KR20230134013A - A substrate transfer robot capable of diagnosing errors, an error diagnosis method thereof and a substrate processing system comprising a substrate transfer robot capable of error diagnosis - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a substrate transfer robot capable of error diagnosis, an error diagnosis method of the substrate transfer robot, and a substrate processing system including a substrate transfer robot capable of error diagnosis.
A substrate transfer robot according to an embodiment includes a substrate transfer unit that transfers a substrate; a first information collection unit that collects first coordinate information of the substrate while transferring the substrate; a second information collection unit that collects first driving torque information from a drive motor installed in the substrate transfer unit; The first coordinate information is compared with the first reference information to calculate a first position deviation, the first position error is outside a preset range, and the first driving torque information is compared with the second reference information to calculate the first driving torque information. an error determination unit that determines that an error has occurred when the second standard information is outside the range; and an error recovery unit that performs an error recovery process to automatically restore the substrate transfer unit when the error determination unit determines that an error has occurred.

Description

A substrate transfer robot capable of diagnosing errors, an error diagnosis method thereof and a substrate processing system comprising a substrate transfer robot capable of error diagnosis}

The present invention relates to a substrate processing system including a substrate transfer robot capable of error diagnosis, an error diagnosis method of the substrate transfer robot, and a substrate transfer robot capable of error diagnosis, capable of error judgment and self-recovery when an error occurs, and improving component service life. It relates to a substrate transfer robot that can extend and its error diagnosis method.

Semiconductor devices are manufactured by selectively and repeatedly performing a deposition process, a polishing process, a photolithography process, an etching process, an ion implantation process, a cleaning process, an inspection process, and a heat treatment process on a wafer. In this way, the wafer is formed into a semiconductor device. is transported to the specific location required for each process.

In order to perform all of the above processes, the substrate must be transferred to the next process by a transfer means such as a vacuum robot.

The vacuum robot transports substrates in the vacuum environment of the semiconductor device manufacturing equipment, and it is important to manage to maintain the same operation and torque. If the operation and torque are outside a certain range, there is a problem with the parts that make up the vacuum robot. I am judging.

In particular, a method of identifying the torque trend of the motor has been used to manage vacuum robots. However, if this method is used, the true cause cannot be determined and it is simply judged to be caused by a defective part, which increases the frequency of parts replacement. , there are frequent cases where even normal parts are judged to be defective, which increases system down time and reduces productivity, so research on ways to supplement this is necessary.

Previously, if an error occurred in the operation of the substrate transfer robot, the error code was checked and then the robot was manually inspected, or the robot's torque tendency was checked and if this was found to be abnormal, it was determined that an error had occurred and the robot was manually inspected. .

For example, when the bearings of a vacuum robot age, frictional resistance and deteriorated hardness change, causing vibration, and the generated vibration causes errors in the centering of the wafer seating point, or generates fine particles, causing contamination, etc. problems may occur.

However, the existing method of checking the torque trend as described above is difficult to determine the exact cause of defects in the vacuum robot, and is managed solely based on the motor torque trend, making it difficult to accurately determine the true cause when an error occurs, and even if it is a normal part. Since products are frequently judged to be defective, there are problems such as shortening the replacement cycle of parts, increased system down time, decreased productivity, and additional quality costs, so research is needed on ways to compensate for these problems.

According to one embodiment, the aim is to provide technical content regarding a substrate transfer robot that monitors the coordinate information of the substrate and the vibration of the drive motor, and is capable of self-recovery when an error occurs, thereby reducing system down time and preventing a decrease in productivity. .

In addition, the aim is to provide technical information regarding a substrate transfer robot that can increase the parts replacement cycle and service life of the substrate transfer robot, and thereby reduce post-processing costs and cleanup losses.

A substrate transfer robot according to an embodiment includes a substrate transfer unit that transfers a substrate to a substrate seating position; a first information collection unit that collects first coordinate information of the substrate while transporting the substrate to the substrate seating position; a second information collection unit that collects first driving torque information from a driving motor installed in the substrate transfer unit; The first coordinate information is compared with first reference information to calculate a first position error, and if the first position error is outside a preset range, the first driving torque information is compared with second reference information to calculate the first position error. an error determination unit that determines that an error has occurred when the driving torque information is outside the range of the second reference information; and an error recovery unit configured to perform an error recovery process to automatically restore the substrate transfer unit when the error determination unit determines that an error has occurred.

According to one embodiment, the error recovery unit may perform automatic recovery by adjusting the control factor of the driving motor, and in particular, may adjust the control factor of the driving motor through proportional differential integral (PID) control.

According to one embodiment, the error recovery unit performs an error recovery process by modifying at least one of the control factors of the driving motor and then generates a signal so that the first information collection unit collects second coordinate information, and the first information collection unit collects second coordinate information. 2 An information collection unit collects second driving torque information, and the error determination unit calculates a second position deviation by comparing the second coordinate information and first reference information, and the second position deviation is within a preset range. If the second driving torque information is outside the range of the second reference information, it may be determined that the error has not been recovered by comparing the second driving torque information with second reference information.

According to one embodiment, after performing the error recovery process, the error determination unit determines the error if the second position deviation is outside a preset range and the second driving torque information is outside the range of second reference information. The recovery process may be re-performed, and if the second position deviation falls within a preset range, the error recovery process may be completed.

According to one embodiment, the error determination unit may control the operation of the error recovery unit to re-perform the error recovery process a preset number of times, and the error recovery unit may be configured to re-perform the error recovery process a preset number of times. If the error cannot be recovered, an alarm signal can be generated for manual recovery.

On the other hand, the diagnosis method of the substrate transfer robot according to the embodiment performs diagnosis on the substrate transfer robot having the above structure, and transfers the substrate to the substrate seating position by the substrate transfer robot to be diagnosed, while the first part of the substrate is A first information collection step of collecting coordinate information; A second information collection step of collecting first driving torque information from a driving motor of the substrate transfer robot; The first coordinate information is compared with first reference information to calculate a first position error, and if the first position error is outside a preset range, the first driving torque information is compared with second reference information to calculate the first position error. An error determination step of determining whether an error has occurred by checking whether the driving torque information is outside the range of the second reference information; and an error recovery step of recovering the substrate transfer robot when it is determined that an error has occurred in the error determination step.

According to one embodiment, in the error recovery step, error recovery of the substrate transfer robot is performed by modifying at least one of the control factors of the drive motor, and then the substrate is transferred to the substrate seating position by the substrate transfer robot. A third information collection step of collecting second coordinate information of the substrate; A fourth information collection step of collecting second driving torque information from the driving motor of the substrate transfer robot; and calculate a second position error by comparing the second coordinate information with first reference information, and if the second position error is outside a preset range, compare the second driving torque information with the second reference information, and calculate the second position error by comparing the second coordinate information with the second reference information. 2 If the driving torque information is outside the range of the second reference information, a post-recovery error determination step may be further included in which it is determined that the error has not been recovered.

According to one embodiment, in the post-recovery error determination step, if it is determined that the error has not been recovered, a post-recovery error recovery step may be additionally performed to recover the error, and the error recovery step may be performed a preset number of times. If it is determined that the error has not been recovered even if the recovery step is re-performed, the step of generating an alarm signal for manual recovery may be further included.

Meanwhile, a substrate processing system according to an embodiment includes at least one process chamber including a processing space for processing a substrate; and a transfer chamber connected to the at least one process chamber and installed with the above substrate transfer robot for transferring the substrate.

Previously, the error was determined by measuring the coordinate information of the substrate collected during the substrate transfer process, or the error was determined by measuring only the driving torque. However, if the error was judged only based on the coordinate information of the substrate, it was necessary to determine what caused the error. It is difficult to determine, and when determining an error using only the driving torque, it is judged as an error even if the driving torque temporarily falls outside the preset range, so it is impossible to accurately predict whether an actual problem has occurred.

However, the substrate transfer robot according to the embodiment monitors the coordinate information of the substrate and the vibration of the drive motor to evaluate whether an error has occurred, thereby evaluating whether the error is due to a defect in a component such as a bearing, and automatic recovery is possible. You can accurately check whether it is necessary or not.

In addition, self-recovery is possible in the event of an error, which reduces system downtime and prevents productivity loss, and extends the parts replacement cycle and service life of the substrate transfer robot, resulting in post-processing costs and cleanup losses. (loss) can be reduced.

1 is a block diagram showing a substrate transfer robot according to an embodiment.
Figure 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a substrate transfer unit installed in a substrate transfer robot according to an embodiment.
Figure 3 is a process diagram showing a diagnostic method for a substrate transfer robot according to an embodiment.
Figure 4 shows (a) coordinate information of the substrate (S) collected while transferring the substrate (S) to the substrate seating position by a normally running substrate transfer robot, (b) information collected while transporting the substrate (S) to the substrate seating position by a normally running substrate transfer robot; (c) Driving torque information from the drive motor of the substrate transfer robot collected while transferring the substrate (S), (c) The substrate ( (d) Coordinate information of the substrate (S) collected while transporting the substrate (S), (d) an error occurred due to vibration caused by a defect in a bearing part installed on the drive shaft, collected while transporting the substrate (S) to the substrate seating position by the transfer robot This is a reference diagram showing an example of driving torque information from the drive motor of a substrate transfer robot.
Figure 5 is a reference diagram for explaining parameter tuning of a drive motor using control values and target values in the diagnosis method of a substrate transfer robot according to an embodiment.
Figure 6 is a conceptual diagram showing a substrate processing system according to an embodiment.

Below, with reference to the attached drawings, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail so that those skilled in the art can easily implement the present invention. However, since the description of the present invention is only an example for structural and functional explanation, the scope of the present invention should not be construed as limited by the examples described in the text. In other words, since the embodiments can be modified in various ways and can take various forms, the scope of rights of the present invention should be understood to include equivalents that can realize the technical idea. In addition, the purpose or effect presented in the present invention does not mean that a specific embodiment must include all or only such effects, so the scope of the present invention should not be understood as limited thereby.

The meaning of terms described in the present invention should be understood as follows.

Terms such as “first” and “second” are used to distinguish one component from another component, and the scope of rights should not be limited by these terms. For example, a first component may be named a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be named a first component. When a component is referred to as being “connected” to another component, it should be understood that it may be directly connected to the other component, but that other components may also exist in between. On the other hand, when a component is referred to as being “directly connected” to another component, it should be understood that there are no other components in between. Meanwhile, other expressions that describe the relationship between components, such as "between" and "immediately between" or "neighboring" and "directly neighboring" should be interpreted similarly.

Singular expressions should be understood to include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, and terms such as “comprise” or “have” refer to the indicated features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof. It is intended to specify the existence of one thing, and should be understood as not excluding in advance the possibility of the presence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

All terms used herein, unless otherwise defined, have the same meaning as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the field to which the present invention pertains. Terms defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as consistent with the meaning they have in the context of the related technology, and cannot be interpreted as having an ideal or excessively formal meaning unless clearly defined in the present invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a substrate transfer robot according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a substrate transfer unit in the substrate transfer robot according to an embodiment.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, the substrate transfer robot 10 according to the embodiment includes a substrate transfer unit 100; First information collection unit 200; Second information collection unit 300; and an error determination unit 400.

First, the substrate transfer unit 100 serves to transport the substrate S to the substrate seating position. The substrate transfer unit 100 may be a typical substrate transfer device of various types including an end effector 110, an articulated arm 120, a drive unit 130, and a transfer chamber 140. In particular, a representative example is a substrate transfer device for transferring the substrate S from the transfer space A in a vacuum atmosphere to the substrate seating position. For example, the substrate transfer unit 100 may be a substrate transfer device for transferring a substrate (S) from the gate (G) to a chamber or from an equipment front end module (EFEM) to a process chamber. there is.

The end effector 110 serves to support the substrate S to be transferred from the lower part and is installed at one end of the multi-joint arm 120. The multi-joint arm 120 includes a plurality of joints capable of horizontal rotation, and an end effector 110 is installed at one end, and the other end is connected to the drive unit 130. The drive unit 130 includes a drive motor and drives a plurality of joints of the multi-joint arm 120 to form a structure capable of horizontal rotation, thereby moving the substrate to the substrate seating position using the end effector 110. It can be transported.

In addition, the driving unit forms a structure in which the multi-joint arm 120 can be raised, lowered, and rotated in the transfer space to load the substrate for transfer to the end effector 110, transfer the loaded substrate to the substrate seating position, and then transfer the substrate to the substrate seating position. It can be unloaded in the seating position.

The transfer chamber 140 forms a transfer space (A) in a vacuum atmosphere therein, and an end effector 110, an articulated arm 120, and a driving unit 130 are installed therein, so that the substrate ( S) can be transported. The transfer chamber 140 may have at least one gate G, which is a passage for loading or unloading the substrate S, formed on a side surface.

The first information collection unit 200 serves to collect first coordinate information of the substrate S while transporting the substrate S to the substrate seating position.

First, the first coordinate information of the substrate S may include the coordinates where the center point of the substrate is located during the process of transferring the substrate through the substrate transfer unit 100, and may be used to repeatedly transfer the substrate multiple times. Thus, first coordinate information can be collected.

To this end, the first information collection unit 200 may include an automatic wafer centering sensor (AWS sensor). The substrate centering sensor is installed in the transfer space (A) to detect the center point of the substrate and generate first coordinate information of the substrate (S). The substrate centering sensor may generate first coordinate information of the substrate S by repeatedly collecting the center point of the substrate S at least once.

That is, the first coordinate information of the substrate S refers to the center point of the substrate S recognized through a substrate centering sensor fixed to a certain position during the process of transferring the substrate S through the substrate transfer unit 100. When an error occurs in the substrate transfer unit 100, the width of the range in which the center point of the substrate S deviates from the reference point is expanded, thereby increasing the position deviation.

The first information collection unit 200 may include a control processor for transmitting the first coordinate information collected from the automatic substrate centering sensor as described above.

In addition, the first information collection unit 200 may collect second coordinate information of the substrate S while performing error recovery and then transferring the substrate to the substrate seating position by a substrate transfer robot that performed error recovery. . The collected second coordinate information is transmitted to the error determination unit 400, and the error determination unit 400 compares the second coordinate information with the first reference information to calculate the second position deviation. That is, the second coordinate information refers to the coordinates where the center point of the substrate transported by the restored substrate transfer unit is located after the substrate transfer unit is restored.

Thereafter, the error determination unit 400 compares the second coordinate information with the first reference information and calculates a second position deviation of the substrate. Additionally, it is determined whether the calculated second position error falls within a preset range. At this time, the error recovery may be performed multiple times, and accordingly, the first information collection unit 200 may repeat the step of performing error recovery and then collecting second coordinate information. The error determination unit 400 recovers the error a preset number of times, and then, if it is determined that the second position deviation continues to be outside the preset range, determines that recovery is not possible by automatic recovery and generates a manual recovery signal. can do. In other words, the error determination unit 400 determines that the component replacement cycle has arrived and allows the error determination unit 400 to determine that it is time to replace the components of the substrate transfer unit.

Meanwhile, the second information collection unit 300 serves to collect first driving torque information from a drive motor installed in the substrate transfer unit while transferring the substrate to the substrate seating position.

To this end, the second information collection unit 300 may include a torque sensor to collect first driving torque information, and the torque sensor may be installed on one side of the drive motor drive shaft to collect driving torque information.

The driving torque information may include vibration information generated by friction of components when the driving motor is driven, and the vibration information may generate driving torque information having a constant waveform depending on the applied voltage and rotation speed.

Additionally, the second information collection unit 300 may perform error recovery and then collect second driving torque information of the substrate transfer unit while transferring the substrate to the substrate seating position by a substrate transfer robot that has performed error recovery. Thereafter, the collected second driving torque information is transmitted to the error determination unit 400, and the error determination unit 400 may compare the second driving torque information with the second reference information. The second driving torque information refers to driving torque information of the restored substrate transporting unit after the substrate transporting unit is restored. The second information collection unit 300 may repeatedly collect second driving torque information when error recovery is performed multiple times. Thereafter, the error determination unit 400 compares the second driving torque information with the second reference information to determine whether the second driving torque information falls within a preset range. The error determination unit 400 recovers the error a preset number of times, and then, if it is determined that the second driving torque information continues to deviate from the second reference information, it determines that recovery is not possible through automatic recovery and sends a manual recovery signal. can be created. In other words, the error determination unit 400 determines that the component replacement cycle has arrived and allows the error determination unit 400 to determine that it is time to replace the components of the substrate transfer unit.

Accordingly, the second information collection unit 300 can automatically check whether error recovery is possible by repeatedly collecting driving torque information of the substrate transfer robot that has performed error recovery.

The error determination unit 400 serves to determine whether an error has occurred in the substrate transfer unit. The error determination unit 400 calculates a first position deviation by comparing the first coordinate information with first reference information, and if the first position error is outside a preset range, the first driving torque information is set to the second reference information. When the first driving torque information is compared with the information and is outside the range of the second reference information, it is determined that an error has occurred.

Specifically, the error determination unit 400 calculates a first position deviation of the substrate S by comparing the first coordinate information with first reference information, and determines whether the first position deviation is outside a preset range. can be judged.

Additionally, the error determination unit 400 may store first reference information and calculate the first position deviation of the substrate S. At this time, the first reference information may include coordinate information of the substrate S collected while transferring the substrate S to the substrate seating position by a normally operating substrate transfer robot.

In addition, the error determination unit 400 may store the first coordinate information collected by the first information collection unit 200.

Additionally, the error determination unit 400 may perform error recovery and then receive second coordinate information of the substrate S and compare it with first reference information to calculate a second position deviation.

Additionally, the error determination unit 400 compares the first driving torque information with second reference information to determine whether the driving torque is outside a preset range.

The driving torque information may include vibration information generated by friction of components when the driving motor is driven, and driving torque information having different waveforms may be generated depending on the cause of the error.

The error determination unit 400 stores second reference information including reference torque information, and compares the driving torque information including torque information of the driving motor with the stored second reference information to detect different vibrations occurring in the driving motor. The characteristics can be evaluated and the cause of the error can be determined accordingly. At this time, the second reference information may include driving torque information collected from the driving motor of the normally running substrate transfer robot.

The error may be caused by at least one of a defect in a component of the substrate transfer robot to be diagnosed or a change in hardness due to deterioration of the component. Accordingly, the first driving torque information has a different waveform from the reference torque information. It can be.

In particular, the part may be a part installed on a drive shaft, such as a bearing, and when such a part ages, the position coordinates of the substrate S transported by the substrate transfer unit 100 change due to a change in driving torque. It can act as

In addition, the error determination unit 400 compares the first driving torque information with reference torque information, checks changes in the internal environment of the substrate transfer unit 100, and determines the setting information of the substrate transfer unit 100. You can also check to determine the cause of the error.

If the internal environment of the substrate transfer unit 100 changes or the setting information of the substrate transfer unit 100 is different from preset information, different driving torque information may be collected from the drive motor. In this case, the internal environment or setting information may be collected. The error can be resolved by changing the same as before.

That is, the error determination unit 400 may be configured to determine the cause of the error by checking whether there is an intersection between the first driving torque information and the first position deviation.

Additionally, the error determination unit 400 may generate an automatic recovery signal for recovery of the substrate transfer unit 100.

In addition, when the error determination unit 400 determines that the error requires manual recovery, it generates an alarm signal so that the manager can manually recover the error, so that the manager can confirm the occurrence of the error.

The error determination unit 400 calculates a second position deviation of the substrate by comparing the second coordinate information with the first reference information, and determines whether the calculated second position deviation falls within a preset range. can do.

In addition, after performing error recovery, the second driving torque information of the substrate transfer unit 400 can be compared with the second reference information to determine whether the second driving torque information falls within a preset range.

The error determination unit 400 may generate a signal to re-perform error recovery when the second position deviation and the second driving torque information are outside a preset range. The error determination unit 400 may repeatedly perform error recovery a preset number of times and collect the second position deviation and second driving torque information, and even after performing error recovery a preset number of times, the second position deviation and the second driving torque information may be collected. 2 If the driving torque information is outside the preset range, a manual recovery signal is generated to alert the manager.

Additionally, the substrate transfer robot according to the embodiment may further include an error recovery unit 500. The error recovery unit 500 adjusts control factors of the driving motor to perform automatic recovery. At this time, the error recovery unit can adjust the control factor of the driving motor through proportional differential and integral (PID) control, and performs proportional differential and integral (PID) control on the driving motor of the substrate transfer robot depending on the cause of the error. You can also recover from the error by doing this.

The proportional-differential-integral (PID) control is a feedback control method that tunes the control parameters of the drive motor installed in the substrate transfer robot and performs proportional-differential-integral control on the drive motor to recover the error.

Specifically, the error recovery unit 500 calculates an error value using the first position deviation of the substrate S, and calculates a control value necessary for control using the calculated error value. The control value is configured to calculate a control value (manipulated variable, MV) by adding three terms as shown in Equation 1 below.

[Equation 1]

The above terms are proportional to the error value, the integral of the error value, and the derivative of the error value, respectively, as shown in Equation 2 below. The proportional term (Kp) acts as a control proportional to the size of the error value in the current state of the vacuum log, and controls the torque of the drive motor to have a value approaching the position coordinate of the first reference information. can do.

The integral term (Ki) serves to remove steady-state errors. The integral term can control the torque so that the first position deviation is similar to the first reference information through the proportional term as described above, and then control the torque of the driving motor to reduce the slight error. The minute error is also called residual deviation, and the residual deviation accumulates over time to reduce the deviation by increasing the manipulation amount to have a specific waveform.

The differential term (Kd) serves to reduce overshoot in response to sudden changes in the output term and improve stability. The differential term requires a certain amount of time (time constant) after controlling the target value by performing proportional and integral term control. If the constant is large, the response characteristics when there is a disturbance deteriorates, and the derivative term is used to respond to sudden disturbances. Overshoot can be prevented by checking the deviation and reacting quickly by increasing the manipulation amount if the difference from the previous deviation is large.

[Equation 2]

When the control value is calculated as above, the error recovery unit 500 can perform error recovery by tuning the control parameters of the driving motor according to the control value. The control value refers to a control factor for controlling the driving motor so that the first position deviation falls within a preset range.

The error recovery unit 500 performs an error recovery process by modifying at least one of the control factors of the driving motor and then generates a signal so that the first information collection unit collects second coordinate information and collects the second information. A collection unit collects second driving torque information, and the error determination unit calculates a second position deviation by comparing the second coordinate information with first reference information, and the second position deviation is outside a preset range, Comparing the second driving torque information with second reference information and determining that the error is not recovered when the second driving torque information is outside the range of the second reference information

In addition, after performing the error recovery process, the error determination unit 400 determines the error if the second position deviation is outside a preset range and the second driving torque information is outside the range of the second reference information. A signal may be generated to re-perform the recovery process and complete the error recovery process if the second position deviation falls within a preset range.

Then, the error determination unit 400 performs error recovery by tuning the control factors of the driving motor according to the control value as described above, then collects the second coordinate information and compares it with the reference information to determine the second position deviation in advance. Allows you to check whether the error has been recovered by falling within the set range. However, when the driving motor is PID controlled using only the control value as described above, parts may not necessarily be replaced or the first position deviation may not be controlled to fall within a preset range.

In addition, the error determination unit 400 may control the operation of the error recovery unit to re-perform the error recovery process a preset number of times, and even if the error recovery process is re-performed a preset number of times, the error recovery process may be controlled. If the error cannot be recovered, it can be controlled to generate an alarm signal for manual recovery.

Accordingly, if the second coordinate information is collected and then compared with the reference information, and it is determined that the second position deviation and the second driving torque information are not within the preset range, the error recovery unit 500 adjusts the control value. Set the target value to be in the range of 100 to 200%, and control the drive motor again according to the set target value.

Afterwards, the error recovery unit 500 sets the target value to be in the range of 100 to 200% of the control value and controls the driving motor according to the set target value. In other words, the error recovery unit 500 automatically recovers the error by tuning the parameters of the driving motor according to the control value, and when it is determined that the error has not been recovered by automatic recovery, the error recovery unit 500 resets the target value in a range larger than the control value. Set and tune the parameters according to the target value to automatically recover from the error.

After performing the drive by tuning the parameters of the drive motor according to the target value as described above, even when changed to the target value, if it is determined that the second position deviation and the second drive torque information are not within the preset range, the part is replaced. It can be determined that the time for replacement has arrived.

As described above, the error recovery unit 500 sets the target value to be in the range of 100 to 200% of the control value and controls the drive motor by tuning the parameters of the drive motor. As a result, the parts are completely deteriorated. Alternatively, errors that occur in undamaged or somewhat worn states can be prevented, and the replacement cycle of parts can be extended. In particular, the error recovery unit 500 sets a target value to be in the range of 110 to 150% of the control value at each step of performing error recovery and performs error recovery. When error recovery is completed, the number of parts compared to the existing one is reduced. The usage cycle can be extended. In other words, the error recovery unit 500 prevents parts from being replaced immediately even if some of the parts are worn out, and can extend the use cycle of the parts through PID control of the driving motor.

The substrate transfer robot 10 according to the above-described embodiment collects coordinate information and driving torque information of the substrate S placed on the substrate transfer unit 100 and performs automatic recovery when it is determined that an error has occurred. The automatic recovery is performed through PID control that changes the parameters of the driving motor. At this time, the error determination unit 400 sets a control value for controlling the first position deviation and restores the error by tuning the parameters of the driving motor as set. If the driving torque information shows a normal deviation according to the control value, it is determined that the error has been recovered, and the driving motor is controlled to drive with the set control value. If it is determined that the error has not been recovered by the control value, the excess value is added to the control value to set the target value, and the error is recovered by tuning the parameters of the drive motor according to the target value.

If the driving torque information shows a normal deviation from the target value, the error determination unit 400 determines that the error has been recovered and controls the drive motor to drive at the set target value. However, if it is determined that the error has not been recovered even after the error recovery step is repeatedly performed a preset number of times according to the target value, a manual recovery signal is generated. Through manual recovery, the part causing the error is determined to be completely worn or damaged, and the part is replaced.

Previously, the error was determined by measuring the coordinate information of the substrate collected during the substrate transfer process, or the error was determined by measuring only the driving torque. However, if the error was judged only based on the coordinate information of the substrate, it was necessary to determine what caused the error. It is difficult to determine, and when determining an error using only the driving torque, it is judged as an error even if the driving torque temporarily falls outside the preset range, so it is impossible to accurately predict whether an actual problem has occurred.

However, the substrate transfer robot according to the embodiment monitors the coordinate information of the substrate and the vibration of the drive motor to evaluate whether an error has occurred, thereby evaluating whether the error is due to a defect in a component such as a bearing, and automatic recovery is possible. You can accurately check whether it is necessary or not.

In addition, self-recovery is possible in the event of an error, which reduces system downtime and prevents productivity loss, and extends the parts replacement cycle and service life of the substrate transfer robot, resulting in post-processing costs and cleanup losses. (loss) can be reduced.

Meanwhile, Figure 3 is a process diagram showing a diagnostic method for a substrate transfer robot according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 3, the diagnosis method of a substrate transfer robot according to an embodiment includes a first information collection step (S100); Second information collection step (S200); and error determination step (S300); and an error recovery step (S400).

First, the first information collection step (S100) is a step of collecting first coordinate information of the substrate while transferring the substrate to the substrate seating position by a diagnostic target substrate transfer robot.

In this step, first coordinate information may be collected through a first information collection unit including an automatic substrate centering sensor.

Specifically, the first coordinate information of the substrate (S) refers to the center point of the substrate (S) recognized through a substrate centering sensor fixed to a certain position during the process of transferring the substrate (S) through the substrate transfer unit (100). This means that when an error occurs in the substrate transfer unit 100, the width of the range in which the center point of the substrate S deviates from the reference point is expanded, thereby increasing the positional deviation.

Figure 4 shows (a) coordinate information of the substrate (S) collected while transferring the substrate (S) to the substrate seating position by a normally running substrate transfer robot, (b) information collected while transporting the substrate (S) to the substrate seating position by a normally running substrate transfer robot; (c) Driving torque information from the drive motor of the substrate transfer robot collected while transferring the substrate (S), (c) The substrate ( (d) Coordinate information of the substrate (S) collected while transporting the substrate (S), (d) an error occurred due to vibration caused by a defect in a bearing part installed on the drive shaft, collected while transporting the substrate (S) to the substrate seating position by the transfer robot This is a reference diagram showing an example of driving torque information from the drive motor of a substrate transfer robot.

As shown in FIG. 4(a), the coordinate information of the substrate S collected while transferring the substrate S to the substrate seating position by a normally running substrate transfer robot shows that the coordinate deviation of the substrate S is not large, Indicates the state of convergence to the reference point. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4(c), the coordinates of the substrate (S) collected while transferring the substrate (S) to the substrate seating position by the substrate transfer robot in which an error occurred due to vibration due to a component defect, etc. Information frequently deviates from the reference point during the process of transferring the substrate, and if this condition persists, there is a problem that the substrate cannot be accurately transferred to the seating point, resulting in product defects.

In this step, the first coordinate information of the substrate as described above is collected to detect whether an error has occurred in the substrate transfer robot.

That is, the error may be caused by at least one of a defect in a component of the diagnostic target substrate transfer robot or a change in hardness due to deterioration of the component, and a representative example of the component may be a bearing.

In the second information collection step (S200), driving torque information may be collected to confirm the driving state of the driving motor through the second information collection unit.

In this step, the first driving torque information of the drive motor installed in the substrate transfer robot is collected as described above to detect whether an error has occurred in the substrate transfer robot.

As shown in FIG. 4(b), compared to the driving torque information from the drive motor of the substrate transfer robot collected while transferring the substrate S to the substrate seating position by the normally running substrate transfer robot, in FIG. 4(d) As shown, the driving torque information from the drive motor of the substrate transfer robot collected while transferring the substrate S to the substrate seating position by the substrate transfer robot in which an error occurred due to vibration caused by a defective component shows different torque waveforms. The torque waveform shows various patterns depending on the cause of the error, and in this step, the driving torque information as described above is collected so that the cause of the error can be determined in a step to be described later.

The error determination step (S300) calculates a first position error by comparing the first coordinate information with first reference information, and if the first position error is outside a preset range, the first driving torque information is calculated as a second position error. This is a step of determining whether an error has occurred by comparing the first driving torque information with reference information and checking whether it is outside the range of the second reference information.

In this step, the first coordinate information is compared with the first reference information to calculate the first position deviation, and the first driving torque information is compared with the second reference information so that the first position deviation and the second driving torque information are within a preset range. It is possible to evaluate whether an error occurred outside of .

In addition, this step may further include comparing the driving torque information with reference torque information, checking changes in the internal environment of the substrate transfer robot, and checking setting information of the substrate transfer robot, Check whether the occurrence of an error is due to a change in the internal environment of the substrate transfer robot or a change in the setting information of the substrate transfer robot. If it is due to a change in the internal environment of the substrate transfer robot or a change in the setting information of the substrate transfer robot, It can be determined that the error is not caused by a part.

The error recovery step (S400) is a step of recovering the substrate transfer robot when it is determined that an error has occurred in the error determination step (S300).

In this step, automatic recovery is performed by adjusting the control factor for the drive motor of the substrate transfer robot according to the automatic recovery signal. The automatic recovery can adjust the control factor of the driving motor through proportional differential integral (PID) control.

The proportional-differential-integral (PID) control is a feedback control method that tunes the parameters of a drive motor installed in the substrate transfer robot and performs proportional-differential-integral control on the drive motor to recover the error.

Specifically, the error recovery unit 500 calculates an error value using the first position deviation of the substrate S, and calculates a control value necessary for control using the calculated error value. The control value is configured to calculate a control value (manipulated variable, MV) by adding three terms as shown in Equation 1 above.

The terms are proportional to the error value, the integral of the error value, and the derivative of the error value, respectively, as shown in Equation 2 above. The proportional term (Kp) acts as a control proportional to the size of the error value in the current state of the vacuum furnace. The integral term (Ki) serves to remove steady-state errors. The differential term (Kd) serves to reduce overshoot in response to sudden changes in the output term and improve stability.

Figure 5 is a reference diagram for explaining parameter tuning of a drive motor using control values and target values in the diagnosis method of a substrate transfer robot according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 5, in this step, error recovery is performed by tuning the parameters of the driving motor according to the control value as described above, and then the second coordinate information is collected and compared with the reference information to determine the preset second position deviation. As it falls within the range and indicates a normal deviation, it is possible to check whether the error has been recovered. However, when the driving motor is PID controlled using only the control value as described above, there may be a situation in which parts do not necessarily need to be replaced, or the second position deviation may not be controlled to fall within a preset range.

In this step, error recovery of the substrate transfer robot is performed by modifying at least one of the control factors of the drive motor, and then the second coordinate information of the substrate is stored while transferring the substrate to the substrate seating position by the substrate transfer robot. Third information collection step; A fourth information collection step of collecting second driving torque information from the driving motor of the substrate transfer robot; and calculate a second position error by comparing the second coordinate information with first reference information, and if the second position error is outside a preset range, compare the second driving torque information with the second reference information, and calculate the second position error by comparing the second coordinate information with the second reference information. 2 If the driving torque information is outside the range of the second reference information, it may be configured to further include a post-recovery error determination step in which it is determined that the error has not been recovered.

At this time, the post-recovery error determination step may be configured to additionally perform a post-recovery error recovery step to recover the error if it is determined that the error has not been recovered.

In addition, the error determination step after recovery may further include generating an alarm signal for manual recovery when it is determined that the error has not been recovered even if the error recovery step is re-performed a preset number of times.

Specifically, the second coordinate information is collected and then compared with the first reference information, and the second driving torque information is compared with the second reference information to determine if the second position deviation and the second driving torque information are not within a preset range. If it is determined that it is, the error recovery unit 500 sets the target value to be in the range of 100 to 200% of the control value by adding an excess value to the control value, and controls the driving motor again according to the set target value. Thus, the second position deviation and the second driving torque information are controlled to be within a preset range and the error is recovered.

In other words, in this step, the error is automatically recovered by tuning the parameters of the driving motor according to the control value. If the error is determined not to have been recovered by automatic recovery, an excess value is added to the control value to control the error in a range larger than the control value. Set the target value again and tune the parameters according to the target value to automatically recover from the error.

If it is confirmed that there is a normal deviation by tuning the parameters to the target value as described above, the part causing the error is determined to be an error due to simple aging, and the substrate transfer robot is driven with the parameter tuned to the target value.

On the other hand, even when the parameters of the drive motor are tuned to the target value as described above, error recovery is performed repeatedly a preset number of times, and then changed to the target value, the second position deviation and second drive torque information are not preset. If it is determined that it is not within the range, the part causing the error is judged to be damaged or completely worn out and will continue to cause the error, and it can be determined that it is time to replace the part. At this time, in this step, if the error is determined to be impossible of automatic recovery, an alarm signal is generated to notify the administrator of manual recovery.

As described above, in this step, the error recovery unit 500 sets the target value to be in the range of 100 to 200% of the control value and controls the driving motor by tuning the parameters of the driving motor. Errors that occur when a part is not completely worn or damaged, or is slightly worn, can be prevented, and the replacement cycle of parts can be extended.

Meanwhile, Figure 6 is a conceptual diagram showing a substrate processing system according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 6, a substrate processing system 1 according to an embodiment includes at least one process chamber including a processing space for processing a substrate; and a transfer chamber connected to the at least one process chamber and installed with the above-mentioned substrate transfer robot for transferring the substrate, thereby performing processing processes of the substrate such as deposition and etching.

For example, the substrate processing system 1 may have a structure including the substrate transfer robot 10, a facility front end module 20, and a process chamber 30.

Specifically, the substrate processing system 1 includes at least one process chamber in which at least one substrate transfer robot 10 is disposed and the substrate S can be processed inside along the substrate transfer robot 10. (30) can be placed. A gate valve 40 is installed between the substrate transfer robot 10 and the process chamber 30 to open or close the space between the substrate transfer robot 10 and the process chamber 30.

Additionally, a facility front end module 20 may be installed in front of the substrate transfer robot 10. Inside the equipment front end module 200, although not shown, there is a transfer robot and a substrate (S) that extracts the substrate (S) from a cassette on which a plurality of substrates (S) are stacked and transfers it toward the substrate transfer robot 10. An aligner capable of detecting the notch N and rotating the substrate S to align the substrate S may be provided.

In addition, a load lock chamber 50 is installed between the equipment front end module 20 with atmospheric pressure formed inside and the substrate transfer robot 10 with vacuum pressure formed inside, so that the load lock chamber 50 is connected to the equipment front end module. Before the substrate S transferred from 20 is taken out of the substrate transfer robot 10, the same vacuum atmosphere as that of the substrate transfer robot 10 can be formed in the internal space. Conversely, before receiving the substrate S from the substrate transfer robot 20 of the substrate transfer robot 10 and withdrawing it to the equipment front end module 20, the internal space is kept in the same atmospheric pressure as that of the equipment front end module 20. You can switch.

The load lock chamber 50 may have the characteristic of maintaining pressure while alternating between a vacuum state and an atmospheric pressure state so as to prevent the atmospheric pressure state of the substrate transfer robot 10 from changing, and its interior The space may be provided with a cassette where the substrates (S) can temporarily stand by.

In addition, since the transfer of the substrate S between the substrate transfer robots 20 of each substrate transfer robot 10 cannot be directly performed between the substrate transfer robots 10 arranged in a row, each substrate transfer robot 10 In order to transfer the intermediate substrate S, a buffer chamber 60 in which the substrate S temporarily resides may be installed between each substrate transfer robot 10.

The transfer chamber 140 of the substrate transfer robot is connected to at least one of the load lock chamber 50, the buffer chamber 60, and the process chamber 30, and has a gate through which the substrate S can be loaded or unloaded. At least one (G) may be formed.

The transfer chamber 140 has an internal space A of a circular or square shape formed therein, and the substrate S can be transferred by the substrate transfer robot 10 installed in the internal space A. In addition, on the side of the transfer chamber 140, the substrate transfer robot 20 can load or unload the substrate S into any one of the load lock chamber 50, the buffer chamber 60, and the process chamber 30. A gate (G), which is a passage, may be formed.

The substrate processing system 1 having the above structure can perform substrate transfer and processing processes and can be utilized for semiconductor manufacturing.

The substrate transfer robot according to the above-described embodiment monitors the coordinate information of the substrate and the vibration of the driving motor, and is capable of self-recovery when an error occurs, thereby reducing system down time and preventing a decrease in productivity.

In addition, by separately setting a target value higher than the control value and using PID control by tuning the control factor of the drive motor to the target value, the replacement cycle of parts is extended, increasing the service life of the robot and reducing post-processing costs and cleanup. Loss can be reduced.

A detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention disclosed above is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or practice the invention. Although the present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and changes can be made to the present invention without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, a person skilled in the art may use each configuration described in the above-described embodiments by combining them with each other. Accordingly, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit and essential features of the present invention. Accordingly, the above detailed description should not be construed as restrictive in all respects and should be considered illustrative. The scope of the present invention should be determined by reasonable interpretation of the appended claims, and all changes within the equivalent scope of the present invention are included in the scope of the present invention. The present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein. In addition, claims that do not have an explicit reference relationship in the patent claims can be combined to form an embodiment or included as a new claim through amendment after filing.

1: Substrate processing system 10: Substrate transfer robot for semiconductor transfer
20: Equipment front end module 30: Process chamber
40: Gate valve 50: Load lock chamber
60: buffer chamber 100: substrate transfer unit
200: first information collection unit 300: information comparison unit
400: second information collection unit 500: error judgment unit
600: Error recovery unit S: Substrate
G: gate

Claims (15)

A substrate transfer unit that transfers the substrate to the substrate seating position;
a first information collection unit that collects first coordinate information of the substrate while transporting the substrate to the substrate seating position;
a second information collection unit that collects first driving torque information from a driving motor installed in the substrate transfer unit;
The first coordinate information is compared with first reference information to calculate a first position error, and if the first position error is outside a preset range, the first driving torque information is compared with second reference information to calculate the first position error. an error determination unit that determines that an error has occurred when the driving torque information is outside the range of the second reference information; and
A substrate transfer robot comprising; an error recovery unit configured to perform an error recovery process to automatically restore the substrate transfer unit when the error determination unit determines that an error has occurred. According to paragraph 1,
The first reference information is a substrate transfer robot, characterized in that it includes coordinate information of the substrate collected while transferring the substrate to the substrate seating position by a normally operating substrate transfer robot. According to paragraph 1,
The second reference information is a substrate transfer robot, characterized in that it includes driving torque information collected from a drive motor of a normally running substrate transfer robot. According to paragraph 1,
The error recovery unit,
A substrate transfer robot characterized in that automatic recovery is performed by adjusting the control factor of the drive motor. According to paragraph 4,
The error recovery unit,
A substrate transfer robot characterized in that the control factor of the driving motor is adjusted through proportional differential integral (PID) control. According to paragraph 4,
The error recovery unit,
An error recovery process is performed by modifying at least one of the control factors of the drive motor, and then a signal is generated so that the first information collection unit collects second coordinate information, and the second information collection unit collects second driving torque information. Let's do it,
The error judgment unit,
The second coordinate information is compared with the first reference information to calculate a second position error, and if the second position error is outside a preset range, the second driving torque information is compared with the second reference information to calculate the second position error. A substrate transfer robot characterized in that it is determined that the error has not been recovered when the driving torque information is outside the range of the second reference information. According to clause 6,
The error judgment unit,
After performing the error recovery process, if the second position deviation is outside a preset range and the second driving torque information is outside the range of second reference information, the error recovery process is re-performed,
A substrate transfer robot, characterized in that the error recovery process is completed when the second position deviation falls within a preset range. In clause 7,
The error judgment unit,
The operation of the error recovery unit may be controlled to re-perform the error recovery process a preset number of times,
A substrate transfer robot characterized in that it generates an alarm signal for manual recovery when the error is not recovered even if the error recovery process is re-performed a preset number of times. In the diagnosis method of a substrate transfer robot that transfers a substrate,
A first information collection step of collecting first coordinate information of the substrate while transferring the substrate to the substrate seating position by a diagnostic target substrate transfer robot;
A second information collection step of collecting first driving torque information from a driving motor of the substrate transfer robot;
The first coordinate information is compared with first reference information to calculate a first position error, and if the first position error is outside a preset range, the first driving torque information is compared with second reference information to calculate the first position error. An error determination step of determining whether an error has occurred by checking whether the driving torque information is outside the range of the second reference information; and
An error recovery step of recovering the substrate transfer robot when it is determined that an error has occurred in the error determination step. According to clause 9,
In the error recovery step,
A diagnostic method for a substrate transfer robot, characterized in that automatic recovery is performed by adjusting the control factor of the drive motor. According to clause 10,
In the error recovery step,
A diagnostic method for a substrate transfer robot, characterized in that the control factor of the drive motor is adjusted through proportional differential integral (PID) control. According to clause 11,
In the error recovery step,
After performing error recovery of the substrate transfer robot by modifying at least one of the control factors of the drive motor,
A third information collection step of collecting second coordinate information of the substrate while transferring the substrate to the substrate seating position by the substrate transfer robot;
A fourth information collection step of collecting second driving torque information from the driving motor of the substrate transfer robot; and
The second coordinate information is compared with the first reference information to calculate a second position error, and if the second position error is outside a preset range, the second driving torque information is compared with the second reference information to calculate the second position error. A diagnostic method for a substrate transfer robot, further comprising a post-recovery error determination step of determining that the error has not been recovered when the driving torque information is outside the range of the second reference information. According to clause 12,
The error judgment step after the recovery is,
If it is determined that the error has not been recovered, a diagnostic method for a substrate transfer robot, characterized in that an error recovery step is additionally performed after recovery to recover the error. According to clause 12,
The error judgment step after the recovery is,
A diagnostic method for a substrate transfer robot, further comprising generating an alarm signal for manual recovery when it is determined that the error has not been recovered even if the error recovery step is re-performed a preset number of times. at least one process chamber comprising a processing space for processing a substrate;
A substrate processing system comprising a transfer chamber connected to the at least one process chamber and installed with a substrate transfer robot according to any one of claims 1 to 8 for transferring the substrate.