JPH09199568A - Substrate processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a control program for substrate processing control from being affected when the constitution of a substrate processing equipment is changed, by installing an intermediate program part which makes a virtual channel correspond to unit discrimination information of a processing unit, in the control part of each processing unit. SOLUTION: A communication control means 16 communicating substrate information to a control part 1 of other processing unit, and a data storage means 14 which stores received substrate information by making it correspond to each unit discrimination information are installed in the control part 1 of each processing unit. A control program part 11 storing a control program which assigns a virtual channel to a specified processing unit, performs reading and writing of substrate information from and to the data storage means 14 by using the channel and processes a substrate is installed. An intermediate program part 13 which makes the virtual channel correspond to an unit discrimination information and replaces the channel designated by the control program part 11 with the corresponding unit discrimination information is installed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plurality of processing units applied to a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display substrate or a semiconductor substrate, and a substrate processing apparatus capable of communicating substrate information among the processing units.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display substrate or a semiconductor substrate, processing units for performing various kinds of substrate processing are arranged, and a substrate transfer mechanism is used between them to sequentially process the substrates to each processing unit. A series of substrate processing is performed by handing it over. Therefore, each processing unit performs what kind of processing on the supplied substrate and specifies the processing unit to be delivered to the downstream side at any timing (especially when the downstream side is shunted or the upstream side is shunted). You have to)
Therefore, the board information is also transmitted.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram conceptually showing an example of a conventional substrate processing apparatus. In the figure, the processing unit U
Nos. 1 to U4 apply different treatments to the substrate, and the double-lined arrow indicates the flow of the substrate, that is, the physical distribution interface, and the solid line indicates the ring connection line of the constructed LAN. Each of the processing units U1 to U4 individually has a substrate processing control unit and a LAN communication control unit, and also transmits substrate information corresponding to the physical distribution of the substrate to the downstream side. FIG. 16 shows a register configuration showing the transmission destination of the substrate data. According to this, for example, the substrate information is transmitted from the processing unit U1 to the downstream processing unit U2 at the address 100 (the processing unit U1. Since there is no upstream side), the address 110 has the address 12 from the processing unit U2 to the upstream processing unit U1.
Similarly, in 0, the transmission destination of the substrate data is designated from the processing unit U2 to the processing unit U3 on the downstream side.

As described above, the conventional substrate processing apparatus is shown in FIG.
5, as shown in FIG. 16, the transmission destination of the board information is 1 to 1 (one processing unit on the upstream side and one processing unit on the downstream side) according to the communication protocol specifying the other party. LAN was built.

[0005]

In recent years, the use of substrates has become particularly diversified, and a plurality of parallel line processes (especially coater units) can be provided by providing a shunt (one-to-many) or a merge (many-to-one) as a substrate processing apparatus. However, it is necessary to manage parallel processing for many types of lots.
Proper board management is extremely difficult in board management that specifies the opponent of one-to-one. Therefore, it is desirable to construct a board information transmission system corresponding to the one-to-many or many-to-one board transfer. However, in the application of the conventional one-to-one physical distribution method, the whole structure of the board processing apparatus is If changes occur (eg adding or removing processing units, or changing the overall configuration itself), they can no longer be accommodated and therefore the required communication protocol must be redesigned each time. There is.

In view of such a situation, the present invention performs the processing on the substrate using the substrate information in relation to the virtual channel in the control unit in each processing unit, and identifies the channel and the processing unit. By providing an intermediate section that associates information with each other, even when changing the configuration of the substrate processing apparatus, it is possible to deal with it only by changing the correspondence in this intermediate section.
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus that does not affect a control program for substrate processing control.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a plurality of processing units for performing a series of processing on a substrate loaded from a substrate loading unit are arranged, and a control unit included in each processing unit is communicated. In the substrate processing apparatus connected by a line, the control unit, communication control means for communicating substrate information using the unit identification information with the control unit of another processing unit via the communication line, Data storage means for storing the received board information corresponding to each unit identification information, and a virtual channel is assigned to a predetermined processing unit, and the board information is read and written to the data storage means by using this channel. The control program section for storing the control program for performing the processing for the substrate by associating the virtual channel with the unit identification information is associated with the control program section. Replacing the specified channel in the corresponding unit identification information is obtained and an intermediate program section which causes the transfer of substrate information between the control program unit and a data storage means.

According to this structure, the substrates loaded from the substrate loading unit are sequentially transported to the processing unit, and
The processing units send and receive the substrate information to each other via the communication line and store the information in the data storage means, so that the processing on the substrate in each processing unit can be controlled. The processing on the substrate is controlled by the control program of the control program section, and this control program section allocates virtual channels to other processing units to create the control program. Then, the virtual channel and the processing unit are associated with each other by the unit identification information in the intermediate program section, whereby the control program section stores the substrate information of the necessary processing unit after the intermediate program section replaces it. Imported from or written to data storage means.

[0009]

1 and 2 are plan views showing an embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, the present substrate processing apparatus has a loader (substrate loading unit) 21 in the uppermost stream on the left side of the drawing, and a transport roller 2 on the downstream side thereof.
A one-line transport section 22 of 20 (see FIG. 3) is arranged for a required length, and a dewatering bake unit 24 including a cleaning unit 23 and an oven is provided on the way. At the downstream end of the transport unit 22, a sorting unit 25 that sorts the transported substrates is provided.
In this embodiment, two lines are arranged side by side. Each line has basically the same configuration, and a transport path 30, a standby unit 31, a coater unit 32, an end face cleaning unit 33, a prebake unit 34, a buffer unit 35 and a transport path 36 are arranged from the upstream side. The merging unit 50 is provided at the downstream end of the merging unit 50. It should be noted that the other line is provided with a transport path 40 to a transport path 46 from the upstream side, which has the same configuration as the above line. Also,
The parallel lines may have different configurations so that different substrates can be processed for each line, that is, substrates can be processed for different lots or substrates can be transported with different recipes.

Further, in FIG. 2, from the left side, an exposure unit 51, a developing unit 52, and a host bake unit 53.
And an unloader 54 is provided.

The structure and operation of the transfer section and the processing unit will be briefly described. The loader 21 has a base 211, and a cassette mounting section for mounting a predetermined number of cassettes C at a predetermined position is formed on the upper surface of the base 211. In addition, the substrate loading robot 212 is equipped. The cassette C has a box-shaped frame body having an open front surface, and a shelf using substrate support pieces is formed in a step shape inside both side surfaces thereof. Is stored in the state where it was placed. The substrate carry-in robot 212 is a so-called Zθ type robot having a rotation mechanism section and a lifting mechanism section, and has a U-shaped hand for mounting and supporting a substrate that can move forward and backward at the tip of the lifting mechanism section. (Not shown) is provided horizontally. Then, the height is adjusted by the elevating mechanism, and the hand is advanced and retracted at the height position to enter the cassette C to place the substrate, and further retracted to take out the substrate from the cassette C, and then the rotation is performed. The substrate on the hand is transferred by the mechanical unit 2
It is rotated to the 2 side and lowered onto the transport unit 22.

The cleaning unit 23 has a plurality of cleaning treatment tanks, and a large number of conveying rollers 220 can be rotatably driven toward the downstream side so as to penetrate through the side walls of the tanks at an intermediate height position. A nozzle (not shown) that discharges the cleaning liquid is arranged above the tank. More specifically, three tanks are arranged in parallel in the substrate transport direction, and a rinse liquid is processed in the upstream tank, and a liquid replacement treatment and a cleaning treatment by supplying pure water to the substrate surface are performed in the downstream tank. I have to. Further, in the cleaning unit 23, an air knife having a slit-shaped discharge port having a width dimension of the substrate for preventing carry-out of the cleaning liquid is provided near the outlet (downstream side wall) from the cleaning unit 23. Liquid is drained by blowing air onto the surface of the substrate being sent out.

The dewatering bake unit 24 is provided above the transport unit 22, and a hot plate is disposed so as to face the surface of the substrate being transported with the transport roller facing the downstream side, or a remote plate. The substrate, which has a configuration capable of irradiating infrared rays, is subjected to dehydration baking on the cleaned substrate.

As shown in the perspective view of FIG. 3, one embodiment of the sorting unit 25 is to lift the substrate B, which has been transported to the downstream end of the transport unit 22, from the gap between the transport rollers 220 and lift it. Lifting pin 25 of the number (4)
1. A chuck 25 having a detachable tip structure for gripping the lifted substrate B from both outer sides of the transport roller 220.
2. The chuck 252 holding the substrate B
The chuck drive unit 253 and the chuck 2 that allow the substrate to pass through the gap between the adjacent transport rollers 250 on the 0 side to the center and descend at that position to lower the substrate onto the transport rollers of the transport unit 30.
It is composed of a ball screw 254 that meshes with a female screw hole at the base of 52. Although not shown in the figure, the chuck 252 is provided with a rotation restricting member which also serves as a guide. Further, the lifting pins can also be moved up and down in synchronization by a pin driving unit (not shown). Then, the transport roller 25
Substrates placed on 0 are distributed control (eg alternating)
Is conveyed in the direction indicated by the arrow.

Like the transport path 22, the transport path 30 is formed by arranging a number of transport rollers, and a direction changing section 301 (see FIG. 1) is provided in the middle thereof. The direction changing unit 301 is provided with lifting pins, chucks, a chuck driving unit, a pin driving unit, and the like similar to the sorting unit 25, whereby the direction of the substrate is changed by 90 ° and the substrate is further transported to the downstream side. I am trying.

The standby unit 31 grips the substrate transferred from the transfer unit 30, a chuck 311 similar to the sorting unit 25, an elevating pin 312, and an operation of picking up the transferred substrate, and after gripping the substrate. The chuck 311 is composed of a chuck driving unit and a pin driving unit (not shown) that causes the chuck 311 to carry the operation of carrying the substrate onto the lifting pins 312.

The coater unit 32 is a spin coater, which is a spinner 32 that rotates at a high speed with a substrate placed thereon.
No. 0 has a nozzle (not shown) provided on the spinner 320 for dropping a required resist solution from above the mounting substrate to the center of the substrate, and substrate transfer robots 321 and 322 are provided on both sides of the spinner 320. The coater unit 32 forms a uniform thin film on the substrate surface by radially spreading the resist solution dropped on the substrate center by the centrifugal force generated when the spinner 320 rotates at high speed. Substrate transfer robots 321 and 322 have basically the same configuration, and an elevating mechanism unit (not shown), rotating mechanism units 321a and 322a, and rotating mechanism units 321a and 322.
It is composed of two parallel hands 321b and 322b which are provided at the tip of a and place the substrate thereon. Then, the substrate transfer robot 321 is connected to the standby unit 31.
The substrate standing by is placed on the spinner 320, and the substrate on the spinner 320 after the coater processing is carried out to the end surface cleaning unit 33 which is the next processing unit.

The end surface cleaning unit 33 cleans and removes the unnecessary thin film portion formed on the end surface of the substrate, and with respect to the four sides of the substrate mounted on the substrate supporting member 331 or a supporting pin (not shown). Each of them is provided with a long body which faces the substrate end face in parallel from above, and supplies the rinse liquid and the discharge air toward the lower oblique outer side to dissolve and remove the unnecessary thin film. A similar configuration may be adopted on the lower side as well in order to effectively remove the portion of the dissolved solution that wraps around the lower side of the substrate. Further, on the downstream side, a substrate transfer robot 332 for paying out the substrate after the end face processing to the pre-bake unit 34 is provided.

The pre-bake unit 34 is provided on the conveying roller and has a structure in which three hot plates 341 and one cool plate 342 are arranged from the upstream side, and the pre-bake unit 34 is provided on the surface of the substrate after the end surface treatment. The processing is performed. In addition, at the exit of the pre-bake unit 34, four lifting pins for supporting the substrate and a table 343 in which the bases of these lifting pins are rotatable are provided, so that the substrate can be rotated by 90 °. It is done like this.

The buffer unit 35 is provided between the pre-bake unit 34 and the exposure unit 52, and when the substrate loading sequence is different from the substrate loading sequence in the loader 21, the substrate unloading sequence is changed. This is for returning the order of loading and absorbing the difference in takt time between both processing units. This buffer unit 35
Has a gantry 350 having a substantially rectangular shape.
A substrate transfer robot 351 and two cassettes 352 and 353 having a buffer function are mounted on the top.
The substrate transfer robot 351 is a so-called RZθ type robot that reciprocates along the substrate transfer direction, ascends / descends, advances / retreats, and swivels, and includes a reciprocating drive unit, an elevating mechanism unit, an advancing / retreating mechanism unit, and a rotating mechanism unit. Two U-shaped hands 351 for mounting and supporting a substrate on the tip of the mechanism section
a is provided. The cassettes 352 and 353 have the same structure as the cassette C provided in the loader 21, and the front opening is directed toward the substrate transfer robot 351 so that the substrates can be fed and discharged. Then, the substrate transfer robot 351 receives the substrate from the upstream and stores it in the required shelves of the cassettes 352 and 353 while sequentially managing the shelving positions, while receiving the substrate payout request from the exposure unit 52. In accordance with the loading order of the loader 21, the substrates are taken out from the shelves in which the substrates are stored and delivered to the transfer section 36.

The carrying unit 36 has the same structure as the carrying unit 30 described above, and a direction changing unit 361 is provided in the middle thereof. The direction changing unit 361 is provided with lifting pins, chucks, a chuck driving unit, and a pin driving unit similar to the transport unit 30. By this, the direction of the substrate is changed by 90 °, and the merging unit 50 on the further downstream side is provided. I am going to carry it. The direction changing portions of the transport units 30 and 36 may be configured to include a downstream transport roller that can be retracted and retracted from a gap between the upstream transport rollers.
If such a configuration is adopted, the lifting pin chuck and the driving unit thereof are not required.

The merging unit 50 has the same structure as that of the above-mentioned sorting unit 25, and raises and lifts the required number of substrates which have been transported to the downstream end of the transport unit 36 by raising them from the gap between the transport rollers. The pin, the chuck for gripping the lifted substrate from both outsides of the transport roller, and the chuck in the state of gripping the substrate enter from the gap between the adjacent transport rollers on the transport unit 30 side to the center and descend at that position to lower the substrate. Is configured by a chuck drive unit and the like for lowering onto the transport roller of the transport unit merging unit 50.

The substrate discharged from the merging unit 50 is conveyed to the upstream substrate transfer section 511 of the exposure unit 51. The exposure unit 51 performs, for example, a pattern exposure transfer portion onto a resist film, edge exposure for additional exposure, and the like on the substrate. Further, on the downstream side of the exposure unit 51, a transport unit 512 including a transport roller that transports the substrate unloaded from the exposure unit 51 downstream is provided.

The developing unit 52 has a plurality of tanks filled with respective processing liquids for development, and the substrate received from the exposure unit 51 is sequentially immersed in the tanks to be transferred to be subjected to photosensitization. The developed substrate is subjected to development processing to form a desired pattern on the surface of the substrate.
Reference numeral 521 is a piping port for supplying a chemical solution for development processing into each tank.

The host bake unit 53 is provided on the carrying roller and has a configuration in which a required number of hot plates and cool plates are arranged from the upstream side, and the resist strengthening process is performed on the substrate after the developing process. .

The unloader 54 has a pedestal 540 having a substantially rectangular shape, and the substrate storage robot 5 is mounted on the pedestal 540.
41 and two cassettes 542 and 543 for storage are mounted. The substrate storage robot 541 is an RZθ robot that moves up and down, moves forward and backward, and is composed of a rotation mechanism unit, a lifting mechanism unit, and a forward and backward mechanism unit. A substrate is placed and supported on the tip of the forward and backward mechanism unit. A U-shaped hand is provided. Cassettes 542 and 543 are loader 2
Which has the same structure as the cassette C provided in 1.
The front opening is directed toward the substrate storage robot 541 so that the substrate can be stored.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining data communication in the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention, and is a diagram schematically showing processing units U1 to U6 for convenience of explanation. In addition,
The processing units U1 to U6 shown in FIG. 4 focus on the control unit that realizes the data communication function.

Each of the processing units U1 to U6 has a structure as shown in FIG. 5, which will be described later, and is connected to each other via an optical fiber cable, for example, in a ring shape, and enables data communication between the processing units. A LAN is constructed. In the example of data communication shown in FIG. 4, each of the processing units U1 to U6 has four channels CH on the upstream side (CH1 to CH4 for four upstream processing units).
4), it has a total of eight channels of four channels CH (CH5 to 8 for four downstream processing units) on the downstream side. That is, it is constructed so that data can be communicated with eight processing units. However, the processing unit U1 is a 4-channel CH for the downstream side, and the processing unit U6 is a 4-channel CH for the upstream side.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control unit of each processing unit shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 1 denotes a control unit, to which the substrate processing unit 2, the loading / unloading drive unit 3, and the setting unit 4 are connected.

The substrate processing unit 2 is a substrate processing mechanism unique to each processing unit. For example, if the main processing unit is the coater unit 32, it causes each drive unit to rotate the spinner 320 and drop the resist solution. Is. The carry-in / carry-out drive unit 3 is a drive unit corresponding to a mechanism for supplying / discharging and delivering a substrate between the processing units that are the front and rear processes, and is a substrate delivery robot 321, 322, such as the coater unit 32 or the end face processing unit 33 shown in FIG. 331, the lifting pins at each of the above-mentioned portions, and the chuck driving unit. The setting unit 4 internally includes a register unit 4a shown in FIG. 5, which will be described later, and sets a destination of data communication, that is, a processing unit (that is, a CPU number) that is a destination and a channel CH.
This is for associating with the number (parameter setting) and for specifying the CPU number of its own processing unit (parameter setting). The setting unit 4 may be provided with a keyboard (not shown) capable of inputting such data, or may be a plurality of DIP switches or the like simply representing a multi-bit code. It should be noted that, for example, only one setting unit 4 may be provided in the control room, each processing unit may be selectively designated here, and such an association operation may be executed for each processing unit. It is not necessary to provide the setting unit 4 for each processing unit.

The control unit 1 is written with a central control unit 10 (hereinafter referred to as a CPU) that controls the present processing unit as a whole, a control program for monitoring and confirming substrate information, and other substrate processing and transportation. A control program unit 11 including a ROM and the like, a CH data storage unit 12 including a RAM that stores each data of the channels CH1 to CH8,
An intermediate program unit 13 including a RAM that stores a program for associating a channel with a processing unit, and a RAM that stores data of each processing unit (that is, each CPU) in association with each area. The CPU data storage unit 14 is provided. In the example shown in FIG. 5, a maximum of 20 processing units (that is, CPUs 1-2)
The capacity of the CH area that can store the data of 0) is prepared. In addition, the control unit 1 is connected to the substrate processing mechanism unit of the present processing unit, the firmware unit 15 including a ROM in which a program for giving instructions according to the substrate feeding / discharging / delivery driving unit is written, and other processing units. An I / O interface 16 for transmitting and receiving data via an optical fiber cable, and an I / O interface for performing processing and exchanging drive instruction signals between the firmware unit 15 and the substrate processing unit 2 and the loading / unloading drive unit 3. An O port 17 is provided.

Here, the basic operation of the control unit 1 will be described. In this substrate processing apparatus, one of the processing units is set as a master before the apparatus is started, and the control unit of the processing unit that is determined to be the master causes the data transmission after the start. For each processing unit, and each processing unit sequentially sends the data of its own processing unit, that is, the substrate information in this embodiment, to the optical fiber cable in order based on this timing signal. .

The board information transmitted from another processing unit is received by the I / O interface 16 and written via the firmware section 15 in correspondence with each area of the CPU storage section 14. Therefore, each control unit 1 can take in the substrate information generated in all the processing units together with its own substrate information. Then, based on the loaded board information, the firmware section 15 instructs the board processing section 2 to perform the board processing unique to the board processing section 2 via the I / O port 17, and also instructs the loading / unloading section 3 to carry or transfer the board. To do.

On the other hand, the intermediate program section 13 is a channel processed by the CPU (1, 2, ..., 20: CPU number for identifying the processing unit) of each processing unit and the control program section 11 of the main control section 1. Corresponding to CH1 to CH8, the board information of the channel requested by the control program unit 11 is read from the corresponding CPU area in the CPU data storage unit 14 and sent to the corresponding CH area of the channel storage unit 12, and the control is performed. The board information processed by the program unit 11 is written in the CPU area in the CPU data storage unit 14 corresponding to its processing unit. By doing so, the control program unit 11
8 preset processing units (ie CPU)
Data can be communicated with the device and required data processing or board management can be performed using these data. Moreover, since the correspondence is determined by the setting of the intermediate program unit 13, when the configuration of the substrate processing apparatus is changed (that is, when the numbers of the CPUs 1 to 20 are changed), the intermediate program unit 13 is changed. The setting contents (parameters) of No. 13 can be dealt with only by re-changing according to the change of the configuration, and there is no need to change the contents of the control program unit 11.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a memory map of the register 4a of the setting section 4, showing the correspondence between processing units (CPU numbers) and channel numbers. In FIG. 6, the register numbers “150” to “180” indicate the downstream channels CH5 to CH8 for the processing unit U1, and the register numbers “19” to
The upstream channels CH1 to CH4 for the processing unit U2 are assigned to register numbers "230" to "26" in 0 "to" 220 ".
Downstream channel CH5 to processing unit U2 to 0 "
8 is hereinafter referred to as the upstream channel C for the processing unit U3.
H1-4, downstream channels CH5-8, processing unit U4
Tables for sequentially associating are prepared such as the upstream channels CH1 to CH4. Then, in each processing unit, by specifying the register number of this register table, the actual correspondence with the processing unit in which data communication is possible is performed on a channel basis.

For example, the channel CH1 of the processing unit 2 is assigned to the downstream channel CH5 of the processing unit U1 indicated by the register number "150", and the upstream channel CH1 of the processing unit U2 indicated by the register number "190". Against the channel CH of processing unit 1
By assigning 5, the processing unit U1 and the processing unit U2 are associated with the channel CH5 of the processing unit U1 and the channel CH1 of the processing unit U2, whereby the processing unit U1 and the processing unit U2 use the channels of each other. Data communication becomes possible. Here, in the association operation in the processing unit U1, the channel CH5
Is input as "2-1" (that is, the channel CH1 of the processing unit 2), and the setting of the channel CH1 is set as "1-5" (that is, the channel CH5 of the processing unit 1) in the association operation in the processing unit U2. When input, the register numbers "190" and "150" are calculated and set in the intermediate program section 13 of those processing units, respectively.

Further, the channel CH1 of the processing unit 3 is assigned to the downstream channel CH6 of the processing unit U1 indicated by the register number "160", and the upstream channel CH1 of the processing unit U3 indicated by the register number "270". Against channel CH6 of processing unit 1
By allocating, the processing unit U1 and the processing unit U3 are associated with each other, so that the processing unit U1 and the processing unit U3 can perform data communication using the mutual channels. Similarly, for processing unit U1 and processing unit U4, both channels C
H can be associated. This associating operation can be performed before starting the substrate processing apparatus, and parameters are set for each processing unit at the time of starting.

The correspondence between the processing unit (CPU) and the channel by the register 4a (parameter setting)
As other modes, the modes shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 are possible. In FIG. 7, only the required number of registers are prepared, and the correspondence contents of the registers and the reference register numbers may be changed depending on the configuration of the substrate processing apparatus. With this configuration, the register capacity can be reduced and the register can be effectively used. FIG.
Is a system in which a plurality of registers are prepared in advance, and corresponding registers are adopted depending on the configuration of the substrate processing apparatus. By doing so, it is possible to reset individual parameters according to changes in the apparatus configuration. Is unnecessary.

FIG. 9 is a time chart showing an example of data transmission between CPUs in the LAN system. In this system, a master processing unit set prior to startup performs timing management, and each processing unit transmits its own substrate information to an optical fiber cable under the timing management. Assuming that the processing unit U1 is set as the master, after the start-up, the processing unit U1 periodically outputs the timing signals S ₁ , S ₂ ,.
The S _20, and transmits repeatedly sequentially fiber optic cable. Then, according to each timing signal, the substrate information D ₁ , D ₂ , ..., D ₂₀ is sequentially transmitted from each processing unit to the optical fiber cable. The CPU 10 in the processing unit of the master has software that periodically sends such timing signals. It should be noted that all the processing units in the present substrate processing apparatus have software for performing such operations in the CPU 10, and any of them can be selected as a master.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a data map of transmitted board information. The board information is composed of an address block following the start block, a data (board information) block and a checksum block. The address block indicates the processing unit (CPU number) of the data transmission source, and the checksum block is data for the processing unit that received the transmission data to check the reception data for correctness. In addition, the data block is the name of the work (board), data indicating whether it is due to an interrupt, data indicating that it is the final input board from one cassette, and the board delivered from the cassette of the final lot. It includes data indicating that there is a certain number, a lot number provisionally assigned in each lot when processing a plurality of lots of substrates, a number indicating a work input sequence, a recipe number indicating a substrate transfer procedure, and the like. In this way, each unit can recognize the CPU of the transmission source from the address block of the board information, that is, the received board information. Therefore, the CPU of the next number sequentially transmits in accordance with the order of the CPUs. Good.

FIG. 11 shows transmission of board information, supply / discharge of board,
It is a time chart which linked | related with passing operation. This time chart mainly shows the substrate transfer operation between the standby unit 31 and the substrate transfer robot 321 of the coater unit 32, for example. The standby unit 31 is also one of the processing units, and the control unit 1 including the CPU 10
It is provided with.

The substrate transfer operation will be briefly described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 11. The standby unit 31 is an upstream unit U, and the substrate transfer robot 321 is a downstream unit (denoted as U ′ for distinction). Further, the respective signals such as the payout request and the payout completion shown in FIG. 11 are performed in the form of a handshake with a specific partner by using the pause of the transmission time of the board information D.

Control program section 11 of the upstream unit U
When there is a payout request (at time t1), the payout request signal is transmitted from the intermediate program unit 13 to the optical fiber cable in response to the payout request. When the intermediate program section 13 'of the downstream unit U'receives the payout request signal,
The signal is output to the control program unit 11 '. The control program unit 11 'determines whether it is receivable, and if it is receivable, it transmits a receivable signal to the upstream unit U via the intermediate program unit 13' (time t2). When the upstream unit U receives the receivable signal, the upstream unit U sends a signal indicating that the payout is in progress to the downstream unit U ′, and outputs a signal for raising the elevating pin 312 to the firmware unit 15 via the intermediate program unit 13, The board payout operation is executed (at time t3). On the other hand, the downstream unit U ′ outputs a signal indicating that it is being received to the control program unit 11 ′ when a predetermined time has elapsed after sending the receivable signal, and drives the substrate transfer robot 321 (t4).
Time).

Then, after a certain time, the upstream unit U
When the substrate is transferred to the substrate transfer robot 321 side at the substrate rising position by the elevating pin 312, the substrate delivery completion signal is output to the intermediate program 13, and the intermediate program 13 outputs this delivery completion signal and the downstream A payout completion signal is transmitted to the side unit U ′ (at time t5).
After that, when the substrate received by the substrate transfer robot 321 is placed on the spinner 320, the intermediate program 1
3'outputs the reception completion signal to the control program 11 'and transmits it to the upstream unit U (time t6). Then, the upstream unit U stops the paying-out signal based on the reception completion signal, stops the paying-out completion signal, and further stops the paying-out request signal (time t7). The stop of the payout request signal and the payout completion signal are transmitted to the downstream unit U ′, whereby the downstream unit U ′ stops the reception signal and stops the receivable signal, and transmits these signals to the upstream unit U. (At time t8).

In the above series of operations, the upstream unit U transmits the substrate information from the upstream processing unit U immediately before the time t1 and updates the data stored up to that point. The payout request is generated based on the information, and the upstream unit U
Receives the board information and transmits the board information to the optical fiber cable, and the downstream unit U'receives the board information and sends information about the board to be paid out. In addition, immediately after time t8 when the transfer of the substrate is completely completed,
A board information rewriting request is output from the downstream unit U ′, and in response to this, the upstream unit U rewrites the board information to the effect that the payout is completed, and the board information having the rewritten contents is transferred at a predetermined transmission timing. The downstream unit U'receives this board information by transmitting it to the optical fiber cable and stores it in the CPU data storage unit 14 '.

Next, the board supply / discharge control of the buffer unit 35 will be described using the board information shown in FIG.
The buffer unit 35 is a substrate transfer robot 351.
The substrates conveyed to the two cassettes 352 and 353 are sequentially stored. At this time, every time the board is loaded,
According to the board information, the loading order of the carry-in board from the loader 21 (work No. in the data block), the type of lot (temporary lot No. in the block), the recipe No., etc. are grasped and correspond to the shelf position of the cassette to be stored. Attach CPU
The data is stored in the CPU memory of the data storage unit 14, and
In relation to the associated four processing units on the upstream side, the substrate information of these four processing units is as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the substrate information of the substrate currently possessed by those processing units is fetched in a form corresponding to each CH area of the CH data storage unit 12 and can be constantly monitored.

On the other hand, when the board is to be delivered, the board to be delivered is specified in accordance with the board loading sequence in the loader 21 (for this purpose, the correspondence is set so that data communication with the loader 21 is possible). , The CH data storage unit 12 indicates the shelf position of the cassette in which the substrate is stored.
The board information is searched for, and the storage shelf position of the searched board is randomly accessed to extract the board by the board transfer robot 351 and pay it out to the transfer section 36. Further, by associating the CPU and the channel so that the data can be communicated with the buffer unit 45 provided corresponding to the parallel line, it is possible to grasp the attributes of the boards temporarily housed in each other. Even if the substrates are alternately distributed by the units 35 and 45 and the order of arrival at the buffer units 35 and 45 is reversed, the respective buffer units 35 and 45 are returned in the proper order returned to the original allocation order. The substrate can be paid out and guided to the merging unit 50.
Further, even when substrates of different lots or recipes are mixed and processed, the substrate information is exchanged between the two buffer units 35 and 45 to dispense the respective lots and recipes in an appropriate order. It becomes possible.

FIG. 13 shows an example of a carry-out management table showing a payout order, that is, a carry order set by the control program section 11. The boards carried in order to the buffer unit 35 are (lot number: Substrate (work)
No) = (1: 1), (1: 3), (2: 1),
(1: 2), (2: 3), (2: 2), (3:
If it is 1), the lot No and the substrate (work) No are associated and ordered at the time of unloading. That is, in the above case, the substrate transfer robot 351 performs random access so that it is carried out in the order of ,,,,.

Further, FIG. 14 shows the case of only the board (work) No. Even in this case, the board (work) in the board information is also included.
According to No, the shelf position where the substrate is stored in the cassette is searched, the substrate transfer robot 351 is randomly accessed, and the substrate can be carried out in the original order.

The present invention can adopt the following modified embodiments. (1) In the present embodiment, the parallel lines are two columns, but the number is not limited to this and may be three or more columns.

(2) The number of processing units capable of data communication is not limited to four units on the upstream side and four units on the downstream side; four or more units on the upstream side and one unit on the downstream side, or vice versa. It may be in the form. Further, the total number is not limited to eight, and may be three in total or at least one if at least one is provided on each of the upstream side and the downstream side.

(3) The buffer unit may be disposed between the merging unit 50 and the exposure unit 51. By providing the substrate at this position, even for substrates whose order has been changed by the merging unit 50, it is possible to return them to the original loading order and then guide them to the exposure unit 51.

(4) In the above-described embodiment, a conveyor roller is laid as the conveyor section, but a conveyor belt may be used instead.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention, the communication control means for communicating the board information using the unit identification information with the control section of another processing unit through the communication line, and the received board information. And a data storage means for storing in correspondence with each unit identification information, and a virtual channel is assigned to a predetermined processing unit, and the substrate information is read and written to the data storage means by using this channel. The control program section for storing the control program for performing the processing for the above, the virtual channel and the unit identification information are associated with each other, and the channel designated by the control program section is replaced with the corresponding unit identification information, and the control program section and the data are replaced. Since it has a configuration including an intermediate program section for exchanging board information between storage means, it is possible to set the intermediate program section. Since the correspondence between the virtual channel and the unit identification information is determined, even when the configuration of the substrate processing apparatus is changed, the setting contents of the intermediate program section are simply changed again according to the change of the configuration. Can be dealt with, and since it is not necessary to change the contents of the control program section, redesigning is extremely easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an upstream side of a plan view showing an embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a downstream side of a plan view showing an embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view showing an embodiment of the structure of a distribution unit.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating data communication in the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.

5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control unit of each processing unit shown in FIG.

6 is a diagram showing a memory map of a register 4a of the setting unit 4. FIG.

FIG. 7 is a memory map showing another mode of association between a processing unit (CPU) and a channel by a register.

FIG. 8 is a memory map showing another mode of association between a processing unit (CPU) and a channel by a register.

FIG. 9 is a time chart showing an example of data transmission between each CPU in the LAN system.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a data map of board information to be transmitted.

FIG. 11 is a time chart in which transmission of substrate information and supply / discharge / delivery operations of substrates are associated with each other.

FIG. 12 is a memory map of a CH area of a CH data storage unit.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a delivery management table indicating a delivery order, that is, a delivery order set by a control program unit.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing another example of a carry-out management table indicating a payout order, that is, a carry order set by the control program unit.

FIG. 15 is a configuration diagram conceptually showing an example of a conventional substrate processing apparatus.

FIG. 16 is a memory map showing a register configuration showing a transmission destination of board data.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 control part 2 substrate processing part 3 loading / unloading drive part 4 setting part 4a register 10 CPU 11 control program part 12 CH data storage part 13 intermediate program part 14 CPU data storage part 15 firmware part 16 I / O interface 21 loader 23 cleaning unit 24 Dehydration Bake Unit 25 Sorting Unit 31 Standby Unit 32 Coater Unit 33 End Face Cleaning Unit 34 Pre-Bake Unit 35 Buffer Unit 50 Merging Unit 51 Exposure Unit 52 Developing Unit 53 Host Bake Unit 54 Unloader U1 to U6 Processing Unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A substrate processing, comprising a plurality of processing units for performing a series of processing on a substrate loaded from a substrate loading unit, and connecting a control unit of each processing unit with a communication line. In the apparatus, the control unit communicates the board information with the control unit of another processing unit through the communication line by using the unit identification information, and the received board information is identified by each unit. A virtual channel is assigned to a data storage unit that stores information in association with information and a predetermined processing unit, and substrate processing is performed by reading and writing substrate information from the data storage unit using this channel. The control program section that stores the control program is associated with the virtual channel and the unit identification information, and the channel designated by the control program section is associated with the control program section. Substrate processing apparatus, characterized in that it is provided with an intermediate program section for exchanging the substrate information between the control program section and the data storage means in place of the unit identification information.