JPH07125805A - Board holder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To house boards different in the size, and relieve or abolish restriction on the size in an automatic installing device or the like which can take in an out the boards automatically. CONSTITUTION:In a holder which can insert and extract thin plate-like boards 1 from the front and can hold them in a horizontal posture, plural shelf boards 24 whose rear end part is formed as a fixed end and front end and both side side ends are formed as a free end are juxtaposed at intervals in the vertical direction with each other, and a width of the shelf boards 24 becomes narrower than a width of the boards 1, and opening free spaces A are provided on the sides of the shelf boards 24. Thereby, since from a small board to a large board can be housed by a board holder of the single size, the manufacturing efficiency or the service efficiency or the like of the board holder is improved. Design and manufacture of a wafer holding part in an automatic installing device or the like are also facilitated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate holder, and more particularly to a holder useful for a cassette used to hold a wafer when performing various processes such as cleaning of semiconductor wafers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various processes such as cleaning are performed in a semiconductor wafer manufacturing process used for manufacturing LSIs and the like. However, when batch processing is performed on a plurality of wafers (substrates) at the same time, the conventional method is used. A substrate holder (wafer cassette) 100 as shown in 7 was used. As shown in the figure, the holder 100 includes side plates 110, 1 on both left and right sides.
11 is provided with a plurality of shelves 120 and 121, each slightly protruding inward. Then, the wafer 1 (as an example,
The three wafers 1 are shown by a chain double-dashed line. ), The wafer 1 is housed in the holder 100 by sliding both side edges and sliding it from the front to the back.

[0003]

However, in the above substrate holder 100, the shelf plates 120 and 121 only support both side edges of the wafer 1, and the central portion of the wafer 1 is not supported at all. Therefore, there is a problem that the size (size) of the wafer 1 that can be stored is limited. That is, if the wafer is larger than the right size so that both side edges of the wafer can be placed on the shelves 120 and 121, it is physically impossible to store the wafer in the substrate holder 100. On the other hand, with respect to a wafer smaller than the above-mentioned just size, both side edges cannot be placed on the shelves 120 and 121, so that it is impossible to store a plurality of wafers separated from each other.

Generally, the size of the wafer 1 changes every 1 inch such that the diameter thereof is 2 inches, 3 inches, 4 inches, ..., For example, the substrate holder 100 for the diameter of 3 inches has a diameter of 2 inches. A 4-inch wafer cannot be stored. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare a substrate holder 100 having a size corresponding to each size,
There is also a problem that the manufacturing efficiency and the usage efficiency of the holder 100 are poor.

Further, the wafer 1 for the substrate holder 100
When the wafer is loaded and unloaded by an automatic mounting device having an arm or the like that can move while holding the wafer 1,
In the substrate holder 100, there is also a problem that the size of the tip portion of the arm or the like, that is, the portion that holds the wafer 1 is limited. That is, the wafer holding portion of the device or the like is the shelf plate 12 of the substrate holder 100.
It must be large enough to be inserted between 0 and 121 with a margin. Therefore, in order to enable the use of the above-described automatic mounting apparatus with respect to the substrate holders 100 of various sizes (for 2 inch diameter, 3 inch diameter, ...), the holder for the smallest wafer is required. However, there is a problem that the size of the wafer holding portion becomes extremely small, which makes it difficult to design and manufacture the wafer holding portion.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to accommodate substrates of different sizes and to automatically load and unload substrates. It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate holder that enables relaxation or elimination of size restrictions in the above.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the inventor of the present invention supports a wafer at its central portion and leaves both side edges of the wafer in a free state. The present invention has been completed, considering that it is effective to provide a free space in which an automatic mounting device and the like can be arranged.

That is, the present invention is a holder capable of inserting and removing a thin plate-like substrate from the front and holding it in a horizontal posture, wherein the rear end is a fixed end and the front end and both side ends are free. A plurality of shelves serving as ends are provided in a line in the vertical direction at predetermined intervals, the width of the shelves is narrower than the width of the substrate, and the sides of the shelves are opened. It is characterized by

[0009]

According to the above-mentioned means, the shelf board of the substrate holder is
The width of the board is narrower than that of the board, and the rear end is fixed and the front end and the side edges on both sides are free ends, so that the board inserted from the front and placed on the shelf board is placed at the center of the board. Supported. That is, regardless of whether the substrate is large or small, the substrate is supported by the shelf plate by projecting both side edges of the substrate in the free state further laterally than the shelf plate.

The space in which the side edge of the board is projected is a free space in which the side of the shelf plate is open, and by disposing an automatic mounting device or the like in that space, the above-mentioned automatic mounting device is described. The size restrictions as described above are relaxed or abolished.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a substrate holder according to the present invention is shown in FIG.
5 to 5 and will be described below. In this embodiment, a wafer cassette capable of accommodating a substantially circular semiconductor wafer as a substrate will be described. FIG. 1 shows an example of the substrate holder according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the substrate holder 2 has a shelf 22 provided between an upper plate 20 and a lower plate 21, and further, for example, support columns 23 and 23 on both sides of the shelf 22, respectively. It is made of. In addition, the support pillars 23, 23 include the upper plate 20 and the lower plate 2.
It has the purpose of not only supporting the gap between 1 and 1, but also preventing the substrate from falling from the side. A plurality of shelves 22 are provided, and the number thereof is not particularly limited. For example, 25 elongated horizontal shelves 2 are provided.
4, ... are provided.

FIG. 2 shows the substrate holder 2 viewed from the front. Like the three wafers 1 shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG.
The width when viewed from the front is narrower than that. That is, in the state where the wafer 1 is placed on the shelf plate 24, the central portion of the wafer 1 is supported by the shelf plate 24, and the side edges 1 a, 1 a of the wafer 1 are located in a space lateral to the shelf plate 24 ( It projects into a free space A) described later. Here, the width dimension of the shelf plate 24 is smaller than the width dimension of the smallest one of the wafers 1 of various sizes to be stored.

In this substrate holder 2, no side plate is provided on the side of the shelf 22 and the open space A is provided. Then, the free space A is utilized as a work space for arranging, for example, an arm of an automatic mounting device capable of automatically taking the wafer 1 in and out of the substrate holder 2.

FIG. 3 shows a side cross-section of the substrate holder 2. As shown in the figure, the shelf portion 22 includes the shelf plate 24 and a trunk portion 25 that fixes and holds the rear end portion 24 a of the shelf plate 24. The trunk portion 25 is provided with a plurality of slits 26, and one shelf plate 24 is inserted into each slit 26. Then, as shown in FIG.
The trunk portion 25 and the shelf plate 24 are provided with through holes 25 provided respectively.
The support plates 27 are fitted in the a and 24b with their positions aligned, and are integrated so that the shelf plate 24 does not come off.

The upper surface of the front end portion of the shelf plate 24 is shown in FIG.
As shown in enlarged form, the taper portion 24c is provided and has a tapered shape. Furthermore, the end face 24 of the tip
d is chamfered and rounded. With such an end shape, the wafer 1 can be easily mounted on the shelf plate 24, and at the same time, the wafer 1 can be prevented from being chipped at the edge thereof during mounting.

Note that, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, the shelf portion 22 and the lower plate 21 are joined and integrated by a dovetail joint of the dovetail 25b and the tenon 21a. Moreover, the support pillar 2
The lower end of 3 is inserted into the receiving hole 21b of the lower plate 21. The trunk portion 25 and the support pillars 23 are fixed to the upper plate 20 with bolts 28, respectively.

According to the above-described embodiment, the substrate holder 2 supports the central portion of the wafer 1 by the shelf plate 24 and projects the side edges 1a, 1a of the wafer 1 into the free space A on the side of the shelf plate 24. Therefore, regardless of the size of the wafer 1, the wafer 1 of various sizes can be stored in the holder 2 of one size. Further, since the free space A can be utilized as a work space for arranging the arms and the like of the automatic mounting apparatus, by arranging the arms and the like in the free space A when the wafer 1 is taken in and out, Conventional restrictions on the size and shape of the arm and the like can be relaxed or eliminated. Therefore, not only the manufacturing efficiency and the usage efficiency of the substrate holder 2 are improved, but also the design and manufacturing of the wafer holding portion in the arm of the automatic mounting apparatus and the like become easy.

The substrate holder 2 is not limited to the one in the above embodiment, but supports the central portion of the wafer 1 and has a free space A on the side of the shelf plate 24. It goes without saying that various design changes can be made as long as the side edges 1a, 1a of the wafer 1 are projected into the space A. For example, like the substrate holder 3 shown as a modified example in FIG. 6, the strength of the trunk portion 25 is large, and the shelf plate 24 is wide so that there is no danger of dropping the substrate, and the substrate holder 2 is supported in the above embodiment. The column 23 may not be provided. By doing so, the free space A is further expanded, and the degree of freedom in designing the automatic mounting device is increased. Further, in the above embodiment, an example in which the substrate holder is manufactured by assembly is shown.
Obviously, it may be manufactured by shaving or die cutting with a mold.

In the above embodiment, the wafer holder capable of accommodating semiconductor wafers has been described as the substrate holder 2, but the present invention is not limited to this, and accommodates a thin plate-shaped substrate. It is applicable to all. For example, it can be applied to a storage cassette such as a CD (compact disc) or an LD (laser disc).

[0020]

According to the substrate holder of the present invention, the width of the shelf plate is made narrower than the width of the substrate, and both side edges of the substrate are projected further laterally than the shelf plate by the shelf plate. In the state
Since the central portion of the substrate is supported, it is possible to store from a small substrate to a large substrate with the one-size holder. Further, the automatic mounting device and the like can be arranged in the free space in which the side edges of the substrate are projected, whereby the conventional size restriction of the automatic mounting device can be relaxed or eliminated.

Therefore, not only the manufacturing efficiency and use efficiency of the substrate holder are improved, but also the design and manufacturing of the wafer holding portion in the automatic mounting apparatus and the like become easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a substrate holder according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the substrate holder.

3 is a sectional view of the substrate holder taken along line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the substrate holder along IV-IV in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view of a front end portion of a shelf plate of the substrate holder.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another example of the substrate holder according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional substrate holder.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A Free space 1 Wafer (substrate) 2,3 Substrate holder 24 Shelf plate 24a Rear end

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A holder for inserting and removing a thin plate-like substrate from the front and capable of holding it in a horizontal posture, wherein a plurality of holders have a rear end as a fixed end and front ends and side ends on both sides as free ends. Racks are provided side by side in the vertical direction at predetermined intervals, the width of the racks is narrower than the width of the substrate, and the sides of the racks are open. Characteristic substrate holder.