JPH07142560A - Wafer gripper - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To extract a large number of wafers from a washing tank, etc., by simply gripping even a large number of the wafers positively. CONSTITUTION:A wafer gripper consists of handle sections 10a, 10b opened and closed and operated for gripping wafers 3, gripping sections 11a, 11b extended while being continued to the handle sections and being oppositely faced in the two directions and opened and closed and operated within ranges larger than the diameters of the wafers to be gripped by operating the handle sections, and chuck sections 12a, 12b being mounted at the front ends of the gripping sections and having one or a plurality of chuck grooves holding outer peripheries at every wafer from the external direction. Accordingly, even a large number of the wafers 3 are gripped simply and positively, and can be extracted from a washing tank, etc.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention, for example, when cleaning a wafer with a cassette-less cleaning device in a semiconductor manufacturing process, if the wafer transfer device is stopped due to a failure during processing, the wafer is removed from the cleaning tank. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wafer gripping tool that can be taken out, and more particularly to a wafer gripping tool that can easily and reliably grip and take out a large number of wafers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when cleaning a wafer with a cassetteless cleaning apparatus in a semiconductor manufacturing process, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the outer peripheral edge of the wafer 3 is sandwiched and gripped by the chuck portions 2a and 2b of the transfer device 1 from the outside, and the wafer 3 is taken out from the loader portion (not shown) to a position above the cleaning tank (not shown). As shown in FIG. 3B, the entire carrier device 1 is lowered at the position as indicated by arrow A so that the lower edge of the wafer 3 is moved to the wafer guides 4a and 4b in the cleaning tank.
, And then, as shown in FIG. 2C, the chuck portions 2a and 2b of the transfer device 1 are opened to both sides as indicated by arrows B and C to release the wafer 3 from the grip. While the wafer 3 is placed on the wafer guides 4a and 4b in the cleaning tank, the carrier device 1 is raised as indicated by arrow D. As a result, a plurality of wafers 3 to be cleaned are arranged on the wafer guides 4a and 4b in the cleaning tank, and then the cleaning process is performed with the cleaning liquid. Then, when the cleaning process in the cleaning tank is completed, the transfer device 1 is lowered and the wafer 3 is chucked by the chuck portion 2.
After being gripped by a and 2b, it rises and is conveyed and stored in an unloader unit (not shown).

In this way, when the transfer device 1 is stopped due to some trouble during the cleaning process of the wafer 3 in the cleaning tank, a vacuum pump (not shown) is used as shown in FIG. Using the vacuum tweezers 6 attached to the tip of the connected hose 5, the suction surface 7 provided at the tip of the vacuum tweezer 6 uses the vacuum pressure supplied through the hose 5 to cause the plate surface of the wafer 3 to move. Were vacuum-adsorbed and the wafers 3 were taken out one by one from the cleaning tank.

[0004]

However, when such a conventional vacuum tweezers 6 is used, since the plate surface of the wafer 3 is vacuum-sucked by the suction part 7 and taken out, one vacuum tweezer 6 is used. Only one wafer 3 could be taken out, and it took a long time to take out all the wafers 3 arranged in the cleaning tank. Further, since the plate surface of the wafer 3 is vacuum-adsorbed, it cannot be used when the entire wafer 3 is immersed in the cleaning liquid, and the wafer 3 may not be taken out from the cleaning tank. It was

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a wafer gripping tool which can deal with such a problem and can easily and surely grip and take out a large number of wafers.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a wafer gripper according to the present invention has a handle portion which is opened and closed for gripping a wafer, and a handle portion which is continuously opposed to the handle portion in two directions. The grip portion that is opened and closed by operating the handle portion in a range larger than the diameter of the wafer to be gripped, and the chuck groove that is provided at the tip of the grip portion and that sandwiches the outer peripheral edge of each wafer from the outside is And a chuck part having a plurality of pieces or rows.

[0007]

The wafer gripper thus constructed is operated to open and close the wafer by the handle part, and the grip part extending continuously opposite to the handle part in two directions is operated. The opening and closing operation is performed in a range larger than the diameter of the wafer to be held by the chuck part, and the outer peripheral edge of each wafer is separated by the chuck part provided at the tip of the holding part and having one or a plurality of wafer chuck grooves. It works so as to be pinched from the outside. As a result, even a large number of wafers can be easily grasped and taken out.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of a wafer gripper according to the present invention, FIG. 1 (a) is a front view of a use state, and FIG. 1 (b) is a side view thereof. This wafer gripping tool is used, for example, when cleaning the wafer 3 with a cassette-less cleaning device as shown in FIG. Is taken out from the cleaning tank (not shown). As shown in FIG.
0b, grip portions 11a and 11b, and chuck portion 12a,
12b and.

The handle portions 10a and 10b are operated to open and close to hold the wafer 3, and are formed of a pair of rod-like members, one end of which is rotatably coupled by a fulcrum shaft 13 and the other. The ends are open and the arrows E, F; G,
It can be opened and closed like H. A compression spring 14 is stretched between the handle portions 10a and 10b, and the compression spring 14 is stretched between the handle portions 10a and 10b.
The other end is always biased in the directions of arrows E and G to open.

The fulcrum shaft 1 of the handle portions 10a and 10b
Gripping portions 11a and 11b extend from the portion joined at 3 to the side opposite to the other end. This grip 11
a and 11b are opened and closed within a range larger than the diameter of the wafer 3 to be gripped by the opening and closing operation of the handle parts 10a and 10b. And extends in an arc shape. That is, one grip portion 11a extends to the same side continuously to the one handle portion 10a, and the other grip portion 11b extends to the same side continuously to the other handle portion 10b.

Chuck portions 12a and 12b are provided at the tips of the grip portions 11a and 11b. The chuck portions 12a and 12b are the portions that actually hold the wafer 3, and as shown in FIG.
One or a plurality of chuck grooves 15 sandwiching the outer peripheral edge from the outside are provided in a row. In FIG. 2, only one chuck groove 15 is formed and the chuck portions 12a and 12b for holding one wafer 3 are shown. However, when a plurality of wafers 3 are held at a time, the chuck portions 12a, 12b shown in FIG. ),
Chuck portions 12a, 12b may be used in which a plurality of chuck grooves 15 as shown in FIG. 2 are formed in a row on the inner surface of a member that extends in a laterally long direction orthogonal to the grip portions 11a, 11b. Thereby, for example, 1 to 50 wafers 3 can be gripped. Since the chuck portions 12a and 12b are attached to the tips of the grip portions 11a and 11b, opening / closing operation of the handle portions 10a and 10b causes
As shown by arrows J, K; L, M in FIG. 1A, the opening / closing operation is performed to grip or release the wafer 3.

Next, the use of the wafer gripper thus constructed will be described. First, as shown in FIG.
It is assumed that the cleaning process of the wafer 3 is performed by the cassetteless cleaning apparatus as in (b) and (c). Then, it is assumed that the conveyance device 1 is stopped due to some trouble during the cleaning process in the cleaning tank (not shown). Then, in this case, since the wafer 3 cannot be taken out from the cleaning tank, the operator uses the wafer gripper of the present invention. That is, the operator grips the handle portions 10a and 10b shown in FIG. 1A with his hand and closes them in the directions of arrows F and H.
Then, the gripping portions 11a and 11b, which are continuous with the handle portions 10a and 10b, rotate outward about the fulcrum shaft 13, and chuck portions 12a and
12b opens and opens in the directions of arrows J and L.

Next, in this state, the wafer gripper is moved to the position of the plurality of wafers 3 set on the wafer guides 4a and 4b in the cleaning tank in FIG. 12b is located on the outer peripheral side of the wafer 3. Then, the handle portions 10a, 10b
Loosen the hand that was holding, and open the handle portions 10a and 10b in the directions of arrows E and G by the urging force of the compression spring 14. Then, the grip portions 11a and 11b, which are continuous with the handle portions 10a and 10b, rotate inward about the fulcrum shaft 13, and the chuck portions 12a and 12b provided at the tips of the grip portions 11a and 11b move in the directions of arrows K and M, respectively. Closes and closes.
At this time, as shown in FIG.
The outer peripheral edge of each wafer 3 is sandwiched and gripped from the outside. The gripping force in this case is given by the urging force of the compression spring 14, and the urging force of the compression spring 14 is set to a size capable of simultaneously gripping a plurality of wafers 3.

Thereafter, the operator lifts the entire wafer gripping tool from the inside of the cleaning tank to hold the wafer 3 by the chuck portions 12a and 12b as shown in FIG. 1 (a). The wafer 3 can be taken out from.

[0015]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above,
The handle is used to open and close to hold the wafer, and the open and close operation of the grip that extends continuously in two directions facing the handle is performed in a range larger than the diameter of the wafer to be gripped by operating the handle. However, the outer peripheral edge of each wafer can be sandwiched from the outside by the chuck portion provided at the tip of the grip portion and having one or a plurality of wafer chuck grooves. As a result, even a large number of wafers can be easily grasped and taken out. Therefore, it is possible to take out all the plurality of wafers set in the cleaning tank in a short time. Further, since the outer peripheral edge of the wafer is merely mechanically sandwiched and gripped, even if the entire wafer is immersed in the cleaning liquid, it can be used without any trouble.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of a wafer gripper according to the present invention, FIG. 1 (a) is a front view of a usage state, and FIG.
The figure is a side view thereof.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged explanatory view showing a structure of a chuck portion.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a cassetteless cleaning apparatus.

4A and 4B are a front view and a side view showing a usage state of a conventional vacuum tweezers.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 ... Wafer 10a, 10b ... Handle part 11a, 11b ... Gripping part 12a, 12b ... Chuck part 13 ... Support shaft 14 ... Compression spring 15 ... Chuck groove

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A handle portion which is opened and closed to hold a wafer, and a handle portion which extends continuously in two directions facing the handle portion and is opened and closed within a range larger than a diameter of a wafer to be held by the operation of the handle portion. And a chuck portion having one or a plurality of chuck grooves arranged in a row at the tip of the grip portion for sandwiching the outer peripheral edge of each wafer from the outside. Wafer gripping tool.