JPS6133404A - Article transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent ultra-thin articles such as, for example, semiconductor wefers, from being damaged and to enhance the yield thereof, by holding a resin cartridge in which the ultra-thin parts are stored, and a quartz jig, in opposite to each other, and by transferring the articles therebetween at one stroke with the use of article pushing means. CONSTITUTION:Article pushing means 3a, 3b are set, respectively in groove-like guide means 2a, 2b formed in both end parts of a long base plate section 1. First and second article storing sections 4, 5 are rotatably journalled to bearings 4a, 5a in the vicinity of the inner ends of the guide means 2a, 2b. A resin cartridge 12 in which plural pieces of articles are stored is stored in the first storing section 4, and a quartz jig 13 formed therein with a plurality of grooves 14 in which the articles 11 may be stored is stored in the second storing section 5. Further, upon shifting of the articles 11 into the quartz jig 13, the storing sections 4, 5 are rotated to be opposed to each other, and a pushing means 3a is therefore moved rightward, thereby the articles 11 may be shifted into the quartz jig 13 at one stroke in association with the rightward movement of the pushing member 3a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Technical Field] The present invention provides an article transfer device suitable for use when transferring ultra-thin articles such as semiconductor wafers from a first storage body to a second storage body. Regarding.

[Background technology]

[Electronic Materials J (March 1983 issue, Kogyo Kenkyukai Publishing, P.
63-64), transfer of semiconductor wafers between a resin wafer cartridge used for transporting semiconductor wafers and a quartz jig used for diffusion etc. is carried out manually or by using a special jig. However, as semiconductor wafers become larger in diameter, it is stated that the above-mentioned transfer work must be automated.

For example, in the processing of semiconductor wafers, heat treatment (800° C. to 1200° C.) is repeated several times, so it is necessary to use a heat treatment jig made of quartz glass or silicon. On the other hand, there is a cleaning process before heat treatment.
Semiconductor wafers are stored in resin wafer cartridges for chemical treatment such as acids. In this case, the semiconductor wafer is transferred, in other words transferred, using a vacuum bin set known to those skilled in the art for this transfer operation.

This transfer work is carried out by suctioning the semiconductor wafers one by one with vacuum tweezers, and is completely manual work. When the inventors of the present invention examined the above-mentioned transfer operation, it was found that it had the following defects.

That is, by suctioning semiconductor wafers one by one, foreign matter on the order of microns is generated, resulting in a decrease in product yield. Furthermore, since the transfer work is done one sheet at a time, the work efficiency is not good. Easy to get scratched by vacuum tweezers. It has been revealed that product yields decrease due to a combination of various conditions, such as the need for skill to handle semiconductor wafers with vacuum tweezers and the time it takes to become proficient. Semiconductor wafers have been made larger in diameter to improve product yields, but the large diameter makes it difficult to hold them in a vacuum bin set, and the current situation is that improvements in product yields have stagnated.

Furthermore, in microfabricated products such as 64Kbit random access memory, the wiring width is as small as 1 μm, so if the above-mentioned foreign objects, scratches, and chips occur, this may cause problems during photo etching, for example. It has become clear that the photoresist cannot be processed into the original mask, and short circuits and disconnections occur in wiring, resulting in a significant decrease in the production yield of semiconductor integrated circuits. [Purpose of the invention] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to correct the above-mentioned defects, and to provide a transfer device that transfers a plurality of plate-shaped objects such as semiconductor wafers at once without using a vacuum bin set or the like.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Summary of the invention]

A brief summary of the invention disclosed in this application is as follows:
It is as follows.

That is, a resin cartridge or a quartz jig containing a plurality of semiconductor wafers is held in positions facing each other, and an article pushing means is used to move the resin cartridge into the quartz jig or from the quartz jig into the resin cartridge. The object of the present invention is to transfer the semiconductor wafers at once and to transfer them with high efficiency and without damaging the semiconductor wafers.

〔Example〕

Next, a first embodiment of an article transfer device to which the present invention is applied will be described.
This will be explained with reference to FIGS. Note that FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the entire transfer device, FIGS. 2 to 5 show the configuration of the device during transfer, and FIG. 6 shows the situation at the end of transfer.

The feature of this embodiment is that guide means 2a+2b and article pushing means 3a*3b are provided on the base plate 1, and furthermore, the first and second article storage sections 4.about.5, which are rotatably provided, can be moved. A semiconductor wafer 11 is stored in one side, and with the semiconductor wafer 11 stored, the first and second article storage sections 4 and 5 are rotated to face each other, and the semiconductor wafer is moved by the article pushing means 3a or 3b. By pushing the wafers 11 all at once, the semiconductor wafers 11 are transferred all at once.

As shown in FIG. 1, groove-shaped guide means 2a + 2b are formed at both ends of the elongated base plate 1, and article pushing means 3a + 3b are provided on these so as to be freely pushable. . In addition, the first article storage section 4 is located at a fulcrum 4a on the substrate section 1.
The second article storage section 5 is also rotatably provided around a fulcrum 5a. Note that the article pushing means 3a+3b may be made of stainless steel, vinyl chloride, or the like, and the parts other than those in contact with the semiconductor wafer 11, which will be described later, may be made of chlorine-based resin. In addition, article pushing means 3 a r 3
The pushing movement b may be performed manually or driven by a motor or the like.

A resin cartridge 12 containing, for example, 25 semiconductor wafers 11 is fitted into the box-shaped first storage portion 4 as shown by arrow A. This corresponds to the first article storage unit in the present invention.Furthermore, a quartz jig 13 is fitted into the second article storage unit 5, and this quartz jig 13 corresponds to the second article storage unit in the present invention. Corresponds to an article storage body.

What should be noted here is the groove 14 provided inside the quartz jig 13 for holding the semiconductor wafer 11, and the guide groove 6 provided on the inner surface of the second article storage section 5.
a * 6 b s This is also the relationship with the guide grooves 15a and 15b provided in the resin cartridge 12.

That is, as shown in FIG.
is fitted into the first article storage section 4, and the quartz jig 13 is fitted into the second article storage section 4.
It is fitted into the article storage section 5 of.

And the guide groove plate 7a of the second article storage section 5.

7b is established as shown in FIG. 3. At this time, the groove 14 and the guide groove 6a + 6b form a substantially continuous guide groove, and as shown in FIG. When the first and second article storage sections 4.5 are rotated to face each other, the groove 14. Guide groove 6a + 6b * 1
5 a + 15 b all form a continuous guide groove, and the semiconductor wafer 11 is transferred along the continuous guide groove.

Then, the semiconductor wafer 11 is transferred from the state shown in FIG. 4, and the transfer is performed by moving the article pushing means 3a to the guide means 2a in the direction of arrow C as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. a, and the semiconductor wafer 11 is pushed from the position shown by the solid line to the position shown by the imaginary line with the tip inserted through the opening 4b. In this case, the semiconductor wafer 11
Since the guide groove moves along the substantially continuous guide groove, it is unlikely to be damaged.

The semiconductor wafer 11 is transferred as described above, and the semiconductor wafer 11 is transferred by the article pushing means 3.
The first pushing movement ends when one end of the outer periphery of the semiconductor wafer 11 fits into the groove 14 formed in the quartz jig 13. Next, as shown in FIG. 6, the first and second article storage sections 4 and 5 are rotated again to their original states, and the guide groove plate 7a is further rotated.
, 7b are opened as shown in FIG. 2, the semiconductor wafer 11 transferred to the quartz jig 13 can be taken out, and the transfer of the semiconductor wafer 11 is completed.

Note that the above shows the steps from the resin cartridge 12 to the quartz jig 13.
This is an example of transferring the semiconductor wafer 11 to
On the contrary, from the quartz jig 13 to the resin cartridge 12
It is also easy to transfer the semiconductor wafer 11 to.

That is, in this case, the semiconductor wafer 11 is stored together with the quartz jig 13 in the second article storage section 5, and the first and second article storage bodies 4 and 5 are rotated to face each other as described above. ,
The semiconductor wafer 11 is transferred into the resin cartridge 12 by the article pushing means 3b.

By transporting the semiconductor wafer 11 as described above, the transport of the semiconductor wafer 11, the heat treatment from transport, and the retransport after the heat treatment are performed extremely efficiently.

〔effect〕

(1) Since multiple semiconductor wafers can be transferred at once without using vacuum tweezers, it is possible to transfer the ILh of the micro-o Coupled with this reduction, it is possible to improve the product yield.

(2) Since the transfer operation using a vacuum bottle set does not require skill, any person can carry out the transfer operation, and production costs can be reduced.

(3) Since multiple semiconductor wafers can be transferred at once, the number of production steps can be significantly reduced.

(4) The drive of the article pushing means can be automated by a machine, and it can be easily automated by introducing industrial robots.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically explained above based on Examples, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above Examples and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist thereof. Nor.

For example, in the above example, both the first and second article storage bodies are in a horizontal position, but they are held in an inclined position and a semiconductor wafer is held in an inclined position in a resin cartridge or a quartz jig. You may also do so. In this way, the semiconductor wafer is tilted in one direction by its own weight within the guide groove, and positioning of the semiconductor wafer is facilitated.

Furthermore, the article pushing member may be fixed and the first and second article storage bodies may be moved.

[Application field]

In the above description, the invention made by the present inventor has mainly been explained in relation to the field of application for which it is applied, which is the transfer of semiconductor wafers, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

For example, it can be used to transport plate-shaped objects such as record discs.

The present invention can be utilized at least when transferring articles from a first storage to a second storage.

[BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS] Fig. 1 shows an overall structural diagram showing one embodiment of the article transfer device to which the present invention is applied, and Fig. 2 shows the first and second article storage bodies each made of resin. Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of the cartridge and the quartz jig fitted together, Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of the guide groove plate in an upright position, and Fig. 4 shows the position of the first and second article storage sections facing each other. FIG. 5 shows a plan view of the main part showing the state of transfer of the semiconductor wafer, and FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of the state after the transfer of the semiconductor wafer is completed. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Board part, 2a * 2b... Guide means, 3
a.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A substrate portion provided with a guide means and an article pushing means that moves along the guide means, and a first article storage body for storing articles are detachably attached, and A first storage section rotatably supported by the base plate section and a second article storage body for storing the article are detachably attached,
and a second storage section rotatably supported by the base plate section that stores the article transferred from the first storage section when the article is transferred by the article pushing means. Goods transfer device. 2. When the first and second article storage parts are rotated to positions facing each other, an article guide groove formed in the first article storage body and an article guide groove formed in the second article storage body 2. The article transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the article guide groove is a substantially continuous guide groove, and the article is transferred according to this guide groove.