JPH07106403A - Platelike material transfer system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a platelike material transfer system having a structure for changing the pitch continuously without increasing the scale of transfer system or causing pitch error. CONSTITUTION:The platelike material transfer system comprises a pair of arms 42, 44, 46, 48 arranged at equal heights from a reference position, and a plurality of sets of supporting members 94, 96 for supporting the pair of arms 42, 44, 46, 48 movably in the opposite directions along the axis and arranging them at different heights from the reference position. Consequently, the pair of arms 42, 44, 46, 48 move on the supporting members 94, 96 at different heights from the reference position. This structure shortens the axial length as compared with a case where a plurality of lead parts are formed on one shaft thus reducing the height of the transfer system.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a carrier device, and more particularly to a device for carrying a plate-like body such as a semiconductor wafer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, a processing apparatus for a plate-like body such as a semiconductor wafer is provided with a mechanism for transferring a plate-like body to be loaded / unloaded to / from a processing section to a housing section such as a cassette. ing.

A heat treatment apparatus is one of the processing apparatuses using such a transport mechanism. This heat treatment apparatus is used for oxidation, diffusion, annealing and film formation. In this apparatus, a plurality of plate-shaped bodies, for example, the semiconductor wafers described above are transferred from the cassette to the boat and the boat is loaded into the heat treatment furnace, or vice versa, the unloaded semiconductor wafers are transferred from the boat to the cassette. The transfer operation is performed.

For this reason, the loading / unloading unit of the heat treatment apparatus is equipped with a so-called transfer device for delivering and transferring semiconductor wafers between the cassette and the boat.

By the way, a structure has been proposed for this transfer device, which is capable of improving throughput in a semiconductor manufacturing process by collectively transferring a plurality of plate-like objects such as semiconductor wafers.

FIG. 14 shows an example of the above structure,
This structure has an arm mechanism 1 that can rotate, lift and retract.
0, the arm mechanism 10 has, for example, five stages of semiconductor wafer mounting portions at the tip of the arm. Then, the arm mechanism 10 transfers the semiconductor wafer between the carrier 12 and the boat 14.

On the other hand, the arrangement pitch of the semiconductor wafers when they are transferred is not always constant and may need to be changed depending on the user or the processing content such as heat treatment.

Therefore, conventionally, as a pitch converting mechanism, for example, the structure described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 64-35746 has been proposed.

In this publication, lead portions having different feed screw pitches are formed at a plurality of locations on the same shaft, and nuts are provided to be fitted into the lead portions. The nuts are mounted on the semiconductor wafer mounting portion. The configuration provided with is described.

Therefore, by providing lead portions having different pitches on a single axis, and driving the axis,
It is possible to change the pitch by changing the movement amount of the nut fitted to the screw.

[0011]

However, in such a structure, the axial length is increased by providing a plurality of screw portions on the single shaft. Therefore, the size of the space supporting the shaft also increases in the height direction, which may increase the size of the device itself.

Moreover, the pitch error increases as the number of lead portions increases. Since this is influenced by the number of arms, that is, the number of stages, when the number of plate-like bodies that are collectively conveyed is increased, the error when changing the pitch is likely to be large. Therefore, in order to reduce this error, it is necessary to increase the processing accuracy, resulting in an increase in cost.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a plate-shaped body conveying apparatus having a structure capable of stepless pitch conversion without causing an increase in size of the apparatus and a pitch error.

[0014]

In order to achieve this object, the invention according to claim 1 is provided with a plurality of pairs of a pair of arms arranged at a height position equidistant from a reference position. In a plate-shaped body transporting device provided with a slide guide member in which the arms are movably supported in opposite directions along the axial direction, the slide guide member has a plurality of arms at equal pitches. It features sliding guide.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the sliding guide member is constituted by a rotary shaft that is rotationally driven by the same drive source, and the sliding guide member is vertically moved along the axial direction with a reference position as a boundary. Are characterized in that screw leads are formed in opposite directions, and the rotation ratios for the same drive source are different for each set.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the detection unit and the detection target unit are respectively provided on the pair of arms at a position farthest from the reference position among the pair of arms. .

[0017]

In the present invention, a plurality of pairs of arms are slidably guided at equal pitches. Therefore, the length of the sliding guide member can be shortened as compared with the case where a single member is used as the sliding guide member of the pair of arms provided in plural sets. Moreover, the pair of arms of each set can move at equal pitches on the sliding guide member.

Further, in the present invention, by making the rotation ratios of the plural sets of sliding guide members different, the equal pitch movement of the arms in each set can be driven by the same drive source. Moreover,
Since the sliding members are set with screw leads in opposite directions in the vertical direction with the reference position as a boundary along the axial direction, a plurality of sets of sliding guide members have a structure of the sliding guide portion. Can be the same.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily detect the initial positions of the arms when the pitch conversion of the arms is performed. In other words, when targeting the arm on one side from the reference position, when setting an equal pitch between the arm located on the inner side and the arm on the inner side, the outer arm is moved by further adding a moving amount commensurate with the moving amount of the inner arm. Set the same pitch as the inner arm. Therefore, by using the relative movement of the arm for which the largest movement amount is set, it is possible to detect the initial position return targeting a movement amount that is larger than the minimum movement amount, and it is easy to increase the detection accuracy. Can be detected.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows a transfer section in a vertical heat treatment apparatus which is an example of an apparatus to which the plate-shaped body conveying apparatus according to the present invention is applied. The plate-shaped body conveying device shown in FIG. 1 has a structure capable of carrying out batch conveyance for conveying a plurality of plate-like bodies and single-wafer conveyance for conveying one plate-like body.

That is, the transfer section is located below the vertical heat treatment furnace. Further, in the transfer section, a boat 30 made of quartz, which is an example of a processing container, a boat elevator 32 that drives the boat 30 up and down over a heat treatment furnace (not shown) and the boat 30, and a plurality of boats There is provided a transfer stage 36 for storing a cassette 34 accommodating a plate-shaped body such as a semiconductor wafer (which will be described below for a semiconductor wafer). And the boat 30
The plate-shaped body conveying device 40 according to the present invention is arranged between the transfer stage 36 and the transfer stage 36.

The plate-shaped member conveying device 40 has a structure capable of advancing and retreating and capable of moving up and down and turning. Then, the plate-shaped body conveying device 40 can transfer one or a plurality of semiconductor wafers simultaneously between the boat 30 and the cassette 34.

As described above, the plate-shaped body conveying device 40 can perform both single-wafer conveying for conveying one semiconductor wafer and collective conveying for simultaneously conveying a plurality of semiconductor wafers. The detailed structure is shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 shows an external view of the plate-like body conveying device 40. As an example, the plate-like body conveying device 40 presupposes that an odd number of semiconductor wafers consisting of five sheets are conveyed together. There is.

The plate-shaped body conveying device 40 comprises five conveying arms 4 arranged at equal pitches in the vertical direction.
2, 44, 46, 48, 50 are provided. Of these transfer arms, the transfer arm 50 located at the center is independently driven to move back and forth. That is, in FIG. 3, a pair of ball spline shafts 52 and 54, which are set in the axial direction parallel to the advancing / retreating direction of the transfer arm, are provided at both ends in the axial direction in the housing portion located below the plate-shaped member transfer device 40. Is supported and provided, and a sliding block 56 for supporting the transfer arm 50 located at the center is fitted to one of the ball spline shafts 52. The sliding block 56 is fitted in a state in which the rotation is blocked by one of the ball spline shafts 52, and a supporting arm 58 for supporting the transfer arm 50 is provided in a cantilever shape. The sliding block 56 is adapted to slide on the ball spline shaft 52, and the driving for this is the timing at which the driving force of the first stepping motor 60, which is the first driving source, is transmitted. Belt 6
2 via.

That is, a part of the timing belt 62 is
As shown in FIG. 4, by being sandwiched by the upper surface of the fixed block 64 integrated with the sliding block 56 and the bottom surface of the support arm 58 located above the fixed block 64, it is integrated with the side of the transfer arm 50 located in the center. Has been converted. For this reason,
By setting the rotation direction and the rotation amount of the stepping motor 60, which is the first drive source that rotationally drives the first drive pulley 66 around which the timing belt 62 is wound, this rotation is slid through the timing belt 62. It is transmitted to the moving block 56, and the transport arm 50 located at the center is driven forward and backward in conjunction with the movement of the sliding block 56.

On the other hand, in FIG. 3, another transfer arm 4
Sliding block 68 supporting 2, 44, 46, 48
Is fitted to the ball spline shaft 54 in a state in which the rotation is blocked, as in the case of the one sliding block 56, and supports the above-mentioned transfer arms 42, 44, 46, 48. The support arm 70 is provided in the shape of a cantilever. The sliding block 68 can slide on the ball spline shaft 54, and the driving for this is the second stepping motor 7 which is the second driving source.
This is performed via the timing belt 74 to which the driving force of 2 is transmitted.

That is, a part of the timing belt 74 is
As shown in FIG. 5, the transfer arms 42, 44 positioned outside the center are sandwiched between the upper surface of the fixed block 76 integrated with the sliding block 68 and the bottom surface of the support arm 70 positioned above the fixed block 76. , 46, 48 side is integrated. Therefore, by setting the rotation direction and the rotation amount of the stepping motor 72, which is the second drive source for rotationally driving the second drive pulley 78 around which the timing belt 74 is wound, this rotation causes the timing belt 74 to rotate. Is transmitted to the sliding block 68 via the, and the transfer arms 42, 44, 46, 48 positioned other than the center are driven forward and backward in conjunction with the movement of the sliding block 68.

In the plate-shaped body conveying device 40 according to the present invention, the method shown in FIG. 6A is used as a method of driving the conveying arms vertically arranged at equal pitches. In other words, the number of transfer arms provided in a batch, that is, five in this embodiment, is provided, and the transfer arm 50 located at the center of the transfer arm and the other transfer arms 4 arranged above and below it.
An arm group including 2, 44, 46 and 48 is driven by respective drive sources, that is, the first stepping motor 60 and the second stepping motor 72. Then, by these drive sources, the first stepping motor 60 is driven in the case of single-wafer conveyance, and the first stepping motor 60 is carried out in the case of collective conveyance.
And by simultaneously driving the second stepping motors 60 and 72. The state shown in FIG. 6A is for single-wafer conveyance. Therefore, the stepping motors 60 and 72 that are the first and second drive sources are
The operating state is set by the control unit 80 shown in FIG.

That is, the control unit 80 is mainly composed of, for example, a microcomputer, and the input side thereof has a single-wafer switch 82 for selecting the single-wafer conveyance.
And a collective switch 84 for selecting collective conveyance,
A first stepping motor 60, which is a first drive source, and a second stepping motor 72, which is a second drive source, are respectively connected to the output side via an I / O interface (not shown). The control unit 80 is configured to set the drive of the first and second drive sources according to the closing state of the single-wafer switch 82 or the collective switch 84. That is, when the single-wafer switch 82 is turned on, the first stepping motor 60, which is the first drive source.
Further, when the collective switch 72 is turned on, both the first and second stepping motors 60 and 72 which are the first and second drive sources are driven. The above-mentioned single wafer switch 82 and the collective switch 84 are not only manually turned on but also, for example, the position of the wafer in the cassette detected by a counter (not shown) in advance during wafer transfer between the cassette boats. Depending on the number of sheets and the number of sheets, the sequence program will automatically turn them on and off.

On the other hand, the remaining transfer arms 42, 44, 4 located above and below the transfer arm 50 located at the center are used as boundaries.
Nos. 6 and 48 are arranged such that pitch conversion is performed by parallel movement in the vertical direction. Therefore, the pitch converting mechanism 90 is provided on the support arm 70 of the remaining transfer arm.

That is, the pitch converting mechanism 90 is a characteristic part of the present embodiment, and is arranged in a housing 92 provided on the upper surface of the support arm 70, as shown in FIG. Then, the pitch conversion mechanism 90 includes the support arm 7
0 and the ceiling portion of the housing 92 include a pair of drive screw shafts 94 and 96 rotatably supported at both axial ends. The drive screw shafts 94 and 96 are for performing pitch conversion also as supporting the arm, and are formed with screws of equal pitch in which leads in opposite directions are set with each other with the center of the axial direction as a boundary. ing. Ball nuts 98 and 100 are vertically meshed with the screw parts of the drive screw shafts 94 and 96, respectively. The ball nuts 98 and 100 are driven by the drive screw shafts 94 and 96.
It is possible to move in opposite directions in the axial direction in conjunction with the rotation of.

A sleeve 102 is fixed to the ball nuts 98 and 100 attached to one of the drive screw shafts 94, and the transfer arms 44 and 46 adjacent to the transfer arm 50 located at the center are fixed to the sleeve 102. Mounting bases 44A and 46A for mounting are supported.

A sleeve 104 is similarly fixed to the ball nuts 98 and 100 attached to the other driving screw 96, and the sleeve 104 is fixed to the sleeve 104.
The transport arm 4 located outside the transport arms 44 and 46
Mounting bases 42A and 48A for mounting 2, 48 are supported.

The mounts 42A, 4 for mounting the above-mentioned transfer arms
As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, 4A, 46A, and 48A have base portions on the side opposite to the side on which the transfer arm is attached bent at a right angle, and the base portions are superposed in a stepped manner. The base is screwed to the sleeves facing it. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, when one of the overlapping base portions is attached to the sleeve, the attachment position of the attachment base to be attached next,
That is, since the screwing position is exposed, it is possible to mount from the same side. Moreover, since the base portion is bent, it is not necessary to set the plate thickness necessary for mounting the transfer arms, and thus the interval between the transfer arms can be reduced.

On the other hand, a drive portion is provided at one axial end of the drive screw shafts 94 and 96. In other words, the drive unit
Driven pulley 94 attached to each drive screw shaft 94, 96
A, 96A, a stepping motor 106, and a drive pulley 108 attached to the output shaft of the stepping motor 106.
And the timing belt 11 hung on each pulley
It is composed of 0s. The stepping motor 1
Reference numeral 06 is connected to the output side of the control unit 80 shown in FIG. 7, and the rotation amount is controlled according to the pitch change amount input to the control unit.

Then, the driven pulleys 94A, 96A
Has a rotation speed ratio of 1: 2. In other words,
The tooth ratio of the pulley is set to 2: 1 and the outer transfer arms 42 and 48 have twice the movement stroke per rotation as the inner transfer arms 44 and 46. Is set. Therefore, FIG.
As shown in 0, when the stepping motor 106 rotates, power is transmitted to the driven pulleys 94A and 96A via the timing belt 110, and, for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 10A, the transfer arms can be moved from the overlapping state to a state in which the transfer arms are separated from each other at an equal pitch as shown in FIG. Note that FIG. 11 mechanically shows each state shown in FIG. The sleeves 102 and 104 described above are guided by the guide shaft 120 for their movements. And this guide shaft 120
Is composed of a ball spline shaft and can be fitted with a ball nut provided on the sleeve side. By using such a ball spline connection, it is possible to prevent backlash and prevent the positioning accuracy from being impaired.

By the way, in this embodiment, a structure is provided for setting the position where the respective transfer arms are overlapped. That is, when the transfer arms are separated from each other to increase the pitch, it is premised that the transfer arms overlap each other. Therefore, it is necessary to stop the driving of the drive screw shaft at the time when the transfer arms reach the overlapping position.

Therefore, in this embodiment, for example, the minimum arrangement pitch of the semiconductor wafers to be transferred is set to 4.8 mm, and the strength of the transfer arm and the processing error with respect to the size of the semiconductor wafers to be mounted are taken into consideration. When the arrangement pitch of the mounting bases of the transfer arms is 4.6 mm, each transfer arm is stopped by stopping the vertical movement of the transfer arms within that range with the dimensional difference of 0.2 mm being the limit. The mounting base of can be set in a substantially overlapped state. Therefore, it is conceivable to stop the driving of the stepping motor 106 at the time when the amount of movement of the mounting base of the single transfer arm is detected and the above-mentioned dimensional difference is detected.

However, the dimensional difference of 0.
It is practically difficult to detect the movement amount of 2 mm.
In view of this, in the present embodiment, the movement amount of the mounting base that moves relatively, in particular, the mounting base having the larger movement amount is used to detect the movement amount corresponding to the above-mentioned dimensional difference.
That is, the number of rotations between the driven pulleys 94A and 96A, in other words, the sleeve 104 attached to the drive screw shaft 96 in which the amount of movement of the attachment base is set to double,
An optical sensor S1 and a light blocking member 112 are provided respectively. Therefore, considering that the movement amount of the sleeve 104 due to the rotation speed of the drive screw shaft 96 is doubled and relatively moved with respect to the driven pulley 94A side, {0.2 × 2 (relative amount) × 2 (movement amount)} (m
m) movement amount, and this movement stroke (0.8 m
m) is adopted as the detection range of the optical sensor. This makes it easier to detect the amount of movement as compared to detecting a very small stroke. In FIG. 12, reference numeral S2 indicates an origin sensor, and reference numeral S3 indicates an end limit sensor.

Since this embodiment has the above-mentioned structure,
When the semiconductor wafers are transferred between the boat and the cassette, the plate-shaped body conveying device is irrespective of whether the single-wafer switch 82 or the collective switch 84 is turned on to the control unit 80 shown in FIG. Positioning of the plate-shaped body conveying device 40 in the height direction is performed with reference to the position of the conveying arm 50 located at the center of the conveying arms of 40.

When the single-wafer switch 82 is turned on, the transfer arm 50 located at the center is driven forward and backward. That is, the stepping motor 60, which is the first drive source, receives a pulse signal for rotational driving, but prior to this, sliding that is located on the transport arm 50 side and is integrated with the timing belt 62. Whether or not the block 56 is at the movement start position, that is, the start position for advancing, is an optical sensor (encoder) not shown (see FIG. 7).
(Corresponding to various sensors indicated by reference numeral 86). Then, only when returning to the movement start position, the number of rotation pulses corresponding to the advance amount is input. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, by setting the rotation direction and the rotation amount of the stepping motor 60, the support arm 58 integrated with the timing belt 62 is interlocked and the transport arm 50 is advanced and retracted.

On the other hand, when the collective switch 84 is turned on, the stepping motor 60 which is the first drive source.
In addition, the stepping motor 72, which is the second drive source, is also driven. Also in this case, similarly, before the stepping motors rotate, the sliding block is located on the side of the transfer arm 50 and the transfer arms 42, 44, 46, 48 located above and below the transfer arm 50 and integrated with the timing belt 74. 6
It is adapted to determine whether or not 8 is at the movement start position, that is, the start position for advancing.

When it is detected that all the transfer arms are at the movement start positions, the control unit 80 turns on the stepping motors 60 and 72, which are the first and second drive sources, for rotation.・ Output an off signal. Therefore,
The transport arm 50 located at the center and the transport arms 42, 44, 46 and 48 other than the above-mentioned transport arms are moved forward and backward through the timing belts 62 and 74.

When the transfer arms are moved back and forth, particularly in the case of batch transfer, each transfer is performed based on the pitch change amount input to the control unit 80 in accordance with the arrangement pitch of the semiconductor wafers to be transferred. Arm pitch conversion is performed. That is, in FIG. 10, the transfer arms 42 and 4 are vertically divided about the position of the mounting base 50A to which the transfer arm 50 located at the center is attached.
4, 46, 48 mounting bases 42A, 44A, 46A, 4
8A can be relatively moved along the axial direction by the rotation of the drive screw shafts 94 and 96 via the stepping motor 106 and the timing belt 110, which are turned on / off by the control unit 80. In addition, due to the rotation speed ratio between the drive screw shafts 94 and 96, the transfer arms 44 and 46 located inside the transfer arms 42 and 48, as well as the transfer arms 42 and 48 located outside the transfer arms 44 and 46 located inside the transfer arms 44 and 46.
The pitch between and can be made equal.

According to the present embodiment, the height in the height direction can be reduced and the structure can be made compact. That is, in the pitch conversion mechanism, a drive unit for converting the pitch of the transfer arm, that is, a drive screw shaft is provided separately for the transfer arm side located inside and the transfer arm side located outside in the arrangement direction. Therefore, the length of the drive screw shaft in the axial direction can be shortened as compared with the structure in which the lead length is different for one drive screw shaft. Further, as a structure of a drive unit for driving the transport arm forward and backward, the sliding block is slidably supported while preventing rotation by the ball splines 52 and 54, and a timing belt is driven on the side of the sliding block. Since the first drive source and the second drive source are arranged, it is possible not to arrange the timing belt driven by the first and second drive sources on the lower surface of the sliding block. Therefore, the space on the lower surface of the sliding block can be reduced. Moreover, since the drive portion is not present on the lower surface of the sliding block, this portion can be used as a wiring portion for the drive source of the pitch conversion mechanism. This is because the sliding guide portion adopts the above-mentioned ball spline. That is, the structure of the normal sliding guide portion is shown in FIG.
As shown in (1), it is common to provide a linear guide 132 located on the side surface of the sliding block 130 and having a length necessary for sliding guide. However, in this case, since the first and second drive sources cannot be provided on the side portions of the sliding block, the stepping motor, which is the drive source, is placed vertically. For this reason, the pulley 134 to which the timing belt is hung is located below the sliding block 130, and it is difficult to provide the wiring portion below the sliding block. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the space below the sliding blocks 56 and 68 is made empty as a space for wiring, and the space below the sliding block 130 shown in FIG. Can be prevented.

Further, according to this embodiment, the timing belt can be installed horizontally by horizontally placing the stepping motors 60 and 72 which are the first and second drive sources. Therefore, the slit can be shielded by disposing the timing belt at the position of the slit formed so that the support arm projects from the housing portion to the outside.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent dust generated from the driving source in the housing from leaking from the slit toward the mounting portion of the semiconductor wafer.

As a structure for preventing the leakage of dust, there is a mounting structure for the transfer arm. That is, since the transfer arms are attached to the mounts with the bases bent at right angles, the openings of the housing 92 in which the pitch conversion mechanism 90 is built can be closed. Therefore, dust generated from the meshing portion of the belt used in the pitch conversion mechanism 90 and the stepping motor 106 is prevented from leaking to the outside by the base portion of the transport arm.

In the present embodiment, the rotational speed ratio of the drive screw shaft is made different so that the movement amount of the sleeve is made different between the drive screw shafts, but the present invention is not limited to such a structure, and for example, It is also possible to change the amount of movement of the sleeve by making the number of rotations the same and making the amount of leads mounted on one drive screw shaft different.

Further, according to the present invention, the above-mentioned plate-shaped material conveying apparatus can be utilized not only in the heat treatment apparatus but also in each step of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and the liquid crystal manufacturing apparatus, and the CVD apparatus, the plasma processing apparatus, or the cassette stock apparatus. It can also be applied to a boat stocker device or the like.

[0052]

As described above, according to the present invention, a pair of arms are supported as a set by a plurality of sets of support members each including a drive screw shaft, and are moved at different heights with respect to a reference position. Therefore, the axial length of the single shaft can be shortened as compared with the structure in which different lead portions are formed on the drive screw shaft made of the single shaft. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the device itself from increasing in size.

Further, according to the present invention, as described above,
Since a plurality of lead parts are not formed on a single axis, it is possible to reduce the pitch error. Moreover, since it is possible to obtain the support members composed of the drive screw shafts by the same processing without forming a plurality of lead portions, it is possible to suppress an increase in processing cost due to strict processing accuracy. become.

Further, according to the present invention, since the movement amount of each arm can be detected by the arm at the position where the relative movement amount is the largest, the predetermined movement of the arm can be performed without strict detection accuracy. Quantities can be detected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a part of a heat treatment apparatus which is an example to which a plate-shaped body conveying apparatus according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a plate-shaped body conveying device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along arrow AA in FIG.

4 is a schematic perspective view showing a structure of a drive unit of one transfer arm in the plate-shaped member transfer device shown in FIG.

5 is a schematic perspective view showing a structure of a drive unit of another transfer arm in the plate-shaped member transfer device shown in FIG.

6A and 6B are schematic views for explaining the action of the plate-shaped body conveying device according to the present invention and the action in the conventional structure, where FIG. 6A is the case according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. Are shown respectively.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration of a control unit in the plate-shaped body conveying device shown in FIG.

8 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a pitch conversion mechanism in the plate-shaped body conveying device shown in FIG.

9A and 9B are schematic views for explaining the mounting structure of the transfer arm in the plate-shaped member transfer device shown in FIG.
Shows the state of attachment, and (B) shows the state before attachment or after removal.

10A and 10B are diagrams showing the operation of the pitch conversion mechanism shown in FIG. 8, in which FIG. 10A shows a state before pitch conversion, and FIG. 10B shows a state during pitch conversion.

11 is a perspective view mechanically showing each state shown in FIG.

12 is a schematic diagram for explaining a position detection structure in the pitch conversion mechanism shown in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional structure below a movable part in the plate-shaped body conveying device shown in FIG.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional structure of a plate-shaped member conveying device.

[Simple explanation of symbols]

40 plate-shaped body transport device 42, 44, 46, 48 other transport arms 42A, 44A, 46A, 48A transport arm mount 50 one transport arm 52, 54 ball spline shaft 56, 68 sliding block 60 first drive Source stepping motor 62, 74 Timing belt 72 Second drive source stepping motor 80 Control unit 82 Single wafer switch 84 Collective switch 94, 96 Drive screw shaft 94A, 96A Driven pulley 98, 100 Ball nut 102, 104 Sleeve 106 Stepping motor which is a driving source for pitch conversion 110 Timing belt

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A slide having a plurality of pairs of arms arranged at a height position equidistant from a reference position, the arms of each pair being supported so as to be movable in opposite directions along the axial direction. In the plate-shaped body conveying device provided with a motion guide member, the slide guide member slide-guides the plurality of sets of arms at equal pitches. 2. The slide guide member according to claim 1, wherein the slide guide member is constituted by a rotary shaft that is rotationally driven by the same drive source, and screws are provided in opposite directions in a vertical direction with a reference position as a boundary along the axial direction. 2. The plate-shaped body transporting device, wherein the leads are formed, and the rotation ratios for the same drive source are made different in each set. 3. The plate-shaped body transporting device according to claim 1, wherein a detection unit and a detection unit are provided on a pair of arms at a position farthest from a reference position among the pair of arms.