JPH11238778A - Substrate-transferring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate static electricity that is generated at a lower substrate on a collective mounting by providing a plurality of static electricity eliminating devices equally between support arms for mounting the substrate. SOLUTION: A transfer arm X-axis drive part 21 is provided with a plurality of transfer arms 4, and ionizers 13 for emitting positive and derivative uons alternately arranged at the upper, lower, left, and right portions. The transfer arm 4 advances, while retaining substrates 2 and collectively inserts the substrate 2 into an exclusive cassette 3. Then, the transfer arm 4 descends due to the rotation and operation of upper/lower cylinders 14, while retaining the substrate 2 and lowers all substrates 2 into a substrate acceptor in the exclusive cassette 3. Then, when the transfer arm 4 descends to a position where it does not interfere with the substrates 2, it moves to a position where it does not interfere with a common cassette 1 and a treatment side cassette placement part and stands by. In this case, since the plurality of ionizers 13 are provided with a mechanism for discharging N2 gas, they discharge ions efficiently at all times and is able to charge-rneutrarize the equally charge nuetralize electrified static electricity for all substrates 2 to be transferred in batch.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display substrate (LCD substrate) and a plasma display substrate (PD).
The present invention relates to an apparatus for transferring a substrate such as a P substrate) and a semiconductor wafer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an LCD substrate used for a display device such as a personal computer or a word processor is manufactured on a glass substrate surface through a substrate processing step using various devices such as a film forming device. In order to transport between each process that performs substrate processing,
Usually, a common cassette in which about 20 substrates are stored is used. Many devices that receive the common cassette have a dedicated cassette for introducing the processing from the common cassette to the processing unit of the own device in order to perform processing. Therefore, it is necessary to transfer the substrate from the common cassette to the dedicated cassette.

For this reason, in the substrate transfer apparatus, in order to transfer the substrates between the common cassette and the dedicated cassette, a method of transferring the substrates one by one or a method of collectively transferring the substrates has been adopted. Generally, most of the cassette and the substrate are formed of an insulating material. Therefore, the cassette or the substrate may be charged with static electricity during the transfer by the substrate transfer device, and it is necessary to provide a means for removing the static electricity. .

As a first prior art of such a substrate transfer apparatus, an apparatus for collectively transferring substrates as shown in FIG. 5 is used. That is, the loader 30 is configured by stacking the plurality of transfer arms 4 with their spacers interposed at their base ends. At the lower end of the loader 30, an X-axis driving unit 21 for moving the loader 30 in the X-axis direction, a rotation for raising and lowering and rotating the loader 30 and the X-axis driving unit 21 and a vertical cylinder 14, moving in the Y-axis direction And a Y-axis driving unit 20 for driving the motor. The plurality of transfer arms 4 of the loader 30 collectively take out the plurality of substrates 2 stored in the common cassette 1 and transfer them to the dedicated cassette 3 on the processing apparatus side. An ionizer (static eliminator) 15 and a bar-type ionizer 16 are provided above the common cassette 1 and the substrate 2 (see, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-46839).

A second prior art is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.
No. 6,209,91 discloses that an LCD substrate is taken out one by one from a cassette in which a plurality of LCD substrates are stored, and the LCD substrate is taken out of the cassette.
1 shows an inspection apparatus for performing an electrical inspection of a substrate for use. The inspection apparatus includes a first ionizer for removing static electricity charged on a cassette and a second ionizer for removing static electricity charged on an LCD substrate during transportation. Is provided.

[0006]

In the first prior art, when the substrates are collectively transferred, static electricity generated on the middle and lower substrates is difficult to be removed, and the product is damaged due to electrostatic breakdown. There is a disadvantage that the yield is reduced.
The reason is that the static electricity removal device is located above the transfer device, so the static electricity generated during the transfer works only on the upper substrate, and the lower substrate removes the static electricity. Because it is not done.

In addition, static electricity generated in the dedicated cassette on the processing apparatus side cannot be removed, and there is a disadvantage that the yield of products due to electrostatic breakdown is reduced. The reason is that the static eliminator cannot be placed on a vacuum-dedicated cassette such as a film forming apparatus.

Further, since it is difficult to specify the location of the generated static electricity, there is a drawback that a large number of static electricity removing devices must be arranged at every place in order to remove the static electricity. The reason is that in order to effectively remove static electricity from a cassette or a large number of substrates, a static electricity removing device that can cover the entire range of the moving transfer unit is required.

In the second prior art as well, since it is difficult to identify the location of the generated static electricity, there is a drawback that a large number of static electricity removing devices must be arranged at every place in order to remove the static electricity. There is.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the static electricity of a substrate or cassette supplied in a charged state and the static electricity generated at the time of transfer to all the substrates and cassettes in order to solve the above problem. It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate transfer device which can improve the yield of the substrate.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate transfer apparatus having a plurality of substrate support arms for collectively transferring a plurality of substrates from a first cassette to a second cassette. In the substrate transfer apparatus, a plurality of ion discharge ports of a static eliminator (ionizer) are equally provided between each support arm of each substrate support arm for transferring a substrate.

A substrate transfer apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a first
A substrate transfer arm having a substrate support arm for transferring substrates one by one from a cassette to a second cassette,
At the base of the substrate support arm for transferring the substrate, a plurality of static eliminators are provided with ion outlets.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the substrates are collectively transferred from a cassette storing a plurality of substrates mounted on the cassette mounting portion to a cassette storing a plurality of substrates for the purpose of substrate processing. Will be transferred. Since the static elimination device uniformly attached to the base of each substrate supporting arm of the moving substrate transfer portion operates, static electricity charged on the periphery of the substrate, the cassette, and the substrate to be collectively transferred is evenly removed while moving. be able to.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the substrates are transferred from the cassette storing a plurality of substrates mounted on the cassette mounting portion to the cassette storing a plurality of substrates for processing the substrates one by one. Will be posted. Since the static eliminator attached to the base of the substrate support arm of the moving substrate transfer section operates, static electricity charged on the periphery of the substrate, the cassette, and the substrate can be removed while moving.

Further, according to the present invention, there are provided a mounting table on which a common cassette containing a plurality of substrates is mounted, and a plurality of transfer arms for taking out the substrates in the common cassette at once. A transfer unit having a mechanism for moving, a plurality of ionizers attached to the top, bottom, left, and right of the base of each transfer arm, and a processing-side cassette mounting unit that collectively receives substrates from the plurality of transfer arms of the transfer unit. And a substrate transfer device having the dedicated cassette described above.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a mounting table on which a common cassette containing a plurality of substrates is mounted, an articulated robot having one transfer arm for taking out the substrates in the common cassette one by one, A plurality of ionizers attached to the base of the transfer arm, up, down, left, and right;
A substrate transfer apparatus having a transfer unit having an axis driving unit and a dedicated cassette of a processing-side cassette mounting unit that receives a substrate from the transfer unit is obtained.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall plan view showing a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a front view of a transfer mechanism portion. As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate transfer device according to the first embodiment includes a cassette mounting table 18 on which a common cassette 1 on which a plurality of substrates 2 transported from another process is mounted is mounted. Transfer unit 1 having a plurality of transfer arms 4 for collectively removing substrates 2
9, a plurality of ionizers 13 attached to the base of each transfer arm 4, and a plurality of ionizers 13, and a processing-side cassette mounting unit 11 which receives the substrates 2 from the plurality of transfer arms 4 of the transfer unit 19 collectively. It is composed of a dedicated cassette 3.

The structure of the transfer section 19 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 3, the transfer arm Y-axis drive unit 20 which moves to the positions of the common cassettes 1A to 1D and the dedicated cassettes 3A and 3B, and the Y-axis lines 8, 8 'and Y which enable the traveling thereof.
It has a shaft ball screw 9 and a Y-axis ball screw drive motor 10, and is mounted on the upper part of a Y-axis drive unit 20 via a rotation and up-down cylinder 14 which enables rotation and vertical movement of an X-axis drive unit 21. A carrier 22 is mounted, and on the X-axis transfer carrier 22, a transfer arm X-axis drive unit 21 that enables entry from the common cassette 1 </ b> A to 1 </ b> D and dedicated cassettes 3 </ b> A, 3 </ b> B 5 'is mounted together with the X-axis ball screw drive motor 7 and the X-axis ball screw 6.

The transfer arm X-axis drive unit 21 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 2, the ionizer 1 has a plurality of transfer arms 4 and a plurality of ionizers 13 attached to the upper, lower, left and right sides thereof.
Reference numeral 3 denotes a dedicated ionizer that emits positive ions and negative ions, respectively, which are arranged alternately with each other.

As shown in FIG. 1, the dedicated cassette 3 of the processing-side cassette mounting section 11 is arranged obliquely or parallel to the processing-side apparatus such as a vacuum film deposition apparatus substrate input section.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. First, a common cassette 1 on which a plurality of substrates 2 transported from another process is mounted is placed on a cassette mounting table 1.
8. The transfer arm 4 is first moved by the Y-axis lines 8 and 8 'and the Y-axis ball screw 9 driven by the Y-axis ball screw driving motor 10 so that the transfer arm 4 can enter the common cassette 1 in the vertical direction. The transfer arm Y-axis drive unit 20 is moved to the position, and is arranged by the rotation and vertical cylinder 14 so that the transfer arm 4 can be inserted between the plurality of substrates 2 stored in the common cassette 1. You.

Next, the transfer arm X-axis drive section 21 enters the common cassette 1 side by the X-axis lines 5, 5 'and the X-axis ball screw 6 driven by the motor 7, and the transfer arm 4
Moves forward to a position where it can support the substrate 2. The transfer arm 4 is moved by all the substrates 2
Is lifted from the substrate receiver in the common cassette 1 to a level at which the substrate 2 can be taken out. At a height that does not interfere with the substrate receiver, the transfer arm 4 collectively pulls out the substrate 2 by the operation of the transfer arm X-axis drive unit 21.

Next, the transfer arm 4 is moved to a position opposing the dedicated cassette 11B mounted on the processing-side cassette mount 11 by the operation of the transfer arm Y-axis drive unit 20 while holding the substrate 2. I do. While holding the substrate 2, the transfer arm 4 is moved by the rotation and up / down cylinder 14 in the rotation direction and height so that it can be inserted into the dedicated cassette 3B. At this time, the operation is performed so as not to interfere with the substrate receiver in the dedicated cassette 3B.

The transfer arm 4 moves forward by the operation of the transfer arm X-axis drive unit 21 while holding the substrate 2, and inserts the substrate 2 collectively into the dedicated cassette 3B. Transfer arm 4
Is lowered by the rotation and the operation of the vertical cylinder 14 while holding the substrate 2, and all the substrates 2 are transferred to the dedicated cassette 3 </ b> B.
And drop it on the board receiver inside. When the transfer arm 4 descends to a position where the transfer arm 4 does not interfere with the upper and lower substrates 2, the operation of the transfer arm X-axis drive unit 21 moves to a position where the transfer arm 4 does not interfere with the common cassette 1 and the processing-side cassette mounting unit 11 and stands by.

In the above operation, a plurality of ionizers 1
3 is equipped with a N2 gas blowing mechanism, so that ions are constantly emitted efficiently, and a plurality of substrates 2 which are collectively transferred neutralize static electricity charged uniformly on the substrates 2 in all stages from the upper stage to the lower stage. Static electricity can be removed. Since the ionizer 13 constantly removes static electricity during the transfer of the substrate 2 to be transferred, it has the ability to remove static electricity generated in unexpected places.

The plurality of substrates 2 which have been processed on the processing side are transferred to the common cassette 1A by the reverse operation. During the reverse operation, the plurality of ionizers 13 remove static electricity generated on the common cassette 1, the dedicated cassette 3, the substrate 2, and the substrate 2 during transportation. The substrate 2 that has returned to the common cassette 1A after the processing is carried to the next step for each common cassette 1A.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the second embodiment, a common cassette 1 on which a plurality of substrates 2 conveyed from another process are mounted.
, A multi-joint robot 17 having one transfer arm 4 for taking out the substrates 2 in the common cassette 1 one by one, and a plurality of robots 17 mounted on the top, bottom, left and right of the base of the transfer arm 4 Ionizer 13 and transfer arm 4
A transfer unit 19 having a rotation and up / down cylinder 14 and a transfer arm Y-axis drive unit 20 for performing rotation and up / down operation of the transfer unit 1;
And a dedicated cassette 3 of the processing-side cassette mounting portion 11 which receives the substrate 2 from the substrate 9.

The N2 gas blowing type ionizer 13 attached to the base of the transfer arm 4 is arranged at a total of four positions of the transfer arm 4 in the upper, lower, left and right directions. Each of the ionizers 13 is a dedicated ionizer that emits positive ions and negative ions, and they are alternately arranged.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described. The operation of the transfer unit 19 is the same as that of the first embodiment except that the transfer unit 19 transfers the substrates 2 one by one using the articulated robot 17. The effect of the first embodiment is mainly for the purpose of removing electricity from the lower substrate 2 on which the substrates 2 are collectively transferred. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the transfer is performed by using the N2 gas blowing ionizer 13. The purpose is to efficiently remove electricity from the substrate 2, the common cassette 1, the dedicated cassette 3, and the periphery thereof.

[0030]

The first effect of the present invention described above is that static electricity generated on the lower substrate 2 during batch transfer can be eliminated. Thereby, the yield can be improved. The reason is that the conventional static electricity eliminator (ionizer) can eliminate static electricity only on the uppermost substrate.

The second effect is that static electricity can be removed from a portion where the static electricity removing device cannot be arranged. Thereby, the yield can be improved. The reason is that the static electricity eliminator is arranged on the transfer arm side which is a movable part.

The third effect is that it is no longer necessary to dispose an electrostatic discharger at each location where the static electricity is removed. The reason is that the static electricity eliminator is arranged on the transfer arm side, which is a movable part, and that the unspecified static electricity generating part can be simultaneously neutralized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall plan view showing a first embodiment of a substrate transfer device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the transfer mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a second embodiment of the substrate mounting apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a conventional substrate transfer device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Common cassette 2 Substrate 3 Dedicated cassette 4 Transfer arm 5, 5 'X axis line 6 X axis ball screw 7 X axis ball screw drive motor 8, 8' Y axis line 9 Y axis ball screw 10 Y axis ball screw drive motor 11 Processing side Cassette placement unit 12 Substrate transfer device 13 Ionizer (A to V) 14 Rotation and vertical cylinder 15 Ionizer 16 Bar type ionizer 17 Articulated robot 18 Cassette mounting table 19 Transfer unit 20 Transfer arm Y-axis drive unit 21 Transfer Arm X-axis drive unit 22 X-axis transfer carrier

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A substrate transfer apparatus having a plurality of substrate support arms for collectively transferring a plurality of substrates from a first cassette to a second cassette, wherein each substrate support for transferring the substrates is provided. A substrate transfer device, wherein a plurality of static eliminators (ionizers) are provided evenly between each support arm of the arms. 2. A substrate transfer apparatus having a substrate support arm for transferring substrates one by one from a first cassette to a second cassette, wherein: Multiple static eliminators (ionizers)
A substrate transfer device, comprising: 3. A mounting table on which a common cassette accommodating a plurality of substrates is mounted, and a mechanism for moving the transfer arms having a plurality of transfer arms for collectively taking out the substrates in the common cassette. A transfer unit, a plurality of ionizers attached to the top, bottom, left and right of the base of each transfer arm, and a dedicated cassette for a processing-side cassette mounting unit that receives substrates from the plurality of transfer arms of the transfer unit at a time And a substrate transfer device. 4. The transfer unit includes a transfer arm Y-axis drive unit that moves between the position of a common cassette and a dedicated cassette, a transfer arm X-axis drive unit provided above the transfer arm, and the transfer arm. 4. The substrate transfer device according to claim 3, further comprising a rotation and up / down cylinder that enables rotation and up / down operation of the X-axis drive unit provided between the X-axis drive unit and the transfer arm Y-axis drive unit. 5. A multi-joint robot having a mounting table on which a common cassette containing a plurality of substrates is mounted, and a transfer arm for taking out one substrate from the common cassette one by one;
A plurality of ionizers attached to the top, bottom, left and right of the base of the transfer arm, a transfer unit having a rotation and up / down cylinder for performing rotation and vertical movement of the transfer arm, and a transfer arm Y-axis drive unit; A substrate transfer device, comprising: a processing-side cassette mounting portion dedicated cassette for receiving a substrate from the transfer portion.