KR101467523B1

KR101467523B1 - Device for Transfering Board

Info

Publication number: KR101467523B1
Application number: KR20140014197A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 신기수
Original assignee: (주)버금시스템
Priority date: 2014-02-07
Filing date: 2014-02-07
Publication date: 2014-12-01

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a substrate transfer apparatus for transferring a substrate having been inspected to another process, the shuttle unit transferring at least a pair of substrates in parallel to each other, A buffer portion in which at least a pair of substrates transferred through the shuttle portion are seated parallel to each other, a plurality of shelves capable of supporting the substrate are provided in a height direction, the substrate is seated for each shelf, An index portion for vertically stacking the substrates on the respective shelves while the at least one pair of substrates placed in parallel to the buffer portion are transferred to the sorter, And a control unit for storing the substrate.

Description

Device for Transfering Board [0002]

The present invention relates to a substrate transfer apparatus for sorting inspection-completed substrates by inspection results for transfer to another process.

As the society has become a full-fledged information age, the display field that visually expresses various electrical signal information has been rapidly developed, and in response to this, various kinds of various kinds of excellent characteristics such as thinning, light weight, Flat panel display device (FPD) has been introduced to replace the existing CRT (Cathode Ray Tube).

Specific examples of such flat panel display devices include a liquid crystal display device (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), a field emission display (FED) And an electroluminescence display device (ELD). Each of them has a flat panel display panel in which a pair of transparent insulating substrates are adhered to each other with a unique light-emitting or polarizing material layer interposed therebetween as an essential component.

In recent years, in particular, a flat panel display panel has pixels arranged in a matrix manner as a basic unit of image display, and a switching element such as a thin film transistor (TFT) The active matrix type is well known for its excellent resolution and video capability.

The active matrix type liquid crystal panel, which is widely used for a TV, a monitor, a notebook computer, and the like, has a large contrast ratio and excellent advantages in gradation and moving picture display. The active matrix type liquid crystal panel includes a plurality of pixels, an array substrate having an array element such as a pixel electrode that is switched on and off, an RGB color filter corresponding to each pixel, a black matrix for interposing a gap therebetween, And a color filter substrate having color filter elements such as a common electrode covering the liquid crystal layer and the liquid crystal layer.

The array elements and the color filter elements are divided into cells on the first and second substrates having a large area, respectively, and are then separated into liquid crystal panels through adhesion and cutting processes including liquid crystal injection. 1 and the second substrate manufacturing process involves a substrate sorting operation in which each substrate is classified into good, defective, and the same defective.

For example, when any one of the plurality of cells formed on the first substrate is defective, a cell of the second substrate corresponding to the defective cell is also selected to be defective, thereby repairing the liquid crystal panel made of these defective cells ) Or discarded, and as a result, the defective incidence rate can be kept to a minimum to increase the reliability of the product and greatly reduce the cost of repair and disposal.

To this end, an apparatus for sorting each substrate in a manufacturing process of a flat panel display by good, defective, and the same defect is shown in a block diagram of FIG. 1.

The conventional sorter 2 is connected to a stocker 50 which is a cassette storehouse and is also shown in the drawing. The stocker 50 is provided with a plurality of shelves 60 as a physical space for storing cassettes And a cassette carrying robot 70 called a rackmaster for loading and unloading cassettes from the shelves 60. The cassette carrying robot 70 stores substrate information stored in each cassette and controls the loading and unloading operations of the cassette carrying robot 70 A stocker PC 80 is provided.

The sorter 2 includes a plurality of sorter ports 10 and a substrate transfer robot 40 for transferring the substrates between the sorter ports 10 and a transfer robot 40 for transferring substrates between the sorter ports 10, And a sorter PC 45 for controlling the operation. The plurality of sorter ports 10 are connected to the forward port 12 through which the cassette is carried by the cassette carrying robot 70 of the stocker 50 and the forward port 12 by the substrate carrying robot 40, A cassette is divided into a plurality of to-ports (14 to 30) in which substrates are classified and stored for each state. For convenience, all cells of the substrate are in a G state, one cell is defective, B, C, D, E, and F states, a T state having 2 to 5 defective cells, and an S state having all cells defective, a plurality of to- , D, E, F, G, S, and T ports (14 to 30).

B, C, D, E, F, G, S, and S are internally carried by the first cassette transport robot 70 from the stocker 50 to the front port 12 of the sorter 2, T state substrates are mixed and the information is stored in the stocker PC 80. [ Subsequently, when the stocker PC 80 transfers the substrate information in the cassette to the sorter PC 45, the sorter PC 45 controls the substrate transfer robot 40 to transfer the substrates stored in the cassette of the forward port 12 One by one to the corresponding two-port (14 to 30).

However, such a general substrate sorting method shows some problems, and most importantly, it takes a long time to sort and shows a drawback that efficiency is greatly reduced.

That is, since the substrate is usually transported one by one, it takes a long time to transport the substrate, which causes a decrease in the substrate production speed.

Recently, the manufacturing technology and accuracy of the flat panel display have rapidly developed, and the production rate of the substrate per unit time has been greatly increased as well as maintaining the good product ratio of 90% or more. Nevertheless, it is frequently observed that the sorting process of the sorter 10 still requires a long time and can not be extinguished within a predetermined period of time. As a result, a plurality of sorters 10 are provided to solve this problem Efforts have been made, but this is also not a fundamental solution, and rather the side effect of the substrate-carrying robot 40 is increased and the installation area for the whole equipment is enlarged.

Patent Document 10-2008-0002289

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate transfer apparatus capable of shortening the time required for sorting and transferring a substrate, thereby improving productivity.

The problems of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned problems, and other problems not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus including: a shuttle part for transferring at least a pair of substrates in parallel to each other; a buffer part for mounting at least a pair of substrates transferred through the shuttle part, A plurality of shelves capable of supporting the substrate, the plurality of shelves being arranged in the height direction, the substrates being mounted on the respective shelves and being stacked in the height direction, at least a pair of parallel- And a control unit for storing the states of the substrates mounted on the respective shelves of the sorter, wherein the substrates are stacked on the shelves in the vertical direction.

The shuttle includes a first rail extending in one direction in a horizontal direction, a first slider moving along the first rail, and a pair of first and second sliders provided on the first slider, And may include a picker.

The index unit may include a first reciprocating unit horizontally reciprocating between the buffer unit and the sorter, a second reciprocating unit disposed on the first reciprocating unit and reciprocating in a direction approaching or departing from the sorter side, A second slider disposed on the second slider, a second slider disposed on the second slider so as to be reciprocable in a direction in which the first slider is conveyed, a second column disposed on the second slider, A first hand which is movable up and down along the first column and which moves one of the substrates mounted on the buffer part, a second hand which is movable up and down along the second column and which is mounted on the buffer part, The second hand.

The buffer unit may include a pair of buffer plates for mounting the pair of substrates in parallel with each other, and the buffer plate may be provided on either side of the center portion so that the first or second hand can pass from the lower side to the upper side, As shown in FIG.

The sorter includes a pair of sidewalls spaced apart from each other so as to face each other, a plurality of sidewalls facing each other on opposite sides of the sidewalls facing each other, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > a < / RTI >

The sidewalls of the sorter may be slidably provided so as to be close to or away from each other.

The aligner may further include a aligner arranged to extend and retract toward the opposing sidewall at positions corresponding to the shelves of the both side walls to align the substrates placed on the shelves.

The substrate transfer apparatus according to the present application has the following effects.

First, since a plurality of substrates are simultaneously stacked on the sorter at a time, the substrate transportation time is greatly shortened, and the substrate sorting time is also shortened to improve the productivity.

Secondly, since the state of the substrate on which the control unit is mounted is stored in the vertical direction, and the state of the substrate on which the control unit is mounted is memorized, a plurality of sorters are not necessary, The substrate sorting time can be greatly shortened, productivity can be improved, and further, the installation area of the equipment can be reduced, thereby contributing to the improvement of the productivity.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description of the claims.

The foregoing summary, as well as the detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present application set forth below, may be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there are shown preferred embodiments in the figures. It should be understood, however, that this application is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.
1 is a schematic view of a conventional conventional substrate sorting apparatus;
2 is a perspective view illustrating a substrate transfer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a perspective view illustrating the buffer unit of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the index portion of FIG. 2; FIG.
Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the sorter of Fig. 2; Fig. And,
6 is a cross-sectional view of the sorter of Fig.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In describing the present embodiment, the same designations and the same reference numerals are used for the same components, and further description thereof will be omitted.

2, the substrate transfer apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes a shuttle 110, a buffer unit 120, a sorter 160, an index unit 130, and a control unit 180 .

The shuttle part 110 is a component for transferring the inspected substrate. In the present embodiment, a description will be given of an example in which a pair of substrates are transferred.

Of course, the present invention is not limited to the case where the number of the substrates transferred by the shuttle unit 110 is a pair, and a plurality of the substrates may be more than one pair, for example, three or four.

The shuttle 110 can transfer a pair of inspected substrates to the buffer unit 120 and mount the shutters 110 on the buffer unit 120.

The shuttle 110 may include a first rail 112, a first slider 114, and a picker 116.

The first rail 112 extends in one horizontal direction, and the first slider 114 is provided to move along the first rail 112. Further, a pair of pickers 116 that can pick up the substrate and place it in the buffer unit 120 may be provided. The picker 116 can vacuum-adhere the substrate to the buffer unit 120.

At this time, the pickers 116 are provided in parallel with each other, so that the pair of substrates can be transported in parallel to each other.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the buffer unit 120 may include a pair of buffer plates 122 for receiving and transferring a substrate transferred through the shuttle unit 110 .

In this embodiment, since the shuttle 110 transports a pair of substrates, the pair of buffer plates 122 may also be provided. Of course, the buffer plate 122 may be provided by the number of the pickers 116 of the shuttle 110. That is, if the number of the pickers 116 is three and the number of the substrates to be transferred at one time is three, the buffer plates 122 are also three.

The buffer plate 122 may be positioned directly under the path through which the picker 116 of the shuttle 110 is transported and may be configured to transfer the substrate to its own weight when the substrate is released from the picker 116 have.

The buffer plate 122 may also include a plurality of vacuum adsorption holes 126 for fixing and unfastening the substrate.

The buffer plate 122 may have an opening 124 opened to the side from the center toward the direction in which the index unit 130 is positioned so that the substrate can be transferred to the index unit 130, which will be described later.

The index unit 130 is a component for transferring a substrate placed in the buffer unit 120 to a sorter 160 to be described later.

In the present embodiment, the index unit 130 is a component that loads a pair of substrates placed parallel to the buffer unit 120 in parallel on the sorter 160.

Before describing the index unit 130, the sorter 160 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of shelves 163 are provided in the height direction so that each substrate is supported by a shelf (not shown) 163, and can be stacked in the height direction.

Accordingly, the index unit 130 may be configured to vertically stack the pair of substrates, which are placed side by side in parallel, on the sorter 160.

The index unit 130 may be configured to reciprocate between the buffer unit 120 and the sorters 160, as shown in FIG.

2 and 4, the index unit 130 includes a first reciprocating unit 131 and a second reciprocating unit 133, a first column 141, a second slider 136, A second column 151, a first hand 143, and a second hand 153. [

The first carriage 131 is a component that horizontally reciprocates between the buffer unit 120 and the sorter 160. A rail 132 for guiding the horizontal reciprocation of the first reciprocating table 131 may be provided and a motor (not shown) for providing power for reciprocating the first reciprocating table 131 .

The second reciprocating table 133 is provided on the first reciprocating table 131 and rotates in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the first reciprocating table 131 moves, 120 in the direction of approaching or departing.

A separate rail 134 for guiding movement of the second carriage 133 and a motor 135 for providing power may be provided.

The first column 141 may extend in a vertical direction on either side of the second carriage 133. In addition, the first column 141 may be provided with a first hand 143 capable of moving up and down along the longitudinal direction of the first column 141.

A plurality of vacuum holes 149 may be formed in the first hand 143 to attract or fix the substrate or to release the substrate from the first column 141 to the sorter 160 or the buffer unit 120 side As shown in FIG.

In order to raise and lower the first hand 143, the first column 141 is rotated by the motor 147 and the motor 147, and a thread is formed on the outer circumference of the first column 141 and engaged with the first hand 143 A screw 145 and the like may be provided.

On the other hand, on the other side of the second carriage 133, the second column 151 extends in the vertical direction. The second column 151 may be provided with a second hand 153 capable of moving up and down along the longitudinal direction of the second column 151.

A plurality of vacuum holes may be formed in the second hand 153 to attract or fix the substrate or to release the substrate similarly to the first hand 143. A plurality of vacuum holes may be formed from the second column 151 to the sorter 160, Or toward the buffer unit 120 side.

In order to raise and lower the second hand 153, the second column 151 is rotated by the motor 157 and the motor 157, and a thread is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the second column 151, A screw 155 or the like may be provided.

The first hand 143 and the second hand 153 may be formed to have a width that passes through the opening 124 of the buffer plate 122.

The second column 151 may be slidably mounted on the second carriage 133. The direction in which the second column 151 slides may be a direction parallel to a direction in which the first carriage 131 slides.

A motor 137 and a screw 137 which is rotated by the motor 138 and forms a screw thread on the outer circumferential surface of the screw 137. The screw 137 is rotated by the screw 137 And a second slider 136 which moves along the longitudinal direction of the screw 137 and on which the second column 151 is installed.

Accordingly, the second slider 136 reciprocates along the screw 137 in accordance with the normal and reverse rotation of the motor 138, so that the second column 151 can also reciprocate.

Accordingly, the index part 130 can be moved in a direction in which the first reciprocating table 131 is slid and the second reciprocating table 133, the first column 141, the second column 141, The buffer unit 120 and the sorter 160 can be reciprocated while being moved together.

The first and second columns 141 and 151 may be moved together to move toward or away from the buffer unit 120 or the sorter 160 while the second reciprocating unit 133 is slid, The second slider 136 may be slid so that the second column 151 may be wider or narrower than the first column 141.

The sorter 160 may include a side wall 161, a shelf 163, and an aligner 168, as shown in FIG.

The sidewalls 161 may be spaced apart from each other such that the pair of the sidewalls 161 face each other.

The shelves 163 may be spaced apart from each other on the opposite surfaces of the side walls 161 so as to be spaced along the height direction.

Accordingly, the substrate 5 can be loaded on the sorter 160 with both side surfaces thereof being laid on the shelf 163.

On the other hand, the aligner 168 may be provided on both sides of the substrate 5.

6, slits opened at positions corresponding to the respective shelves are formed on both side surfaces of the side wall 161, and the aligners 168 may be provided on the slits.

The aligner 168 may align the substrate placed on each of the shelves 163 to the side of the opposing side wall 161 so that the substrate 5 is placed at the center of the sorter 160.

The aligner 168 includes protrusions for pushing the substrate 5 at opposite positions of the respective shelves 163 and is moved toward the opposite side wall 161 by a driving unit such as an actuator 169 So that the substrate can be moved.

The driving unit may be realized by various means such as a motor or a cylinder.

In this embodiment, the aligner 168 is formed with projections at positions corresponding to the respective shelves 163 in the bars having a length in the height direction of the side wall 161, and the actuators 169 push the bars The present invention is not necessarily limited thereto. The aligner 168 may be mounted on each shelf 163 and may be mounted on the shelf 163 of the sorter 160, So that only the aligner 168 corresponding to the shelf 163 on which the substrate is placed can be made to independently align the substrates.

Meanwhile, the side walls 161 may be slidably provided so as to be close to or spaced from each other so as to correspond to various sizes of substrates.

A rail 165 is disposed below the sidewall 161 in the width direction of the sorter 160. The sidewall 161 is slidably mounted on the rail 165 and a motor 167, (Not shown) rotated by the motor 167 to be close to or away from each other as the motor 167 rotates forward and backward.

Meanwhile, the controller 180 may be provided as a separate computer or may be embedded. The control unit 180 controls the operation of the shuttle unit 110, the index unit 130 and the sorter 160 and determines the state of the substrate on the shelf 163 of the sorter 160 I can remember.

The state of the substrate can be classified into whether the substrate is a good product or a defective product, and the defective and defective positions.

That is, for example, the control unit 180 has a G (good) state substrate mounted on the first shelf 163 and the fifth shelf 163 of the sorter 160, and the third shelf 163 and the fourth shelf 163 163, and a substrate with a defective D state is seated on the seventh shelf 163. [0157]

Accordingly, the sorter 160 may be loaded with various types of substrates, and the controller 180 may store the status information of the substrates mounted on the shelves 163. The state information of the substrate may be acquired through a separate substrate inspection process, and the state information may be input to the control unit. The substrate inspection process may be performed before the substrate is transferred to the substrate transfer apparatus 100.

Hereinafter, a process of applying a substrate having been inspected by the substrate transfer of the present embodiment to the sorter 160 will be described.

First, the picker 116 of the shuttle 110 picks up the inspected substrate, moves it, and places it on the buffer plate 122 of the buffer unit 120.

The first reciprocating table 131 of the index unit 130 slides so that the first column 141 and the second column 151 are positioned at a position facing the buffer plate 122 of the buffer unit 120 Lt; / RTI > At this time, the first column 141 is fixed to the second carriage 133, but the second column 151 can move and adjust the gap with the first column 141, The interval between the column 141 and the second column 151 may be an interval at which the first hand 143 and the second hand 153 form positions corresponding to the respective openings of the buffer plate 122.

The second carriage 133 of the index unit 130 is moved toward the buffer unit 120 so that the first hand 143 of the first column 141 and the second hand 143 of the second column 151 A hand 153 may be positioned below the buffer plate 122. [

The first hand 143 of the first column 141 and the second hand 153 of the second column 151 are lifted up to move the opening 124 of each buffer plate 122 from the lower side to the upper side . &Lt; / RTI >

The first hand 143 and the second hand 153 pass through the opening of the buffer plate 122 while the first and second hands 143 and 153 are positioned above the respective buffer plates 122 The mounted substrate can be transferred.

After the first and second hands 143 and 153 are seated on the first and second hands 143 and 143, the second carriage 133 retracts away from the buffer unit 120, The first and second hands 143 and 153 may be lowered after the substrate mounted on the first and second hands 153 and 153 is out of the area where the substrate is interfered with the buffer plate 122.

The first reciprocating table 131 of the index unit 130 is moved to a position facing the sorter 160. At this time, the second slider 136 of the second column 151 is moved The first hand 143 and the second hand 153 move upward or downward to move to a height at which the substrate is loaded on the sorter 160.

Since the shelf 163 on which the substrate is mounted is arranged in the height direction, the first and second hands 143 and 153 are also moved to a position where they are superimposed on each other in the vertical direction, The substrates attracted to the first hand 143 and the second hand 153 may also be moved to positions superimposed on each other in the vertical direction and positioned at the height of the shelf 163 of the sorter 160 to be placed thereon.

The second carriage 133 is transferred to the sorter 160 side so that the substrate enters the space between the side walls 161 of the sorter 160 and then the first hand 143 and the second hand 143 The two hands 153 descend to release the suction fixture so that the substrate can be placed on the shelf 163 of the sorter 160. [

After the substrate is placed on the shelf 163 of the sorter 160, the second carriage 133 is retracted away from the sorter 160 so that the first and second hands 143, May be separated from the sorter 160.

After the first hand 143 and the second hand 153 are separated from the sorter 160, the aligner 168 is operated so that the substrate is positioned at the center of the sorter 160 You can sort.

The controller 180 may control the operation of the shuttle 110, the buffer 120, the index 130 and the sorter 160 during the process, And the position of the shelf 163 to be loaded.

If a substrate in the same state is present in at least one pair of sorters 160 in the sorter 160, a separate device can discharge a pair of substrates from the sorter 160 as information stored in the controller 180 have.

The pair of substrates discharged from the sorter 160 may be transferred to a subsequent process such as a liquid crystal panel manufacturing process or a repair process according to the state.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. It is obvious to them. Therefore, the above-described embodiments are to be considered as illustrative rather than restrictive, and the present invention is not limited to the above description, but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

5: substrate 100: substrate transfer device
110: shuttle part 112: first rail
114: first slider 116:
120: buffer unit 122: buffer plate
124: opening part 130: index part
131: first reciprocating stand 132: rail
133: second carriage 134: rail
135: motor 136: second slider
137: screw 138: motor
141: first column 143: first hand
145: screw 147: motor
149: Vacuum hole 151: Second column
153: second hand 155: screw
157: motor 160: sorter
161: side wall 163: shelf
165: rail 167: motor
168: aligner 169: actuator
180:

Claims

A shuttle part for transferring at least a pair of substrates on the same plane in parallel left and right;
A buffer unit in which at least a pair of substrates transferred through the shuttle unit are seated in parallel to each other;
A sorter having a plurality of shelves capable of supporting the substrate in a height direction;
An indexing part for vertically stacking the substrates on the respective shelves while transferring at least a pair of substrates placed parallel to the buffer part to the sorter;
A controller for storing a state of a substrate mounted on each shelf of the sorter;
And a substrate transfer device.

The method according to claim 1,
The shuttle portion
A first rail extending in any one horizontal direction;
A first slider moving along the first rail;
A pair of pickers provided on the first slider and adapted to pick up a pair of substrates in parallel on the same plane in left and right directions;
And a substrate transfer device.

The method according to claim 1,
The index unit includes:
A first reciprocating unit horizontally reciprocating between the buffer unit and the sorter;
A second reciprocating unit disposed on the first reciprocating unit and reciprocating in a direction approaching or moving away from the sorter;
A first column installed at one point of the second shuttle;
A second slider disposed on the second reciprocating unit, the second slider being reciprocable in a direction in which the first reciprocating unit is conveyed;
A second column disposed on the second slider;
A first hand movable up and down along the first column for transferring any one of substrates mounted on the buffer unit;
A second hand movable up and down along the second column to transfer another one of the substrates seated in the buffer unit;
And a substrate transfer device.

The method of claim 3,
Wherein the buffer section includes at least a pair of buffer plates for seating the pair of substrates,
Wherein the buffer plate is formed such that the first hand or the second hand is open from a central portion to one side so as to pass from the lower side to the upper side.

The method according to claim 1,
The sorter includes:
A pair of side walls spaced apart from each other so as to face each other;
A plurality of spaced apart side walls spaced apart from each other in a height direction at opposite positions on opposite sides of the side wall to support both ends of each substrate conveyed by the index portion;
And a substrate transfer device.

6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the sidewalls of the sorters are slidably provided so as to be close to or away from each other.

6. The method of claim 5,
Further comprising an aligner arranged to extend and retract toward opposite sidewalls at positions corresponding to the respective shelves of both side walls to align the substrates placed on the shelves.