JP2000038217A - Wafer shifting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To store wafers at the same slot positions of both carriers by deviating both carriers having a plurality of slots horizontally storing the wafers by one slot in the height direction in a wafer shifting device. SOLUTION: Carriers 3a, 3b are located face to face, and a plurality of slots are formed on their inner walls respectively so that a wafer 4 can be stored in each sheet. An opening section 5 is opened on the front side of the carriers 3a, 3b, and the inlet 7 of the arms 9 of an extruding device 6 is opened on the back side. The carrier 3b on the receiving side of the wafers 4 is mounted on a base 2 via s support plate with the thickness of one slot. The wafers 4 shifted from the first, third, fifth... slots of the carrier 3a are stored in the second, fourth, sixth... slots of the carrier 3b. The wafers 4 are stored in the even slots of both the sending side carrier 3a and the receiving side carrier 3b.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a wafer transfer device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a wafer transfer apparatus for transferring a wafer at regular intervals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a semiconductor manufacturing process, 25 wafers are stored in a carrier as one lot, which is a unit of the number of processed wafers. A plurality of grooves are provided on the inner wall of the carrier, and a plurality of slots are formed by the grooves, and one wafer is stored horizontally in each slot. Wafers are stored and stored in such carriers, and are transported between processing apparatuses.

[0003] In each processing apparatus, the wafer stored in the carrier is taken out by a transfer device such as a robot and carried into the processing apparatus. In this case, the transfer arm of the robot is inserted between the wafers in the carrier, and the wafers are taken out one by one. When a wafer is taken out of the carrier by such a transfer arm, it is difficult to move the transfer arm into and out of the narrow gap between the wafers in the carrier without colliding with the transfer arm. And the risk of contact with the wafer increases. For this reason, in order to increase the width between the wafers and make it difficult for the transfer arm to collide, the wafers are placed in the carrier at regular intervals, that is, every 1 slot, 2 slots, 3 slots, or an integer multiple of 1 slot or more. There was a case to store.

When a wafer is cleaned in a wafer cleaning process, the larger the width between the wafers, the better the flow of the cleaning liquid, and the higher the cleaning effect. For this reason, in the cleaning process, the wafer may be stored in the carrier at regular intervals as described above. Also, in a wafer deposition process such as CVD, the wider the inter-wafer width, the better the flow of the reaction gas, and the higher the deposition effect.
Therefore, even in such a film forming process, the wafer may be stored in the carrier at regular intervals.

As described above, in order to store a wafer in a carrier every fixed slot, a wafer is transferred from a carrier in which a wafer is stored in all slots to another carrier every fixed slot. In this case, the wafer is sent out horizontally from the carrier in which the wafers are stored in all the slots to the carrier that receives the wafers at predetermined intervals, and the wafers are stored at regular intervals in the receiving carrier. A wafer transfer device having a double pitch or a quadruple pitch has been used.

FIG. 2A is a schematic perspective view of a conventional double-pitch wafer transfer apparatus as an example of transferring a wafer at such a fixed slot, and FIG. 2B is an explanatory view of its operation. As shown, the carrier 3 is placed on the base 31.
2a and 32b are provided facing each other. A plurality of grooves 41 are provided on the inner walls of the carriers 32a and 32b,
A plurality of slots are formed by the grooves 41, and one wafer 33 is stored in each slot. Each carrier 32
Each of the arms 3a and 32b of an extruding device 35 for extruding a wafer 33 from a slot is formed on the back side thereof so as to form an opening 34 for taking in and out a wafer.
The entrance 36 into which the 7 enters is open. This entrance 3
The opening width of 6 is narrow so that the wafer 33 cannot come out. As shown in the figure, the both side walls of the carrier are tapered, or a stopper is formed by an appropriate frame material.

The extruding device 35 is provided on the base 31. A plurality of arms 37 project from one end of the extruding device 35.
3 and extruded from the carrier. Each arm 37 is provided at an interval of two slots, and a gap 39 is provided between the arms 37.
Is formed. Therefore, when the arm 37 enters the carrier, the wafers 33 are horizontally pushed out every other slot, and every other wafer between every other pushed out wafers fits in the gap 39.

In this case, for example, by pushing out the wafers in the first, third, fifth,..., Odd-numbered slots from the top of the sending-side carrier 32 a by the pushing device 35, these wafers are moved to the opposite receiving-side carrier 32 b. Same 1, 3,
The wafers are transferred to the fifth-numbered odd-numbered slots, and the wafers in the second, fourth, sixth,...

A handle 40 is provided at the other end of the pushing device 35. By operating the handle 40, the arm 37 of the pushing device 35 enters the carrier.

In this manner, a plurality of wafers 33 stored horizontally in the carrier 32a are
The contact portion 38 of the arm 37 that has entered the inside a contacts the
The wafer is extruded from the carrier 32a every other slot, transferred to the opposing carrier 32b, and stored every other slot.

[0011]

However, in the conventional double-pitch wafer transfer apparatus, when a wafer, for example, in an odd-numbered slot of a sending-side carrier in which a wafer is stored is transferred to the other receiving-side carrier, the receiving-side carrier is transferred to the other receiving-side carrier. The wafer is stored in the odd-numbered slot, and the wafer remains in the even-numbered slot on the sending-side carrier. When transporting these carriers by various transport systems, for carriers with wafers in odd-numbered slots and carriers with wafers in even-numbered slots, adjust the height of the extrusion device in the transport device or adjust the clearance between the wafer and the extrusion device. Thus, two types of adjustment work were required, and the adjustment time was prolonged, resulting in poor efficiency.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned prior art. For example, in a double-pitch wafer transfer apparatus, a wafer transferred every other slot has the same odd-numbered slot or the same even-numbered slot for both the receiving and sending carriers. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wafer transfer apparatus in which wafers are stored in the same slot position in both carriers so that the wafers are stored in the same slot position.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a carrier having a plurality of slots for horizontally storing wafers is arranged on a base so as to face each other, and a wafer stored in one carrier is provided. In the wafer transfer apparatus, the carrier is horizontally extruded at regular intervals and transferred to the slot of the other carrier, the two carriers are offset from each other by an integral multiple of one slot in the height direction.

According to this structure, the wafers are transferred in a state where the heights of the opposing carriers are shifted by an integral multiple of one slot.
When the wafers in the first, third, fifth,..., Odd-numbered slot of the sending carrier are transferred, the wafers are accommodated in the second, fourth, sixth,. Since the wafer in the odd-numbered slot is transferred, the wafer remains in the even-numbered slot. Therefore, the wafer storage positions in the sending-side carrier and the receiving-side carrier are both even-numbered slots. Therefore, when these carriers are transported by various transport systems, the adjustment of the transport device and the like can be performed by one type of adjustment, the adjustment time can be shortened, and the transport work efficiency is improved.

In a preferred configuration example, one of the two carriers is mounted on the base via a support plate having a thickness of an integral multiple of one slot.

According to this structure, the wafer is supplied to the sending-side carrier and the receiving-side carrier with a simple structure in which the carrier is placed on the base via the support plate having an integral multiple of one slot in thickness. A shift of a height equivalent to an integral multiple of one slot occurs. For example, after transferring by shifting the height of one slot between both carriers by using a double-pitch wafer transfer device, the slots of both carriers are in the same position. The wafer is housed in.

In a transfer apparatus for transferring wafers at a triple pitch or more slot pitch, the transfer-side carrier is raised by one slot from the reception-side carrier for each transfer, and the transfer-side carrier is moved to the reception side. If a new empty carrier is prepared for each carrier, the wafer can always be stored in the slot at the same height position of the receiving carrier.

[0018]

FIG. 1A is a schematic perspective view of a double-pitch wafer transfer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. FIG. 1 shows an example according to the present invention in which a carrier 3b on the side for receiving a wafer is higher than the carrier 3a on the side for sending out by one slot.

Carriers 3a and 3b are placed on the base 2 so as to face each other. As in the example of FIG. 2 described above, a plurality of grooves 12 are provided on the inner wall of each of the carriers 3a and 3b, and a plurality of slots are formed by the grooves 12, and one wafer 4 is stored in each slot. You. Each carrier 3a, 3b
An opening 5 is formed by opening the opposite front side, and the wafer 4 is transferred through the opening 5. On the back side, an extruder 6 for extruding the wafer 4 from the slot.
The entrance 7 into which the arm 9 enters is opened. As described above, the opening width of the entrance 7 is narrow so that the wafer 4 cannot come out, and as shown in the figure, both side walls of the carrier are tapered or a stopper is formed with a suitable frame material.

The pushing device 6 is connected to a handle 8 in the base 2, and the handle 8 allows the arm to be moved. A plurality of arms 9 project from the end of the pushing device 6, and a contact portion 10 formed at the tip of the arm 9 contacts the wafer 4. Each arm 9 is provided at an interval of two slots, and a gap 11 is formed between each arm 9. The handle 8 is moved to allow the arm 9 of the pushing device 6 to enter the carrier 3a in which a plurality of wafers 4 are stored, and the contact portion 10 pushes the wafer 4 horizontally every other slot.
The extruded wafers 4 and the wafers in the slots which are shifted by one slot fit into the gaps 11 formed between the arms 9 every other slot.

The carrier 3b which receives the wafer 4 is supported on the base 2 via the support plate 1 having a thickness of one slot.
Mounted on top. Therefore, the receiving carrier 3b is at a position higher by one slot than the transmitting carrier 3a. Therefore, for example, the wafer 4 transferred from the first slot of the carrier 3a is stored in the second slot of the carrier 3b. Similarly, the wafers in the third, fifth,... Slots are stored in the fourth, sixth,. Therefore, the wafer 4 remains in the even-numbered slot in the sending-side carrier 3a, and the wafer 4 is stored in the even-numbered slot also in the receiving-side carrier 3b. As a result, the wafers 4 are stored in the same even-numbered slot in both carriers 3a and 3b.

As another configuration example, the support plate 1 may be provided below the sending-side carrier 3a, and the sending-side carrier 3a may be higher than the receiving-side carrier 3b by one slot. In this case, the wafers in the even-numbered slots of 2, 4, 6,... Are transferred to the odd-numbered slots of 1, 3, 5,. Therefore, both carriers accommodate wafers in odd slots.

When it is necessary to transfer a wafer to a dedicated carrier in each processing apparatus or the like, a first dedicated carrier is first used in the double pitch wafer transfer apparatus according to the present invention from a normal wafer storage carrier. Transfer to Thereafter, if the wafer remaining in the storage carrier is transferred to the second dedicated carrier by the conventional double-pitch wafer transfer device, the wafers in the first and second dedicated carriers that have received the wafer are both in the same even-numbered stage. It is stored in the eye or odd numbered slot.

Although four wafer pushing arms are shown in the drawing, the number of arms varies depending on the number of slots in the carrier. For example, a carrier having 25 slots has 13 arms.

Further, as an example of the method of using the wafer transfer apparatus of the present invention, in a transfer apparatus for sending out a wafer at a triple pitch or more slot pitch, first, both carriers on the sending side and the receiving side are set to the same level. The wafer is set and transported at a constant interval, and the wafer is stored in the receiving carrier at intervals of a constant interval. Next, the carrier on the sending side is raised by one slot, a new empty carrier is placed at the transfer destination, and the wafer is transferred at a constant slot interval. As a result, the wafer is transferred and stored at the same slot position as the previous carrier.

Next, the wafer is extruded in a state in which the carrier on the sending side is further raised to be higher than the carrier on the receiving side by two slots, and the wafer on the receiving side is inserted into the slot at the same height position as the previous two carriers. Is transported and stored. In this manner, the wafer can always be stored in the slot at the same height position of the receiving carrier.

[0027]

As described above, in the present invention, the wafers are transferred in a state where the heights of the two opposing carriers are shifted by an integral multiple of one slot. When the wafer is transferred horizontally every other slot, both the wafer remaining on the sending-side carrier and the wafer on the receiving-side carrier have the same slot position, and both carriers store the wafer in the same slot position. Therefore, when the wafers of these carriers are transferred by the transfer device, the adjustment of the transfer device such as the adjustment of the arm height and the clearance can be performed by one type of adjustment, the adjustment time can be shortened, and the transfer work efficiency is improved.

In a transfer apparatus for transferring a wafer at a pitch of three times or more the slot pitch, the height of the sending carrier is made higher by one slot than the receiving carrier for each transfer so that the receiving carrier is moved. If a new empty carrier is prepared for each carrier, the wafer can always be stored in the slot at the same height position of the receiving carrier.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a schematic perspective view of a double-pitch wafer transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.

FIG. 2A is a schematic perspective view of a conventional double-pitch wafer transfer device, and FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: support plate, 2: base, 3a, 3b: carrier, 4: wafer, 5: opening, 6: extrusion device, 7: entrance,
8: handle, 9: arm, 10: contact portion, 11: gap,
12: groove.

Claims (2)

[Claims] A carrier having a plurality of slots for horizontally storing wafers is disposed on a base so as to face each other, and a wafer stored in one of the carriers is horizontally extruded at regular intervals, and a slot in the other carrier is extruded. In the wafer transfer apparatus for transferring wafers, the two carriers are shifted from each other by an integral multiple of one slot in the height direction. 2. One of the two carriers is:
2. The wafer transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the wafer transfer device is mounted on the base via a support plate having a thickness equivalent to an integral multiple of one slot.