KR100676078B1 - Uprighting and feeding device and method for a substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

A single and batch type linked substrate transfer system comprising a substrate transfer robot for horizontally loading and transferring a substrate from a process chamber, comprising: a base table; A substrate rotating mechanism disposed on the base table so as to be movable up and down, and vertically rotating the substrate loaded from the substrate transfer robot; A substrate standby port disposed on the base table to load the substrate vertically rotated by the substrate rotating mechanism in an upright state and having a plurality of slots; And a substrate up / down lifter disposed on the base table so as to face the substrate rotating mechanism, the substrate up / down lifter being capable of selectively lifting the substrate upright in the substrate standby port and repositioning the substrate in the substrate standby port. To provide. The substrate upright transport apparatus is disposed on the base table so as to face the substrate rotating mechanism, and further includes a substrate up / down lifter that can selectively lift the substrate standing up to the substrate standby port and rest the substrate on the substrate standby port. Include.

Board, Upright, Transfer, Lifter, Slot

Description

Board upright feeder and method {UPRIGHTING AND FEEDING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR A SUBSTRATE}

1 is a plan view of a substrate upright transfer apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a front view of the substrate upright transfer apparatus according to FIG. 1;

3 is a plan view of a substrate rotating mechanism and a substrate up / down lifter according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a side view of the substrate rotating mechanism according to FIG. 3;

5 is a view showing an operating state of the substrate upright transfer apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention,

6 is a view briefly showing a substrate transfer apparatus according to the prior art.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawing>

100: substrate upright feeder 110: base table

120: substrate rotating mechanism 121: crosspiece

122: support arm 123: first substrate mounting member

124: support plate 125: shaft

130: substrate standby port 140: substrate up / down lifter

141: arm 142: second substrate mounting member

The present invention relates to a semiconductor substrate transfer apparatus and method, and more particularly, to a substrate upright transfer apparatus and method that can reduce the available space of the device by vertically upright transfer the substrate transferred horizontally.

Although semiconductor devices are separated from each other due to different processes, they are gradually developing into in-line equipment that can be linked to each process.

Conventional semiconductor equipment generally includes a separate loader, unloader, and inverter for vertically aligning a substrate that is horizontally aligned when performing a process such as deposition, photo, etching, and cleaning.

The processing line of this substrate is as shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 6, the conventional substrate processing line includes an inverter 102 for inverting the substrate 100 and a loader 104 for receiving the substrate 100 from the inverter 102 and supplying the substrate 100 to the cleaning unit. And first to fourth cleaning parts 106, 108, 112 and 116 for sequentially cleaning the foreign matter on the surface of the substrate 100, and upstream and downstream conveyors for supplying the substrate 100 to the cleaning part by rotating the substrate 100 at a predetermined angle. 110, 114, a drying unit 118 for drying the cleaned substrate 100, and an unloader 120 for unloading the substrate 100. The device according to the prior art is cleaned through a series of processes by transferring the substrate in the direction of the arrow.

In the equipment that cannot be provided with the inverting unit as described above, the cassette has been artificially raised and put in each process so that the direction of the substrate is vertical, and the stand-up substrate has been taken out.

However, in the semiconductor process equipment, since the single type device and the batch type device are separated from each other, in the case of the batch type, the cassette containing the substrate should be vertically inserted, and in the case of the single type, the cassette should be inserted in the horizontal direction. There is a problem in that a separate conveying system is required when integrating a single type of equipment that proceeds in a horizontal direction and a batch type of equipment in which a substrate is vertically processed in an in-line.

In addition, such equipment occupies a lot of unnecessary work space in order to produce substrates that are increasingly large and mass-produced, and has a disadvantage in that productivity decreases because processing time is lengthened in the process of vertically processing each substrate.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the object of the present invention, it is possible to efficiently link the single-type and batch-type equipment without a separate substrate transfer robot or inversion stage, the available space It is possible to reduce the size and provide a substrate upright transfer apparatus and method for improving productivity.

To this end, the present invention, a single and batch type linked substrate transfer system comprising a substrate transfer robot for horizontally loading and transferring the substrate from the process chamber, the base table; A substrate rotating mechanism disposed on the base table so as to be movable up and down, and vertically rotating the substrate loaded from the substrate transfer robot; And a substrate upright device rotated vertically by a substrate rotating mechanism. And a substrate up / down lifter disposed on the base table so as to face the substrate rotating mechanism, the substrate up / down lifter being capable of selectively lifting the substrate upright in the substrate standby port and repositioning the substrate on the substrate standby port. It is to provide a substrate upright transfer apparatus.

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It is preferable that a base table can be rotated 60 degrees.

The substrate rotating mechanism has a cross in the center, the support arm extending upward at a predetermined angle from both ends of the cross; A first substrate seating member coupled to both ends of the support arm so as to be rotatable 90 ° and having a plurality of slots on opposite sides thereof; And a support plate padded at both ends of one side of the first substrate mounting member to support the first substrate mounting member.

Preferably, the first substrate seating member has 5-25 slots, and the substrate standby port has 5-25 slots.

The substrate standby port is preferably rotated 180 degrees.

The substrate up / down lifter has a second substrate seating member attached to two arms and opposite sides of each arm so as to lift both ends of the selected substrate and having a plurality of slots into which the substrate can be inserted.

Preferably, the second substrate mounting member has 1-25 slots.

The substrate upright transfer method according to the present invention comprises the steps of rotating the substrate horizontally loaded on the substrate mounting member of the substrate rotating mechanism by a substrate transfer robot 90 °; A support arm of the substrate rotating mechanism is lowered to seat the substrate on the substrate waiting port; Lifting up the substrate seated on the substrate standby port by the substrate up / down lifter one by one according to processing conditions; Rotating the substrate standby port by 180 ° when all of the substrate is lifted by the substrate up / down lifter; Lowering the substrate up / down lifter to seat the substrates in a substrate waiting port rotated 180 °; And rotating the base table by 60 ° to enable chucking of the transfer robot for batch processing.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, a substrate upright transfer apparatus and method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

1 is a plan view of a substrate upright transfer apparatus 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a front view of the substrate upright transfer apparatus 100 according to FIG.

1 and 2, the substrate upright transport apparatus 100 includes a base table 110, a substrate rotating mechanism 120, and a substrate standby port 130.

The base table 110 is a base portion capable of vertically supporting the substrate W, which is horizontally transferred, and may rotate left and right by 60 ° based on the initial position.

The substrate rotating mechanism 120 is disposed to be movable up and down on the base table 110, and may vertically rotate the substrate W loaded horizontally from the process chamber 101 by the substrate transfer robot 102. The substrate rotating mechanism 120 includes a support arm 122, a first substrate seating member 123, and a support plate 124. The substrate rotating mechanism 120 will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

The substrate standby port 130 is disposed on the base table 110 so as to load the substrate W vertically rotated by the substrate rotating mechanism 120 in an upright state, and includes a plurality of slots S. .

The substrate standby port 130 may form a partial arc shape corresponding to the outer circumferential shape of the substrate W so that the plurality of substrates W may be vertically inserted into the plurality of slots S. The slot S is preferably 5-25.

The substrate standby port 130 may also be rotated 180 ° to apply a process to both sides of the plurality of substrates W loaded in an upright state.

The substrate upright transport apparatus 100 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention may further include a substrate up / down lifter 140.

The substrate up / down lifter 140 is vertically movable above the base table 110 and disposed to face the substrate rotating mechanism 120. The substrate up / down lifter 140 selectively lifts a plurality of substrates W loaded upright into the substrate standby port 130, applies a desired process, and then returns the substrate W to the substrate standby port 130. Settle down.

For this operation, the substrate up / down lifter 140 has two arms 141 arranged to have a width corresponding to the diameter of the substrate W so as to hold both ends of the selected substrate W. A second substrate mounting member 142 having a plurality of slots S is provided on a surface facing each other so as to be attached to the opposite end of the arm 141 to insert and lift the substrate (W).

The slot S of the second substrate seating member 142 is preferably 1-25 to selectively lift the upright loaded substrate W.

3 is a plan view of the substrate rotating mechanism 120 and the substrate up / down lifter 140 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a side view of the substrate rotating mechanism 120 according to FIG. 3. The substrate rotating mechanism 120 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

The substrate rotating mechanism 120 includes a support arm 122, a first seating member 123, and a support plate 124. The support arm 122 includes a cross rod 121 at the center and a cross rod 121. After bending in the vertical direction and both ends extend upward at a predetermined angle.

The first substrate mounting member 123 is attached to both ends of the support arm 122, respectively, and has a plurality of slots S so that both ends of the substrate W may be inserted into faces facing each other. This is rotatably coupled to 90 °. The number of slots S may vary depending on the number of substrates W being loaded, preferably 5-25.

The support plate 124 is padded at both ends of one side of the first substrate mounting member 123 to support the first substrate mounting member 123 and to adjust the rotation angle of the first mounting member 123 to the same.

As shown in FIG. 4, the substrate rotating mechanism 120 including the support arm 122, the first substrate seating member 123, and the support plate 124 having the above-described configuration may have a crossbar to smoothly proceed the process. A shaft 125 that is movable up and down on the center portion of 121 is movable up and down on the support plate 124.

Referring back to FIG. 3, it is preferable that the substrate rotating mechanism 120 has a gap such that there is no part caught even when the substrate W is horizontally loaded between the substrate up / down lifter 140 disposed to face each other. Do.

Hereinafter, the upright transfer method of the substrate W will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

First, the substrate transfer robot 102 horizontally loads the substrate W that has undergone a series of processing steps in the process chamber 101 to be transferred to the outside of the process chamber 101.

The substrate W loaded horizontally by the substrate transfer robot 102 is a plurality of first substrate seating members 123 of the substrate rotating mechanism 120, as shown in the horizontal substrate HW of FIG. 5. The slot (S) of the horizontally inserted into the loading.

Subsequently, the first substrate seating member 123 of the substrate rotating mechanism 120 is rotated by 90 ° by the substrate transfer robot 102 to remove the substrate that has been horizontally loaded as shown by the vertical substrate VW of FIG. 5. Rotate 90 °.

When the substrates VW are loaded upright onto the first substrate mounting member as described above, the support arm 122 of the substrate rotating mechanism 120 is moved by the shaft 125 to the base table 110 as shown in the arrow direction shown in FIG. 5. The substrate VW is vertically seated on the substrate waiting port 130 positioned above the base table 110.

Subsequently, if it is desired to clean each substrate W more precisely, for example, when cleaning the substrate W, the substrate W placed on the substrate standby port 130 is up / down depending on the processing conditions. Lifter 140 is lifted one by one.

When a desired process is applied to all of the substrates W lifted by the substrate up / down lifter 140, the substrates W are seated on the substrate standby port 130 and then the substrate standby port 130 is placed. ) Is rotated 180 ° to reverse both sides of the substrate (W).

When the substrate W is inverted, the base table 110 is rotated by 60 degrees so that the transfer robot 102 can be chucked so that the transfer robot 102 chucks the inverted substrates W and proceeds again. Help

By the above-described steps, the substrate upright transport apparatus 100 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention can easily reverse the substrate (W) without a separate inversion stage, even without a separate transfer line or a transfer robot The substrate W may be transferred only by the rotation angles of the substrate rotating mechanism 120 and the base table 110.

The substrate upright transport apparatus 100 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention also includes a plurality of slots S provided in the first substrate seating member 123, the second substrate seating member 142, and the substrate waiting port 130. Since a plurality of substrates (W) can be loaded at a time, the plurality of substrates (W) transported horizontally can be simultaneously transported upright.

As described above, the substrate upright transport apparatus according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention can efficiently connect the single type and the batch type equipment without a separate substrate transfer robot or inversion stage, so that the available space can be reduced. It is possible to reduce costs and increase production efficiency, and to increase the yield because a plurality of substrates can be horizontally and upright loaded at a time.

Although the present invention has been described in detail through the embodiments described above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

In the single and batch type linked substrate transfer system comprising a substrate transfer robot 102 for horizontally loading and transferring the substrate (W) from the process chamber 101, Base table 110; A substrate rotating mechanism (120) disposed on the base table (110) to move vertically and vertically rotating the substrate (W) loaded from the substrate transfer robot (102); The substrate waiting port 130 is disposed on the base table 110 and has a plurality of slots S so as to load the substrate W vertically rotated by the substrate rotating mechanism 120 in an upright state. ; And The substrate table is disposed on the base table 110 so as to face the substrate rotating mechanism 120, and selectively lifts the substrate W standing upright in the substrate standby port 130 and raises the substrate W to the substrate atmosphere. A substrate up / down lifter 140 that can be seated back in the port 130; Substrate upright transfer apparatus comprising a. delete The substrate upright transport apparatus of claim 1, wherein the base table (110) is rotatable 60 °. The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate rotating mechanism 120 A support arm 122 provided at a center thereof and extending upward at a predetermined angle from both ends of the cross member 121; A first substrate seating member 123 coupled to both ends of the support arm 121 so as to be rotatable 90 ° and having a plurality of slots S on opposite sides thereof; And In order to support the first substrate seating member (123), the substrate upright transport apparatus, characterized in that it comprises a support plate (124) which is padded at both ends of the first substrate seating member (123). 4. The substrate upright transport apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first substrate seating member (123) has 5 to 25 slots (S). The substrate upright transport apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate standby port (130) has 5 to 25 slots (S). 2. The substrate upright transport apparatus of claim 1, wherein the substrate standby port is rotated 180 degrees. The substrate of claim 1, wherein the substrate up / down lifter 140 is attached to opposite sides of the two arms 141 and the respective arms 141 so as to lift both ends of the selected substrate W. And a second substrate mounting member (142) having a plurality of slots (S) into which (W) can be inserted. 9. The substrate upright transport apparatus of claim 8, wherein the second substrate seating member (142) includes 1-25 slots (S). Rotating the substrate W horizontally loaded by the substrate transfer robot 102 on the first substrate seating member 123 of the substrate rotating mechanism 120 by 90 °; The support arm 122 of the substrate rotating mechanism 120 is lowered to seat the substrate (W) in the substrate waiting port 130; Lifting up and lowering the substrate W mounted on the substrate standby port 130 by the substrate up / down lifter 140 according to processing conditions; When all the desired processes are applied to the substrates W lifted by the substrate up / down lifter 140, mounting the respective substrates W back to the substrate standby port 130; When all of the substrates (W) that have been processed are seated on the substrate standby port 140, rotating the substrate standby port 140 by 180 ° to reverse both sides of the substrate (W); And rotating the base table (110) by 60 ° to allow the batch processing transfer robot (102) to chuck and transport the inverted substrates (W).

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