JPH0652754B2 - Substrate transfer mechanism - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a substrate transfer mechanism, and more particularly to a substrate transfer mechanism for handling an LCD (liquid crystal display element) substrate and an LSI (semiconductor integrated circuit) substrate. In particular, the present invention relates to a substrate transfer mechanism provided in an LCD prober.

[Prior Art] Generally, in a manufacturing process of an LSI, an LCD or the like, when a cassette storing a plurality of semiconductor wafers or glass substrates is set automatically or manually in a cassette storage portion of a loader of each processing device or each inspection device, In the loader of the device, the wafers or substrates in the cassette are taken out one by one by a conveyor such as a belt or a vacuum hand.
After predetermined alignment (alignment), it is processed or inspected, and after the processing or inspection is completed, the wafer or substrate is again transferred by the above-mentioned transfer means and stored in the cassette.

A plurality of storage units equipped in the loader of each substrate processing apparatus or each inspection apparatus are usually provided with a plurality of loader cassettes for storing substrates to be supplied to the operation unit and unloader cassettes for storing operated substrates. ing.

Other cassettes set in the board storage part
There are a reject cassette for storing the substrate which is found to be defective after each inspection, and a loader / unloader cassette for storing the unoperated and manipulated substrates. These cassettes are used, for example, a loader cassette and an unloader cassette, or a loader unloader cassette and a reject cassette, which are set in parallel in the storage section.

The storage unit in which these cassettes are stored is driven so as to move up and down, or substrates are taken in and out of the cassettes by a conveying means such as a vacuum hand or a belt.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Conventionally, when two or more such cassettes are used, for example, as shown in the plan view of the LCD prober shown in FIG. Storage 3-
Since the openings 1 and 3-2 were arranged in parallel, the maintenance zone 6, which is a space required for maintenance and inspection, was required over a wide area on the entire side surface of the transport unit 2. In particular, in the future, the size of the substrate tends to be large. For example, in the future, the semiconductor substrate will be 8 inches, and the LCD substrate will be 20 cm square and 30 cm square. Therefore, it is quite possible that the maintenance zone 6 will require a larger area. Originally, such a substrate processing and inspecting apparatus dislikes dust and is installed in a clean room, but it occupies a wide area of the clean room, and therefore, there has been a demand for downsizing.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a substrate transfer mechanism for saving space in a clean room, regardless of the installation location, even for a large substrate transfer unit.

[Means for Solving Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention relates to at least two storage units for storing substrates, and a transporting unit for removing the substrates from these storage units and transporting the substrates to the operating unit. A rotatable mounting table for temporarily mounting the substrate during transfer, a detection unit for detecting the position of the substrate on the mounting table, and the transfer unit and the mounting table being driven based on the detection signal from the detection unit to mount the substrate. A control means for positioning at a predetermined position on the mounting table is provided, and the substrate outlets of the storage section are arranged so as to be orthogonal to each other.

Further, preferably, the substrate is a liquid crystal display substrate, and the substrate transfer mechanism is provided on the LCD prober.

Further, a maintenance zone is provided at a corner portion of the storage portion and on a side surface portion of the storage portion.

[Embodiment] An embodiment in which the substrate transfer mechanism of the present invention is applied to a transfer portion of an LCD prober will be described below with reference to the perspective view of the LCD prober in FIG.

The LCD prober is a device for inspecting the presence or absence of disconnection of each electrode formed on an LCD substrate (hereinafter abbreviated as a substrate) by electrically contacting a probe of a tester. From the operation unit 1 for aligning and contacting the electrode of the substrate and the probe (terminal) on the tester side, and the transfer unit 2 which is a transfer mechanism for transferring the glass substrate S of 30 cm square to the operation unit 1. Become. The operation unit 1 has a configuration similar to that of an ordinary prober or the like, and a chuck top 5 on which the substrate S is placed, and a stage (not shown) for driving the substrate S on the chuck top 5 in the horizontal direction, the vertical direction, and the rotation direction. ) And a terminal device 12 for connecting to the tester 11 and the like.

In the present embodiment, the transport unit 2 includes a storage unit 3-1 in which a loader cassette A that horizontally stores uninspected substrates is set, and a storage unit 3-in which an unloader cassette B that horizontally stores inspected substrates is set. It has two storage parts of 2 and. Further, the vacuum hand 4 as a transporting means for taking out the uninspected substrate from the loader cassette A and returning the inspected substrate to the unloader cassette B, and the substrate transported by the vacuum hand 4 are temporarily placed on a predetermined position. A circular surface-shaped mounting table 21 is provided for performing alignment. The mounting table 21 is configured to be rotatable, and is aligned by rotating. The loader cassette A and the unloader cassette B are partitioned into a large number of slots by a large number of grooves formed in the side wall, and one LCD substrate is housed in each slot. Then, in order to take out the LCD substrate, openings 3-1a and 3-2a as substrate taking-out ports are formed on the front surface. The openings 3-1a and 3-2a, which are the substrate outlets of the storage section 3-1 and the storage section 3-2, are installed so as to form an angle of about 90 degrees with each other. (FIG. 2) The vacuum hand 4 is supported by a horizontal stage and a vertical stage (not shown), is movable in the horizontal and vertical directions, and is rotatable about an axis 41 of the vertical stage. Further, the vacuum hand 4 has a plurality of openings connected to a vacuum pump (not shown), and the openings adsorb and hold the substrate. The vertical stage and the rotating mechanism are operated by a control signal from a control unit (not shown), and move the vacuum hand 4 to a desired position and angle to convey the substrate S held by the vacuum hand 4.

The mounting table 21 is supported by a rotating stage (not shown) and is rotatable, and can temporarily hold the substrate and rotate it to change the position of the substrate in the angular direction. The position of the substrate mounted on the mounting table 21 is detected using, for example, a sensor including a light emitting element and a light receiving element or a detection unit such as an image recognition device, and the position information is input to the control unit as a detection signal. It Based on these detection signals, the control unit outputs control signals to drive each stage of the vacuum hand 4 and the rotary stage of the mounting table 21, and the operation unit 1 to which the substrate is transferred or the unloader cassette to be stored. Is positioned so that it is at a predetermined position with respect to the storage section 3-2 in which the is set.

With such a structure, the substrate transfer mechanism of the present invention will be described with reference to a simple plan view of the LCD prober of FIG.

In order to take out the substrate S from the loader cassette A set in the storage portion 3-1, first, the vacuum hand (hereinafter referred to as a hand) 4 is moved up and down relatively with respect to the storage portion 3-1, and then is placed in the slot. The substrate S stored in the insertion loader cassette A is suction-held. Hand 4 in that state
Is horizontally driven, and when the substrate S being held reaches the mounting table 21, the substrate itself moves downward and releases the suction when the substrate S contacts the mounting table 21. As a result, the substrate S is placed on the mounting table 2
The position of the substrate S on the mounting table 21 at this time is detected by a sensor (not shown), and positioning is performed. After that, when the substrate S is conveyed to the operation unit 1, the substrate S on the mounting table 21 is held by the hand 4 and the hand 4 is rotated by 90 °.
After being rotated, it is conveyed to the chuck top 5 of the operation unit 1.

At this time, the substrate S on the mounting table 21 is centered and adjusted so that the substrate S is at a position of −90 ° with respect to the operation unit 1. In addition, the substrate S is a cassette B for unloader
In the case where the substrate S is stored in the storage unit 3-2 in which the substrate S has been set, after the centering is performed on the mounting table 21 as in the above,
The side edge of the unloader cassette and the side wall of the unloader cassette B are positioned horizontally. As a result, the substrate S is stored in the storage portion 3-2 without hitting the side wall of the unloader cassette. As described above, when the cassette is exchanged with the storage part, the position of the cassette is surely adjusted so that the transfer can be performed safely without expanding the transfer space, and the size is reduced.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and even when the loader cassette, the unloader cassette, and the reject cassette are set and three storage units are installed, at least two storage unit openings are different from the other two. If it is installed so as to form 90 degrees with the storage part, the maintenance zone can be held in front of the transfer part.

Although the LCD prober has been described as an embodiment of the present invention, it can be applied to a carrying section of another device such as an LSI prober.

[Function] Opening part of the storage part 3-1 in which the loader cassette storing the untested substrates is set, and the storage part 3-2 in which the unloader cassette storing the tested substrates is set Are 90 degrees with each other, the front corner portion 6 of the transport unit 2 is reduced. If this is a maintenance zone required for maintenance and inspection, the transport unit 2 can be installed so as to contact the wall 7. Further, even when a large number of LCD prober devices are installed, they can be arranged in contact with each other without providing a maintenance zone between the devices.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, in the case where two or more storage parts are installed in the transfer part associated with the operation part for processing or inspecting a substrate such as LCD or LSI, the board outlets of the two storage parts are provided. Since it is installed at about 90 degrees, space can be saved, equipment such as clean rooms and operating costs can be greatly reduced, and effective use of space can be achieved even if the board is large and a large storage area is required. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an LCD prober to which the present invention is applied,
FIG. 2 is a simple plan view showing an embodiment of the transport mechanism of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of a conventional transport mechanism. 1 ... Operation unit 2 ... Transport unit (transport mechanism) 3, 3-1 and 3-2 ... Storage unit A ... Loader cassette B ... Unloader cassette S ... Substrate 3-1a and 3- 2a ... Substrate take-out port 4 ... Vacuum hand (conveying means) 5 ... Chuck top 6 ... Maintenance zone 21 ... Placement table

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. At least two storage units for storing substrates, a transport unit for taking out the substrates from these storage units and transporting the substrates to an operation unit, and a rotatable mounting table for temporarily mounting the substrates during transport. And detecting means for detecting the position of the substrate on the mounting table, and driving the carrying means and the mounting table based on a detection signal from the detecting means to position the substrate at a predetermined position on the mounting table. And a control means, wherein each of the substrate outlets of the storage unit is arranged so as to surround the mounting table and be orthogonal to each other. 2. The substrate transfer mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is a liquid crystal display substrate.