JPH0799225A - Substrate conveyer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a compact substrate conveyer, which can convey a substrate between unit processing parts in the approximately horizontal state, at a low cost. CONSTITUTION:In a turning mechanism 170, sliding blocks 162a and 162b and rails 163a and 163b are finished in the curved shapes, respectively. The sliding blocks 162a and 162b slid on the rails 163a and l63b, respectively. As a result, hands 150a and 150b are turned so that the hands are inclined into the reverse direction with respect to the deflecting direction (lower direction) caused by the mounting of the substrate. Therefore, when, e.g. the hands 150a and 150b are moved in the upper and lower directions, respectively and the opened state is obtained, the tip part of the hand 150a is inclined upward by an angle theta. The deflection caused by the tare weight of the substrate is corrected, and the hand 150a is kept at the approximately horizontal state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus such as a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus or a liquid crystal substrate manufacturing apparatus in which a plurality of substrates such as semiconductor wafers and liquid crystal glass rectangular substrates (hereinafter simply referred to as "substrates") are used. The present invention relates to a substrate transfer device that transfers between unit processing units.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known in the art, in the manufacturing process of precision electronic substrates such as liquid crystal display substrates and semiconductor wafers, for example, a plurality of unit processing units such as a cleaning processing unit, a heat treatment unit, a resist coating unit, etc. are uniformly operated. A substrate transfer apparatus such as a substrate transfer robot is used to transfer a substrate between the processing units in a predetermined transfer order, and to put the substrates in and out of the processing units to perform a series of processes.

As a substrate transfer device for carrying out such a substrate transfer, a substrate is mounted on a hand (substrate mounting means) in a substantially horizontal state, and the hand is moved by another driving means to a predetermined unit. It is configured such that the substrate is set in the unit processing unit by advancing / retreating in the processing unit, and after the processing is finished, the hand is moved in / out again to be taken out of the unit processing unit and transferred to another unit processing unit. Has been done.

[0004]

By the way, in recent years, as the size of the substrate has increased, the deflection of the hand due to the increase in the weight of the substrate has become a problem. That is, due to the gravity of the large substrate, the cantilevered hand bends downward and the substrate cannot be kept horizontal. Therefore, for example, in a substrate cassette that stores substrates in a multi-stage storage rack, the pitch of the storage racks must be increased, resulting in a problem that the substrate processing apparatus becomes large.

From the viewpoint of eliminating the bending, for example, a method of increasing the thickness of the hand to increase the bending rigidity of the hand is conceivable, but the bending amount is reduced,
As the thickness of the hand increases, it is necessary to increase the pitch of the storage shelves, etc., and it is not possible to prevent the substrate processing apparatus from increasing in size, and the weight of the hand itself also increases.

Further, even if the number of supporting points of the board by the hand is increased or a means for holding the entire back surface of the board is used,
Although the amount of bending itself is small, the size of the substrate processing apparatus and the weight of the hand are increased as in the above case.

Further, by constructing the hand with a material having a large transverse elastic coefficient (for example, cemented carbide), it is possible to increase the bending rigidity of the hand without increasing the thickness and weight of the hand. Such structural materials are generally expensive, causing the problem of increased cost of the substrate transfer apparatus.

By holding the substrate vertically,
Although there is an idea to solve the above problem, the vertical support must support the weight of the substrate in the thickness direction of the substrate, which causes a new problem such as chipping of the substrate due to an increase in the surface pressure of the supporting point. Therefore, at present, most of the unit processing units process the substrate while holding the substrate in the horizontal state, and the substrate also needs to be transported in the horizontal state.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and is low cost, small in size, and capable of transporting substrates between unit processing units in a substantially horizontal state. The purpose is to provide.

[0010]

According to the present invention, there is provided a substrate transfer device for transferring a substrate between a plurality of unit processing parts while supporting it in a cantilevered state in a substantially horizontal state. A drive for moving the substrate mounting means between a substrate mounting means on which a substrate is mounted, a first position advanced in the unit processing section direction, and a second position retracted from the unit processing section. Means, and a rotating means for rotating the substrate mounting means around a supporting portion that supports the substrate in a cantilevered manner,
When the substrate is placed on the substrate placing means by the rotating means, the substrate placing means is placed in a direction opposite to the bending direction of the substrate placing means according to the amount of bending of the substrate placing means accompanying the substrate placing. The means is configured to rotate around the support portion.

In this specification, "unit processing unit"
Means a unit unit for processing a substrate, such as a cleaning processing unit, a heat treatment unit, or a resist coating unit.

[0012]

According to the present invention, when a substrate is placed on the substrate placing means, the rotating means moves in a direction opposite to the bending direction of the substrate placing means according to the amount of bending of the substrate placing means accompanying the substrate placing. The substrate mounting means is rotated. Therefore, the flexure is corrected, and the substrate placed on the substrate placing means is maintained in a substantially horizontal state.

[0013]

【Example】

 A. Structure of substrate processing apparatus having substrate transfer device

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an example of a substrate processing apparatus in which an embodiment of the substrate transfer apparatus according to the present invention is incorporated, and FIG. 2 is a plan layout view of FIG. 1 seen from above. . The substrate processing apparatus 1 is an apparatus for performing a series of processing on a substrate.

In FIG. 1 and the following drawings, the horizontal plane parallel to the floor is the XY plane, and the vertical direction is Z.
A three-dimensional rectangular coordinate system X-Y-Z is defined as a direction. Further, when the (+ X) direction and the (−X) direction are not distinguished, they are simply referred to as “X direction” (the same applies to Y and Z).

The apparatus 1 is provided with a processing unit section A1 for performing a series of processing on a substrate, and a substrate transfer apparatus 100 according to the embodiment is provided in a transfer section A2, and X is provided along the processing unit section A1. It is configured to convey the substrate in the direction (see FIG. 2).

The processing unit section A1 is divided into two stages, upper and lower, and arranged in parallel (FIG. 1). The lower section C1 is composed of an ultraviolet irradiation section 30 composed of an ultraviolet irradiation unit UV and two spin scrubbers SS1 and SS2. While the cleaning processing unit 40 is arranged in the X direction, the heating processing unit 5 is provided in the upper stage C2.
0, one adhesion strengthening unit AP1, which constitutes the adhesion strengthening processing unit 70, the cooling processing units 60 and 80, and the other adhesion strengthening unit AP2 are arranged in the X direction. In the heat treatment unit 50, two hot plates HP1,
HP2 is stacked. Further, two cool plates CP1 and CP2 are laminated and arranged, and the upper cool plate CP1 functions as the first cooling processing unit 60, while the lower cool plate CP2 is the second cooling processing unit 8
Functions as 0.

A substrate loading / unloading processing unit 90 for loading and unloading substrates is provided at a side end portion (left-hand side in FIG. 2) of the transportation unit A2, and has a configuration described in detail below. According to 100, the substrate is processed by each processing unit 30, 40, 5
It is sequentially transported to 0, 60, 70, 80 and is subjected to a series of processing.

B. Substrate transfer device configuration

Next, the structure and operation of the substrate transfer apparatus 100 will be described. The substrate transfer apparatus 100 includes two moving mechanisms 101 and 102, hands 150a and 150b on which a substrate is placed, and these hands 150.
An opening / closing mechanism 160 for opening and closing a and 150b in the vertical direction,
A rotating mechanism 170 that rotates the hands 150a and 150b in conjunction with the opening and closing operations of the hands 150a and 150b is provided.

B-1. Moving mechanism and hand

FIG. 3 is a side view of the structure seen from the I-I position in FIG. 1 in the (-X) direction. As shown in the figure, a frame 200 extending in the X direction is provided on the front surface side of the processing unit portion A1, that is, on the (−Y) side. Two parallel guide rails (conveyance paths) 201 and 202 extending in the X direction are fixed to the frame 200 at intervals in the Z direction. A moving mechanism 101 is attached to the upper guide rail 201, and the moving mechanism 101 can be translated in the X direction while being guided by the guide rail 201 (in FIG. 1, the moving mechanism 101 and the frame 200 are connected to each other. The relationship is not shown). A moving mechanism 102 is attached to the lower guide rail 202, and the moving mechanism 102 can be translated in the X direction while being guided by the guide rail 202. In this substrate transfer apparatus 100, the two moving mechanisms 101, 10
Although the two are provided, the basic configurations thereof are the same, and hence the moving mechanism 101 will be mainly described below.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of the moving mechanism. As shown in the figure, of the guide rails 201 and 202 fixed to the frame 200, the upper guide rail 201
A first moving mechanism 101 is attached to the. The moving mechanism 101 has an X moving mechanism 110 for translating the entire moving mechanism 101 in the horizontal X direction, and a horizontal arm mechanism 140 (see FIG. 5) for moving in the horizontal Y direction.

A vertical arm mechanism 120a that bends and extends in the vertical Z direction is connected to the X moving mechanism 110, and a housing 131 is supported by the vertical arm mechanism 120a. The housing 131 is a hollow box (see FIG. 5) that is open at both ends in the Y direction, and has a set of horizontal arm mechanisms 1 that can bend and extend in the horizontal Y direction inside.
40 are accommodated. Then, hands 150a and 150b are connected to the tip thereof in upper and lower two stages as a substrate mounting means.

Further, the X moving mechanism 110 includes the guide rail 2
01 is arranged so as to sandwich 01 from above and below,
It has 112. The drive wheel 113 is connected to the motor 114 supported by the support member 115. By rotating the drive wheel 113 by the motor 114, the X moving mechanism 110 (and hence the moving mechanism 10) is driven.
(1 whole) is translated in the X direction while being guided by the guide rail 201.

A motor 116 is fixed to the lower part of the support member 115. The vertical arm mechanism 120a is provided with two arms 121a and 122a having substantially the same length, and an end portion of the first arm 121a among them is connected to the motor 116. In addition, the end portion 1 of the second arm 122a
32a is connected to the housing 131.

The vertical arm mechanism 120a is a so-called SCARA robot mechanism. Therefore, when the motor 116 rotates, the arms 121a and 122b rotate as indicated by arrows θ1 and θ2, respectively, and the housing 1
31 translates in the Z direction while maintaining its posture (arrow E1). By switching the rotation direction of the motor 116, the direction of translation of the housing 131 in the Z direction is reversed from the (+ Z) direction to the (-Z) direction or from the (-Z) direction to the (+ Z) direction.

Although not shown, another vertical arm mechanism having the same structure as the vertical arm mechanism 120a is provided on the opposite side of the housing 131 and is vertically connected by a connecting member (not shown) extending in the horizontal X direction. Arm mechanism 12
It is connected to 0a. Therefore, the driving force of the motor 116 is also transmitted to the vertical arm mechanism on the opposite side via the connecting member, and the housing 131 is displaced in the Z direction without changing its posture while being supported at both ends.

Although the moving mechanism 102 is also shown in FIG. 4, the structure of the moving mechanism 102 is substantially the same. The X movement mechanism and the vertical arm mechanism are vertically symmetrical in the first and second movement mechanisms 101 and 102, but the housings 131 and 132 and the internal configuration (described later) are the same in both directions. Is.

FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view of the moving mechanism 101. Further, FIG. 6 is a plan view when FIG. 5 is viewed from the (−Z) direction. Further, FIG. 7 is a front view of FIG. 5 viewed from the (+ Y) direction. As shown in these figures, a pair of horizontal arm mechanisms 140 is provided in the housing 131. The horizontal arm mechanism 140 includes two arms 141 and 142 having substantially the same length, and the first arm 141 has the motor 13 at the connecting position 143.
It is connected to 3a. Further, the tip of the second arm 142 is connected to the hand 15 via the hand interval drive unit 160.
0a and 150b.

The horizontal arm mechanism 140 is also constructed as a SCARA robot mechanism. When the motor 133a is rotated, the arms 141 and 142 pivot in the directions of arrows α1 and α2, respectively, and the hands 150a and 150b maintain their postures. While translating, it translates in the Y direction (arrow E2).

Therefore, when the hands 150a and 150b are translated in the (+ Y) direction by driving the motor 133a, the hands 150a and 150b are moved to the housing 131.
It is exposed to the outside and reaches the inside of the unit processing unit. Also,
When translated in the (-Y) direction, the hands 150a and 150b are housed in the housing 131.

B-2. Opening and closing mechanism

Through the opening / closing mechanism 160, the hand 15
0a and 150b are connected to the tip of the arm 142. FIG. 8 is a plan sectional view of the opening / closing mechanism 160 seen from above. The opening / closing mechanism 160 has a main body 161.
A hole 168 provided in the main body 161 is connected to the tip of the arm 142. (+ Y) on the body 161
Two rails 163a are vertically provided on the direction side, and sliding blocks 162a are provided on these rails 163a.
Is slidably attached. Similarly, for the (−Y) direction side, two rails 16 are attached to the main body 161.
3b are provided vertically and their rails 16
A sliding block 162b is slidably attached to 3b.

Hands 150a and 150b are fixedly attached to the sliding blocks 162a and 162b, respectively. The main body 161 is provided with an air cylinder 166 that rotates in both directions by the air pressure that is pumped. The air cylinder 166 has two circular eccentric cams 1.
Drive shaft 16 to which 65a and 165b are fixedly attached
4 is rotationally driven.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the opening / closing mechanism 160 viewed in the (+ Y) direction. The figure is drawn with the body 161 removed. The sliding blocks 162a, 162b are provided with guides 167a, 167b having a pair of horizontal upper and lower inner side surfaces on which the eccentric cams 165a, 165b can slide. The pair of eccentric cams 165a and 165b are
They are eccentric in opposite directions with the drive shaft 164 interposed therebetween. As the drive shaft 164 rotates, the eccentric cam 165
a and 165b push up one of the sliding blocks 162a and 162b and push down the other. That is, the air cylinder 1
By the operation of 66, the sliding blocks 162a, 1a
The hands 150a and 150b fixed to 62b open and close in the vertical direction (Z direction).

B-3. Rotation mechanism

This rotating mechanism 170 is composed of the hands 150a, 1
Depending on the opening / closing operation of 50b, the hands 150a, 150b
Is a mechanism for rotating. In the rotating mechanism 170, the sliding blocks 162a and 162b and the rails 163a and 1
63b and 63b are finished in a curved shape as shown in FIG. 10 and FIG.
Sliding block 16 along with opening / closing operation of a and 150b
2a and 162b slide on the rails 163a and 163b, respectively, and as a result, the hands 150a and 150b rotate around the opening / closing mechanism 160 that cantileverly supports the hands 150a and 150b as follows.

In this embodiment, the hands 150a, 150
When b moves upward and downward respectively to be in the open state (FIG. 10), the tip of the hand 150a is tilted upward by the angle θ, while in the closed state (FIG. 11).
In addition, the bending degree of the sliding block 162a and the rail 163a is adjusted so that the hand 150a is in a substantially horizontal state. On the contrary, with respect to the sliding block 162b and the rail 163b, in the open state (FIG. 10),
The degree of curvature of the sliding block 162b and the rail 163b is adjusted so that the hand 150b is in a substantially horizontal state while the tip of the hand 150b is tilted upward by an angle θ in the closed state (FIG. 11). .

As described above, in this embodiment, the rotating mechanism 1
By providing 70, the hands 150a and 150b are inclined in a direction opposite to the bending direction (downward direction) associated with the substrate placement.

C. Operation of substrate transfer device

12 to 16 show a substrate transfer device 10.
9 is a schematic diagram showing how to replace the substrate to be processed 10 with a unit processing unit 300 such as a hot plate HP using 0. FIG. The unit processing unit 300 is provided with shelves (substrate holding members) 310 a and 310 b having a two-tier structure for transferring the substrate 10 to be processed to and from the substrate transfer apparatus 100. As will be described later, the shelves 310a and 310b are provided with a structure capable of delivering the target substrate 10 to and from a predetermined position where the target substrate 10 should be installed when performing the process. A pair of hands 150 included in the substrate transfer apparatus 100
The distance between a and 150b can be adjusted narrower or wider than the distance between the pair of shelves 310a and 310b by operating the air cylinder 166.

As shown in FIG. 12, the processed substrate 10a which has been processed by the unit processing section 300 is placed on, for example, the upper shelf 310a. The unprocessed substrate 10b to be newly processed is processed by the substrate transfer apparatus 1 by another unit processing unit that performs a process one step before the unit processing unit 300, for example.
00 is supplied to the lower hand 150b. At this time, the hands 150a and 150b are in the closed state, and the upper hand 150a is kept in the horizontal state as described above. On the other hand, although the lower hand 150b is rotated so as to be tilted upward at the angle θ, the force in the direction (downward) that causes the hand 150b to bend due to the weight of the substrate 10b acts, resulting in Both are canceled and the hand 150b is also kept in a substantially horizontal state. That is, the flexure caused by the substrate 10b is corrected by the turning motion of the hand by the turning mechanism 170.

Then, the unprocessed substrate 10b is attached to the lower hand 1
The substrate transfer apparatus 100 placed on the hand 50b has a hand 150
While the a and 150b are housed in the housing 131 and the spaces between the hands 150a and 150b are closed, the a and 150b move in the X and Z directions, and stand still in front of the unit processing unit 300. At this time, the hands 150a and 150b
Is located in the middle of the heights of the shelves 310a and 310b.

Next, the horizontal arm mechanism 140 is extended in the (+ Y) direction, and the hands 150a and 150b are inserted into the unit processing section 300. Hands 150a, 150b
However, when it reaches a position sandwiched between the shelves 310a and 310b, the arm 142 stops the extension. At this time, the upper hand 150a is below the processed substrate 10a,
The shelf 310b is below the unprocessed substrate 10b (FIG. 1).
3).

Subsequently, the opening / closing mechanism 160 is operated,
The opening operation of the hands 150a and 150b is started. Then, in conjunction with the operation, the rotating mechanism 170 causes the hand 150a to tilt, and as shown in FIG.
The leading end of 0a contacts the back surface of the substrate 10a. The hand 150b is kept in a substantially horizontal state because the substrate 10b is mounted on the hand 150b.

Then, the hands 150a and 150b are attached to the shelf 3
The distance between the hands 150a and 150b is expanded until the positions where the 10a and 310b are sandwiched from above and below are reached (see FIG. 1).
5), the processed substrate 10a is placed on the hand 150a, while the unprocessed substrate 10b is moved from the lower hand 150b to the shelf 310b. This state, that is, the hand 150
When a and 150b are in the open state, the hand 150a is rotated so as to tilt upward at an angle θ.
The deflection due to the weight of 0a is canceled and the hand 15
0a is kept almost horizontal. Meanwhile, the hand 150
About b, it is kept horizontal as described above.

Next, the horizontal arm mechanism 140 is moved to (-Y).
Then, the hands 150a and 150b are retracted in the direction to be housed in the housing 131 (FIG. 16). After that, the substrate transfer apparatus 100 appropriately moves in the X direction and the Z direction, and transfers the processed substrate 10a to another unit processing unit that performs a process after one step, for example.

As described above, in this embodiment, the rotating mechanism 170 appropriately rotates the hands 150a and 150b in the direction opposite to the bending direction, thereby canceling the bending of the hand associated with the placement of the substrate, and thus the substrate Is held in a substantially horizontal state, there is no need to increase the thickness of the hand or to use a material having a large transverse elastic coefficient. Further, it is not necessary to increase the number of supporting points of the substrate by the hand or use a means for holding the entire back surface of the substrate. Therefore, the cost can be reduced, the size can be reduced, and the substrate can be transported between the unit processing units in a substantially horizontal state.

Since the apparatus can be downsized, the force due to the conveyance acceleration can be reduced and the driving force can be reduced.

Further, since the hands 150a and 150b can be made light and thin, the absolute value of the bending amount becomes larger than in the conventional case. Therefore, this can be utilized to sense the presence or absence of the substrate. That is, it is possible to detect the amount of bending of the hand at an appropriate position and determine that the substrate is placed on the hand when the bending is equal to or more than a certain value.

In the above embodiment, the opening / closing mechanism 160 is used to form the rotating mechanism 170 for rotating the hands 150a and 150b, but the structure of the rotating mechanism is not limited to this. , For example, the contact member is arranged in the opening / closing operation path of the hand, and a part of the hand contacts the contact member,
When further moving, the tip portion of the hand may be configured to rotate about the contact portion as a fulcrum. Further, a rotation driving means such as a motor or an actuator may be attached to the hand.

In the above embodiment, the hands 150a,
By rotating 150b, the hands 150a, 1
Although the bending of the horizontal arm mechanism 140 is corrected, if the bending of the horizontal arm mechanism 140 is also a problem, a rotating mechanism is attached to the horizontal arm mechanism 140 to rotate the horizontal arm mechanism 140 and the hands 150a and 150b as a unit. It may be moved to correct the bending.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention, the rotating means for rotating the substrate placing means is provided, and when the substrate is placed on the substrate placing means by the rotating means, the substrate is placed. Since the substrate placing means is rotated in a direction opposite to the bending direction in accordance with the amount of bending of the substrate placing means associated with the placement, the cost is low and the size of the substrate is small. It can be transported between the unit processing units in a horizontal state.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an example of a substrate processing apparatus in which a substrate transfer apparatus according to the present invention is incorporated.

FIG. 2 is a plan layout view of FIG. 1 seen from above.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the structure seen from the position I-I in FIG. 1 in the (−X) direction.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of the moving mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view of a moving mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of FIG. 5 seen from above.

FIG. 7 is a front view of FIG. 5 viewed from the (+ Y) direction.

FIG. 8 is a plan sectional view of the opening / closing mechanism as viewed from above.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the opening / closing mechanism as viewed in the (+ Y) direction.

10 is a view (opened state) viewed from line XX in FIG.

11 is a view (closed state) viewed from line XX of FIG. 8. FIG.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing a substrate exchange operation between the substrate transfer device and the unit processing section.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a substrate exchange operation between the substrate transfer device and the unit processing section.

FIG. 14 is a schematic view showing a substrate exchange operation between the substrate transfer device and the unit processing section.

FIG. 15 is a schematic view showing a substrate exchange operation between the substrate transfer device and the unit processing section.

FIG. 16 is a schematic view showing a substrate exchange operation between the substrate transfer device and the unit processing section.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 substrate transfer device 101, 102 moving mechanism 150a, 150b hand (substrate mounting means) 170 turning mechanism

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A substrate transfer device that transfers a substrate between a plurality of unit processing units while supporting the substrate in a cantilevered state in a substantially horizontal state, the substrate mounting unit mounting the substrate, and the unit processing unit. Driving means for moving the substrate mounting means between a first position that has advanced in the direction of the section and a second position that has retracted from the unit processing section, and the drive section around the support section that cantilevers the substrate. Rotating means for rotating the substrate placing means, wherein the rotating means, when placing the substrate on the substrate placing means, responds to a bending amount of the substrate placing means accompanying the substrate placing. Then, the substrate transfer device is characterized in that the substrate mounting means is rotated around the support portion in a direction opposite to the bending direction.