KR100876950B1 - Robot Assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a robot arm assembly, in particular a quadruple transfer chamber robot arm assembly comprising a dual shaft drive shaft as a plurality of rotary shafts concentrically arranged in a cage and a dual shaft drive shaft as the rotary shaft. An arm drive mechanism comprising drive motors for rotating via a first arm, a first arm and a second arm individually rotatably connected to an upper portion of the arm drive mechanism, and the front of the first arm and the second arm; The substrates placed on each arm in the substrate transfer robot having a four-arm structure or more, including a third arm and a fourth arm disposed in the portion, and a single planar end effector connected to the first to fourth arms. A quadruple transfer chamber robot that can be transported without bottleneck delays to prevent the spread of contaminants by bottlenecks. An arm assembly and a semiconductor processing system employing the same can be provided.

Description

Quad Robot Arm Assembly

1 is a planar structure diagram of a semiconductor substrate processing apparatus employing a cluster incorporating a quadruple robot arm assembly according to the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a semiconductor substrate processing apparatus employing a cluster having a quadruple robot arm assembly according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

3 is a perspective view of the quadruple robot arm assembly in FIG.

4 is a plan view of the quadruple robot arm assembly of FIG.

5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the quadruple robot arm assembly along line A-A of FIG. 4;

6 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the pivot mechanism for a dual link of the quadruple robot arm assembly according to line B-B of FIG. 4;

7 is a longitudinal sectional structural view of the drive shaft portions of the third and fourth arms of the quadruple robot arm assembly according to line C-C of FIG. 4;

8 is a perspective view showing a state in which the cage is removed from the quadruple robot arm assembly of FIG.

9 is a front structural view of the quadruple robot arm assembly of FIG. 8;

10 is a bottom perspective view showing the internal structure of the quadruple robot arm assembly of FIG.

11 is a front structural view of the quadruple robot arm assembly of FIG. 10, and

12 is an exploded perspective view illustrating only the second and fourth arms in the quadruple robot arm assembly.

<Description of reference numerals for main parts of the drawings>

  20: load lock chamber 30: process chamber

  40 transfer chamber 100 transfer chamber robot arm assembly

 110: first arm 120: second arm

 130: third arm 140: fourth arm

 200: arm drive mechanism 210: four shaft drive shaft

 220: dual shaft drive shaft 230: vertical drive mechanism

The present invention relates to a substrate transfer robot, and more particularly to a transfer robot having a double arm (arm) and having a blocking member that can prevent the spread of contaminants between the upper and lower substrates.

When manufacturing a semiconductor device or liquid crystal display (LCD), a thin film deposition process for a wafer or a glass substrate (hereinafter referred to as a substrate), a photolithography process and an etching process for uniformly patterning the deposited thin film, etc. Should go through.

However, most of these processes require a micrometer-level micro process, and therefore, the process must be performed in a process chamber in which an optimal environment is created for each process. In particular, in recent years, a large amount of substrates can be processed in a short time. A process chamber which performs a processing process so that a process process can be performed, a loadlock chamber which exchanges substrates with an outside, and a transfer chamber which is located at the center of a plurality of process chambers and load lock chambers to perform a central role of substrate transfer. BACKGROUND ART Clusters are frequently used as a hybrid device in which transfer chambers and the like are densely packed.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of such a cluster, in which one load lock chamber 20 and six process chambers 30 are radially connected with respect to the transfer chamber 40. Two (20) may be provided or one or more of the process chambers may be used as a preheating chamber for preheating the substrate.

The substrate storage unit 10 is connected to one side of the load lock chamber 20, and a plurality of substrates are loaded in the cassette K unit in the substrate storage unit 10, and the substrate loaded in the cassette is stored in the storage robot 12. The sheet is loaded into the load lock chamber 20 one by one, and the substrate which has been processed is taken out of the load lock chamber 20 by the storage robot 12 and loaded into the cassette.

Looking at the transfer process of the substrate in the cluster of such a configuration as follows.

First, when the storage robot 12 loads the substrate s through the first door 22 of the load lock chamber 20 and sets it inside the load lock chamber 20 and retires, the load lock chamber is vacuum pumped. The internal pressure of 20 is adjusted to the same level as the process chamber 30 or the transfer chamber 40.

When the vacuum pumping is completed, the transfer chamber robot arm 50 enters through the second door 24 between the load lock chamber 20 and the transfer chamber 40 to hold the substrate, and then the process chamber 30 ) To one of the

The process chamber 30 is a space in which the process is directly performed, so that the transfer chamber 40 is isolated from the transfer chamber 40 through a slot valve (not shown), etc., and the transfer chamber robot arm 50 enters the process chamber 30 through the slot valve. Enter and settle the substrate.

When the process for the placed substrate is finished, the transfer chamber robot arm 50 enters the process chamber 30 again and grips the substrate, and then the substrate is transported to the load lock chamber 20 in the reverse order of the above process. .

Meanwhile, in FIG. 1, the transfer chamber robot arm 50 and the storage robot 12 performing substrate transportation in a cluster are a single arm robot having one arm.

The transfer chamber robot arm 50 of FIG. 1 is rotatably connected to the base link and the forearm link which enable segmentation movement to the drive shaft 60.

However, when using such a transfer chamber robot arm 60, the process chamber 30 to which the substrate W mounted on the upper forearm link is transferred often occurs.

At this time, when the transfer chamber robot arm 50 is placed in the process chamber 30 has not failed the process chamber 30, the robot drive shaft 60 is rotated, the unprocessed substrate is placed in the other process chamber 30 When the robot is operated in a bottleneck, a bottleneck such as the transfer chamber robot arm 50 is stalled or a second door 24 of a part of the process chamber is stalled during the process causes a great influence on the manufacturing yield. Get mad.

In this case, when the second door 24 of the process chamber 30 is left open for a long time, the disadvantages of contaminating the unprocessed substrate may not be completely avoided. will be.

The present invention was devised in view of the above problems, and in the substrate transfer robot having a quadruple arm or more structure, the substrates placed on each arm are transferred without any bottleneck to each other, thereby preventing the spread of contaminants due to the bottleneck. It is a main technical object to provide a quadruple transfer chamber robot arm assembly and a semiconductor processing system employing the same so that it can be prevented.

The present invention for achieving the above object,

Quadruple transfer chamber robot arm assembly,

An arm drive mechanism comprising a double shaft drive shaft as a plurality of rotary shafts concentrically arranged in a cage, and drive motors for rotating the dual shaft drive shafts as a rotary shaft shaft through a drive force transmission member;

First and second arms individually rotatably connected to an upper portion of the arm drive mechanism, third and fourth arms disposed in front of the first and second arms,

And a single planar end effector connected to the first to fourth arms.

Further, the third and fourth arms in front of the quad arms are preferably configured to be stacked horizontally lower than the first and second arms behind them.

Further, it is preferable that the first to second arms are each composed of a base link connected in parallel in double and a forearm link connected in parallel in double so as to be rotatable via a pivot mechanism at the distal end of the base link.

The rotary drive shafts of the dual base links of the first and third arms consist of a pair of dual shaft drive shafts as two inner and outer rotary shafts arranged concentrically, and the dual bases of the second and fourth arms. The rotational drive shaft of the link is also preferably composed of a pair of dual shaft drive shafts as two inner and outer rotation shafts arranged concentrically.

In addition, a semiconductor substrate having a cluster for radially connecting two pairs of load lock chambers 20 and a plurality of process chambers around a transfer chamber and transferring the substrate through a transfer chamber robot arm assembly within the transfer chamber. In the processing apparatus, the semiconductor substrate processing apparatus employing the quadruple transfer chamber robot arm assembly is preferably used.

Hereinafter, a quadruple transfer chamber robot arm assembly according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a semiconductor substrate processing apparatus employing a cluster having a quadruple robot arm assembly according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the quadruple robot arm assembly in FIG. 4 is a plan view of the quadruple robot arm assembly of FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the quadruple robot arm assembly along line AA of FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a quadruple robot arm assembly along line BB of FIG. 4. Is a longitudinal sectional view of the pivoting mechanism for the dual link, FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional structural view of the drive shaft portions of the third and fourth arms of the quadruple robot arm assembly according to the line CC of FIG. 4, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating a state in which the cage is removed from the robot arm assembly, and FIG. 9 is a front structural view of the quad robot arm assembly of FIG. 8, and FIG. 10 is a top view of the cage robot arm assembly of FIG. Bottom showing the internal structure of the state Try, and FIG. 11 is a front structural view of a robot arm assembly of the four in Fig. 10, Fig. 12 is an exploded perspective view showing separated only the second and fourth arms in the robot arm assembly of four.

As illustrated in the drawings, in the fabrication of all semiconductor devices or liquid crystal displays (LCDs), a thin film deposition process on a wafer or a glass substrate (hereinafter referred to as a 'substrate') and a patterning of the deposited thin films are performed. Photolithography process and etching process for each of these processes, since most of these processes require a micrometer-level micro process, process chamber (30), loadlock chamber (20, loadlock chamber), transfer for each process A cluster 80 with a transfer chamber 40 is used.

2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a semiconductor processing apparatus including such a cluster 80 in which a quadruple transfer chamber robot arm assembly 100 according to the present invention is embedded in the transfer chamber 40.

The quadratic transfer chamber robot arm assembly 100 further includes a dual shaft drive shaft 220 as a plurality of rotary shafts concentrically arranged in the cage 60 and a dual shaft drive shaft 220 as the rotary shaft. An arm drive mechanism (200) comprising drive motors (M, ...) for rotating the drive force transmission member comprising a quadruple drive shaft (210) provided at both ends of the drive pulley and the electric pulley, and the arm drive mechanism. A first arm 110 and a second arm 120, which are individually rotatably connected to an upper portion of the 200, and an article disposed at the front of the first arm 110 and the second arm 120. It consists of a three arm 130 and a fourth arm 140, and a single planar end effector H, ... connected to the first to fourth arms 140, respectively.

Further, the third and fourth arms 130 and 140 in front of the quad arms are arranged horizontally lower than the first and second arms 110 and 120 behind them.

In addition, the first and second arms 110 and 120 rotate through the pivot mechanisms 70 and 70 at the distal end portions of the base links 111 and 121 connected in parallel and the base links 111 and 121. Possibly composed of forearm links 112 and 122 connected in parallel in duplicate.

Further, each of the rotary drive shafts of the dual base links 111 and 131 of the first and third arms 110 and 130 is a dual shaft drive shaft 220 as two inner and outer rotary shafts in which each shaft is arranged concentrically. ) Consists of a pair.

In addition, the rotation drive shafts of the dual base links of the second and fourth arms 120 and 140 consist of a pair of dual shaft drive shafts 220 as two inner and outer rotation shafts arranged concentrically.

Two pairs of load lock chambers 20 and a plurality of process chambers 30,... Are radially connected with respect to the transfer chamber 40, and the transfer chamber robot arm assembly 100 is moved within the transfer chamber 40. It is mounted on the cluster 80 for transporting the substrate through the medium can be utilized as a semiconductor substrate processing apparatus.

In order to explain this, the parts corresponding to those of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the same reference numerals.

2 is a plan view of a semiconductor substrate processing apparatus including a cluster 80 employing a quadruple robot arm assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the quad arm robot assembly includes four single planar end effectors (H). Of the double forearm links 112, 122, 132, 142 and the respective double forearm links 112, 122, 132, 142 and the double link pivot mechanisms 70, 70, respectively. A quadruple robotic arm assembly 100 is illustrated in which distal ends 112b, 122b, 132b, 142b are articulated with dual base links 111, 121, 131, 141.

Here, the substrate is a joint of a pair of double forearm links 112, 122, 132, and 142 of the first to fourth arms 110 to 140 that respectively support the four single planar end effectors H,... It moves in line with the movement.

Of course, the double forearm link pairs of the first to fourth arms 110 to 140 are articulated via a pivot mechanism 70 to each of the pair of double base links 111, 121, 131, and 141.

In addition, the dual base links 111, 121, 131, and 141 of the first to fourth arms 110 to 140 may have four drive shafts of each of the base links 111, 121, 131, and 141 individually driven. It is rotatably supported on the double shaft drive shaft 220 as four rotary barrel shafts which rotate individually by the drive force of the motors M, ..., respectively.

As an example, the first arm 110 includes a base link 111 having an adjacent end 111a connected to the arm drive mechanism 200 in the cage 60. The base link 111 also includes a distal end 111b. The distal end 112a of the forearm link 112 is connected to the distal end 111b of the base link 111 via the pivot mechanism 70. On the adjacent end 112b of the forearm link 112, a single planar end effector H, ... is extended and supported with the connecting rod 113 interposed therebetween.

The second arm 120 also includes a base link 121 having an adjacent end 121a connected to the arm drive mechanism 200 in the cage 60. The base link 121 also includes a distal end 121b. The distal end 122a of the forearm link 122 is connected to the distal end 121b of the base link 121 via the pivot mechanism 70. A single planar end effector (H, ...) is extended and supported by the connecting end (123) between the adjacent ends (112b) of the forearm link (122).

The third arm 130 also includes a base link 131 having a proximal end 131a connected to the arm drive mechanism 200 in the cage 60. The base link 131 also includes a distal end 131b. The distal end 132a of the forearm link 132 is connected to the distal end 131b of the base link 131 via the pivot mechanism 70. A single planar end effector (H, ...) is extended and supported on the adjacent end portion (132b) of the forearm link (132) with the connecting table (133) therebetween.

The fourth arm 130 also includes a base link 141 having a proximal end 141a connected to the arm drive mechanism 200 in the cage 60. The base link 141 also includes a distal end 141b. The distal end 142a of the forearm link 142 is connected to the distal end 141b of the base link 141 via the pivot mechanism 70. A single planar end effector (H, ...) is extended and supported on the adjacent end portion (142b) of the forearm link (142) with the connecting table (143) therebetween.

3 also shows a cage 60 surrounding the motor and other components. Those skilled in the art will appreciate a number of advantages associated with the apparatus of FIG. 3, where a single planar end effector (H, ...) will quadruple the series of substrates, thereby improving processing efficiency.

The single planar end effectors (H, ...) described above allow the quadruple robot arm assembly 100 to quadruple perform substrate processing operations.

Other advantages and advantages of the present invention are as follows.

12 is an exploded perspective view showing a state in which the robot assembly 100 is rotatably concentrically supported by the second and fourth arms 140 and two drive shaft pairs thereof.

12 is an exploded perspective view of the second and fourth arms 120, 140. 12, the base links 111 and 141 of the second arm 120 and the fourth arm 140 are shown, and the distal ends 111a and 141a of the base links 111 and 141 are pivot mechanisms 70. To accept. Distal ends 112a and 142a of the forearm links 112 and 142 are also attached to the pivot mechanism 70. Similarly, distal ends 112a and 142a of the base link are provided with holes to receive pivotal mechanism 70 associated with forearm links 112 and 142.

5-7 also show portions of the arm drive mechanism 200. This arm drive mechanism 200 includes a dual shaft drive shaft 220 which is used to provide motive force to the first to fourth arms 140.

In addition, the drive shaft housing 61 supports and surrounds the double shaft drive shaft 220. This drive shaft housing 61 is supported on the top of the cage 60. In the cage 60, drive motors (M, ...) are radially arranged at regular intervals up and down so that the four shaft drive shafts 210 can be individually rotated.

The four-shaft drive shaft is arranged concentrically with the four-drive pulley (P, ...) separately from the drive motor (M, ...), and of the four-shaft drive shaft disposed in the drive shaft housing (61) The driven pulleys (FP, ...) and the belt drive separately from the second driven pulley (FFP, ...) of the dual shaft drive shaft 220 to enable the transmission of the driving force to rotate at the same time.

Of course, the above arrangement is used in connection with the first and fourth arms 140. Since any number of configurations can be used in accordance with the present invention, the special internal arm drive mechanism 200 used in connection with the present invention is important. The present invention relates to robot arm movement, and relates to the drive motor (M), the quadruple drive shaft (210), the dual shaft drive shaft (220), and applications associated with these devices.

The special configuration of the special internal arm drive mechanism 200 to be used is an advantageous configuration of the present invention. 6 and 13 illustrate the use of a pivot drive mechanism (belt staggering structure for each pulley of an inner link pair), which pivot mechanism 70 rotates a plurality of pairs of links. And means for providing smooth movement and sufficient torque to move forward. This pivot mechanism 70 has the advantage of providing a strong drive system, preventing the problem of belt wear, and making it relatively compact.

Looking at the transfer process of the substrate in the cluster having such a configuration and effect as follows.

First, when the storage robot 12 carries in the substrate s through the first door 22 of the load lock chamber 20 and is placed inside the load lock chamber 20 and withdraws, the load lock through vacuum pumping. The internal pressure of the chamber 20 is adjusted to the same level as the process chamber 30 or the transfer chamber 40.

When the vacuum pump is finished, the end effector H of the transfer chamber robot arm assembly 100 enters through the second door 24 between the load lock chamber 20 and the transfer chamber 40 to hold the substrate. This is transferred to one of the process chambers 30.

The process chamber 30 is a space where a direct process is performed, and the transfer chamber 40 is isolated from the transfer chamber 40 through a slot valve (not shown). The transfer chamber robot arm assembly 100 is inside the process chamber 30 through the slot valve. Enter and place the substrate.

When the process for the placed substrate is finished, the transfer chamber robot arm assembly 100 enters the process chamber 30 again and grips the substrate, and then the substrate is transported to the load lock chamber 20 in the reverse order of the above process. do.

Meanwhile, in FIG. 1, the transfer chamber robot arm assembly 100 and the storage robot 12 performing substrate transportation in a cluster are a single arm robot having one arm.

In the transfer chamber robot arm assembly of FIG. 2, the dual shaft drive shaft 220 is rotatably connected to the base link pair and the forearm link pair which are mutually segmental.

In such a process, two or more load lock chambers 20 or two or more process chambers 30 may be stacked up and down in the cluster. In this case, four having four arms independently driven may be used. The use of the heavy robot arm assembly provides a very good effect of allowing the transfer of existing process chambers to a minimum amount of movement of the robot arm, even if there is a disruption of substrate transfer to some chambers in each process chamber. .

In addition, as shown in Figure 12, the drive shaft 60 of the transfer chamber robot arm 50 may be fixed, or may be coupled to the guide rail for lateral movement. The carriage may be provided with a vertical drive mechanism 230 using a vertical linear guide or a rack pinion motor so that reciprocating vertical movement is provided along the axis of the vertical column.

On the other hand, the quadruple robot arm assembly of such a configuration can be used for various industrial processes, and can provide sufficient clusters for performing bulk transfer operations.

As described above, according to the quadruple robot arm assembly of the present invention, a pair of first and third arms 130 using a common dual drive shaft mechanism in common during transfer of the substrate in the process transfer operation, and the second And radially arranging a pair of fourth arms 140 on top of one carriage to simplify the structure of the robot arm assembly and to perform bulk transfer operations in multiple process chambers, especially in two-layer process chambers. In this way, it is possible to improve the manufacturing process yield of the substrate and to limit the bottleneck in the cluster as much as possible to solve the problems such as various contaminations at once, thereby improving reliability.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible.

Claims (5)

Quadruple transfer chamber robot arm assembly, An arm drive mechanism comprising a double shaft drive shaft as a plurality of rotary shafts concentrically arranged in a cage, and drive motors for rotating the dual shaft drive shafts as a rotary shaft shaft through a drive force transmission member; First and second arms individually rotatably connected to an upper portion of the arm drive mechanism, third and fourth arms disposed in front of the first and second arms, Having a single planar end effector connected to said first to fourth arms, The third and fourth arms in front of the quad arms are laminated horizontally lower than the first and second arms in the rear thereof, Each of the first to second arms includes a base link connected in parallel to each other and a forearm link connected in parallel to each other so as to be rotatable via a pivot mechanism at a distal end of the base link. The rotary drive shaft of the dual base link of the first and third arms consists of a pair of dual shaft drive shafts as two inner and outer rotary shafts arranged concentrically, and of the dual base link of the second and fourth arms. The rotary drive shaft also consists of a pair of dual shaft drive shafts as two inner and outer rotary shafts arranged concentrically, The first to fourth arms are composed of double base links, which are double shafts as four rotary shafts in which four drive shafts of each of the base links rotate individually by the driving force of the individual drive motors. Each rotatably supported on a drive shaft, The pivot mechanism is a four-arm transfer chamber robot arm assembly, characterized in that the belt is cross-linked structure for each pulley of the link pair therein. delete delete delete Two pairs of load lock chambers 20 and a plurality of process chambers radially connected with respect to the transfer chamber, the semiconductor substrate processing apparatus having a cluster for transferring the substrate through the transfer chamber robot arm assembly in the transfer chamber To The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus which employ | adopted the quadruple transfer chamber robot arm assembly of Claim 1.

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