KR20000000248U - Semiconductor Wafer Transfer Robot - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer transfer robot, and the related art is a cassette loaded with a plurality of wafers are vertically moved by an elevator, so that when the cassette is moved up and down, the wafer may protrude a predetermined amount out of the cassette. In this case, the wafer collides with the elevator lift passage, and thus the wafer is broken. Accordingly, the present invention provides a robot arm for holding a wafer loaded in a cassette, and a robot arm installed at the bottom of the robot arm to move the robot arm forward and backward. A semiconductor wafer comprising a moving means for reciprocating, a rotating means installed on the bottom of the moving means and rotating the moving means, and a lifting means provided on the bottom of the rotating means for raising and lowering the rotating means. By providing a transfer robot, a cassette containing a plurality of wafers can be Since it does not move up and down, the wafer which protrudes a predetermined amount to the outside of a cassette can be prevented from being damaged, and also productivity can be improved by shortening loading and unloading time of a wafer.

Description

Semiconductor Wafer Transfer Robot

The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer transfer robot, and more particularly, to a semiconductor wafer transfer robot for preventing wafer breakage and shortening the loading / unloading time of the wafer.

In the conventional semiconductor wafer transfer robot, as shown in FIG. 1, a robot for drawing a wafer W from a cassette C seated in an elevator 10 and loading the wafer W into a wafer chuck 20 for a predetermined process is performed. An arm 30, a moving means provided on the bottom of the robot arm 30 to move the robot arm 30 back and forth by a set distance, and a robot arm 30 mounted on the bottom of the moving means and mounted thereon. It consists of a rotating means for rotating the moving means by a set angle.

The elevator 10 is mounted on the rotary shaft 11 rotates by a predetermined amount in accordance with the rotation of the step motor (not shown), and the cassette (C) is mounted by the rotation of the rotary shaft 11 to move up and down by a predetermined amount. The cassette C configured as the lift table 12 moves the cassette C up and down vertically while the cassette C loaded with the plurality of wafers W is seated and fixed on the lift table 12.

The moving means includes a moving motor (not shown), a driving pulley 41 which rotates in the front-rear direction by the driving force of the moving motor, and the driving pulley 41 is provided at a predetermined distance to the driving pulley 41. Drive belt 43 coupled to the interlocking pulley 42 and the respective pulleys 41 and 42 coupled to rotate in accordance with the drive to mount the robot arm 30 and to reciprocate the robot arm 30 back and forth. It is composed.

The rotating means is coupled to the bottom surface of the moving means is rotated to rotate the robot arm 30 to seat the wafer (W) seated on the upper surface of the robot arm 30 to the wafer chuck 20 (not shown) ) And a rotating motor 51 for applying rotational force to the rotary shaft.

Reference numeral 31 is a vacuum hole for suction fixing the wafer.

Referring to the loading and unloading operation of the wafer using the wafer transfer robot as described above are as follows.

First, when loading the wafer W from the cassette C to the wafer chuck 20, a cassette C containing a plurality of wafers W is placed on the upper surface of the platform 12, and the elevator 10 is operated. As the rotating shaft 11 rotates by the step motor, the lifting platform 12 on which the cassette C is seated and fixed rises by a predetermined height and then stops.

At this time, when the robot arm 30 takes out the wafer W loaded in the lowermost slot of the cassette C and transfers it to the wafer chuck 20, the platform 12 is lowered by one slot of the cassette C again. The wafer loading operation is performed while repeating the above operation.

On the other hand, when unloading the wafer W from the wafer chuck 20 to the cassette C, it may proceed in the reverse order to the above loading operation.

However, in the conventional technology as described above, the cassette C on which the plurality of wafers W are stacked is vertically moved by the elevator 10. When the cassette C is moved up and down, the wafer W is moved to the cassette C. If a predetermined amount protrudes to the outside of the case occurs, in this case, the wafer (W) hit the lifting passage of the elevator 10 has a problem that the wafer (W) is broken.

In addition, the lifting platform 12 on which the cassette C is seated by the step motor is lifted and lowered for loading / unloading the wafer W. Thus, the time required for the rising and falling of the cassette C is not so small. There was a problem that the process time is increased.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is designed to fix a cassette on which a wafer is loaded and to allow the robot arm to be lifted to prevent breakage of the wafer and to shorten the process time. The purpose is to provide a robot.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing a semiconductor wafer transfer robot according to the prior art;

Figure 2 is a perspective view schematically showing a semiconductor wafer transfer robot according to the present invention.

** Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawings **

30; Robot arm 41; Driving pulley

42; Interlocking pulley 43; Conveying belt

51; Rotary motor 61; Lifting shaft

62; Lead screw 63; Step motor

Therefore, the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, the robot arm for holding a wafer loaded in the cassette, the movement means is installed on the bottom of the robot arm to move back and forth and the robot arm, and the movement means of Provided is a semiconductor wafer transfer robot, comprising: a rotating means installed on the bottom surface and rotating means for rotating the moving means, and a lifting means installed on the bottom surface of the rotating means to raise and lower the rotating means.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a semiconductor wafer transfer robot according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 2, the semiconductor wafer transfer robot of the present invention grips the wafer W loaded on the cassette C while the cassette C is seated and fixed on the cassette support 10 having a predetermined height. The robot arm 30 and the robot arm 30 are installed on the bottom surface of the robot arm 30 to advance to the position of the cassette C, and then hold the wafer W loaded on the cassette C. After moving the robot arm 30 back and forth to move backwards and backwards, and the robot arm 30 installed on the bottom of the moving means to hold the wafer (W) to rotate in the direction of the wafer chuck 20 Rotating means for rotating the moving means so that the movement means, and the lowering means for raising and lowering the rotating means to be seated on the wafer chuck 20, the wafer (W) held by the robot arm 30 is mounted on the bottom surface of the rotating means; It consists of lifting means.

The upper surface of the robot arm 30 is inserted between a plurality of wafers (W) loaded in the slot of the cassette (C) so as to suck and fix the wafer (W) while the target wafer (W) is seated on the upper surface A plurality of holes 31 are formed.

The moving means includes a moving motor (not shown), a driving pulley 41 which rotates in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction by the driving force of the moving motor, and the driving pulley 41 is provided at a predetermined distance from the driving pulley ( 41, a transfer belt coupled to the interlocking pulley 42 and the respective pulleys 41 and 42 in accordance with the driving of the driving unit to mount the robot arm 30 and reciprocate the robot arm 30 back and forth ( 43).

The rotating means is coupled to the bottom surface of the moving means is rotated to rotate the robot arm 30 to seat the wafer (W) seated on the upper surface of the robot arm 30 to the wafer chuck 20 (not shown) ) And a rotating motor 51 for applying rotational force to the rotary shaft.

The elevating means includes an elevating shaft 61 coupled to a bottom surface of the rotating means, a lead screw 62 which rotates in engagement with the elevating shaft 61, and applies rotational force to the lead screw 62. It is comprised by the step motor 63 which raises and lowers the lifting shaft 61 by a predetermined amount.

Referring to the operation of the semiconductor wafer transfer robot according to the present invention configured as described above are as follows.

First, when loading the wafer (W) from the cassette (C) to the wafer chuck 20, the robot (C) containing a plurality of wafers (W) is seated and fixed on the upper surface of the cassette support 10 of a predetermined height The arm 30 advances by the moving means in the cassette C direction by a set value, takes out the wafer W loaded in the lowermost slot of the cassette C, and then moves back.

Subsequently, when the robot arm 30 moves backward by the moving means so as to correspond to the wafer chuck 20 for carrying out a predetermined process, the rotating means loads the moving arm on which the robot arm 30 is placed. Direction by a predetermined angle, the robot arm 30 moves forward in the direction of the wafer chuck 20 so that the wafer W drawn out from the cassette C corresponds to the upper surface of the wafer chuck 20 by the moving means. The robot arm 20 is lowered by a predetermined height to raise and lower the wafer W on the wafer chuck 20.

On the other hand, when a predetermined process is completed, the wafer chuck 20 is unloaded from the wafer chuck 20 to the cassette C in the reverse order of the wafer loading operation as described above.

As described above, the semiconductor wafer transfer robot according to the present invention does not move up and down the cassette in which a plurality of wafers are stacked, as in the prior art, thereby preventing damage to the wafer that protrudes a predetermined amount out of the cassette. In addition, productivity can be improved by shortening the loading and unloading time of the wafer.

Claims (4)

A robot arm for gripping a wafer loaded on a cassette, a moving means provided on the bottom of the robot arm and reciprocating the robot arm back and forth, a rotating means installed on the bottom of the moving means and rotating the moving means; A semiconductor wafer transfer robot, which is provided on the bottom of the rotating means and comprises lifting means for raising and lowering the rotating means. According to claim 1, The moving means is a transfer belt for mounting the robot arm and reciprocating the robot arm forward and backward, the drive pulley and the interlocking pulley rotated in a predetermined direction, respectively coupled to both ends of the transfer belt, the drive A semiconductor wafer transfer robot, comprising: a moving motor coupled to a pulley to apply a driving force. According to claim 1, wherein the rotating means is coupled to the lower surface of the moving means and the rotating shaft for rotating the moving means for seating the wafer seated on the upper surface of the robot arm on the wafer chuck and applying a rotational force to the rotating shaft Semiconductor wafer transfer robot, characterized in that consisting of a rotating motor. 2. The elevating means of claim 1, wherein the elevating means comprises an elevating shaft coupled to a bottom surface of the rotary motor, a lead screw rotating in engagement with the elevating shaft, and a step motor for applying rotational force to the lead screw. Semiconductor wafer transfer robot.