechanism 5, a cassette loader 6,
Cassette stocker 7, buffer cassette stocker 8, wafer transfer machine 9, boat elevator 10, boat 11,
It comprises a furnace body 12, a reaction tube 13, a clean unit 14, a clean unit 15, a cooling unit 16 and the like.

The cassette transfer mechanism 5 has a pair of left and right cassette receiving bases 17, which are horizontal shafts 1.
It can be slid along 8 and can be rotated by rotating the shaft 18. The pair of cassette pedestals 17 are connected via an expansion / contraction link 19 so that they can approach and separate in the left-right direction.

The cassette loader 6 has a guide rod 20.
Has a slide block 21 which can be moved up and down along a pair of left and right cassette stages 2
2 is provided, and the slide block 21 has a motor 23.
It can be moved up and down by being screwed into a screw rod 24 rotated by. The cassette stage 22 can receive the wafer 3 and can advance and retract the received wafer 3 with respect to the cassette transfer mechanism 5.

The cassette stocker 7 is movable in the horizontal direction, and the cassette stocker 7 can be traversed by a motor 26 via a screen rod 25.

The wafer transfer machine 9 has a guide rod 27.
And a screw handler 29 rotated by a motor 28, and a wafer handler 31. The elevator slider 30 and the screw rod 29 are connected to each other, and the wafer handler 31 is It is provided on the lifting slider 30.

The wafer handler 31 has a plurality of wafer chucks 41. The wafer chucks 41 are rotatable and reciprocally movable between the cassette stocker 7 and the boat 11.

The boat elevator 10 is provided with an elevating slider 34 which is vertically movable along a guide rod 33.
A screw rod 36 rotated by a motor 35,
A boat pedestal (not shown) is provided on the elevating slider 34, and the elevating slider 34 and the screw rod 36 are connected to each other. The boat 11 described above can be placed on the boat pedestal.

Next, the flow of the wafer 3 in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus will be briefly described.

For loading and unloading the wafer 3, the wafer 3 is loaded in the wafer cassette 4, and the wafer cassette 4 loaded with the wafer is transported. The wafer cassette 4 is placed on the cassette pedestal 17 in a posture in which the wafer 3 is held vertically. By driving the motor 26, the slide block 21 is lowered via the screw rod 24 and is made to stand by.

The cassette cradle 17 is adjusted to a predetermined distance via the expansion / contraction link 19, the shaft 18 rotates clockwise in the drawing, and the cassette cradle 17 is moved to the cassette stocker 7
Rotate 90 ° towards. In this state, the wafer 3 is in a horizontal posture. By driving the motor 26, the slide block 21 is raised via the screw rod 24, and the wafer cassette 4 is placed on the cassette stage 22.

The cassette stage 22 pulls out the wafer cassette 4 from the cassette transfer mechanism 5, and the motor 2
The screw rod 24 is rotated by driving 3 to raise the slide block 21 to a predetermined position. The wafer cassette 4 is fed into the cassette stocker 7 by the cassette stage 22 and stored in the cassette stocker 7.

Then, the wafer cassette 4 loaded with the wafer 3 is stored in the cassette stocker 7 and the buffer cassette stocker 8.

Cassette stocker 7 of wafer cassette 4
When the storage is completed, the wafer transfer machine 9 is operated to transfer the wafer 3 from the wafer cassette 4 on the cassette stocker 7 side to the boat 11.

By driving the motor 26, the cassette stocker 7 is traversed, and the target wafer cassette 4
The storage row to which the wafer belongs belongs to the wafer handler 31. The motor 28 is driven, and the wafer handler 31 is moved up and down via the screw rod 29 so that the wafer handler 31 faces the target wafer cassette 4. The wafer 3 in the wafer cassette 4 is transferred to the boat 11 by rotating the wafer chuck 41 and further moving it back and forth.

When a predetermined number of wafers 3 are transferred to the boat 11, the motor 35 is driven and the elevating slider 34 is raised via the screw rod 36 to move the boat 11 into the reaction tube 13. Charge into.

A thin film is formed on the surface of the wafer 3 in the reaction tube 13.

When the film formation is completed, the boat 11 is pulled out from the reaction tube 13 by the motor 35, and the wafer 3 is transferred to the empty wafer cassette 4 of the cassette stocker 7 by the wafer transfer machine 9. To be done. Subsequent transportation of the wafer cassette 4 is performed by the operation reverse to that described above.

The wafer transfer device according to this embodiment will be described below.

First, the outline will be described with reference to FIGS.

The wafer handler 31 is rotatably provided on the elevating arm 37. The wafer handler 31 has a horizontal mechanism 38 and a pair of chucking heads 39 and 40. The pair of chucking heads 39 and 40 are horizontally independent of the horizontal mechanism 38. It is provided so that it can move forward and backward. The chucking head 39 supports four wafer chucks 41, and the chucking head 40 supports the wafer chuck 41a located at the lowermost stage.

When processing five wafers 3 at a time, the chucking head 39 and the chucking head 40 advance and retreat integrally to receive the wafer 3 and rotate the wafer handler 31 up and down. The wafer 3 is transferred to a desired place by raising and lowering the arm 37.

Next, when one wafer 3 is transferred, only the chucking head 40 moves back and forth to receive one wafer 3 and perform the transfer operation.

The horizontal mechanism 38 will be described with reference to FIG.

A base 43 is provided on the rotation mechanism 42 of the lifting arm 37, and a guide block 44 is provided on the base 43. Linear guides 4 are provided on both side surfaces of the guide block 44.
5, 46 are provided, and sliders 47, 48 are provided on the guide block 44 via the linear guides 45, 46, respectively. A linear motor 49 is provided between the guide block 44 and the slider 47,
A linear motor 50 is provided between the slider 4 and the slider 48.

The slider 47 is provided with the chucking head 39 via a receiving stand 51, the slider 48 is provided with the chucking head 40 via a receiving stand 52, and the chucking head is driven by driving the linear motor 49. 39 moves forward and backward, and the chucking head 40 moves forward and backward by driving the linear motor 50.

The slider 47 is provided with a lock plate 54, and the base 43 is provided with an electromagnetic lock 55. By operating the electromagnetic lock 55, the electromagnetic lock 55 and the lock plate 54 are engaged, and the slider is moved. Lock 47.

The chucking head 39 and the chucking head 40 will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the chucking head 39 will be described.

A slide base 56 is fixed to the pedestal 51, and a gear substrate 57 is provided on the slide base 56 with a required gap. A slide block 58 and a slide block 59 are provided upright by displacing the gear substrate 57 in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction, respectively, and the gear substrate 57 is provided with a variable pitch motor 72.

A pitch variable slider 60, a pitch variable slider 61, a pitch variable slider 62, and a pitch variable slider 6 are provided on both sides of the slide blocks 58 and 59, respectively.
3 is provided slidably. The screw block 64 and the chuck support arm 68 are fixed to the pitch variable slider 60, the screw block 65 and the chuck support arm 69 are fixed to the pitch variable slider 61, and the screw block 66 is fixed to the pitch variable slider 62. The chuck support arm 70 is fixed, the screw block 67 is fixed to the variable pitch slider 63, and the chuck support arm 71 is fixed.

The gear substrate 57 is opposed to the middle substrate 7
3. Provide the upper substrate 74. A vertical screw shaft 75 is rotatably provided on the gear substrate 57 and the intermediate substrate 73, and the screw shaft 75 is attached to the screw block 64.
Screw it on. The vertical screw shaft 76 is rotatably provided on the gear substrate 57 and the intermediate substrate 73, and the screw shaft 76 is screwed into the screw block 65. Further, a vertical screw shaft 77 is rotatably provided on the gear substrate 57 and the upper substrate 74, and the screw shaft 77 is screwed onto the screw block 66. A vertical screw shaft 78 is rotatably provided on the gear substrate 57 and the upper substrate 74 so as to be rotatable.
Is screwed onto the screw block 67.

The screw shaft 75, the screw shaft 7
6, the lower ends of the screw shaft 77 and the screw shaft 78 are projected downward from the gear substrate 57, and the screw shaft 7
5, a pulley 79 is fitted to the lower end of the screw shaft 76, a pulley 80 is fitted to the lower end of the screw shaft 76, a pulley 81 is fitted to the lower end of the screw shaft 77, and a pulley 82 is fitted to the lower end of the screw shaft 78, and a pulley 83 is fitted to the output shaft of the variable pitch motor 72. Fit in. A belt 84 is wound around the pulley 79, the pulley 80, the pulley 81, the pulley 82, and the pulley 83, and the belt 84
A required tension is applied by a tension pulley 85.

By driving the variable pitch motor 72 to rotate the pulley 83, the belt 8
4, the pulley 79, the pulley 80, the pulley 81, and the pulley 82 rotate synchronously, and further, the screw shaft 75, the screw shaft 76, the screw shaft 77, and the screw shaft 78 rotate synchronously.

The screw shaft 75, the screw shaft 7
6, the pitches of the screw shaft 77 and the screw shaft 78 are 2 times, 3 times and 4 times with respect to the screw shaft 75, and the screw block 64 and the screw block are driven by driving the variable pitch motor 72. The screw block 65, the screw block 66, and the screw block 67 are arranged to move in the vertical direction at equal intervals.

A second chuck holder 86 is attached to the chuck support arm 68, a third chuck holder 87 is attached to the chuck support arm 69, a fourth chuck holder 88 is attached to the chuck support arm 71, and a chuck support arm 70 is attached.
The fifth chuck holder 89 is attached to each. The second chuck holder 86 has the wafer chuck 41b, and the third chuck holder 87 has the wafer chuck 41c.
The wafer chuck 41d to the fourth chuck holder 88.
The wafer chuck 41e to the fifth chuck holder 89.
To hold the wafer chuck 41b, the wafer chuck 41c, the wafer chuck 41d, and the wafer chuck 41e in order of the second stage, the third stage, the fourth stage, and the fifth stage on the basis of the wafer chuck 41a. .

Here, the second chuck holder 86 and the third chuck holder 86
Although the positions of the chuck holder 87, the fourth chuck holder 88, the fifth chuck holder 89, and the first chuck holder 90 are different in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction, the wafer chuck 41a, the wafer chuck 41b, the wafer chuck 41c, the wafer chuck 41d, the wafer chuck 41e. Defines the relationship between each chuck holder and the wafer chuck so that the weight is accurately weighted.

By driving the variable pitch motor 72 and rotating the screw shaft 75, the screw shaft 76, the screw shaft 77, and the screw shaft 78, the wafer chuck 41b, the wafer chuck 41c, and the wafer chuck 41d are rotated. The wafer chucks 41e move upward while maintaining the relationship of equal intervals.

Next, the chucking head 40 will be described.

A slide base 91 is fixed to the pedestal 52, a side plate 92 is erected on the slide base 91, a front end of the side plate 92 is extended forward, and a first chuck holder 90 is fixed to the end portion. The first chuck holder 90 holds the wafer chuck 41a. A connecting cylinder 93 perpendicular to the side plate 92 is provided, and a lock block 94 is provided at the rod tip of the connecting cylinder 93.

Gear substrate 5 of the chucking head 39
7, a connecting plate 95 is provided, and the connecting plate 95 loosely fits the side plate 92 and extends below the connecting cylinder 93. A connecting hole 96 into which the lock block 94 is fitted is formed in the connecting plate 95.

The plate transfer operation will be described below.

In the resting state in which the transfer is not performed, the lock plate 54 and the electromagnetic lock 55 are engaged with each other, and the lock block 94 is fitted to the connecting plate 95 so that the chucking head 39 and the chucking head are engaged. 40 is in a fixed state.

When transferring five wafers at a time by the wafer chuck 41a, the wafer chuck 41b, the wafer chuck 41c, the wafer chuck 41d, and the wafer chuck 41e, first, the distance between these wafer chucks is set to the pitch of the wafers to be transferred. To match.
As described above, the variable pitch motor 72 is driven to rotate the pulley 83, and the pulley 79, the pulley 80, the pulley 81, and the pulley 82 are rotated via the belt 84. The screw shaft 75, the screw shaft 76, the screw shaft 7
7, the screw shaft 78 rotates, and the screw block 64, the screw block 65, the screw block 66, the screw block 67.
The pitch variable slider 60, the pitch variable slider 61, the pitch variable slider 62, the pitch variable slider 63, and the screw block 64 move through the chuck supporting arm 68 and the second chuck holder 86 to support the chuck. The wafer chuck 41 via the arm 69, the third chuck holder 87, the chuck support arm 71, the fourth chuck holder 88, the chuck support arm 70, and the fifth chuck holder 89.
b, wafer chuck 41c, wafer chuck 41
d, the wafer chuck 41e moves upward by different moving amounts, and the pitch is changed with the wafer chuck 41a as a reference.

When the adjustment of the pitch of the wafer chuck 41 is completed, the electromagnetic lock 55 is operated to release the engagement with the lock plate 54, and the slider 47 can be moved. Both the linear motor 49 and the linear motor 50,
Alternatively, any one of them is driven to drive the chucking head 39,
The chucking head 40 is integrally advanced to position the wafer chuck 41 below the wafer. The motor 28 (see FIG. 2) is driven, the elevating arm 37 is raised via the screw rod 29, and the wafer is loaded on each wafer chuck 41. The chucking head 39 and the chucking head 4 are driven by driving both the linear motor 49 and the linear motor 50, or any one of them.
0 is retracted integrally and the wafer is pulled out.

A combination of the rotation of the wafer handler 31 and the raising / lowering of the raising / lowering arm 37 moves the received wafer to a position where the wafer should be transferred, and either one of the linear motor 49 and the linear motor 50, or either one of them. Is moved to integrally move the chucking head 39 and the chucking head 40 forward, and the elevating arm 37 is further lowered to complete the transfer.

Next, the transfer of wafers one by one will be described. Fix the slider 47 with the electromagnetic lock 55,
Further, the connecting cylinder 93 is operated to operate the lock block 9
4 and the connection plate 95 are disengaged so that the chucking head 40 can move independently.

The linear motor 50 is driven to move the chucking head 40 forward so that the lowermost wafer chuck 41a is positioned below the wafer. The wafer chuck 41a is driven by driving the motor 28 and raising the elevating arm 37 via the screw rod 29.
Place the wafer on. The linear motor 50 is driven to retract the chucking head 40 and pull out one wafer.

A combination of the rotation of the wafer handler 31 and the raising / lowering of the raising / lowering arm 37 moves the received wafer to a position where it should be transferred, and drives the linear motor 50 to move the chucking head 40 forward. The lifting arm 3
The transfer is completed by lowering 7.

Thus, it is possible to freely select and transfer a plurality of sheets at a time or transfer one sheet at a time.

Although the chucking head 39 has four wafer chucks 41, it may have three or less wafer chucks 41 or five or more wafer chucks 41. Further, the chucking head 39 has a function of changing the distance between the held wafers, but it goes without saying that a plurality of wafer chucks 41 may be fixedly provided.

The chucking head 40 may be provided with two or more wafer chucks 41.

[0071]

As described above, according to the present invention, the structure of the wafer handler is simplified, and the size and weight of the wafer handler can be reduced. Due to the weight reduction, the operating speed can be increased and the processing speed of the device can be improved. Since the space required for the operation of the handler is small, etc., it is possible to save the installation space of the wafer transfer device, further reduce the restrictions on the shape of the wafer chuck, and exhibit various excellent effects such as increased flexibility. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an internal mechanism of the same semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a main part of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an operating state of a main part of the embodiment.

5 is a view on arrow A of FIG. 3. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a view on arrow B of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a view on arrow C of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a view on arrow D in FIG.

9 is a view on arrow E of FIG.

10 is a view on arrow F of FIG. 7. FIG.

11 is a view on arrow G in FIG. 7. FIG.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a main part of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 9 Wafer Transfer Machine 28 Motor 29 Screw Rod 31 Wafer Handler 37 Elevating Arm 38 Horizontal Mechanism 39 Chucking Head 40 Chucking Head 41 Wafer Chuck 47 Slider 48 Slider 49 Linear Motor 50 Linear Motor 55 Electromagnetic Lock 72 Pitch Variable Motor 75 Screw Shaft 76 Screw shaft 77 Screw shaft 78 Screw shaft 93 Connection cylinder

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A lifting mechanism capable of lifting and lowering is provided with a horizontal mechanism unit rotatably, said horizontal mechanism unit comprising two independently movable sliders, and said two sliders are respectively provided with chucking heads. A wafer transfer device, wherein each of the two chucking heads has a wafer chuck capable of receiving a wafer. 2. The wafer transfer device according to claim 1, wherein one chucking head has a required number of wafer chucks, and the other chucking head has one wafer chuck. 3. The wafer transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the two chucking heads can be disconnected. 4. The wafer transfer device according to claim 2, wherein the chucking head having a required number of wafer chucks has a wafer chuck pitch varying mechanism.