JPH09260458A - Board taking-out method and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a board taking-out method whereby a board can be taken out easily and quickly from a cassette. SOLUTION: In a method for taking out a board P held in a storing way in a cassette 18 by a setter 71 driven up and down and so driven forward and backward as to approach the cassette 18 or recede from it, there is provided a first process for entering the setter 71 in the cassette 18 to the position wherein an engagement protrusion 72b provided in the end portion of the setter 71 is protruded forward from the front end of the board P held in the foregoing cassette 18. Further, there are provided a second process for raising the setter 71 entered to the predetermined position in the cassette 18 to the position wherein the upper end of the engagement protrusion 72b is protruded upward from the board P and a third process for retreating the setter 71 and engaging the engagement protrusion 72b with the front end edge of the board P to draw out the board P from the cassette 18.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate take-out method and apparatus applied to a loader that feeds substrates stacked in a cassette to a processing section.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device, there is a process of forming a circuit pattern on a glass substrate by a lithography technique. In the circuit pattern forming step, a step of pre-cleaning a glass substrate on which resist coating, exposure, and development processing has been performed and then performing an etching process, and then post-cleaning the glass substrate that has been further subjected to etching processing, is carried out. is there.

A processing apparatus has been developed which is capable of continuously performing the above-mentioned pre-cleaning, etching and post-cleaning. In that case, a loader for supplying the glass substrate to the processing apparatus is provided on the inlet side of the processing apparatus, and an unloader for taking in the glass substrate processed by the processing apparatus is provided on the outlet side. There is. Above loader and unloader
A loading device is constructed with the data.

The glass substrates are stacked and housed in a cassette. The loader and unloader have a setter that constitutes a take-out device, and the setter of the loader takes out the glass substrate from the cassette. The taken-out glass substrate is delivered to a transfer mechanism, and is carried into the processing apparatus by this transfer mechanism. The glass substrate processed by the processing device is unloaded by the transfer mechanism. The glass substrates carried out are received by the setter of the unloader, and are stacked and accommodated in the cassette.

In such a structure, when the glass substrate is taken in and out of the cassette, it is performed to prevent the fine particles from adhering to the glass substrate.
In other words, the glass substrate is accommodated by engaging both widthwise end portions with the step portion formed in the cassette. Therefore, when both ends of the glass substrate in the width direction are brought into sliding contact with the step when the glass substrate is taken in and out of the cassette, fine particles are attached.

Therefore, conventionally, when the glass substrate is taken in and out of the cassette, the widthwise ends of the glass substrate are prevented from slidingly contacting the engaging stepped portions of the cassette by controlling the positioning of the setter with high accuracy. Was there.

For example, when the glass substrate is taken out from the cassette, the setter is moved forward without contacting the lower surface of the glass substrate, the forward position is detected by the sensor and stopped, and the glass is also detected by the sensor. The setter is raised until both ends in the width direction of the board float above the engagement step. After the glass substrate is floated from the engagement step, the glass substrate is taken out from the cassette by retracting the setter.

As described above, positioning the setter with high accuracy while detecting it with the sensor may result in complicated control and may require time for positioning. In addition, the setter can be positioned with high accuracy. However, when the dimensional accuracy of the cassette itself is low, the glass substrate may slidably contact the stepped portion of the cassette.

[0009]

In the case of an unloader that handles a glass substrate that has been subjected to a treatment such as cleaning, it is necessary to avoid sliding the glass substrate onto the stepped portion of the cassette. However, in the case of a loader that supplies an uncleaned glass substrate to the cleaning device, when the glass substrate is taken out from the cassette, the end in the width direction of the glass substrate slides on the stepped portion of the cassette to remove the fine particles. Even if the adhesion amount increases a little, it does not cause a problem.

Therefore, it is desired to easily and quickly remove the glass substrate from the cassette in the loader. The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to take out a substrate so that the substrate can be easily and quickly taken out from the cassette when the adhesion of fine particles to the substrate does not cause a problem. A method and an apparatus therefor are provided.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of taking out a substrate housed and held in a cassette by a setter which is driven in a vertical direction and in a front-rear direction to approach and separate from the cassette. A first step of bringing the setter into the cassette to a position where the engagement projection is provided at the tip of the cassette, and the engagement projection projects forward from the front end of the substrate held in the cassette; A second step of raising the setter that has entered to a position where the upper end of the engagement protrusion projects at least above the lower surface of the substrate; and retracting the setter to move the engagement protrusion to the front edge of the substrate. And a third step of pulling the substrate out of the cassette by engaging with.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a device for taking out a substrate accommodated and held in a cassette, a setter having an upper surface provided with a plurality of supporting protrusions for supporting the lower surface of the substrate and supporting the substrate, Driving means for driving the setter in the up-down direction and in the front-rear direction to move toward and away from the cassette; and to the position where the tip end of the setter projects forward of the front end of the substrate. And a protrusion for engaging with a front edge of a substrate held in the cassette and pulling the substrate out of the cassette when the cassette is advanced into the cassette, raised, and then retracted. .

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the setter is moved forward so that the engaging protrusion protruding from the tip end of the setter is engaged with the front end of the substrate held in the cassette, and then the setter. The substrate can be pulled out from the cassette by this setter by retracting. At this time, since the portion of the substrate held by the cassette is in sliding contact with the cassette before the processing such as cleaning is performed, the adhesion of fine particles due to the sliding contact does not pose a problem.

[0014]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 7, 1 indicates a processing device. The processing apparatus 1 includes a pre-cleaning unit 2 for cleaning a liquid crystal substrate P, which is a work, an etching processing unit 3 for etching the cleaned glass substrate P, and a post-cleaning unit for cleaning the etched glass substrate P again. 4 and a drying processing unit 5 for drying the glass substrate P cleaned by the post-cleaning unit 4 are sequentially arranged.

A loader 11 is arranged on the side of the pre-cleaning unit 2 of the processing apparatus 1, and an unloader 12 is arranged on the side of the drying processing unit 5. The loader 11 and the unloader 12 constitute a loading device, and since they have the same configuration, only one of them will be described below.

That is, the loading device has a base 15 composed of a mount as shown in FIG. This base
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, a pair of mounting plates 16 are supported by columns 17 on one end side of the upper surface of the spacer 15 in the left-right direction intersecting the front-back direction with a predetermined space therebetween. It is provided at the height of. A cassette 1 is placed on each mounting plate 16.
8 is positioned and placed.

Unprocessed glass substrates P are stacked and accommodated in the cassette 18 mounted on the mounting plate 16 of the loader 11 at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction. The glass substrates P processed by the processing apparatus 1 are collected and stacked in the cassette 18 mounted on the mounting plate 16 of the unloader 12. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, engagement step portions 18a are formed at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction on the inner surfaces of both sides of the cassette 18, and the glass substrate P engages both end portions in the width direction with the engagement step portions 18a. It is housed together.

The loader 11 is installed between the precleaning section 2 of the processing apparatus 1 and the mounting plate 16 described above, and the unloader 11 is installed.
The da 12 is installed between the drying processing section 5 and the placing plate 16 described above. That is, a pair of left and right guide rails 21 are provided on the upper surfaces on the front end side and the rear end side of the base 15 along the left-right direction. Guides 23 provided on the front end side and the rear end side of the lower surface of the first horizontal moving body 22 are slidably engaged with the left and right guide rails 21, respectively.

That is, the first horizontal moving body 22 is movable along the left-right direction orthogonal to the center line of the processing apparatus 1. The first moving body 22 is formed in a rectangular frame shape having an opening in the center as shown in FIG.

A left and right feed screw 24 is rotatably supported by a support 25 on the upper surface of the rear end of the base 15. A nut body 26 is screwed onto the feed screw 24. The nut body 26 is attached to the rear end of the first horizontal moving body 22 by a connecting member 27.

A driven plug is attached to one end of the left and right feed screws 24.
Ri 28 is fitted. A left-right drive motor 29 is installed on the base 15 near one end of the left-right feed screw 24. A drive pulley 31 is fitted on the rotary shaft of the left-right drive motor 29. This drive pulley 31
A timing belt 32 is stretched between the driven pulley 28 and the driven pulley 28.

Therefore, when the left / right drive motor 29 is operated, the left / right feed screw 24 is rotationally driven through the pair of pulleys 31, 28 and the timing belt 32, and thus the feed screw 24 is screwed into the feed screw 24. The nut body 26 thus moved moves in the axial direction of the feed screw 24. As a result, the first horizontal moving body 22 is driven in the left-right direction.

On the upper surface of the first horizontal moving body 22, front and rear guide rails 35 are provided at both ends in the left-right direction along the front-rear direction orthogonal to the left-right direction. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
The sliders 37 provided on the lower surfaces of both ends of the lower surface of the horizontal moving body 36 in the left-right direction are slidably engaged. Thereby, the second horizontal moving body 36 is movable in the front-rear direction along the front-rear guide rail 35.

As shown in FIG. 1, a longitudinal feed screw 38 is rotatably supported by a support 39 on the upper surface of one end of the first horizontal moving body 22 in the left-right direction. A nut body 41 is screwed onto the front-rear feed screw 38. The nut body 41 is attached to the second horizontal moving body 36 by a connecting member 42.

A driven pulley 43 is fitted to one end of the front and rear feed screw 38. The first horizontal moving body 22
A front-rear drive motor 44 is disposed near the driven pulley 43. A drive pulley 45 is fitted on the rotary shaft of the front-back drive motor 44. This drive pulley 45
A timing belt 46 is stretched between the driven pulley 43 and the driven pulley 43. Therefore, when the front-rear drive motor 44 is operated and the front-rear feed screw 38 is rotationally driven, the second horizontal moving body 36 is driven in the front-rear direction.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a vertical plate 51 is provided on the rear end side of the second horizontal moving body 36 (on the side of the front cleaning portion 2) so as to connect the middle portions of the rear surface in the height direction. ing. A pair of vertical guides 52 are provided parallel to each other in the vertical direction at both widthwise ends of the other side surface of the vertical plate 51 on the front cleaning unit 2 side. The upper and lower guides 52 are also provided with sliders 5 provided at both ends in the width direction of a plate-like vertical moving body 53.
4 is slidably engaged.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the vertical moving body 5 is provided.
A connecting member 55 is attached to the other side surface of the lower end portion of 3. The connecting member 55 is inserted into an elongated hole 51a formed in the vertical plate 51 in the vertical direction.
A nut body 56 is fixed to the end protruding from a. The nut body 56 is screwed into an up-down feed screw 57 arranged on the rear surface side of the vertical plate 51. The upper and lower ends of the vertical feed screw 57 are rotatably supported by bearings 58, respectively.

The lower end of the other side surface of the vertical plate 51 is shown in FIG.
A vertical drive motor 61 is provided as shown in FIG. A timing belt 64 is stretched between a drive pulley 62 fitted to the rotary shaft of the vertical drive motor 61 and a driven pulley 63 fitted to the lower end of the vertical feed screw 57. There is.

Therefore, when the vertical drive motor 61 operates and the vertical feed screw 57 is rotationally driven, the nut body 56 moves up and down along the screw 57, and the vertical movement causes the nut body 56 to move vertically. The body 53 is interlocked. That is, the vertical moving body 53 is driven vertically.

A rear end of the setter 71 in the front-rear direction is fixed to the upper end of the vertical drive body 53 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the setter 71 has a substantially U-shaped planar shape, and its width dimension is set so as to fit into the cassette 18. Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, on the upper surface of the setter 71, a plurality of pyramidal support protrusions 72 a for supporting the lower surface of the glass substrate P by point contact, and the glass substrate P on the setter 71. Engagement protrusion 72b that is engaged with the front end and is taller than the support protrusion 72a.
Are provided.

The height dimension of the engaging projection 72b may be higher than at least the lower surface of the glass substrate P supported by the supporting projection 72a, and preferably higher than the upper surface. A pair of aligning rails 75 are horizontally provided on the upper back surface of the vertical driving body 53 at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction. A pair of aligning members 76 are slidably provided on the aligning rail 75 as shown in FIGS. That is, the aligning member 76 includes a movable plate 77 having a strip plate shape,
The movable plate 77 includes a strip-shaped alignment guide 78 fixed to the upper end of the movable plate 77 at the base end side. The movable plate 77 is provided with a slider 79 slidably engaged with the alignment rail 75. ing. The pair of alignment guides 78 are provided along both sides of the setter 71 so as to be spaced apart and opposed to each other in parallel, and are located slightly above the upper surface of the setter 71.

As shown in FIG. 6, alignment cylinders 81 are provided at both widthwise end portions of one side surface of the vertical moving body 53. The rod of the aligning cylinder 81 is connected to the movable plate 77 of the aligning member 76. Therefore, when the aligning cylinder 81 is operated, the pair of aligning members 76 are slidably driven along the aligning rail 75 in a direction of coming in and out of contact with each other. That is, the pair of alignment guides 78 are configured to be opened and closed in the left-right direction symmetrically with respect to the center of the vertical moving body 53 in the width direction.

Alignment guide 78 of the pair of alignment members 76.
, A plurality of positioning rollers 82 are provided so as to be rotatable with their axes vertical and project inward in the width direction of the alignment guide 78.

The pair of alignment guides 78 are separated by a distance larger than the width dimension of the glass substrate P, and are driven in the approaching direction by the alignment cylinder 81, whereby the positioning roller 82 is moved. The glass substrate P placed on the setter 71 is brought into contact with both sides of the glass substrate P in the width direction and the substrate P
Is set on the setter 71. That is, the center of the glass substrate P in the width direction is the setter 71 (the vertical moving body 53).
Is aligned with the widthwise center of.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a transport mechanism 91 is provided on the first horizontal moving body 22 at a portion facing the setter 71. The transport mechanism 91 is the first
Each of the horizontal moving bodies 22 has four columns 92 standing upright on each side of the moving direction (left-right direction). Prop 9
At the upper end of 2, a U-shaped upper end plate 93 having one open end in the front-rear direction on the cassette 18 side is attached.

Mounting plates 94 along the entire length of the upper end plate 93 in the longitudinal direction are erected vertically inwardly on the upper surfaces of both sides of the upper end plate 93. A plurality of transport rollers 95 are rotatably provided at predetermined intervals along the longitudinal direction on the inner surfaces of the respective mounting plates 94 facing each other with the axis line horizontal, and a driven pulley 96 is coaxial on the outer surface. It is provided in. The left and right transport rollers 95 are set at intervals larger than the width dimension of the setter 71.

A pair of conveying rollers 95 facing each other on one end side in the front-rear direction of the pair of mounting plates 94 are provided on one drive shaft 97. One end side of the drive shaft 97 is connected to a rotary shaft of a transport motor 98 provided on one upper end plate 93. A drive pulley 99 is provided on each portion of the drive shaft 97 located on the outer surface side of the mounting plate 94.

On the outer surface of each mounting plate 94, the tension roller 10 is attached to the drive pulley 99 and the driven pulley 96.
The belt 102 is stretched through the belt 1. Therefore, since the transfer roller 98 is driven to rotate by the operation of the transfer motor 98, the glass substrate P placed on the transfer roller 95 as described later is transferred to the transfer roller 95.
When the la 95 is rotationally driven, the la 95 is conveyed in a predetermined direction according to the rotation.

The height position of the glass substrate P transported by the transport roller 95 is the lowest of the setter 71 which is vertically driven by the vertical drive motor 61 together with the vertical moving body 53 as shown in FIG. It is set slightly higher than the position. As a result, when the setter 71 is driven downward, the glass substrate P held by the setter 71 is delivered to the transport roller 95.

On the outer side in the width direction of the upper surface of the upper end plate 93,
As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of guide rollers 1 whose axes are perpendicular to each other
03 are provided at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction. The guide rollers 103 abut on both sides in the width direction of the glass substrate P transported by the transport roller 95 and guide the transport of the glass substrate P. That is, the conveyed glass substrate P is prevented from shifting in the width direction.

Next, the operation of the loading device having the above construction will be described. When the unprocessed glass substrate P is supplied from the loader 11 to the processing apparatus 1, first, the first horizontal moving body 22 is driven in the left-right direction by the left-right drive motor 29 to set the setter 71 in a pair. The cassette 18 is positioned opposite to either one. Next, the height of the setter 71 is set to a position slightly lower than the lowermost glass substrate P housed in the cassette 18 by the vertical drive motor 61. This state is shown in FIG.

When the positioning of the setter 71 is completed,
The front-rear drive motor 44 is operated to operate the second horizontal moving body 36.
Is driven forward in the direction of the cassette 18 in the front-back direction. Thereby, the setter 71 enters below the lowermost glass substrate P of the cassette 18. The forward drive of the setter 71 is stopped in a state in which the engagement protrusion 72b protruding from the front end of the setter 71 is located in front of the front end of the glass substrate P. This state is shown in FIG.

Then, as shown in FIG. 9 (c), the setter 71 is moved by the vertical drive motor 61, and the engaging projection 72b at the tip thereof is above at least the lower surface of the glass substrate P, that is, the upper surface in this embodiment. To the position where it protrudes above. At this time, depending on the raised position of the setter 71, the glass substrate P held in the cassette 18 is transferred onto the upper surface of the setter 71, and the engagement step portion 18 of the cassette 18 is transferred.
Although it may float from a, it may remain engaged with the engagement stepped portion 18a.

The setter 71 on which the glass substrate P is transferred is driven in the backward direction as shown in FIG. 9 (d). As a result, the engaging projection 72b provided on the setter 71 engages with the front edge of the glass substrate P, so that the glass substrate P
Will be pulled out of the cassette 18.

That is, when the glass substrate P is pulled out from the cassette 18, the engaging projection 72b projecting from the front end portion of the setter 71 is engaged with the front edge of the glass substrate P and pulled out, so that the setter 71 is highly accurate. No need to position. Therefore, the positioning of the setter 71 is facilitated, so that the delivery work can be speeded up and the positioning control can be facilitated.

The glass substrate P is formed by the engaging projections 72b.
When the glass substrate P is pulled out, both ends in the width direction of the glass substrate P are brought into sliding contact with the engaging recesses 18a of the cassette 18, and fine particles may adhere to the sliding contact portions.

However, the glass substrate P held in the cassette 18 of the loader 1 has not been cleaned yet,
Since the cleaning process is performed after being taken out from the container, even if the fine particles adhere to the engaging concave portion 18a of the cassette 18 by sliding at the time of taking out, there is almost no problem.

When the setter 71 pulls out the glass substrate P from the cassette 18 and retracts to the retracted limit, it is driven in the descending direction. As a result, the glass substrate P held on the setter 71 is transferred onto the transfer roller 95 of the transfer mechanism 91.

When the setter 71 is retracted, the pair of aligning cylinders 81 operate to drive the pair of aligning members 76 in the approaching direction, and the pair of aligning guides 78 sets the center of the glass substrate P on the setter 71. Match the center of 71. That is, the glass substrate P is positioned and aligned on the setter 71.

Further, when the setter 71 is completely retracted, the left and right drive motor 29 is actuated and the first horizontal moving body 2 is moved.
2 is driven in the left-right direction to align the center of the setter 71 with the center of the processing apparatus 1. At the same time,
The setter 71 is driven in the descending direction by the vertical drive motor 61, and the glass substrate P on the setter 71 is transferred to the transport mechanism 9.
1 is transferred to the carrier roller 95.

That is, since the transport mechanism 91 is integrally provided on the first horizontal moving body 22, the first horizontal moving body 22 is provided.
The setter 71 is lowered while driving the glass substrate P in the left-right direction, and the glass substrate P held by the setter 71 is conveyed by the transfer roller 95.
The tact time can be shortened as compared with the case where these operations are performed separately.

The center of the setter 71, that is, the transport roller.
When the center of the glass substrate P transferred to the la 95 in the width direction is aligned with the center of the processing apparatus 1, the carrying motor 98 of the carrying mechanism 91 is activated to move the carrying roller 95. Is rotated. As a result, the glass substrate P is supplied from the transfer mechanism 91 to the processing apparatus 1.

A plurality of cassettes 18 are installed on the loader 11, while the setter 7 can be driven not only in the front-back direction but also in the left-right direction. Thereby, even if the center of the cassette 18 does not coincide with the center of the processing device 11, the center of the setter 71 is made to coincide with the center of the cassette 18 by driving the first horizontal moving body 22 in the left-right direction. Since the center of the apparatus 1 can be matched, the glass substrate P of each cassette 18 can be supplied to the processing apparatus 1.

As described above, since the glass substrates P of the plurality of cassettes 18 can be supplied, even if one cassette 18 becomes empty, the glass substrates P of the other cassette 18 can be supplied, and the cassettes that become empty in the meantime. Since it suffices to replace the cassette 18, it is not necessary to suspend the entire apparatus in order to replace the cassette 18, and the productivity can be improved.

While the first horizontal moving body 22 is moved in the left-right direction so that the center of the setter 71 coincides with the center of the transport mechanism 91, the glass substrate P transferred to the setter 71 is aligned with the aligning member 76. Both sides in the width direction are held by the alignment guides 78. Therefore, even if the setter 71 is driven in the left-right direction, the glass substrate P is prevented from shifting on the setter 71. That is, with the setter 71,
The setter 71 does not shift the relative position with respect to the glass substrate P taken out from the cassette 18.

The glass substrates P are taken out of the cassette 18 and then aligned by the aligning member 76. Therefore, the substrate P in the cassette 18 installed in the loader 11 is
Since it is not necessary to align the
Does not need to be positioned and fixed on the loader 11. That is, since the cassette 18 can be easily set, the productivity can be improved.

As described above, the glass substrate P supplied from the loader 11 to the processing apparatus 1 is subjected to a predetermined cleaning processing in the processing apparatus 1 and then the unloader 12 waiting on the exit side thereof. It is delivered onto the transport roller 95 of the transport mechanism 91.

The glass substrates P transferred to the transport roller 95 are stacked and accommodated in the cassette 18 when the setter 71 operates in the opposite direction to the operation on the loader 11 side.
That is, in the unloader 12, when the glass substrate P is transferred to the transport roller 95, the setter 71 is driven in the upward direction to receive the glass substrate P from the transport roller 95 and receive a pair of alignment guides. At the same time when the first horizontal moving body 22 is aligned on the setter 71 by the 78, the first horizontal moving body 22 is driven to the left and right.
It is driven in the left-right direction by the controller 29 and positioned so that its center coincides with the center of the cassette 18.

Next, the setter 71 is the front-rear drive motor 44.
After being driven by the vertical drive motor 61, it is lowered by a predetermined dimension. As a result, the glass substrate P held by the setter 71 is delivered to the cassette 18.

When the glass substrate P is transferred to the cassette 18 in the unloader 12, a sensor (not shown) is used to prevent the glass substrate P from sliding on the engagement step 18a of the cassette 18. The glass substrate P is delivered to the cassette 18 while detecting the position.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent the fine particles from adhering to the cleaned glass substrate P.

The setter 71, which has transferred the glass substrate P to the cassette 18, is driven in the left-right direction so that the center of the glass substrate P coincides with the center of the processing apparatus 1, and at the same time the transfer roller 9 is moved.
It is driven in the descending direction so as to be a position slightly lower than 5, and stands by.

Therefore, even in the unloader 12,
Similar to the loader 11, the glass substrate P driven in the left-right direction is prevented from being displaced in the left-right direction by the alignment guide 78, and the glass substrate P transferred from the processing device 1 to the setter 71 is not removed. Since it is driven and positioned in the left-right direction, it can be accommodated in the two cassettes 18 set in the unloader 12 one after another.

Furthermore, since the positioning of the setter 71 in the height direction and the positioning of the setter 71 in the left-right direction can be performed at the same time, the tact time can be shortened as compared with the case where they are performed separately.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified. For example, the number of cassettes installed in the loader or unloader is not limited to two, but may be three or more, and the number of cassettes may be plural.
Further, the work may be other than the glass substrate for liquid crystal, for example, a semiconductor wafer, and the point is not limited.

[0065]

As described above, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the setter is moved forward so that the engaging projection provided on the tip of the setter is provided on the front edge of the substrate held by the cassette. After the engagement, the setter is retracted to pull out the substrate from the cassette.

Therefore, when the substrate is taken out from the cassette, it is not necessary to control the positioning of the setter with high precision, and therefore the taking out can be performed easily and quickly.
By not positioning the setter with high accuracy, when the substrate is taken out, the substrate may come into sliding contact with the cassette and particulates may adhere to it, but only before cleaning the substrate taken out from the cassette. For example, even if fine particles adhere due to sliding contact with the cassette, there is almost no problem.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the entire apparatus in which a setter and a transport mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention are removed.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a mounting structure of the setter and the aligning member.

FIG. 3 is a side view along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing the transport mechanism in the same manner.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the same transport mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the up-and-down moving body along the line BB of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram of a processing apparatus similarly provided with a loader and an unloader.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a cassette that also holds a glass substrate.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing a process of taking out a glass substrate from the cassette, similarly.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 ... loader, 18 ... cassette, 18a ... engaging recess, 23 ... first horizontal moving body, 36 ... second horizontal moving body, 53 ... vertical moving body, 71 ... setter, 72a ... support projection, 72b ... engaging protrusions, P ... glass substrate.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of taking out a substrate accommodated and held in a cassette by a setter which is driven in a vertical direction and in a front-rear direction in which the cassette is brought into contact with and separated from the cassette. The first step of inserting the setter into the cassette to a position where the engaging projection protrudes forward of the front end of the substrate held in the cassette; and the setter that has advanced to a predetermined position. A second step of raising the upper end to a position at least protruding above the lower surface of the substrate, and retracting the setter to engage the engaging protrusion with the front edge of the substrate to cause the substrate to be transferred to the cassette. And a third step of withdrawing the substrate from the inside. 2. A device for taking out a substrate accommodated and held in a cassette, and a setter having a plurality of support protrusions on its upper surface for abutting a lower surface of the substrate to support the substrate, and the setter in a vertical direction. And driving means for driving in the front-rear direction to move toward and away from the cassette, and to advance the setter into the cassette to a position where the front end projects forward from the front end of the substrate. And a retracting mechanism for engaging the front edge of the substrate held in the cassette and pulling the substrate out of the cassette when the substrate is raised and then retracted.