JPH07283589A - Substrate transfer and loading mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a transfer loading mechanism having improved throughput of a substrate inspection device. CONSTITUTION:This substrate transfer loading mechanism is formed of a relay base 5 being provided between a robot mechanism 2 and an inspection optical base 4 and consisting of two sets of chuck parts 55a, 55b having two pieces of chuck arms 551, an elevation mechanism 51, a rotary mechanism 52 and a mobile mechanism 55 and a flexible loading base 6 being provided opposedly to the inspection optical base 4 to be loaded with various kinds of sizes of substrates 1 after respective positioning.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mechanism for conveying a substrate and mounting it on a mounting table in a substrate inspection apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A square glass substrate used as a material for a liquid crystal panel or a mask substrate manufactured from it has a poor quality due to defects or adhered foreign substances. Is being inspected. Figure 4
Shows the basic configuration of the board inspection apparatus. The board inspecting apparatus is a board 1 to be inspected, which is arranged on the base B as shown in the drawing.
And the inspected substrate 1 are cassettes 1a for accommodating them,
1b, a robot mechanism 2 that conveys the substrate 1, a mounting table 3 that mounts the substrate 1, and an inspection optical system 4 provided on the mounting table 3. The robot mechanism 2 includes an elevating mechanism 2
1, rotation mechanism 22, drive mechanism 23, and robot hand 24
Consists of. In the inspection, the robot hand 24 chucks the substrate 1 to be inspected in the cassette 1a, rotates 90 degrees and stops at the position of the mounting table 3, and then descends to position the substrate 1 on the mounting table 3. Placed. Placed substrate 1
Is inspected by the inspection optical system 4 and the inspection is completed
Are transported in the reverse order by the robot hand 24 and stored in the cassette 1b.

There are various sizes of liquid crystal panels, and therefore, there are various sizes of glass substrates or mask substrates as raw materials. On the other hand, the mounting table 3 is fixed to one size, and for substrates of various sizes, the corresponding mounting tables are prepared and used by exchanging them.

[0004]

With the recent increase in demand for liquid crystal panels, the number of substrates 1 to be inspected is increasing, and it is considerably necessary to replace the mounting tables 3 for these various sizes. Since it takes time, the inspection throughput is not good, and there is a problem that dust is generated during the replacement work and adheres to the substrate, which deteriorates the quality. Further, the transfer procedure of the robot mechanism 2 is such that after the substrate 1 to be inspected is placed on the mounting table 3, it stands by at that position until the inspection is completed, and after that, it is transferred to the cassette 1b and stored. This also has various drawbacks such as poor throughput,
It is required to eliminate each of these drawbacks. The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate transfer mounting mechanism with improved inspection throughput.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a substrate transfer / mounting mechanism that achieves the above object, which comprises a relay stand provided between the robot mechanism of the substrate inspection apparatus and the inspection optical system.
It is configured by a flexible mounting table provided so as to face the inspection optical system. The relay stand includes two sets of chuck parts having two chuck arms for chucking corresponding two sides of the substrate, an elevating and lowering mechanism for elevating and lowering the two sets of chuck parts in a horizontal plane, and two sets. Each of the chuck arms of the chuck section is separately provided with a moving mechanism that approaches or separates from each other. In addition, the flexible mounting table has a plurality of steps and a plurality of inclined surfaces corresponding to the two sides of substrates of various sizes, and presses the fixed block, the moving block, and the moving block facing each other, The pressing mechanism is configured to bring the side surfaces of the two sides of the substrate placed on the inclined surfaces of both blocks into contact with both steps.

[0006]

In the relay stand of the above-mentioned substrate transfer and placement mechanism,
With respect to the substrate chucked by the robot hand, the two chuck arms of the one chuck portion approach each other by the moving mechanism and chuck two sides of the substrate. Then, the two sets of chucks are moved in the horizontal plane by the lifting / lowering rotation mechanism.
The chuck part that has rotated the substrate by 80 ° and chucked the substrate descends with respect to the flexible mounting table, both chuck arms are separated from each other by the moving mechanism to release the substrate, and the substrate is mounted on the flexible mounting table. In the flexible mounting table, substrates of various sizes have two sides,
When the movable block is placed on both the corresponding inclined surfaces of the fixed block and the moving block, and then the moving block is pushed by the pressing mechanism, the two sides of the substrate placed on the inclined surface come into contact with the corresponding steps. Is positioned and the inspection is performed by the inspection optical system facing this. In this case, since the substrates placed on both inclined surfaces are in contact with the inclined surface only at the lower edges of their side surfaces, when the substrate is pressed and moves, the parts other than the edges do not rub against the inclined surface. Therefore, it is advantageous that this part is not scratched. As described above, since the flexible mounting table is commonly used for substrates of various sizes, unlike the conventional mounting table, it is not necessary to replace each size and throughput is improved. The problem goes away. Next, during the inspection of the substrate by the above, since the other chuck portion corresponds to the robot hand, it chucks the next substrate from the robot hand and waits, and when the inspection of the substrate is completed, both chuck portions are held. Rotates 180 °, the next substrate is positioned and placed on the flexible mounting table for inspection, and the inspected substrate is passed to the robot hand. This standby method improves both the operating rate of the inspection apparatus and the inspection throughput.

[0007]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 1 is a perspective external view showing the configuration of the substrate transfer mounting mechanism 10.
2 is a detailed view of the relay stand 5, and FIG. 3 is a flexible mounting stand 6.
FIG. In FIG. 1, the substrate transfer mounting mechanism 10
Includes the cassettes 1a and 1b in FIG. 4, the robot mechanism 2, and the inspection optical system 4. In the present invention, a relay table 5 is provided between the robot mechanism 2 and the inspection optical system 4, and a flexible mounting table 6 is provided below the inspection optical system 4 instead of the conventional mounting table 3. The relay stand 5 includes an elevating mechanism 51, a rotating mechanism 52, a moving mechanism 53, two ball screws 54a and 54b, and two chuck arms.
It consists of two sets of chuck portions 55a and 55b having 551. Both chuck parts 55a, 55b are lifted and lowered by the lifting mechanism 51,
The rotation mechanism 52 rotates in a horizontal plane. As shown in FIG. 2 (a), each chuck arm (hereinafter simply referred to as arm) 551 meshes with each ball screw 54a, 54b, and each ball screw 54a, 54b has a reverse screw on both sides from the center. The two arms (551, 551) meshed with the two motors (M) of the moving mechanism 53 and individually meshed with the chucks 55a,
Each 55b independently approaches or separates from each other. Also, two chuck rollers 56 are attached to the lower surface of each arm 551, and each chuck roller 56 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the substrate 1 has a groove 561 into which the edge of the substrate 1 is fitted, and the substrate 1 is sandwiched between the grooves 561 on both sides and stably chucked. Next, the flexible mounting table 6 includes a fixed plate 61 having two guide rails 62a and 62b, and a moving plate 64 which is moved by the motor 63 in the X direction along the guide rails 62a and 62b.
A fixed block 65a fixed to the moving plate 64, a moving block 65 which faces the fixed block 65a and moves in the Y direction by a pressing mechanism 66.
consists of b. Both blocks 65a and 65b have a plurality of stages (for example, 3 stages) as shown in FIG. 3 corresponding to substrates of various sizes.
A step 651 and a sloped surface 652 for each step are formed.

The operation of the substrate transfer and mounting mechanism 10 will be described below with reference to FIGS. The substrate 1 to be inspected, which is accommodated in the cassette 1a, is chucked by the robot hand 24 and then rotated 90 degrees, as in the conventional case.
On the other hand, assuming that, for example, the chuck portion 55a corresponds to the robot hand 24, both arms 551 and 551 thereof are lifted up to a predetermined height by the elevating mechanism 51 in advance, and are moved by the moving mechanism 53 by a dotted line in FIG. 2 (a). Keep away from each other as shown.
On the other hand, the robot hand 24 is extended as shown by the arrow X ₁ and stopped under the arms 551 and 551, and they are lowered. Then, when they approach each other, each chuck roller 56 chucks the edge of the substrate 1. , Further rotation mechanism
Both chuck parts 56a and 56b are rotated by 180 degrees by 52. On the other hand, in the flexible mounting table 6, the lower portion of the inspection optical system 4 is set at a fixed position, and the moving block 65b is moved in the opposite direction by the pressing mechanism 66, so that the distance from the fixed block 65a is set as shown in FIG. In addition, the interval is set to be slightly wider than the size of the substrate 1. When both blocks 65a and 65b are moved to the lower part of the board 1 by the motor 63 and both arms 551 and 551 are lowered and separated, the two sides of the board 1 are placed on the corresponding inclined surfaces 652 and 652 of the blocks 65a and 65b. . Then, when the moving block 65b is pressed by the pressing mechanism 66, as shown in FIG. 3B, the side surfaces of the two sides of the substrate 1 are brought into contact with the corresponding steps 651, 651 and positioned. The substrate 1 thus positioned is restored to the lower portion of the inspection optical system 4 by the motor 53 and is inspected. During the above inspection, the chuck part 55b on the opposite side is
The next substrate 1 that is chucked by this is chucked by this chuck portion 55b and stands by.
On the other hand, when the inspection of the front substrate 1 is completed, the front substrate 1 is chucked by the chuck portion 55a and rotated by 180 °, passed to the robot hand 24 and stored in the cassette 1b. It is mounted on the flexible mounting table 6 and inspected. With the above standby method and flexible mounting table,
Substrates with various sizes are quickly transported and inspected efficiently.

[0009]

As described above, in the substrate transfer / placing mechanism of the present invention, the relay table having two sets of chuck portions is provided, and the substrate is transferred by one of the chuck portions and placed on the flexible mounting table. Then, during this inspection, the other chuck part uses the standby method to receive the next substrate from the robot hand, and the flexible mounting table is commonly used for substrates of various sizes, and each of them has a friction scratch. Positioning and mounting is performed without attaching the mounting table, and unlike the conventional method, it is unnecessary to replace the mounting table for each size, the problem of dust generation accompanying this is eliminated, and the mounting table is not required to be replaced. The standby system has a great effect of improving the operating rate and the inspection throughput of the substrate inspection apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective external view of an embodiment of a substrate transfer mounting mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the relay stand 5, (a) is a plan view,
(b) is a side view.

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of a flexible mounting table 6.

FIG. 4 is a basic configuration diagram of a substrate inspection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Square substrate, 1a ... Cassette for inspected substrate, 1b
… Cassette for inspected substrate, 2… Robot mechanism, 21…
Lifting mechanism, 22 ... Rotating mechanism, 23 ... Driving mechanism, 24 ... Robot hand, 3 ... Conventional mounting table, 4 ... Inspection optical system, 5 ... Relay stand, 51 ... Lifting mechanism, 52 ... Rotating mechanism, 53 ... Moving Mechanism, 54a,
54b ... Ball screw, 55a, 55b ... Chuck part, 551 ... Chuck arm, 56 ... Chuck roller, 561 ... Chuck roller groove, 6 ... Flexible mounting table, 61 ... Fixing plate, 62
a, 62b ... Guide rail, 63 ... Motor, 94 ... Moving plate, 65a
… Fixed block, 65b… Moving block, 651… Step, 65
2 ... Slope, 66 ... Pressing mechanism, B ... Base.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A substrate inspection apparatus that conveys a rectangular substrate by a robot mechanism, places it on a mounting table, and inspects it by an inspection optical system, and a relay table provided between the robot mechanism and the inspection optical system. A flexible mounting table provided so as to face the inspection optical system, and the relay table includes two sets of chuck portions having two chuck arms that chuck two corresponding sides of the substrate, and the two sets. The lifting and lowering mechanism for moving the chuck part up and down and rotating in a horizontal plane, and the moving mechanism for separately moving the two chuck arms of the two chuck parts toward or away from each other, the flexible mounting table is Of the substrate having a size of, each of which has a plurality of steps and a plurality of inclined surfaces corresponding to each of the two sides, faces a fixed block and a moving block, and presses the moving block, The two sides side of the substrate placed on the inclined surface of the block, characterized by comprising from pressing mechanism is brought into contact with both said stepped substrate transport mounting mechanism.