JPH1158281A - Independent control robot for conveyance of semiconductor wafer and glass substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To secure a maximum throughput in shortening a span of stand-by time by attaching two robots separately to a bottom plate and a cover of a transfer chamber. SOLUTION: At the bottom side of a vacuum conveying chamber 1, there is a robot mounting opening part, and an independent control kinetic robot performing those of rotation, expansion or contraction and vertical motion is installed therein. This independent control kinetic robot performing these operations is installed in a cover 4 at the first stage of the vacuum conveying chamber 1 through an opening part being bored in a central part of this cover. In this cover 4, there are several pieces of dowel pins in the vicinity of an outermost perimeter of the cover at the atmospheric side separated from an O-ring, and with these pins used, a vertical robot axial alignment in front and in the rear of opening or closing of the cover and the highly accurate repeatability of a board retractable position from or to a process chamber 10 being shown to a vacuum robot 3 are securable. Since the vacuum conveying chamber 1 becomes a state that a vacuum is maintained, when both covers 5 and 6 are put on the cover 4, the same high vacuum state as one cover alone is thus securable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an independent transfer robot for transferring a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate using a robot, and more particularly to a robot in a cluster tool.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to transfer a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate to a process chamber in a vacuum, a system called a cluster tool is generally used. The semiconductor wafer or glass substrate transfer robot of the cluster tool is a single-arm robot type, multi-arm robot type,
Self-propelled rotary type, with lifting mechanism, etc. are widely used.

[0003]

Problems to be solved by the conventional cluster tool transport robot include the following items.

In a multi-arm robot, it is impossible to transfer a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate to different process chambers at the same time.

[0005] When a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate is received or stored in a load lock chamber or a process chamber, a waiting time exists and the throughput is limited.

If the robot does not have a lifting mechanism, control with the load lock chamber or the process chamber becomes complicated.

[0007] A speed reducer is used in the drive system of the robot, which leads to generation and maintenance of particles, and shortens the life of the drive motor.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for solving the above-mentioned problems, in which two robots are independently mounted on a bottom plate and a lid of a transfer chamber.
Robots can operate and control independently without interfering with each other. Furthermore, since each robot has a lifting mechanism, the control load with the load lock chamber or the process chamber is reduced.

[0009]

1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention. The vacuum transfer chamber 1 in FIG. 1 is a chamber serving as a core of a cluster tool for transferring a wafer or a substrate from the load lock chambers 7, 8, and 9 to a process chamber as shown in FIG. Two and three vacuum robots are installed in this one vacuum transfer chamber to transfer wafers or substrates from the load lock chambers 7, 8, and 9 to the respective process chambers shown in 10. According to the present invention, there are two robots having independent rotation, expansion, contraction, and vertical movement mechanisms in a vacuum transfer chamber, and there is no physical interference between the robots by disposing the robots on a bottom plate and a lid of the chamber.

At the bottom side of the transfer chamber in vacuum shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, there is a robot mounting opening, in which two independently controlled motion robots that rotate, expand and contract, and move up and down are mounted. In the first-stage lid of the transfer chamber in vacuum, three independent control motion robots that rotate, expand, contract, and move up and down are attached to an opening formed in the center of the lid. At the time of maintenance, the opening hole of the lid 4 where the lids 5 and 6 are installed can be used. The lid 4 has several positioning pins near the outermost periphery of the lid on the atmosphere side, which is separated from the O-ring. By using this, the axes of the upper and lower robots before and after opening and closing the lid, and the upper side of 3 A highly accurate reproducibility of the position of the substrate in and out of the process chamber indicated by the robot 10 is obtained. Normally, the vacuum transfer chamber of one vacuum chamber is maintained in a vacuum state. Therefore, by covering the lids of 5 and 6 on the lid of 4, the same high vacuum state as that of only one lid can be obtained.

The drive system of the robot is required to have a long life, particle-free and maintenance-free operation. Therefore, the motor uses a non-contact type direct drive motor without using a speed reduction mechanism or the like. ing. As a result, the rotating bearing of the motor has a low rotation specification, and the robot has a longer life and is cleaner and maintenance-free. The rotors 11 and 12 of the direct drive motor are mounted on a shaft in a vacuum and
The stators 3 and 14 are installed on the atmosphere side of the 17 partition walls in accordance with the position of the rotor. Encoders 15 and 1
6 are mounted on each rotor shaft in a vacuum.

[0012]

According to the independent control robot of the present invention, by independently controlling the two control robots, the semiconductor wafer or the glass substrate can be transferred in the shortest time without physical interference between the robots. It is possible to shorten the maximum throughput.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a cluster tool using the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an internal cross section of a cluster tool using the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 vacuum transfer chamber 10 process chamber 2 vacuum robot 11 rotor 3 vacuum robot 12 rotor 4 lid 13 stator 5 lid 14 stator 6 lid 15 encoder 7 load chuck chamber 16 encoder 8 load chuck chamber 17 partition 9 load chuck chamber

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A robot in a vacuum transfer chamber, which is used for transferring a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate. There are two robots. Each robot is independently controlled.
One robot is an independent control robot that is attached to the bottom plate of the vacuum transfer chamber and rotates, expands and contracts, and moves up and down.
The other robot is an independent control robot that is attached to the lid of the vacuum transfer chamber and rotates, expands and contracts, and moves up and down. 2. The two robots do not interfere with each other unless a wafer or a glass substrate is simultaneously moved in and out of a vacuum transfer chamber into the same process chamber position.
If the other robot is placed below, it will pass below the other robot, or if it is above it, it will not physically interfere with each other even if it passes above the other robot. Control robot. 3. A two-stage lid structure using two lids via an O-ring in a vacuum transfer chamber. The first-stage lid has a plurality of holes on the left and right sides of the center of the lid, Has an opening for mounting a robot, and the second-stage lid has a structure that can be mounted on the first-stage hole. 4. A robot having a link mechanism in the form of a pantograph. The output shaft of the second arm tip of the pantograph shape is divided into two axes, and two gears whose angles can be adjusted are attached to each shaft and mesh with each other. The wafer or glass at the arm tip is An independent control robot that can maintain the posture of a transferred object such as a substrate and fine-tune the posture at any angle. 5. The configuration of a motor having a two-axis coaxial drive shaft and a two-axis drive shaft is constituted by two rotors arranged in series on each rotating shaft and a partition wall on the atmosphere side with a vacuum side. Independent control robot with two stators and a position detection encoder attached to each rotor.