JPH0897274A - Substrate transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To make it possible to set arbitrarily a substrate transfer position outside of a substrate transfer device and to provide the miniaturized substrate transfer device. CONSTITUTION: A substrate transfer device is constituted of a group 32 of substrate support pins, which consist of three support pins 31 and support a substrate W by the points 31a of the pins 31, a heat-treat-plate 33, which has through holes 33a to make each support pin 31 penetrate and supports the substrate W in a horizontal attitude, and a plurality of air cylinders 34 which vertically move the group 32. The group 32 are vertically moved by the air cylinders 34 in a direction Q, in which a prescribed acute angle α is made to the vertical direction, toward a substrate transfer position for delivering the substrate to a second transfer mechanism 23, whereby the transfer of the substrate W takes place between the mechanism 23 and the plate 33.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate transfer device for receiving and transferring various substrates such as semiconductor wafers and glass substrates for liquid crystal displays to and from various processing devices and transfer devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The process of manufacturing a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer is divided into a plurality of processing steps such as photoresist coating and heat treatment, and the substrate is transferred between a device for carrying out the processing of each step and a transfer device. Done. As a conventional substrate transfer mechanism, for example, one provided in the heat treatment apparatus described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-59132 is known.

In this apparatus, as shown in FIG. 7, a heat treatment plate 100 on which a carried-in substrate W is placed and subjected to heat treatment.
And the heat treatment plate 100 through the heat treatment plate 100.
Substrate support pins 101 protruding and retracting from the upper surface of the substrate 00. The substrate transfer device 102 for loading / unloading the substrate W into / from this heat treatment apparatus is provided with a substrate support arm 102a that can move back and forth. At the time of carrying in the substrate, the substrate supporting arm 102a supporting the substrate W advances onto the heat treatment plate 100, and then the supporting pin 101 rises to transfer the substrate W onto the supporting pin 101, and then the supporting pin 101. 1
When 01 is lowered, the substrate W is placed on the heat treatment plate 100. When the substrate is unloaded, the support pin 101
Rises to lift the processed substrate W, and subsequently the substrate support arm 102a advances below the substrate W,
After that, the substrate W is transferred onto the substrate support arm 102a by lowering the support pin 101, and the substrate W is carried out by retracting the substrate support arm 102a.
In addition, 103 is a box-shaped cover, 104 is a substrate inlet / outlet for loading / unloading the substrate W formed on the cover 103, 105
Is a shutter that opens and closes the substrate supply / discharge port 104, and 106 is a drive mechanism that drives the shutter 105.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned substrate transfer mechanism, since the substrate support pins 101 are moved up and down in the vertical direction, the substrate W is transferred between the substrate support pins 101 and the mating substrate transfer device 102. The transfer position is inevitably specified right above the heat treatment plate 100, and the position for transferring the substrate cannot be freely set. Further, the substrate support arm 102a of the substrate transfer device 102 on the other side must transfer the substrate W right above the heat treatment plate 100, but this type of device is used for water supply / drainage / supply / exhaust equipment in a clean room in which it is installed. Due to circumstances and the like, the place where the device is installed may be restricted.
It is difficult to adjust the positions of the substrate transfer device 1 and the substrate transfer device 102 on the other side, which is troublesome. Furthermore, unless the board transfer stroke S ′ of the board transfer apparatus 102 on the other side is large to a certain extent, it becomes a restriction on the apparatus design that the apparatuses cannot be connected to each other, leading to an increase in the size of the apparatus. The transport stroke here means the distance from the front end of the substrate transport device on the side of the heat treatment device to the front end of the substrate support arm at the substrate transfer position.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate transfer device capable of arbitrarily setting a substrate transfer position with the outside of the device and downsizing the device. To aim.

[0006]

The present invention has the following constitution in order to achieve such an object. That is, the substrate transfer device according to claim 1 is composed of at least three support pins, and the first substrate support means for supporting the substrate in a horizontal posture and the first substrate support means are inserted through the tips thereof. A second substrate supporting means for supporting the substrate in a horizontal posture, and a first substrate supporting means for moving the first substrate supporting means and the second substrate supporting means relative to each other and raised. In a substrate transfer device for transferring a substrate between the substrate supporting unit or the second substrate supporting unit and the outside of the apparatus, the first substrate supporting unit and the second substrate supporting unit are located at different positions in plan view. A moving means for moving up and down relatively is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the apparatus according to the first aspect.
In the apparatus described in (1), the moving means is composed of an oblique direction moving mechanism for moving up and down the first substrate supporting means and the second substrate supporting means relative to each other in a direction forming a predetermined acute angle with respect to the vertical direction. It is something.

The apparatus according to claim 3 is the device according to claim 1.
In the apparatus described in (1), the moving means includes a vertical movement mechanism that vertically moves the first substrate supporting means and the second substrate supporting means relative to each other, the first substrate supporting means and the first substrate supporting means. The second substrate support means and the horizontal movement mechanism for relatively moving the substrate support means in the horizontal direction.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the apparatus according to the second aspect.
The apparatus described in (1) above is provided with a rotating mechanism for rotating the diagonal moving mechanism around a vertical axis.

[0010]

The operation of the present invention is as follows. That is,
According to the invention of claim 1, the moving means relatively moves up and down the first substrate supporting means and the second substrate supporting means to different positions in a plan view, thereby at least three of the first substrate supporting means. Support pins are moved up and down through the insertion space of the second substrate support means, or the second substrate support means is moved up and down so that at least three support pins of the first substrate support means pass through the insertion space. As a result, the position where the substrate is supported by the first substrate supporting means and the position where the substrate is supported by the second substrate supporting means are different in a plan view state.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the first substrate supporting means and the second substrate supporting means are relatively moved up and down by the diagonal moving mechanism in a direction forming a predetermined acute angle with respect to the vertical direction. As a result, the positions at which the substrate is supported by the first substrate supporting means and the second substrate supporting means become different in a plan view.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the vertical moving mechanism vertically moves the first substrate supporting means and the second substrate supporting means relative to each other, and the horizontal moving mechanism causes the first substrate supporting means and the second substrate supporting means to move vertically. By relatively moving the substrate supporting unit and the second substrate supporting unit in the horizontal direction, the positions at which the substrate is supported by the first substrate supporting unit and the second substrate supporting unit are different in the plan view state. It becomes a thing.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the rotating mechanism rotates the obliquely moving mechanism about the vertical axis, and the first substrate supporting means and the second substrate supporting means are vertically oriented in an arbitrary direction. Relative elevation is performed in a direction forming a predetermined acute angle with respect to the direction. As a result, the position at which the substrate is supported by the first substrate supporting unit and the second substrate supporting unit is set to an arbitrary position that differs in a plan view.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. <First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a substrate transfer apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention is used. This apparatus is an apparatus for performing various processes such as resist coating on a semiconductor substrate (hereinafter, simply referred to as “substrate”) W such as a silicon wafer, and is roughly classified into an unprocessed substrate W and a processed substrate. It is composed of a portion (hereinafter, referred to as an indexer) 1 for storing W and a substrate processing unit 2 for processing the substrate W.

The indexer 1 includes a plurality of cassettes C mounted in a line on a fixed base 11, and a first transfer mechanism for transferring a substrate W between the cassettes C and the transfer position P _X. 12 and 12 are arranged. The substrates W can be stored in each cassette C in multiple stages.

The substrate processing unit 2 includes a spinner unit 2
1a, 21b and heat treatment units 22a, 22b, 22
c is deployed. In addition, the substrate W transferred by the first transfer mechanism 12 is received at the transfer position P _X ,
A second transport mechanism 23 that transports the substrate W in a predetermined order is provided in each unit.

Next, the substrate transfer device 30 provided in the heat treatment unit 22a will be described with reference to FIG. Figure 2
FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a substrate transfer device 30 and a second transfer mechanism 23.

The heat treatment unit 22a includes a box-shaped cover 2
5, the substrate transfer device 30 is provided, and the second transfer mechanism 23 is provided.
The substrate W transferred by is received by the substrate transfer device 30 and subjected to a predetermined heat treatment. A substrate supply / discharge port 25b for loading / unloading the substrate W and a shutter 26 for opening / closing the substrate supply / discharge port 25b are provided on a side surface 25a of the cover 25 facing the second transport mechanism 23. A gas supply device (not shown) is connected to the heat treatment unit 22a so that a predetermined gas atmosphere space is formed inside the cover 25. The shutter 26 has a double structure as shown in FIG. 2, and is driven up and down by a drive mechanism 27.

The substrate transfer device 30 is composed of three support pins 31, and a substrate support pin group 32 for supporting the substrate W at the tips 31a of the respective support pins 31 and an insertion space into which the respective support pins 31 are inserted. The heat treatment plate 33 has an insertion hole 33a and supports the substrate W in a horizontal posture, and a plurality of air cylinders 34 that move the substrate support pin group 32 up and down. However, in FIG. 2, for convenience of drawing,
Illustration of the support pin 31 located on the back side of the drawing is omitted.

The substrate support pin group 32 corresponds to the first substrate support means of the present invention, and as shown in FIG.
The support pins 31 are arranged parallel to each other in a state of being inclined in a direction Q forming a predetermined acute angle α with respect to the vertical direction so that a is directed to a substrate transfer position with the second transport mechanism 23. The heat treatment plate 33 corresponds to the second substrate supporting means of the present invention, has a built-in heater as a heating source (not shown), and heats the substrate W supported on its upper surface in, for example, a predetermined gas atmosphere. is there. The air cylinder 34 corresponds to the moving means of the present invention, and moves the substrate support pin group 32 up and down along the inclination direction Q thereof in synchronization with each other.

With the above structure, when the substrate W transported by the second transport mechanism 23 is received, the shutter 26 is first lowered to open the substrate supply / discharge port 25b. In this state, the substrate W supported by the arm 24 of the second transfer mechanism 23
However, it is carried to the delivery position P _Z in the cover 25 via the substrate supply / discharge port 25b. Next, the air cylinder 34 is driven to extend, and the substrate support pin group 32 projects above the heat treatment plate 33 along the inclination direction Q thereof,
The substrate W supported by the arm 24 is transferred to the substrate support pin group 32. The substrate support pin group 32 has a substrate W at its tip.
Support in a horizontal position. Then, the arm 24 is retracted, the shutter 26 is raised to close the substrate supply / discharge port 25b, and the air cylinder 34 is contracted and driven, whereby the substrate support pin group 32 is retracted below the upper surface of the heat treatment plate 33, and the substrate is discharged. The substrate W supported by the support pin group 32 is transferred to the upper surface of the heat treatment plate 33. The heat treatment plate 33 supports the substrate W in a horizontal posture, and the heat source of the substrate W is driven to heat the substrate W.

When the heat treatment of the substrate W is completed in a predetermined gas atmosphere, the substrate support pin group 3 is reversed in the reverse order of the above.
By raising 2 along the inclination direction Q, the substrate W is received at the tip 31a and raised to the raising position P _Y. Then, the shutter 26 is lowered to open the substrate supply / discharge port 25b, and the arm 24 is advanced below the substrate W at the elevated position P _Y. Then, the substrate support pin group 32
The substrate W is transferred onto the arm 24 by lowering, and the cover 25 is moved by retracting the arm 24.
The substrate W is unloaded from the inside.

As described above, the substrate support pin group 32 is the second group.
The substrate W is transferred between the second transfer mechanism 23 and the second transfer mechanism 23 at a position that is obliquely raised upward toward the substrate transfer position with the transfer mechanism 23 side, that is, a position near the shutter 26. The substrate transport stroke S of the mechanism 23 can be shortened, and accordingly, the dimension of the second transport mechanism 23 in the stroke direction and the internal mechanism can be downsized. As a result, the entire semiconductor manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 can be downsized.

By appropriately setting the transfer position P _Z or the inclination angle α, the substrate transfer position can be arbitrarily set according to the transfer mechanism on the other side (the stroke length of the second transfer mechanism 23 in this embodiment). The position can be set and the positions of the substrate transfer device 30 and the second transfer mechanism 23 can be easily adjusted. For example, when the stroke of the arm 24 of the second transport mechanism 23 is short, the mounting position of the air cylinder 34 may be moved diagonally upward along the tilt direction Q, or the stroke of the air cylinder 34 may be increased. The substrate transfer between the arm 24 and the substrate support pin group 32 can be performed at the position of the second transfer mechanism. In this case, the height of the substrate transfer position also moves upward, but such a movement can be absorbed without trouble by raising and lowering the second transfer mechanism 23.

Further, if the substrate transfer stroke S of the second transfer mechanism 23 is a normal length, a space is created in the space L between the second transfer mechanism 23 and the substrate processing position. The shutter 26 can have a double structure, and the degree of sealing in the processing chamber can be further enhanced. Therefore, it is possible to reduce factors such as air flow that disturb the uniformity of the heat treatment within the substrate surface. Further, using the space L, an additional mechanism such as a sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the substrate W can be installed.

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view showing the structure of a substrate transfer apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The substrate transfer device 50 according to the second embodiment is an interface device for transferring a substrate W between the semiconductor manufacturing device shown by the solid line in FIG. 1 and another processing unit 60 such as an exposure device shown by the chain double-dashed line. It was used for 4.

As shown in FIG. 3, the substrate transfer apparatus 50 includes a second transfer mechanism 23 and a processing section 60 on the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus side.
The substrate W is positioned and transferred to and from the third transfer mechanism 61 on the side, and the second substrate support of the present invention is used instead of the substrate support pin group 32 and the heat treatment plate 33 of the first embodiment. It is composed of a pair of positioning plates 51 for positioning the substrate W, which corresponds to the means, an air cylinder 34, and a rotation mechanism 52 for rotating the substrate support pin group 32 together with the air cylinder 34 around the vertical axis P _O. . A plurality of positioning protrusions (not shown) having a predetermined height are provided side by side along a semicircle having the same radius of curvature as the arc of the outer shape of the substrate W on the upper surface of each of the pair of positioning plates 51 facing each other. There is. Further, the pair of positioning plates 51 are provided so as to be close to and away from each other by a drive source (not shown), and the pair of positioning plates 51 are provided so as to maintain an insertion space between which the substrate support pin group 32 can be raised and lowered. Since the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are the same as those in the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted here.

The rotating mechanism 52 corresponds to the rotating mechanism of the present invention, and is connected to the rotating plate 53 for connecting the air cylinders 34 to rotate about the vertical axis P _O, and is connected to the rotating plate 53 via the output shaft 54a. And a motor 54.

With the above structure, the substrate W supported by the second transfer mechanism 23 of the substrate processing section 2 is positioned by the positioning plate 5.
A case will be described in which the substrate W is transferred to the first substrate 1, the positioning process is performed, and then the positioned substrate W is transferred to the third transport mechanism 61 of the processing unit 60. In this case, the board support pin group 3
The rotating plate 53 is previously driven by the motor 54 so that the front end of 2 faces the second transport mechanism 23 side (shown by the solid line in FIG. 3). Then, after mounting the substrate W on the substrate support pin group 32, the substrate support pin group 32 is lowered in the direction shown by the arrow Q in FIG. 3, and the substrate W is mounted so as to straddle the upper surfaces of the pair of positioning plates 51. To do.
The pair of positioning plates 51 are driven by the drive source so as to approach each other when the substrate W is placed thereon, and the positioning convex portion performs the positioning process of the substrate W. Then, while the positioning process is performed in a state where the substrate support pin group 32 is lowered, the motor 54 is driven so that the tip of the substrate support pin group 32 faces the third transport mechanism 61 side. The rotating plate 53 rotates 180 degrees around the vertical axis P _O. Then, when the positioning is completed, the positioning plates 51 are separated from each other while supporting the substrate W, and in this state, the substrate support pin group 32 is raised in the tilt direction Q ′ to receive the substrate W, and the positioning process is completed. The substrate W is lifted up toward the substrate transfer position on the processing unit 60 side (shown by a chain double-dashed line in FIG. 3). The arm 62 of the third transfer mechanism 61 receives the lifted substrate W, carries it out from the substrate transfer device 50, and transfers it to the exposure location. The exposed substrate W is transferred from the third transfer mechanism 61 of the processing section 60 to the second transfer mechanism 23 of the substrate processing section 2 by the operation reverse to the above.

As described above, since the substrate support pin group 32 is rotated about the vertical axis P _O by the rotating mechanism 52 and moved up and down toward the second transfer mechanism 23 and the third transfer mechanism 61, the second transfer is performed. The substrate transfer stroke S of the mechanism 23 and the third transfer mechanism 61 can be shortened. The rotation, it is possible to arbitrarily set the substrate transport direction by rotating the substrate support pin group 32 to the vertical axis P _O around, for example, every 90 degrees in the vertical axis P _O around the substrate support pin group 32 By doing so, it is possible to provide the transfer mechanism in four directions and transfer the substrate W in each direction, which is more versatile.

Although the substrate transfer devices 30 and 50 are used for the heat treatment unit 22a and the interface device 4 in the first and second embodiments, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, FIG. The present invention can be applied to all of the heat treatment units 22b and 22c and the mechanism for transferring the substrate W such as the first transfer mechanism 12 as shown in FIG.

Further, in the above-mentioned first and second embodiments, the air cylinder 34 is provided for each of the three support pins 31, but the present invention is not limited to this, for example, shown in FIG. As described above, the three support pins 31 connected by the connecting member 70 may be moved up and down along the oblique direction Q by one air cylinder 34. Further, in the above-described first embodiment, the raising and lowering of the support pin 31 and the raising and lowering of the shutter 26 are performed by separate drive sources, but they may be configured so as to be combined and interlocked by a single drive source. In addition, as shown in FIG.
By bending a along the vertical direction and fitting a resin cap 71 or the like into the tip 31a, the substrate W
May be supported more stably.

Further, in the above-mentioned first and second embodiments, the substrate support pin group 32 is configured to be raised and lowered in the oblique direction Q, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, an air cylinder 72 for vertically moving the substrate support pin group 32 and a screw feed mechanism 73 for horizontally moving the air cylinder 72 are provided, and the substrate support pin group 32 is vertically moved. At the same time, it may be moved in the horizontal direction. In this case, the work such as setting and adjusting the delivery position can be performed separately for the horizontal position and the vertical position.
Good workability.

Further, in the above first and second embodiments, the substrate support pin group 32 is configured to be raised and lowered, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the substrate support pin group 32 is fixed. The heat treatment plate 33 and the positioning plate 51 can be moved up and down, and the plates 33 and 51 can be moved up and down along the oblique direction Q. Alternatively, the plates 33 and 51 can be moved up and down vertically and horizontally. You may make it move to a direction.

[0035]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the invention, the first substrate supporting means and the second substrate supporting means are relatively moved up and down to different positions in plan view by the moving means. Therefore, it is possible to arbitrarily set the substrate transfer position with the outside of the device, easily adjust the position between the devices, and realize a downsized substrate transfer device.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the first substrate supporting means and the second substrate supporting means are linearly moved along the direction forming a predetermined acute angle with the vertical direction by the diagonal moving mechanism. Since the substrate is moved up and down relatively, the substrate can be moved up and down to different positions in a plan view with a simple structure and quickly.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the first substrate supporting means and the second substrate supporting means are relatively moved in the horizontal direction by the horizontal moving mechanism as well as the relative elevation by the vertical moving mechanism. The substrate transfer position with the outside of the device can be adjusted more easily.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the rotating mechanism causes the oblique moving mechanism to rotate about the vertical axis, and the first substrate supporting means and the second substrate supporting means move up and down relatively. A substrate transfer position with the outside can be set in an arbitrary direction around the vertical axis, and a substrate transfer device having more versatility can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a substrate transfer apparatus according to a first embodiment is used.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate transfer device.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate transfer device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the main parts of another embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the main parts of another embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the main parts of another embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Substrate processing section 22a ... Heat treatment unit 23 ... Second transfer mechanism 30 ... Substrate transfer device 32 ... Substrate support pin group (first substrate support means) 33 ... Heat treatment plate (second substrate support means) 34 ... Air cylinder (Moving means, diagonal moving mechanism) 52 ... Rotating mechanism 72 ... Air cylinder (vertical moving mechanism) 73 ... Screw feeding mechanism (horizontal moving mechanism) W ... Substrate

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first substrate supporting means, which comprises at least three supporting pins, supports a substrate in a horizontal posture at its tip, and an insertion space into which the first substrate supporting means is inserted,
The second substrate support means for supporting the substrate in a horizontal posture, and the first substrate support means or the second substrate support means in which the first substrate support means and the second substrate support means are relatively moved up and down and raised. In the substrate transfer device for transferring the substrate between the substrate support means and the outside of the apparatus, a moving means for relatively moving up and down the first substrate support means and the second substrate support means to different positions in a plan view. A substrate transfer device characterized by being provided. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving unit relatively moves the first substrate supporting unit and the second substrate supporting unit up and down in a direction forming a predetermined acute angle with respect to a vertical direction. A substrate transfer device composed of a diagonal movement mechanism. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the moving unit moves the first substrate supporting unit and the second substrate supporting unit relative to each other in a vertical direction, and a vertical moving mechanism. A substrate transfer device comprising a first substrate support means and a horizontal movement mechanism for relatively moving the second substrate support means in the horizontal direction. 4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the substrate transfer apparatus includes a rotation mechanism that rotates the diagonal movement mechanism about a vertical axis.