JPS61295949A - Conveying device for plate-like member - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automate the inversion of a plate-like member with a less occupied area and without no large dangerous area, b rotating an arm member about its longitudinal axis to inverse the front and rear sides of a plate-like member to be conveyed, which is held by the arm member. CONSTITUTION:A motor 17 is driven to rotate a shaft 22 through gears 15, 18, 19, 21. An inverting arm 12 coupled to the lower end of the shaft 22 is turned in a horizontal plane when the motor 17 is driven, to carry a wafer 3 absorbed by a suction pad 29. Then another motor 24 is driven to inverse the upper and lower sides of the wafer 6. Further, the arm 12 which is attached to one end of a shaft 26, eccentric therewith, absorbs the wafer 6 and is vertically moved by a cylinder 9. The inverted wafer 6 is set on a table 11. Accordingly, since the inversion of front and rear sides of the wafer 6 may be made about the longitudinal axis of the arm 2, the occupied area of the conveying apparatus may be made to be less, and there is presented no dangerous area.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a conveyance device having a structure in which a plate-shaped member is suction-held at the tip of an arm and the arm is rotated in a horizontal plane, and in particular relates to a conveying device that holds a plate-shaped member by suction at the tip of an arm and rotates the arm in a horizontal plane. Transports (for example, silicon wafers) and supplies them to processing machines and inspection machines.

This invention relates to a conveyance device that has been improved to be suitable for removal and discharge.

[Background of the invention]

Conventionally, as one type of grinding equipment for grinding thin and fragile workpieces (hereinafter referred to as wafers) such as silicon wafers, the wafer is placed on a chuck such as a rotary table or index table, and the wafer surface is ground with a grindstone. Grinding equipment for processing is known.

However, in the conventionally known grinding apparatus and the workpiece conveying apparatus attached thereto, when grinding the back surface of the wafer in the cassette, the wafer in the cassette must be turned upside down manually. Such manual intervention is not only undesirable from the viewpoint of saving labor, but also extremely undesirable from the viewpoint of increasing the risk (probability of occurrence) of contaminating or damaging the wafer.

Therefore, in a known conventional technique such as Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-142262, the arm member holding the wafer by suction is rotated 180 degrees in a vertical plane to turn the held wafer upside down. .

However, as wafers have become larger in diameter in recent years, this method requires a relatively large equipment area and also requires a 180°
The area within the trajectory whose radius is the length of the reversing arm is a dangerous area.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention was developed in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and is capable of automatically reversing the front and back sides of a plate-shaped member while conveying it in a horizontal plane.Moreover, the required installation area is small, and large dangerous areas can be avoided. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a conveyance device that does not require any transportation.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the conveying device of the present invention is a device for conveying a plate-shaped object by suctioning and holding it at the tip of an arm member that rotates in a horizontal plane centering on the base end. The present invention is characterized in that the arm member is configured to be able to turn around the longitudinal axis of the arm member to turn over the front and back of the plate-shaped object being held.

C. Embodiment of the invention] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a grinding machine equipped with an embodiment of the conveying device of the invention.

A is the main body portion of the grinding machine, B is a loading portion constructed by applying the conveying device of the present invention, and C is an unloading portion.

Loading part B is carried out by inverting the wafer (not shown) stored in the cassette 10 and then turning the wafer (not shown) upside down into the grinding machine body part A.
The unloading section C is configured to remove the wafer and store it in a cassette 10'.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the grinding machine, and FIG. 3 is a side view.

2 is the bed of the grinding machine body A, 2 is the column, and 3 is the spindle head.

The bed 1 is equipped with an index table 4, and a plurality of chucks 5 are provided on the index table 4.

One pair each of two types of arms 12 and 13 are provided.

The arm 13 has a function of transferring the wafer 6 to the chuck 5 on the index table 4, that is, a transport function in a horizontal plane.

The 7-arm 12 picks up the wafer 6' in the cassette 10, turns it upside down and transfers it to the arm 13, and also turns the wafer taken from the arm 13 upside down and transfers it to the wafer 61 in the cassette 10'. It has the function of storing in a certain position.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged plan view depicting the vicinity of the arm 13 dedicated to loading and unloading the wafer and the arm 12 having the function of reversing the wafer up and down (front and back).

The configuration of the arms 12, 13 described above will be described later with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. Now, the function of FIG. 4 will be explained.

The arm 12 rotates 90 degrees to the left and right as shown by the arrow R around the center of rotation, and is provided with a suction pad 29 at its tip.

On the other hand, the wafers 6' in the cassette 10 are shown by arrows a, a' (D
It is fed out to positions 6a, 6a' by a button (not shown).

The arm 12 suctions the wafers at positions 5a and 5a' with the suction pad 4, rotates in the direction of arrow R, and picks up the wafers at 6.
The wafer is transported to position b, rotated by 90° on one axis DE, and transferred to the arm 13 with the top and bottom of the wafer turned over.

Specifically, the arm 12 suction-holds the lower surface of the wafer 6a or 6a', turns it upside down and places it on the intermediate table 11.
put on top. The arm 13 suction-holds the inverted wafer 6b by means of the suction pad 4, and swivels as shown by the arc arrow to mount it on the chuck 5 at the position 6a.

The removal and storage of the wafer 6c is performed in the reverse order to the above.

FIG. 5 is a fourth sectional view taken along line V-V.

The above-mentioned vertical reversal arm 12 is supported by the grinding machine body via a plate 16 and a bracket (not shown) that connects the plate and the grinding machine body. plate 1
Drives the motor 17 attached to the gear 15.1
8. Rotate the shaft 22 via 19.21. An arm 12 for up/down (front to back) reversal is connected to the lower end of the shaft 22, and when driven by a motor 17, the arm 12 rotates in a horizontal plane to carry the wafer 6 held by the suction pad 4. Then, another motor 24 is driven to turn the wafer 6 upside down by 90'. The reversing motor 24 rotates the shaft 26 via the gear 25 and the gear γ.

Further, the up-and-down reversing arm 12 is eccentrically attached to the end of the shaft 26 (that is, the wafer 6 held by suction is aligned with a plane containing the axis of the shaft 26). Further, the reversing arm 12 adsorbs the wafer 6 and the cylinder 9
to be driven up and down. The inverted wafer 6 is placed on the table 11.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line W-W in FIG. 4, and shows the arm 13 dedicated to rotation (not turned upside down). In addition to not having a structure for vertically inverting, the arm 12 described above (FIG. 5)
It is similar to

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the device of the present invention, since the front and back sides of the plate-shaped member are turned around the longitudinal axis of the arm, the required installation area is small, and the plate-shaped member does not need to rotate in a vertical plane. Since the front and back of the member are turned over, there is no need to create a large dangerous area. Further, since the plate-shaped member is turned over without manual intervention, there is no risk of the plate-shaped member being soiled or damaged, which is an excellent practical effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a grinding machine equipped with an embodiment of the plate-shaped member conveying device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a side view thereof. Fig. 4 is an operational explanatory diagram depicting enlarged details of the main parts of the plan view (Fig. 2), Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along V-V in Fig. 4, and Fig. 6 is the same <W-w sectional view. be. l... Bed, 2... Column, 3... Spindle head, 4... Index table, 5... Chuck, 6, 6', 6'... As a plate-shaped conveyed member Wafer, 10°10'...Cassette storing wafer, 12...Arm constructed by applying the present invention, 13
...Arm for wafer transfer, 19.21.25.27
...Gear, 16...Plate, 17.24...Motor, 26...Shaft, 4...Suction pad.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a device for transporting a plate-shaped object by suctioning and holding it at the tip of an arm member that rotates in a horizontal plane about its base end, the arm member is rotated in its longitudinal direction. 1. A conveying apparatus for a plate-shaped member, characterized in that the apparatus is configured to rotate around the axis of the plate-shaped member to reverse the front and back sides of the plate-shaped object being held. 2. The plate-like member conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plate-like member is a semiconductor wafer. 3. The rotating arm is characterized in that it transports a semiconductor wafer as a workpiece between a grinding machine and a cassette, and supplies and removes the semiconductor wafer to and from the grinding machine. A conveying device for a plate-like member according to claim 2.