JPH11163090A - Thin work transfer robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a multifunction robot for transferring a work located remotely. SOLUTION: A robot 1 comprises a rotatable arm body 5, and a hand section 9 disposed above the forward end of the arm body 5. The arm body 5 comprises first, second and third arms 6, 7 and 8 sequentially from below wherein the first and second arms 6, 7 are driven through motors 61, 65, respectively. The hand section 9 comprises two hands and a work sensor and disposed rotatably relative to the third arm through a motor. A CCD sensor unit and a rotary table are disposed movably up and down on the machine base 3. The CCD sensor unit picks up the image of a work on the robot 1 in order to align the work.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer robot for transferring a thin work such as a silicon wafer or a glass substrate, and more particularly to a transfer robot for a thin work in which a hand can move a long stroke in a horizontal direction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a thin work such as a silicon wafer or a glass substrate is used as a semiconductor chip and is processed or transported in a clean room. Therefore, a robot that transports a thin work is also installed in a clean room, and is configured to transport the thin work from a predetermined position to a position where the thin work is processed. Conventionally, a transfer robot for a thin work has a hand unit that is disposed in a clean room and supports the thin work, and a drive unit that rotates or moves the hand unit up and down, and the drive unit is disposed in a machine base. Was configured to. A transfer robot 20 shown in FIG. 9 is generally well-known, and has a machine base 21 and an arm body 22 which can rotate or ascend and descend with respect to the machine base 21 and bendable and extendable. And a hand 23 that is rotatable with respect to. The arm body is composed of two arms, a first arm 24 rotated with respect to the machine base 21 by a motor (not shown) arranged in the machine base 21, and another first arm 24 adjacent to the first arm 24. The second arm 25 is driven and transmitted by a pulley / belt (not shown), and the second arm 25 is rotated with respect to the first arm 24 by being transmitted. The robot 20 having the arm 22 and the hand 23 picks up and takes in the thin work without contacting both ends of the cassette by adsorbing the thin work stored in a cassette (not shown) and moving linearly. It becomes possible.

[0003]

However, since the conventional transfer robot is configured to linearly move the hand by bending and extending the two arms, the movement position of the hand is limited. Therefore, when there is a lot of processing of the work, or when the work is moved to a long distance in one process, a rail is installed below the robot, and the robot itself is moved along the rail. However, moving the robot itself not only requires a large space, but also increases the equipment cost. Further, in order to accurately transfer the work to many processes, a device other than the robot (for example, a work alignment device or a work detection device) must be additionally provided. This further increases equipment costs.

[0004] The present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a first object is to move a hand to a long distance while fixing a robot at one place, and a second object is to use a large number of robots. The purpose is to make the equipment itself compact by making it functional, and also to shorten the work transfer time. It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved transfer robot.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A thin work transfer robot according to the present invention has the following configuration to solve the above-mentioned problems. That is, a machine base, a hand unit supporting a thin work, an arm body rotatably supported by the machine base and connected to the hand unit to move the hand unit to a predetermined position, and the arm body And a drive unit configured to be able to bend and extend, wherein the thin body is a transfer robot for a thin work, wherein the arm body has an arm arranged at least in three stages and is configured to be able to bend and extend. At least two of the arms are configured to be rotatable by respective drive sources.

Preferably, at least two hands for supporting a work are provided in the hand section.

Further, the machine base is provided with a rotary table that supports the work and can move up and down with respect to the machine base, and an image pickup unit that images the work supported by the rotary table. It is further preferable that the position is corrected by comparing the position with the regular position and the correction of the position is controlled by correcting the position of the hand unit.

[0008] The hand may be provided with a detection sensor for detecting the presence or absence of a work stored in a cassette in the hand.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a transfer robot (hereinafter, referred to as a robot) 1 of the present embodiment is provided with a machine base 3 and an arm body which is disposed above the machine base 3 and is rotatable with respect to the machine base 3. 5 and a hand unit 9 disposed above the tip of the arm body 5. The arm body 5 is composed of a first arm 6, a second arm 7, and a third arm 8, each of which is formed in a hollow shape. Arms 5 are arranged in three stages from below and vertically adjacent arms rotate at respective nodes. Thereby, the arm body 5 is extended or bent.

One end of the first arm 6 is pivotally supported by a column 10 that can move up and down with respect to the machine base 3 and can be rotated via a speed reducer 62 by a motor 61 supported by the column 10 inside the column 10. A shaft 64 fixed to one end of the second arm 7 at the other end is rotatably mounted via a speed reducer 66 by a motor 65 mounted below the first arm 6. A first pulley 71, which is located inside the second arm 7 and is fixed to the lower part of the first arm 6, is rotatably supported on the outer periphery of the upper part of the shaft 64. It is drivingly connected to a supported second pulley 73 via a belt 74. Second pulley 7
3 is rotatably fitted via a bearing to a shaft 75 rotatably fixed to and supported by the second arm 7, and the upper portion of the shaft 75 is fixed to one end of the third arm 8 to rotate the second pulley 73. As a result, the third arm 8 rotates together. At the other end of the third arm 8, as shown in FIG. 3, a motor 81 is disposed so as to be surrounded by the inside of the outer case 82 upward, and is fixed to the output shaft 83 of the motor 81 to the third arm 8. Shaft 85 is fixed via a speed reducer 84. Motor 8
1 is fixed to the mounting bracket 86 together with the outer case 82, and the hand unit 9 is arranged on the mounting bracket 86 so as to be rotatable around the shaft 8 a of the third arm 8. Therefore,
When the motor 81 operates, the main body / outer case 82 and the hand unit 9 of the motor 81 integrally rotate around the fixed output shaft 83.

As shown in FIG. 2, the hand unit 9 includes a pedestal 92 having three legs 91 at 120-degree intervals and the above-mentioned leg 9.
It has hands 93A and 93B attached to one of the two and sucking and supporting the wafer W, and a detection sensor 95 arranged on one leg 91, and is configured to be rotatable together with the motor 81 as described above. ing. The detection sensor 95 is a reflection-type sensor that emits light to a target object (work) and receives the reflected light to detect the presence or absence. Each hand 9
Three suction holes 93a and 93b for sucking a work are formed in 3A and 93B.

A CCD sensor unit 31 which can be moved up and down with respect to the machine base 3 and a turntable 32
After the work conveyed by the hands 93A and 93B is supported on the turntable 32, the rotated work is transferred to the CC sensor unit 31 arranged on the CCD sensor unit 31.
It is configured to be able to take an image with a D camera. After confirming the current position of the work by imaging the outer peripheral surface of the work, the CCD camera sends a deviation from a normal position to the control device, and corrects the position of the hand 93A (93B) by a command from the control device to correct the position of the hand 93A (93B). Alignment will be performed.

The robot 1 configured as described above is arranged in a work processing system S having a plurality of processing devices 12, as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, the work is a wafer W, and eight processing devices 12 are arranged. For example, among them, 12C is a cassette in which wafers W are stored, and 12H is a cassette in which processed wafers W are stored. Then, the wafer W stored in the cassette 12C is sucked and taken out, and
Suppose that after being transported to A and processed, it is stored in the cassette 12H.

The hand unit 9 of the robot 1, which is disposed at substantially the center of each processing unit 12, has the arm 5 bent and located above the center of the machine base 3. First, the arm body 5 and the hand unit 9 are raised together with the support column 10 by a drive motor (not shown). The motor 61 with the support 10 rising
(See FIG. 1) to move the first arm 6 to the cassette 12C.
, And the motor 65 (see FIG. 1) disposed at the lower end of the other end of the first arm 6 is operated. Then, the motor 65 rotates the second arm 7 and the second arm 7
With the rotation of the arm 7, its drive is transmitted to the pulley 71, the belt 74 and the second pulley 73 (see FIG. 1) to rotate the third arm 8. This rotation angle has been input by the command device in advance because the determined position of the cassette 12C has been confirmed.

First, the motor 81 is actuated so that the detection sensor 95 moves to a position facing the cassette 12C, and light is applied to the end faces of all the wafers W stored in the cassette 12C while moving the detection sensor 95 up and down. The “whether” of the wafer W is detected by the projection. The hand 93A is rotated to a position facing the cassette 12C with respect to the wafer W for which "presence" has been confirmed. Then, after moving the hand 93A below the wafer W, the hand 93A is lifted to suck the wafer W, and once moves out of the cassette 12C. Then, the hand 93B is rotated so as to face the cassette C, and the next wafer W, for which "presence" is confirmed, is sucked and taken out by the hand 93B in the same manner as described above. The cassette 12C
When it is confirmed that there is no wafer W to be stored in the wafer and "absent", the hand passes that position and is moved to the position of the next wafer W whose "presence" is confirmed. Therefore, in this robot, since the work presence / absence detection sensor is attached to the robot 1 itself, a work presence / absence detection device installed separately from the robot is not required.

The robot 1 that has picked up the wafer W on the two hands 93A and 93B again
To return to the position above the machine base 3 while bending and extending the arm body 5. While the wafer W is being moved to a position above the machine base 3, the CCD sensor unit 31 and the rotary table 32 arranged on the machine base 3 rise from the inside of the machine base 3 onto the machine base 3. After the wafer W sucked by the hand 93A is placed at the center position of the rotary table 32 and the hand 93A is moved below the wafer W, the rotary table 32 is rotated, and the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W is detected by the CCD sensor. Unit 3
The current position of the wafer W is detected by taking an image with the CCD camera arranged at 1. The wafer W for which imaging has been completed is hand 93
After the suction by A, the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W sucked by the hand 93B is similarly imaged to detect the position. The detected current position of the wafer W is sent as a signal to a control device (not shown), and the control device calculates a deviation from a normal position. The deviation is corrected by changing the angle of the hand 93A (93B). Therefore, in this robot, since the alignment operation conventionally performed by another alignment apparatus can be performed by the robot 1 itself, for example, when the work is a wafer, there is no need to separately install an orientation flat aligning apparatus.

The wafer W thus aligned
Is then moved toward the processing device 12A and processed. In the procedure of transferring the wafer W to the processing device 12A, the arm body 5 is extended and the wafer W sucked by the hand 93A is first loaded into the processing device 12A. After the processing is completed, the hand unit 9 is rotated so that the wafer W sucked by the hand 93B is moved.
Is carried next to perform the processing. When the processing of both wafers W is completed, the empty cassette 1 is held while bending and extending the arm body 5.
Move so as to face 2H. And hand 93A
・ Empty cassette 1 for wafers W absorbed by 93B
The same operation as described above is repeated in order to suction and transport another wafer W stored in the cassette 12C again after the storage in the cassette 2H.

Note that the above-described operation is one mode, and in the process of processing the wafer W, the wafer W can be transferred to another processing apparatus 12 as necessary and appropriately processed.
In any case, even when a plurality of processing apparatuses are installed and a long distance is transported, the arm body is configured in three stages, and at least two of the three stages are independently driven. Therefore, the degree of freedom of the arm body can be increased, and the extension distance can be increased.

The configuration of the robot according to the present invention is not limited to the above, and can be implemented in other forms. For example, the number of arms constituting the arm body may be increased, and the increased arm may be driven alone. Alternatively, the number of hands constituting the hand portion may be one, or may be increased.
And if you place a wafer presence / absence detection sensor on the hand,
When the hand moves to the position facing the wafer, the presence or absence of the wafer can be detected, and the tact time can be further reduced.

It is to be noted that the wafer presence / absence detection sensor may be one that projects upward from the lower surface of the wafer instead of projecting it onto the end face of the wafer.

[0022]

As described above, the robot for transporting a thin work according to the present invention is provided with a machine base, a hand unit for supporting the thin work, and a rotatably supported by the machine base and connected to the hand unit. An arm body that moves the hand unit to a predetermined position, and a driving unit that drives the arm body to bend and extend,
Wherein the arm body is configured to be able to bend and extend with at least three-staged arms, and that at least two of the arms are each driven by a single drive source. It is configured to be rotatable. As a result, the arm can be extended and the degree of freedom of the hand unit can be increased to convey the work. It can be fixed at one place without moving itself.

Further, if at least two hands are included in the hand section, a plurality of works can be moved by one transfer and the tact time can be reduced.

Furthermore, if the robot itself is provided with a work presence / absence detection sensor or a work image pickup means, the robot itself becomes multifunctional and does not require a separate work presence / absence detection device or work alignment device. And the equipment cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view showing a transfer robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the robot in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view showing details of a portion A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a state in which the robot in FIG. 1 is used in a transfer system.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a conventional robot.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Robot 3 ... Machine stand 5 ... Arm body 6 ... 1st arm 7 ... 2nd arm 8 ... 3rd arm 9 ... Hand part 10 ... Support column 31 ... CCD sensor unit (imaging means) 32 ... Rotary table 61/65 81: Motor (drive source) 93A / 93B: Hand 95: Detection sensor W: Wafer (work)

Claims (4)

[Claims] A machine unit, a hand unit supporting a thin work, an arm body rotatably supported by the machine unit and connected to the hand unit to move the hand unit to a predetermined position; A drive unit that drives the arm body to bend and extend,
A robot for transporting a thin work, comprising: an arm body having at least three-stage arranged arms so as to be able to bend and extend, and at least two arms of the arms are respectively provided. A thin work transfer robot characterized by being rotatable by a single drive source. 2. The thin work transfer robot according to claim 1, wherein at least two hands for supporting the work are arranged on the hand section. 3. A rotary table that supports the work and can move up and down with respect to the base, and an imaging unit that captures an image of the work supported by the rotary table are disposed on the machine base. 2. The transfer robot for a thin work according to claim 1, wherein a position is compared with a regular position, and the correction of the position is controlled by correcting the position of the hand unit. 4. The transfer robot for a thin work according to claim 1, wherein a detection sensor for detecting the presence or absence of a work stored in a cassette is provided in the hand unit.