JPS62235118A - Semiconductor substrate conveying mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To get rid of work interruption for cleaning as well as to improve operation efficiency, by installing a member, wiping clean a substrate supporting surface of a belt, in a return stroke part of an endless conveyor belt supporting a semiconductor substrate and conveying it in a specified direction. CONSTITUTION:A semiconductor substrate 1 is mounted on a substrate supporting surface 1a, conveying it in an arrow A direction by an endless conveyor belt 3, and fed to the next process. This conveyor belt 3 is driven by a pulley 4 and a driven pulley 5 driven by a motor 7. In a return stroke part from the pulley 4 to the pulley 5, there are provided wit a pressing pad 2b and a wiping pad 2a, pressing the belt 3 in between, thus the belt 3 is wiped clean. With this constitution, work interruption for cleaning is no longer required, and the substrate supporting surface 1a is always cleaned, thus yield for a product and operation efficiency are improvable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a semiconductor substrate transport mechanism for semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

[Conventional technology]

In semiconductor manufacturing processes, belt conveyors, walking beams, and the like have conventionally been used as transport mechanisms for semiconductor substrates that are carried in and out between processes.

Incidentally, since semiconductor substrates need to be handled in a clean state, it is particularly required to keep the substrate support surfaces used in conveyance mechanisms such as conveyor belts and walking beams that convey semiconductor substrates between processes clean. Ru.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Conventionally, the belt conveyor and walking beam of the semiconductor substrate transport mechanism had to be cleaned periodically by humans, which required a tedious amount of time. Furthermore, when cleaning is performed at regular intervals, dust and the like that have adhered to the conveyance surface during the interval are not removed until the next cleaning is performed, and this adheres to the semiconductor substrates, resulting in a reduction in yield.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor substrate transport mechanism that is related to the transport movement of the transport surface and that makes effective use of the movement to constantly clean the transport surface.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention is a semiconductor substrate transport mechanism equipped with a substrate support surface that supports a semiconductor substrate and feeds it in a specific direction, characterized by having a wiping body on a return stroke portion of the substrate support surface for wiping the support surface. This is a semiconductor substrate transport mechanism.

[Example] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a semiconductor substrate transport mechanism of a belt conveyor. As shown in FIG. 1, the conveyor belt 3 is suspended between two pulleys 4 and 5 arranged at a constant interval, and one pulley 4 is connected to a motor via a belt 6 as a drive side. This is linked to the output shaft of No. 7. The upper stroke portion of the conveyance surface of the conveyor belt 3 serves as a substrate support surface 1a, which supports the semiconductor substrate 1 supplied from the carry-in side and conveys it to the carry-out side by continuous feeding. The substrate support surface 1a that has reached the unloading side rotates the pulley 4, moves to the lower stroke, and moves toward the other pulley 5. The lower stroke of the conveyor belt 3 is a return stroke and is not involved in conveying the substrate in any way.

In this embodiment, a part of the lower stroke of the conveyor belt is used to clean the substrate support surface 1a.

That is, a wiping pad 2a soaked with a solvent or the like is placed on the side of the lower-stroke conveyor belt 3 that is used as the substrate support surface 1a, and a suppression pad 2b is placed on the other side. Supports the conveyor belt 3 and its substrate support surface 1
A is pressed against the wiping pad 2a, and the surface is wiped as the conveyor belt 3 moves. The conveyor belt 3 is cleaned during the return stroke by endless feeding, and the clean side is sent out to the upper stroke.

The semiconductor substrate 1 carried in is always kept on a clean substrate support surface 1.
It is supported and transported on a.

In the above embodiments, a belt conveyor that provides endless feed has been described, but the principle of the present invention can be applied to a conveyance mechanism such as a roller conveyor or a walking beam that feeds the conveyed object by rotating in a fixed position. can be applied in exactly the same way. The roller conveyor has a conveyance operation stroke portion due to the rotational movement of each roller, and the walking beam has a conveyance operation stroke portion and a return stroke portion due to forward, backward, and vertical movements. Therefore, this can be realized by disposing a wiping body in the return stroke portion of each of the components of the transport mechanism to press against the support surface of the transported object and wipe it.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the supporting surface of the substrate can be cleaned by effectively utilizing Mtl+ of the 1wi transport mechanism in the return stroke portion of the transport mechanism, and the substrate is always supported on a clean supporting surface to remove dust. This has the effect of eliminating the adhesion of particles and improving product yield. Further, according to the present invention, since there is no need to interrupt the conveyance work for cleaning, it also has the effect of improving work efficiency.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of the present invention. 1...Semiconductor substrate 1a...Substrate support surface 2a
... Wiping pad (wiping body) 3 ... Conveyor belt 4.5
...Pulley 6...Pulley drive belt 7
...Motor patent applicant Kyushu NEC Co., Ltd., Yaq↑:1 Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A semiconductor substrate transport mechanism equipped with a substrate support surface that supports a semiconductor substrate and feeds it in a specific direction, characterized by having a wiping body that wipes the support surface on a return stroke portion of the substrate support surface. Semiconductor substrate transport mechanism.