JPH1092904A - Transporting vessel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To carry a work in and out from a housing with a reciprocal motion of a slider by converting a rotating motion of a lever into a linear motion of the slider through a first and second guides when rotating the lever from outside the housing. SOLUTION: A rotating motion of a lever 24 is converted into a linear motion of a slider 17 through a first and second guide pins 15, 16 to move the slider to and from a housing 12 when rotating the lever from outside the housing 12. The motion of the slider 17 causes a work 1 held by the slider 17 to be moved in and out from the housing 12, thus taking out the work 1 housed in the housing 12 therefrom by the external operation, without touching the work 1. This makes it possible to close/open an inlet/outlet 13 of the housing 12 by a gate 14 to hermetically close the housing and carry the work being hermetically closed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transport container for transporting articles in a housed state, and more particularly to a transport vessel capable of containing articles in a sealed state and taking in and out by an external operation. The present invention relates to a transfer container which is effective for transferring a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal panel without exposing it to an external environment in a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a semiconductor integrated circuit device (hereinafter, referred to as IC) manufacturing factory, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as wafer) is transferred between a plurality of semiconductor manufacturing devices installed in a large clean room. Has been implemented. In such a manufacturing process, since the wafer comes into contact with the clean room atmosphere during the transfer, deterioration such as contamination and oxidation of the wafer cannot be avoided. Generally, it is said that one atomic layer is contaminated per second at a degree of vacuum of 10 ^-6 Pa or a gas purity of 100 ppb. Atmospheric pollution and oxidation saturate at the order of a few atomic layers. However, it has been found that even a small amount of such an amount causes a serious disturbance that affects the performance of the IC. Therefore, a transfer container for transferring a wafer while being held in a high vacuum or high-purity gas atmosphere has been proposed.

As a closed low-vacuum transfer container for transferring a wafer, for example, Cecil Jay. There is a transfer container disclosed by Davis in JP-A-6-58931. This transfer container is a transfer container that can open and close a valve from the outside, but is lightweight because it does not include pumps. However, since it does not have a function of transferring a wafer to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, it is necessary to provide an intermediate chamber having a built-in handling mechanism for temporarily storing a transfer container, taking out the wafer in a vacuum atmosphere, and transferring the wafer to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. Since this intermediate room is required for each semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, capital investment is increased.

A transfer method having a wafer transfer function is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-2804 by Masaru Masushima.
7 is a transfer method. This transfer method is configured such that a magic hand is provided inside a clean chamber to transfer a wafer. However, in this configuration, no consideration has been given to reducing the size and weight of the transfer device. In general, a magic hand requires a large number of components, and thus it is difficult to reduce the size and weight.

A compact transfer mechanism in a vacuum is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
2 is disclosed. This transport mechanism
The wafer is moved along the guide mechanism using a crank mechanism by the introduction of a rotational force from the outside. However, because of the crank structure, three elements, that is, a member constituting two cranks and a guide mechanism, are required, and it is difficult to reduce the size and weight.

[0006]

The above-described transfer container has a problem that a large-sized handling mechanism and a large facility such as an intermediate chamber are required to transfer and transfer the wafer. If the closed transfer container is provided with a wafer handling mechanism, the weight of the transfer container is increased and the outer dimensions are enlarged. On the other hand, if the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is provided with a wafer handling mechanism, an intermediate room for transferring the wafer is required for each semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, which leads to an increase in equipment cost and an occupied floor area.

[0007] The size of wafers will tend to increase in the future. At present, 8-inch diameter wafers used in IC manufacturing plants and 12-inch diameter wafers used in the next generation will require a large transfer container and intermediate chamber, so that reduction in size and weight is essential for practical use. Is becoming a technical issue.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem and to provide a transport container capable of reducing the size and weight and reducing the production cost.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0010]

The outline of a typical invention among the inventions disclosed in the present application is as follows.

[0011] That is, the transport container has a main body in which a storage chamber for storing articles to be stored is formed having an access port opened and closed by a gate, and a second container laid in the storage chamber in a direction intersecting the access port. A first guide; a second guide slidably supported by the first guide; a slider slidably supported by the second guide to hold the article to be stored; And a lever fixed to the rotating shaft and slidably engaged with the slider via a guide pin.

In the above-described transport container, when the lever is rotated by an operation from the outside of the storage chamber, the rotation of the lever is converted into a linear movement of the slider by the guide pin, the second guide and the first guide. Therefore, the slider is moved forward and backward with respect to the storage chamber. Therefore, the article to be accommodated held by the slider is moved into and out of the accommodation chamber as the slider advances and retreats. That is, the articles stored in the storage chamber of the transport container can be taken out without touching by an external operation.

By closing the access port of the storage chamber with the gate, the storage chamber can be sealed, so that the transport container can transport the stored articles while maintaining the sealed state.

[0014]

1 shows a transport container according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) is a plan sectional view in a housed state, and FIG. 1 (b) is a plan sectional view in a delivery state. FIG. 2 (a)
2 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional plan view of FIG.
FIG. 2B is a front sectional view taken along line bb in FIG. 3A is an enlarged partial cross-sectional plan view of FIG. 1B, and FIG. 3B is a side cross-sectional view taken along line bb of FIG. 3A. FIG. 4 is a schematic plan sectional view showing a usage example.

In the present embodiment, the transfer container according to the present invention is configured such that the wafer can be stored in a sealed state and can be taken in and out by an external operation. The transport container 10 is an article to be accommodated, and a main body 11 for accommodating the wafer 1 as the article to be transported.
It has. The main body 11 is made of a stainless steel plate having a thickness of 1 mm, is formed in a hollow flat plate shape (box) having a square planar shape, and a housing chamber 12 is formed by a hollow chamber. The inner diameter of the accommodation chamber 12 is set slightly larger than the diameter of the wafer 1 so that the wafer 1 can be accommodated horizontally, and the height thereof is constant throughout.

An access port 13 is formed on one side wall of the main body 11 so as to fill the side of the accommodation room 12, and the accommodation room 12 communicates with the outside through the access port 13. A gate 14 for opening and closing the entrance 13 is attached to the side wall where the entrance 13 is opened so as to be rotatably supported at the lower end side.
Reference numeral 4 denotes a seal structure capable of maintaining a high degree of airtightness when the access port 13 is closed.

A first guide 15 is provided on the bottom wall of the accommodation chamber 12.
Is laid on a center line orthogonal to the entrance 13. The first guide 15 is made of a titanium-based material (titanium and its alloy), and is formed in a pipe shape having a rectangular cross section. A first guide hole 15a into which a guide pin described later is inserted is formed in the upper surface wall of the first guide 15 to have the same width along the center line. In the hollow portion of the first guide 15, a second guide 16 made of a titanium-based material and formed in a pipe shape having a rectangular cross section is slidably fitted in the longitudinal direction. That is, the inner shape of the first guide 15 and the outer shape of the second guide 16 are set substantially equal, and the second guide 16 is guided in a linear motion by sliding on the inner peripheral surface of the hollow portion of the first guide 15. It has become so. The first guide hole 15 is formed in the upper surface wall of the second guide 16.
a corresponding to the second guide hole 16a along the center line,
It is established in the same width.

In the hollow portion of the second guide 16, a slider 17 made of a titanium-based material and formed in a rectangular pipe shape with a rectangular cross section is slidably fitted in the longitudinal direction.
That is, the inner shape of the second guide 16 and the outer shape of the slider 17 are set to be substantially equal, and the slider 17 is guided in a linear motion by sliding on the inner peripheral surface of the hollow portion of the second guide 16. ing. A support shaft 18 is fixed to a top end of the slider 17 at a slot side (hereinafter, referred to as a front end) at a right angle upward. A holder 19 for holding the wafer 1 is horizontally fixed to the upper end of the support shaft 18. The holder 19 is formed in an oval flat plate shape in plan view, and is configured to hold the wafer 1 horizontally on an upper surface thereof. A guide pin 20 made of a titanium-based material is fixed upward at a right angle near the rear end of the upper surface of the slider 17.

Incidentally, the titanium-based material is lightweight, has excellent mechanical strength and heat resistance, and has solid lubricity. Therefore, the first guide 15, the second guide 16, and the slider 17 are provided.
Also, the material for forming the guide pins 20 is very good. However, the first guide 15 and the second guide 1
6, It does not prevent forming the slider 17 and the guide pin 20 using a material other than the titanium-based material. The first guide 15, the second guide 16, the slider 17, and the guide pin 20 can be formed by using a metal, resin, ceramic, or the like that is lightweight and has excellent mechanical strength and heat resistance. And a material which does not adsorb or release a gas may be used.

On the bottom wall of the housing chamber 12, a bearing 21 is disposed near one end of the access port 13 and is projected upward at a right angle. A rotating shaft 22 is positioned on the bearing 21 in the vertical direction. It is supported rotatably in a state where it is turned. Rotating shaft 2
The lower end of 2 is projected outside through the bottom wall of the main body 11, and an engaging portion 23 is formed at the projected lower end of the rotating shaft 22. The protruding portion of the rotating shaft 22 with respect to the main body 11 is formed in a seal structure capable of maintaining a high degree of airtightness.

One end of a horizontally arranged lever 24 is fixed to the upper end of the rotating shaft 22 inside the storage chamber 12. The lever 24 is formed in an elongated flat plate shape with a constant width, and a guide hole 25 is formed in an elliptical shape with a constant width from the center to the tip. The guide pin 20 of the slider 17 is slidably and rotatably fitted in the guide hole 25. Therefore, the slider 17
Indicates the rotation of the rotation shaft 22 by the lever 24 and the guide pin 20.
Is transmitted through the actuator, so that the linear reciprocating motion is achieved.

An example of the method of using the transport container according to the above configuration and its operation will be described.

For example, the single-wafer CVD shown in FIG.
When the transfer container 10 is used for the apparatus 30, the transfer container 10 is mounted on the loading / unloading port 33 of the vacuum preparatory chamber 32 connected to the processing chamber 31. That is, after the gate (not shown) of the loading / unloading port 33 of the vacuum preliminary chamber 32 is opened,
The transfer container 10 is in a state where the access port 13 is closed by the gate 14, and the end of the main body 11 on the access port side is the vacuum preparatory chamber 3.
2 is inserted into the carry-in / out port 33. In this state, the airtightness of the contact surface between the loading / unloading port 33 and the transport container 10 is strictly maintained by a suitable sealing means.

When the rotating shaft 22 is rotated in a predetermined direction by a suitable driving means engaged with the engaging portion 23 after the gate 14 of the transport container 10 is opened, the lever 24 is opened and closed. The guide pin 20 slidably and rotatably inserted into the guide hole 25 of the lever 24 moves along the guide hole 25 because the guide pin 20 is rotated in a direction protruding from the lever 13.
Since the slider 17 to which the guide pin 20 is fixed is slidably supported by the second guide 16, the slider 17 follows the movement of the guide pin 20 by the lever 24 and moves to the second position.
It is guided by the guide 16 and linearly moves in a direction protruding from the entrance 13. When the slider 17 reaches the end of the second guide 16, the slider 17 thereafter moves to the second guide 16.
Pull out. The second guide 16 is the first guide 1
Since the second guide 16 is slidably supported by the first guide 5, the second guide 16 slides so as to be pulled out from the first guide 15. Therefore, the slider 17 further linearly moves in the direction protruding from the entrance 13.

When the operation on the rotating shaft 22 is stopped,
When the guide pin 20 reaches the tip of the guide hole 25 of the lever 24, the slider 17 stops the linear movement in place.
In this state, the holder 19 supported by the support shaft 18 of the slider 17 projects outside from the storage chamber 12 of the main body 11 of the transport container 10. Therefore, the wafer 1 held by the holder 19 is automatically loaded into the pre-vacuum chamber 32.

The wafer 1 on the holder 19 carried into the pre-vacuum chamber 32 as described above is handled by a handling device (not shown) provided in the pre-vacuum chamber 32 or the processing chamber 31.
Is picked up from the holder 19 by the processing chamber 3
It is carried into 1.

After the wafer 1 from the processing chamber 31 is transferred onto the holder 19 by the handling device and the rotating shaft 22 is rotated in the opposite direction by the driving means, the lever 24 is moved in and out. The guide pin 20 is returned along the guide hole 25 because the guide pin 20 is rotated in the direction of retreating to the 13 side. Following this return movement, the slider 17
Slides in the second guide 16 and returns in the opposite direction. When the slider 17 reaches the retreat end of the second guide 16, the slider 17 is pushed into the second guide 16 thereafter, so that the second guide 16 slides so as to be pushed into the first guide 15. Therefore, the slider 17
Makes a further return movement in the direction of being housed in the housing chamber 12 from the entrance 13.

When the operation on the rotating shaft 22 is stopped,
When the guide pin 20 reaches the tip of the guide hole 25 of the lever 24 or when the holder 19 reaches the inner surface of the storage chamber 12, the slider 17 stops the return movement. In this state,
The holder 19 supported on the support shaft 18 of the slider 17 is housed in the housing chamber 12 of the main body 11 of the transport container 10. Therefore, the wafer 1 held by the holder 19 is automatically stored in the storage chamber 12.

After the wafer 1 is stored in the storage chamber 12 as described above, the gate 14 of the transfer container 10 is closed. Here, since the storage chamber 12 of the transfer container 10 is in a state of being evacuated to the same level as the vacuum preliminary chamber 32 by communicating with the vacuum preliminary chamber 32, when the gate 14 is closed, the degree of vacuum of the storage chamber 12 is reduced. Is maintained as it is. Therefore, the wafer 1 stored in the storage chamber 12 of the transfer container 10 is maintained in a state where oxidation, contamination by foreign matter, heavy metal, and the like are completely prevented.

When the gate of the loading / unloading port 33 of the vacuum preparatory chamber 32 is closed after the transfer container 10 is sealed by the gate 14, the transfer container 10 is removed from the loading / unloading port 33 of the vacuum preparatory chamber 32. The wafer 1 is transferred to the next step while being stored in the transfer container 10. At this time, since the degree of vacuum in the storage chamber 12 of the transfer container 10 is maintained as it is, the wafer 1 stored in the storage chamber 12 of the transfer container 10 is completely free from oxidation, contamination by foreign matters, heavy metals, and the like. It is transported while maintaining the prevented state.

In the above-described embodiment, since the rotating shaft 22 is disposed at one end of the access port 13 in the storage chamber 12, the stroke of the slider 17 holding the wafer 1 can be set longer. That is, assuming that the length between the rotation shaft 22 of the lever 24 and the guide pin 20 is L and the angle between the lever 24 and the linear trajectory of the slider 17 is θ, the slider 17 that holds the wafer 1
Can be obtained by the following equation.

D = 2 × L × cos θ ...

As a result of designing under the condition that the depth of the transfer container 10 is set to the minimum size, in the present embodiment, the lever 24 when the lever 24 is most retracted into the accommodation chamber 12 of the transfer container 10 And the orbit of the slider 17 forms an angle θ of 30 degrees. At this time, the stroke amount of the slider 17 holding the wafer 1 is given by (3
^2/1 × L). For example, in the case of a transfer container accommodating an 8-inch wafer, a stroke of 340 mm can be achieved. In this case, the wafer 1 of 8 inches from the edge of the loading / unloading port 13 of the transfer container 10 is 100 mm in length.
Can also stick out. When this protrusion amount is realized, when the wafer 1 in the transfer container 10 is transferred to the outside,
Since there is no need to provide a dedicated handling device, an increase in facility costs can be suppressed.

[0034] 300 m by the conventional handling device
The weight of the handling device when trying to obtain a wafer transfer stroke of m or more is 5 kg or more. However, the first guide 15 and the second guide 1 in the present embodiment
6, the weight of the transfer mechanism including the slider 17 and the lever 24 can be reduced to 750 g. That is,
As compared with the conventional example, the weight can be reduced by about 1/6 or less.

Although the invention made by the inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiment, the invention is not limited to the embodiment and can be variously modified without departing from the gist of the invention. Needless to say.

For example, the operating means of the rotating shaft 22 includes:
The present invention is not limited to the use of the configuration in which the engaging portion 23 is provided at the protruding end of the rotating shaft 22. A configuration in which the driving shaft 22 is operated in a non-contact manner from the outside by a magnetic force or the like may be used. According to the configuration in which the rotation shaft 22 is operated in a non-contact manner from outside, the rotation shaft does not have to penetrate the main body 11, so that the airtight performance of the transport container 10 can be further improved, and The sealing structure between the driving shaft 22 and the main body 11 can be omitted.

In order to promote the reduction in size and weight of the transport container, the main body 11, the holder 19, and the like may be formed of a resin widely used in the field of manufacturing ICs, such as a fluorine resin. Further, the corner portion of the main body 11 may be formed in a notched shape corresponding to the circular wafer 1 which is an article to be accommodated.

In the above description, the case where the invention made by the present inventor is mainly applied to the wafer transfer technique in the field of IC manufacturing, which is the background of application, has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Also, the present invention can be applied to a liquid crystal panel transfer technique in the field of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device. In particular, the present invention can be used in a transport container that transports articles that are not likely to be exposed to the outside air, and can achieve excellent effects.

[0039]

The effects obtained by typical aspects of the invention disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows.

When the lever is rotated by an operation from the outside of the storage chamber of the transfer container, the rotation of the lever is converted into linear movement of the slider by the guide pin, the second guide and the first guide. By doing so, the slider can be moved forward and backward with respect to the accommodation chamber by an operation from the outside, so that the article held by the slider can be moved in and out of the accommodation chamber as the slider advances and retreats, An article stored in the storage chamber of the transport container can be taken out without touching by an external operation.

By closing the access port of the storage chamber with the gate, the storage chamber can be sealed, so that the transport container can transport the stored goods while maintaining the sealed state, and contaminate the stored goods. And oxidation can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1A and 1B show a transport container according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a plan sectional view in a housed state, and FIG.

FIG. 2A is an enlarged partial cross-sectional plan view of FIG. 1A, and FIG. 2B is a front cross-sectional view taken along line bb of FIG. 2A.

3 (a) is a partially enlarged plan sectional view of FIG. 1 (b), and FIG. 3 (b) is a side sectional view taken along line bb of FIG. 3 (a).

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan sectional view showing a usage example.

[Description of sign]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Wafer (article to be stored, article to be conveyed), 10 ... Conveyance container, 11 ... Main body, 12 ... Accommodation room, 13 ... Outlet, 1
4 gate, 15 first guide, 15a first guide hole, 16 second guide, 16a second guide hole, 17
Slider, 18: Support shaft, 19: Holder, 20: Guide pin, 21: Bearing, 22: Rotating shaft, 23: Engagement part, 24:
Lever, 25: guide hole, 30: single-wafer CVD apparatus, 3
Reference numeral 1 denotes a processing chamber, 32 denotes a vacuum preliminary chamber, and 33 denotes a loading / unloading port.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A main body having an access port opened and closed by a gate and having a storage chamber for storing articles to be stored therein,
A first guide laid in the accommodation chamber in a direction intersecting the entrance, a second guide slidably supported by the first guide, and a second guide slidably supported by the second guide. A slider that holds the article to be stored, a rotation shaft that is rotatably supported by the storage chamber and that is operated from the outside, and is slidably fixed to the rotation shaft via the slider and a guide pin. A transfer container, comprising: 2. The transfer container according to claim 1, wherein the rotation shaft is disposed at one end of an access port in the storage chamber. 3. The transport container according to claim 1, wherein at least the first guide and the second guide have a hollow structure. 4. The transport container according to claim 1, wherein the gate is configured to maintain airtightness in a state where an access port is closed.