JPH072309A - Wafer conveying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the wafer conveying time by eliminating the waiting time during wafer conveyance, and decreasing the pause time of the conveying action in a semiconductor manufacturing device. CONSTITUTION:A wafer conveying device is provided with at least a water transfer machine and a cassette delivering/receiving device 30 for a cassette stocker 17. The cassette delivering/receiving device 30 is made traversable relative to the cassette stocker 17, the cassette stocker 17 is fixed, and conveying actions of the wafer transfer machine and the cassette delivering/ receiving device 30 relative to the cassette stocker 17 are concurrently performed.

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 apparatus in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

In the figure, 1 is a cassette transfer device, 2 is a cassette stocker, 3 is a wafer transfer machine, and 4 is a boat elevator.

The cassette transfer device 1 has a cassette receiving table 5 which can be moved up and down. The cassette receiving table 5 can receive two wafer cassettes 6 in parallel and can move forward and backward with respect to the cassette stocker 2. Is.

The cassette stocker 2 has a cassette shelf 7 having two rows of double tiers (four tiers are shown in the figure).
Is provided on the slide stage 16 so as to be traversable, and the row of the shelves facing the wafer transfer machine 3 is changed by traversing the cassette shelves 7. A buffer cassette stocker (not shown) is provided above the cassette stocker 2 if necessary.

The wafer transfer machine 3 has an elevating stage 8 capable of ascending and descending, and a rotating seat 9 is rotatably provided on the elevating stage 8 and a chuck having a plurality of wafer chucks 10 on the rotating seat 9. The king head 11 is provided so as to be movable in the horizontal direction.

The boat elevator 4 has a boat arm 12 which can be moved up and down. A boat seat 13 is provided on the boat arm 12 and a boat 14 can be mounted on the boat seat 13. Wafers 15 in the boat 14
Is held in a horizontal position in multiple stages.

The wafer 15 is transferred between the outside and the inside of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus while the wafer 15 is loaded in the wafer cassette 6.

A wafer cassette 6 loaded with wafers 15 is placed on the cassette support 5. The cassette transfer device 1 elevates and lowers the cassette receiving table 5 so that the cassette receiving table 5 faces an empty shelf of the cassette shelf 7, and the wafer cassette 6 is inserted and placed on the cassette shelf 7.

When the wafer cassette 6 in the cassette shelf 7 to which the wafers 15 are transferred is determined, the cassette stocker 2 traverses the cassette shelf 7, and the target wafer cassette 6 faces the chucking head 11. Let

The wafer transfer device 3 transfers the wafer 15 to the boat 14 by a combination of the operations of raising and lowering the elevating stage 8, rotating the rotary seat 9, and horizontally moving the chucking head 11. When the target wafer cassette 6 is changed, as shown in FIG. 4, wafers are transferred by changing the row of wafer cassettes of the same height on the cassette shelf 7 and then moving to the upper stage or the lower stage. To go. During the traversing operation of the cassette shelf 7, wafer transfer is stopped.

When the transfer of the wafer 15 to the boat 14 is completed, the boat elevator 4 raises the boat arm 12 and loads the boat 14 into a reaction furnace (not shown) to process the wafer 15.

After the processing is completed, the boat arm 12 is lowered, and the procedure for transferring the wafer 15 to the boat 14 is performed in reverse, and the wafer 15 is transferred to the wafer cassette 6 of the wafer cassette transfer device.

As described above, since the transfer operation of the wafer transfer machine 3 is accompanied by the traverse operation of the cassette shelf 7, while the wafer transfer machine 3 is transferring the wafer, the wafer of the cassette transfer device 1 is transferred. The transfer operation of the cassette 6 is stopped, and the transfer operation of the wafer transfer machine 3 is stopped during the transfer operation of the wafer cassette 6 of the cassette transfer apparatus 1.

[0015]

As described above, during the traversing operation of the cassette shelf 7, the transfer operation of the wafer transfer machine 3 is stopped, and the cassette shelf 7 is transferred every time the wafers of each stage are transferred. In addition, the cassette transfer device 1 and the wafer transfer device 3 are in operation while the other is in an idle state, and the rest time increases the wafer transfer time. Is occurring, which also affects production efficiency.

Further, in the above-mentioned apparatus, since the wafer cassettes 6 on the left and right of the cassette shelf 7 cannot be exchanged, the row of cassette shelves is fixed as the apparatus.
Therefore, as shown in FIG.
The semiconductor manufacturing equipment 10
When the equipment is installed such that the lines B of 4, 105 and 106 are opposed to each other, the lines of the cassette shelves 7 in the line A and the line B are opposite to each other. Therefore, when the external transfer device 107 of the wafer cassette 6 is operated with reference to the line A as shown in FIG.
The flow of 07 and the access direction to each shelf are reversed,
There is a problem that the transport efficiency is significantly reduced.

In view of the above situation, the present invention aims to eliminate the waiting time at the time of wafer transfer and reduce the rest time of the transfer operation to shorten the wafer transfer time.

[0018]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a wafer transfer device having at least a wafer transfer device and a cassette transfer device for a cassette stocker, wherein the cassette transfer device can traverse the cassette stocker. It is characterized by that.

[0019]

Since the cassette transfer device can be traversed and the cassette stocker can be fixed, the transfer operation of the wafer transfer device and the cassette transfer device with respect to the cassette stocker can be performed concurrently.

[0020]

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

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the same parts as those shown in FIG. 3 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

A cassette shelf 20 of the cassette stocker 17 is fixedly erected on a base 19 via a leg plate 18, and the cassette shelf 20 has three rows and four stages. Above the cassette stocker 17, there is provided a buffer cassette stocker 21 having three rows and four shelves. A cassette transfer device 30 is provided so as to face the buffer cassette stocker 21 and the cassette stocker 17.

The cassette transfer device 30 will be described.

A screw rod 22 is rotatably provided on the base 19 in parallel with the cassette shelf 20, and a slide motor 23 is connected to the screw rod 22. The lower end of the elevator unit 24 is screwed onto the screw rod 22, and the support block 25 is fixed to the midway portion of the elevator unit 24.
Is slidably engaged with a support guide 26 provided at the lower end of the buffer cassette stocker 21.

An elevator 27 is mounted on the elevator unit 24.
Is provided so as to be able to move up and down, a pair of robot arms 28 is provided on the left and right of the elevating table 27, and a wafer cassette receiving plate (not shown) is provided at the tip of the robot arm 28. Each robot arm 28 is independently linearly expandable / contractible with respect to the cassette shelf 20, and the elevator unit 24 and the robot arm 28 cooperate with each other so that the wafer cassette 6 can be stored in and discharged from the cassette shelf 20. There is. Incidentally, reference numeral 29 in the figure denotes a reaction furnace.

The operation will be described below.

The target of the transfer operation of the wafer transfer machine 3 is that it is fixed to the central row of the cassette shelf 20.

By driving the slide motor 23, the elevator unit 24 traverses via the screw rod 22. In this traverse operation, the elevator unit 24 is prevented from falling and tilting by the engagement of the support block 25 and the support guide 26. By the cooperation of the traverse operation of the elevator unit 24, the extension / contraction operation of the robot arm 28, and the elevating operation of the elevating table 27, the wafer cassettes 6 of the unprocessed wafers are placed in the central row and the central processing is performed. The wafer cassette 6 of finished wafers is transferred to the other row on the left or right.

The wafer transfer machine 3 carries out the transfer operation to all the stages of the central row of the cassette shelf 20, and the cassette transfer device 30 also conveys to all the stages and all the rows of the cassette shelf 20. Do the work. Thus, the wafer transfer machine 3
The wafer transfer machine 3 and the cassette transfer device 30 can work simultaneously if the target stages of the cassette transfer device 30 are different so that they do not interfere with each other.

Further, the cassette transfer device 30 transfers the wafer cassette 6 to and from the external transfer device 107, transfers the wafer cassette 6 of the processed wafer to the external transfer device 107, and transfers the wafer cassette 6 of the unprocessed wafer.
Is received from the external transfer device 107 and stored in the cassette stocker 17 or the buffer cassette stocker 21. Further, the wafer cassette 6 of the unprocessed wafers from the buffer cassette stocker 21 to the cassette stocker 17
Carry out.

The transfer of the wafer cassette 6 of the cassette transfer device 30 can be carried out simultaneously by the left and right robot arms 28, and only one can be carried out by either the left or right robot arm 28. Thus, the cassette transfer device 30 can freely exchange wafer cassettes,
The wafer transfer device 3 and the cassette transfer device 30 can operate in parallel without being restricted by the mutual operation.

In the above embodiment, the number of cassette shelves 20 is three.
There were 4 rows, 4 rows, but there may be 4 rows, 5 rows or more,
The robot arm may be one set or three or more sets.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following excellent effects are exhibited.

Since the cassette shelf is fixed, the wafer transfer device and the cassette transfer device can be operated in parallel, and the transfer efficiency is improved.

Since the cassette shelf is fixed, the space occupied by the cassette shelf can be entirely applied to the storage space of the wafer cassette, and the number of wafer cassettes stored can be increased.

Since the cassette shelf is fixed, it is easy to adjust the positions of the wafer transfer machine and the cassette shelf.

Since the wafer cassettes can be exchanged in the cassette shelf, the degree of freedom in the line configuration of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment is increased, and the wafer cassette transfer efficiency with external transfer equipment is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

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

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view of a conventional example.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a conventional example and an external transfer device.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a conventional example and an external transfer device.

[Explanation of Codes] 3 Wafer Transfer Machine 6 Wafer Cassette 17 Cassette Stocker 20 Cassette Shelf 21 Buffer Cassette Stocker 22 Screw Rod 24 Elevator Unit 27 Lifting Table 28 Robot Arm 30 Cassette Transfer Device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A wafer transfer device comprising at least a wafer transfer device and a cassette transfer device for a cassette stocker, wherein the cassette transfer device is traversable with respect to the cassette stocker. Transport device. 2. The wafer transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cassette shelf has a plurality of wafer cassette storage shelves in a plurality of stages, and the wafer transfer machine performs a transfer operation to a predetermined fixed row of the cassette shelf. .