JPH1149477A - Overhead carrying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stably hold a carrier by providing a hand part hung from a hand hanging part through a hanging member and provided with a holding part for the carrier, and setting the holding point of the holding part against a hand hold part provided on the upper face of the carrier in the vicinity of the center of gravity position of the carrier. SOLUTION: This overhead carrying device 1 carrying a carrier in which wafers are received for manufacturing a semiconductor device, is provided with an overhead carrying vehicle 2, and the overhead carrying vehicle 2 is provided with a running carriage part 6, a hand hanging part 7, and a hand part 9, and the hand hold 22 of the carrier 3 is held with a holding part 10 provided on the hand part 9. In the carrier 3, the front face is opened, and the hand hold 22 of a square plate removing the center is provided on the center of the upper face so as to have a gap against the upper face. In this carrier 3, the center of gravity position exist between a G1 point and a G2 point in the case of being empty or fully charged, and hence the hand hold 22 of the carrier 3 is held with the holding part 10 between these points. Hereby the posture of the carrier 3 is held to be nearly horizontal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hand which travels on a track arranged on the ceiling side, travels with a hand for gripping a carrier fixed at an upper limit position, and has a gripper which can be opened and closed at a predetermined place. The present invention relates to a ceiling transport device for transferring a carrier by raising and lowering a part to a predetermined position by a hanging member, and transporting the carrier between process processing devices arranged in a clean room or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a wafer transfer system for manufacturing semiconductor devices in a clean room, for example, a ceiling transfer vehicle traveling on a track on the ceiling side is used, and a carrier containing a wafer is transferred between semiconductor processing apparatuses or between semiconductor processing apparatuses. Processing is carried out while being transported to and from a stocker. Here, the carrier is ME (Min
i Enviroment) It is a general term for transport containers such as boxes, boxes and cassettes.

[0003] The overhead transport vehicle comprises a traveling bogie section that travels along a track, a hand hanging section provided on the traveling bogie section, and a hand section suspended from the hand hanging section so as to be able to move up and down. The carrier placed on the load port of the process processing apparatus is gripped by the gripper of the hand unit, the hand suspension unit raises the hand unit, and the suspension unit and the hand unit are integrated. The traveling trolley is configured to travel along the track.

In such a semiconductor device manufacturing wafer transfer system, a 200 mm box type carrier 201 shown in FIG. 5 is used. The bottom of the carrier 201 is a lid, and the center of gravity is located at the center of the box. Therefore, the handle 202
Is provided in the shape of a square frame on the upper surface of the box, and when the gripping portion of the hand portion of the overhead transport vehicle grips the handle 202, the openable claw of the gripping portion is operated toward the center of the box, and the handle 202 is Just by hooking, it could be grasped in a well-balanced manner.

[0005]

In order to manufacture high-precision, high-performance semiconductor devices at low cost, silicon wafers are being enlarged. For example, 3
In the manufacture of a semiconductor device using a 00 mm wafer, as shown in FIG. 2, a carrier 3 having an opening 21 on a side surface and a handle 22 on the upper surface extending in a direction toward the opening 21 has been proposed. Was. When the lid 13 is attached to the side like the side surface, the weight of the front portion where the lid 13 is located becomes heavy due to the mechanism for opening and closing the lid 13. That is, it has a box shape in which the center of gravity has moved forward with the lid 13.
Nevertheless, since the handle 22 is attached to the center of the box-shaped upper surface, that is, substantially the center in the front-rear direction, the middle position of the handle 22 and the position of the center of gravity are largely shifted.

Therefore, the lid 13 of the handle portion 22 is conventionally provided.
When the middle part in the direction was gripped and lifted, the box-shaped carrier 3 was easily inclined. Even if it does not tilt, the imbalance of the tension of the suspension member from the suspension part of the ceiling transport vehicle occurs, and the hand part, that is, the carrier 3 swings greatly due to the lifting and lowering during suspension, and the posture of the carrier 3 becomes unstable. Problems tend to occur. Therefore, it is conceivable to hold the carrier 3 in a fixed manner by holding the carrier 3 at multiple points in the extending direction of the handle 22 instead of holding the carrier 3 at the points. However, if the displacement of the center of gravity of the carrier 3 is absorbed by the hand unit, there is a problem that the hand unit needs to be increased in size and weight.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to cope with such a problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a ceiling conveying apparatus capable of stably holding a carrier having an opening on a side surface and having a center of gravity shifted from the center of a box. With the goal.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ceiling transport device for transporting a carrier by a ceiling transport vehicle that can travel along a track on a ceiling side.
The overhead transport vehicle is a traveling carriage unit for the track, a hand suspension unit provided on the traveling carriage unit, and suspended from the hand suspension unit via a suspending member so as to be able to ascend and descend, and to the carrier And a hand unit having a grip unit, wherein the carrier has an opening on a side surface,
A handle portion on the upper surface extending in a direction toward the opening, wherein a grip point of the grip portion with respect to the handle portion is near a center of gravity of the carrier.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the position of the center of gravity of the carrier is set between the position of the center of gravity of an empty state and the position of the center of gravity of a state where a conveyed object is stored. I have.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, a protrusion is provided on the grip portion of the hand portion or the handle portion of the carrier to form a grip point.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a plurality of the hanging members are attached to the hand portion, and an intermediate position of the hanging member in the extending direction of the handle portion, and the carrier And the total position of the center of gravity of the hand portion that has gripped is substantially the same.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fourth aspects, the carrier accommodates a wafer.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view of the ceiling transport device, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a carrier, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another hand unit.

Referring to FIG. 1, a ceiling transport device 1 according to the present invention is shown.
Comprises a ceiling carrier 2 and a carrier 3. The overhead transport vehicle 2 is wound around a traveling bogie section 6 that travels on a track 4 provided on the ceiling side of a building or the like, a hand hanging section 7 fixed to the traveling bogie section 6, and a hand hanging section 7. A hand portion 9 suspended so as to be able to ascend and descend via a detachable suspending member 8, and the handle 22 of the carrier 3 is grasped by a grasping portion 10 provided on the hand portion 9, which can be opened and closed. It has become.

The traveling bogie unit 6 hangs the entire equipment on the track 4 so as to be able to travel, and uses driving wheels (not shown) to drive the track 4.
A drive mechanism that allows the vehicle to travel freely along the road is built in. The hand suspension unit 7 includes four suspension members 8 such as four wires arranged in a square or three wires or ribbons arranged in an equilateral triangle.
Which has a built-in mechanism for winding up. The hand unit 9 is a frame attached to the lower end of the hanging member 8, and has gripping units 10 that can open and close claw members that can be gripped by points, attached to both sides of the frame. The frame of the hand unit 9 includes a lower frame 9a and an upper frame 9b,
When the holding portion 10 is provided on the lower frame 9a and the hanging member 8 is wound up to the upper limit, the upper frame 9b enters the concave portion 7a of the hand hanging portion 7 and is positioned and fixed.

In FIG. 2, the carrier 3 has an opening 21 on the front surface, a curved portion on the rear surface, a box shape surrounded by upper and lower surfaces, and a shelf on which a large number of wafers 24 can be inserted vertically. Have A lid 23 is attached to an opening 24 on the front surface of the carrier 3 so as to be opened and closed by an automatic opening and closing mechanism. In the center of the upper surface of the carrier 3, there is a handle 22 to which a hollow square plate is attached with a gap from the upper surface. The handle 22 includes a pair of parallel extending portions 24 a extending toward the opening 24.
And a pair of extending portions 24b extending in parallel with the opening 24. Normally, when one point of each of the pair of extending portions 24a is gripped, the entire carrier can be gripped at points.

Returning to FIG. 1, since the carrier 3 has a structure having a lid 23 in the front, when the wafer 3 is empty without a wafer, the position of the center of gravity is shifted to the point G2 from the center of the carrier 3 toward the lid 23. is there. When the wafer is fully accommodated in the carrier 3, the position of the center of gravity moves from the point G2 to a point G1 shifted toward the center. The grip 10 of the hand unit 9 is disposed between the points G1 and G2. That is, the grip point of the grip portion 10 is located between the empty and full centroid positions of the carrier 3 and substantially coincides with these centroid positions.

Further, the lower frame 9a of the hand portion 9 is
3, and the center of gravity of the total portion including the hand unit 9 and the carrier 3 is moved to the center point G3. The suspension member 8 is disposed at a position equidistant from the total center of gravity G3 of the carrier 3 and the hand unit 9 in the extending direction of the handle unit 22.

Carrier 3 by ceiling transport device 1 of the present invention
Will be described. In FIG. 1, after lowering the hand unit 9 from the hand suspension unit 7 of the ceiling transport vehicle 2 and holding the carrier 3 with the claw 10 of the holding unit 10,
Is raised and lowered to hold the carrier 3 in a suspended state.
At this time, when the carrier 3 is empty or full, the center of gravity of the carrier 9 is between the points G1 and G2, and the gripper 10 grips the carrier 9 between them. However, a substantially horizontal posture can be maintained. Further, since the suspension members 8 are provided at equal positions on both sides of the total center of gravity G3 of the carrier 3 and the hand unit 9, the tension applied to the suspension members 8 is also substantially equal. For this reason, it is possible to smoothly move up and down while maintaining the substantially horizontal attitude of the carrier 9. After the upper frame 9b of the hand unit 9 is fitted and fixed in the recess 7a of the hand suspension unit 7, the traveling bogie unit 6
, The carrier 3 is transported while maintaining a stable posture.

FIG. 3 shows another grip 50. The grip 10 of FIG. 1 originally had a shape suitable for point gripping, but the grip 50 of FIG. 3 has a U-shaped channel extending openably and closably toward the opening 24 of the carrier 3 (not shown). Things. Therefore, the carrier 3 can be gripped so as to cover the entire extended portion 22a toward the opening 24 of the handle 22 of the carrier 3 in FIG. However, in order to keep the carrier 3 in a natural posture,
A channel-shaped projection 51 is formed on the bottom surface of the channel. The protrusion 51 is provided so as to be located between the position G1 and the position G2 in FIG. 1 and constitutes a support point for the handle of the carrier 3. Therefore, as in the case of FIG.
The carrier 3 can be held in a substantially horizontal posture. When the posture of the carrier 3 is largely inclined, the handle portion 22 is regulated by the upper side and the lower side of the channel, so that the carrier 3 is not largely inclined. Note that the protrusion 51 is not limited to the case where the protrusion 51 is provided upward, and may be provided downward on the handle 22 of the carrier 3.

Next, a case where the ceiling transfer device described in FIGS. 1 to 3 is applied to a wafer transfer system for manufacturing semiconductor devices will be described with reference to FIG. The semiconductor device manufacturing wafer W is placed between the semiconductor processing apparatus 102 and the stocker 103 arranged in the clean room.
As a transfer system for transferring wafers (hereinafter, simply referred to as “wafer W”), a ceiling transfer vehicle 2 that transfers a carrier 3 containing a plurality of wafers W in a suspended state is used. The overhead transport vehicle 2 can travel freely along the track 106, and the track 106, the overhead transport vehicle 2, the carrier 3, and the like constitute the ceiling transport system 101.

The track 106 of the ceiling transfer system 101 is
It has a loop shape arranged on the load ports 110 of a plurality of semiconductor processing apparatuses 102 and stockers 103 arranged in parallel in a clean room. The ceiling transport vehicle 2
It has a hand unit 9 for holding the carrier 3 in a suspended state.

In order to transfer the wafer W stored in the carrier 3 by the ceiling transfer system 101, a hand carriage 9 (not shown) is caused to run on a track 106, and the hand unit 9 is moved to the process device 102 (or stocker 103). Move over the funnel port 110. The position of the hand unit 9 is finely adjusted by a position adjustment mechanism (not shown) such that the hand unit 9 is located immediately above the position of the load port 110. Subsequently, the hand unit 9 is lowered to a position where the carrier 3 on the load port 110 can be gripped by extending the suspension member 8. Next, the handle of the upper part of the carrier 3 is grasped by opening and closing the claws of a grasping part (not shown) of the hand part 9, and the carrier 3 containing the wafer W is integrated with the ceiling carrier 3 by winding up the hanging member 8. I do.

After the hand unit 9 is wound up and fixed, the traveling bogie unit 6 is caused to travel, so that the load port 110 of another process processing apparatus 102 or stocker 103 or the like.
After being transported upward and adjusting the position of the hand unit 9, the carrier 3 is lowered onto the load port 110 of another process device 102 or the stocker 103 by extending the suspension member 8. In this state, the carrier 3 is placed on the load port 110 by opening the claws of the gripping portion of the hand 9 and the hanging member 8 is wound up again, so that the next transfer is performed.

When the carrier 3 is transported as described above, the carrier 3 is gripped so as to be supported at points in a seesaw shape at each of the pair of extending portions of the handle.
The hand section 9 can be simplified and lightened. In addition, since the handle portion having an opening on the front surface and corresponding to the position of the center of gravity of the carrier 3 is gripped, the substantially horizontal posture of the carrier 3 is maintained.

[0026]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is not necessary to make the hand part heavy enough to absorb the shift of the center of gravity of the carrier in order to maintain the posture of the carrier, and the hand part is made compact and lightweight. Can be As a result, it is possible to reduce the size and weight of the hand suspension unit and the entire overhead transport vehicle, and to provide a low-power, high-performance, low-cost overhead transport vehicle. Further, since the swing of the suspension unit is reduced, the transfer time is shortened, and the most important transfer amount in the ceiling transfer system can be increased.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the posture of the carrier can be easily kept horizontal whether the carrier is empty or full.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the handle of the carrier can be supported at a point by the protrusion of the handle or the grip, and the carrier can be gripped with good balance regardless of the shape of the handle or the grip.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the imbalance in the tension of the suspension member is eliminated, and the swing of the hand unit when ascending and descending can be reduced.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, there is an effect that it is possible to cope with an increase in the size of the silicon wafer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a ceiling transfer device.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a carrier.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another hand unit.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a semiconductor device manufacturing wafer transfer system to which the ceiling transfer device of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a conventional carrier.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ceiling conveyance apparatus 2 Ceiling conveyance vehicle 3 Carrier 6 Traveling trolley part 7 Hand suspension part 9 Hand part 10, 50 Grip part 21 Opening 22 Handle 23 Lid 51 Projection part (support point)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A ceiling transport device that transports a carrier by a ceiling transport vehicle that can travel along a track on a ceiling side, wherein the ceiling transport vehicle is provided on a travel bogie unit for the track and on the travel bogie unit. A hand suspending portion, and a hand portion suspended from the hand suspending portion via a suspending member so as to be able to ascend and descend, and provided with a grip portion for the carrier, wherein the carrier has an opening on a side surface. And a handle portion on the upper surface and extending in a direction toward the opening, wherein a grip point of the grip portion with respect to the handle portion is near a center of gravity of the handle portion of the carrier. Ceiling transfer equipment. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the position of the center of gravity of the handle of the carrier is set between the position of the center of gravity of an empty state and the position of the center of gravity of a state in which a load is stored. Ceiling transfer device. 3. The ceiling transport device according to claim 1, wherein a projection is provided on the grip portion of the hand portion or the handle portion of the carrier to form a grip point. 4. A plurality of suspension members are attached to the hand portion, and a total center of gravity of an intermediate position of the suspension member in an extending direction of the handle portion and the hand portion gripping the carrier. The ceiling transport device according to claim 1, wherein the position substantially coincides with the position. 5. The ceiling transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the carrier stores a wafer.