JPS63181441A - Wafer transfer system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To smoothly and surely house and take out a wafer without damaging it and to enhance the work efficiency by installing a tilting mechanism which supports an elevator mechanism in a way that the tilting mechanism can freely tilt the elevator mechanism in the upward and downward directions around a feeding and taking-out edge of a transfer mechanism. CONSTITUTION:A wafer magazine 4 on an elevator mechanism is tilted downward along the feeding direction of wafers by means of a tilting mechanism 14; the wafers are slid onto a mounting plate 1 of the wafer magazine 4 by means of a transfer mechanism 18. The wafer magazine is shifted in the upward and downward directions by means of the elevator mechanism; the wafers are housed in succession into the wafer magazine 4. When the wafers are taken out from the inside of the wafer magazine 4, the wafer magazine 4 is tilted downward along the taking-out direction of the wafers by means of the tilting mechanism 14; the wafers on the mounting plate of the wafer magazine 4 are slid toward the side of the transfer mechanism 18; the wafers are taken out in succession from the inside of the wafer magazine 4 by means of the elevator mechanism.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a wafer transfer device for taking out wafers from a wafer magazine containing a large number of wafers or storing wafers in a wafer magazine.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in the process of manufacturing or processing semiconductor substrates such as silicon wafers, multiple wafers are sequentially stored in a magazine during the process for transportation or storage, or the stored wafers are stored in a magazine. Operations such as sequentially taking out the data are performed. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, this wafer magazine for storing wafers is constructed by arranging a large number of disc-shaped mounting plates 1 at appropriate intervals of 111, and each mounting plate 1 is supported by four support columns 2 arranged at equal intervals, and fixed plates 3.3 are disposed above and below each support column 2.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

By the way, when storing a wafer W in the wafer magazine 4 or taking out a wafer W from the wafer magazine 4, one of the four support columns 2 is removed and the space created by this removal is used. However, these storage and removal operations have conventionally been performed manually, resulting in complicated work and problems in workability.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to smoothly and reliably perform the process of storing wafers in a wafer magazine and taking out wafers from the wafer magazine without damaging the wafers. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wafer transfer device that can store and take out wafers in a single manner, improve work efficiency, automate work, and make work continuous.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a lowering mechanism for mounting a wafer magazine and moving the wafer magazine in a direction perpendicular to each mounting plate of the wafer magazine, and a lowering mechanism adjacent to the lifting mechanism. The apparatus is equipped with a transport mechanism for loading and unloading wafers one by one, and a tilting mechanism for supporting the elevating mechanism so as to be tiltable in the vertical direction centering on the loading/unloading end of the transport mechanism.

[For production]

In the wafer transfer apparatus of the present invention, when loading wafers into the wafer magazine, the tilting mechanism tilts the wafer magazine on the elevator groove downward along the wafer loading direction. The wafers are slid onto the plate by the transport mechanism, and the wafer magazine is moved vertically by the elevating mechanism to sequentially store the wafers in the wafer magazine. Also, when unloading wafers from the wafer magazine,
The tilting mechanism tilts the wafer magazine downward along the wafer unloading direction, and the wafers on the mounting plate of the wafer magazine slide toward the transport mechanism, and the elevating mechanism sequentially takes out the wafers from within the wafer magazine.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 1 to 6.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a wafer transfer device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall configuration incorporating the wafer transfer device. In these figures, the symbol 1
0 is a wafer transfer device that takes out wafers from inside the wafer magazine 4 or stores wafers in the wafer magazine 4; this wafer transfer device 10
A magazine stocker 11 is connected to the magazine stocker 11 . Also,
A magazine transfer device 12 is provided between the wafer transfer device @10 and the magazine stocker 11.

The wafer transfer device 10 includes an elevating mechanism 13 on which the wafer magazine 4 is placed and moved up and down, and a tilting mechanism 14 that inclines the elevating mechanism 13 in the vertical direction.
Vertical movement mechanism 15 that moves this tilting mechanism 14 up and down
, a sliding mechanism 16 for horizontally moving this vertical movement mechanism 15 , a soaking prevention guide 17 for preventing wafers from jumping out from the wafer magazine 4 on the elevating IHi 13 , and a wafer prevention guide 17 for preventing wafers from jumping out from the wafer magazine 4 on the elevating IHi 13 . A wafer transport mechanism 18 for loading and unloading wafers, a slide 19 for transferring wafers between the wafer transport mechanism 18 and the lifting mechanism 13, and an extrusion m structure for pushing wafers in the wafer magazine 4 onto the slide 19. It consists of 20.

The elevating mechanism 13 includes an elevating table 13a on which the wafer magazine 4 is placed and moved up and down, and an elevating frame 13b.
A motor 13e is connected to the lower end of the feed screw shaft 13C via a belt 13d, and by driving the motor 13e, The elevating table 13a is configured to move along the feed screw @13C. The anti-slip guide 17 is attached to the elevating frame 13b on the front side of the elevating table 13a, and the slide 19 is attached to the tip of the anti-slip guide 17. In addition, the elevating frame 13
b, the extrusion mechanism 20 described above is attached.

In the tilting mechanism 14, the lower end of the elevating frame 13b is rotatably attached to a support frame 14a, and a cylinder 14b is rotatably installed on the support frame 14a while passing through the support frame 14a. At the same time, a piston rod 14G of this cylinder 14b is rotatably attached to the lower surface of the elevating frame 13b.

Further, the support frame 14a of the tilting mechanism 14 is supported by a piston rod 15G of a cylinder 15b which is erected on the sliding member 15a of the vertical movement mechanism 15 so as to be able to rise and fall. Further, the bulging member 15a is connected to the piston rod 16b of the cylinder 16a of the man mechanism 16, and is arranged to be movable left and right in FIG. Furthermore, the wafer transport mechanism 18 includes a floating plate 18 that has a large number of nozzle holes 18b in the frame 18a.
By jetting air from the nozzle hole 18b of the floating plate 18c, the wafer W on the floating plate 18c is floated and carried in and out.

The magazine stocker 11 has a plurality of (12 in FIG. 2) wafer magazines 4 placed on a rotatable disc-shaped table 11a. is a transfer robot that grips and lifts the wafer magazine 4 and transports it between the magazine stocker 11 and the lifting platform 13a of the lifting mechanism 13.

When the wafers are taken out from the wafer magazine 4 placed on the table 11a of the magazine stocker 11 using the wafer transfer device configured as described above, the wafers are taken out from the wafer magazine 4 placed on the table 11a using the magazine transfer device 12. Grasp and lift the wafer magazine 4, and move the lifting mechanism 1
3 on the lifting table 13a. In this case, vertical m horizontal 1
The third field stand 13a is lowered by the motor 13e, and one support column 2 of the wafer magazine 4 is removed. In this state, by retracting the piston rod 16b of the cylinder 16a, raising the piston rod 15c of the cylinder 15b, and retracting the piston rod 14G of the cylinder 14b, as shown in FIG. With the end on the transport mechanism 18 side being at the same height as the wafer transport mechanism 18, the end of the slide 19 on the lifting mechanism 13 side is raised and tilted at about 20°.

Next, the extrusion mechanism 20 extrudes the wafer on the mounting plate 1 at the top of the wafer magazine 4. As a result, the wafer on the mounting plate 1 slides on the slider 19, and due to the air floating of the wafer transport mechanism 18, the floating plate 1
It will be carried out smoothly while floating on 8C. Each time the elevating table 13a is raised one after another, the pushing mechanism 20 pushes out the wafers on the mounting plate 1 onto the slide 19, thereby ejecting all the wafers from the wafer magazine 4. In this way, the wafer magazine 4
When the wafer magazine 4 becomes empty, the magazine transfer device 12 transfers the empty wafer magazine 4 to the table 1 of the magazine stocker 11.
1a, the table 11a is rotated by a certain angle, and the next wafer magazine 4 is placed on the lifting table 13a by the magazine transfer device 12.

In addition, when storing wafers in an empty wafer magazine 4, the empty wafer magazine 4 on the table 11a of the magazine stocker 11 is placed on the lifting platform 13a of the lifting mechanism 13 by the magazine transfer device 12, and the cylinder 14b is advanced and the cylinder 15b is lowered, while the cylinder 16a is advanced, the end of the slide 19 on the wafer transport mechanism 18 side is aligned at the same height as the wafer transport mechanism 18. Then, the end of the slide 19 on the side of the elevating mechanism 13 is lowered and inclined by about 20 degrees (the state shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1).

Next, the wafer transport mechanism 18 transports the wafers one by one to the slide 19 side. As a result, the wafer slides down the slide 19 and is placed on the mounting plate 1 in the wafer magazine 4.
accommodated above. Each time one wafer is stored, the lifting table 13a is operated to sequentially store the wafer on each mounting plate 1 in the wafer magazine 4. In this way, when the inside of the wafer magazine 4 becomes full, the empty wafer magazine 4 on the table 11a of the magazine stocker 11 is replaced by the magazine transfer device 12, and the wafer magazine 4 is placed inside the wafer magazine 4 of the literate in the same manner as described above. and store the wafers.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, there is provided an elevating mechanism for mounting a wafer magazine and moving the wafer magazine in a direction orthogonal to each IIl plate of the wafer magazine;
A transport mechanism adjacent to the elevating mechanism for loading and unloading wafers one by one, and a tilting mechanism supporting the elevating mechanism so as to be tiltable in the vertical direction centering on a large unloading end of the transport mechanism. Therefore, when loading and unloading wafers into and out of the wafer magazine, by tilting the mounting plate of the lifting mechanism using the tilting mechanism, it is possible to smoothly and reliably take out or store the wafers without damaging them. It has the excellent effect of improving work efficiency, automating work, and making it more continuous.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention,
Fig. 1 is a front view, Fig. 2 is a schematic plan view, Fig. 3 is a schematic front view of the magazine transfer section, Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the wafer transfer section, Figs. 5 and 6 are An example of the magazine is shown, with FIG. 5 being a plan view and FIG. 6 being a front view. 1... Placement plate, 2... Support column, 4...
... Wafer magazine, 13 ... Lifting mechanism, 14 ... Tilting mechanism, 18 ... Wafer conveyor groove, 19 ... Slide.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a wafer transfer device that carries wafers into or takes out wafers from a wafer magazine in which a large number of mounting plates are arranged at predetermined distances from each other via support columns, the above wafer magazine is used. an elevating mechanism that places the wafer magazine and moves the wafer magazine in a direction perpendicular to each of the mounting plates; a transport mechanism that carries in and out the wafers one by one adjacent to the elevating mechanism; and an elevating mechanism that A wafer transfer apparatus comprising: a tilting mechanism that supports the transport mechanism so as to be tiltable in the vertical direction centering on the loading/unloading end of the transport mechanism.