JPS58182846A - Transfer device for semiconductor substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the workability by automatically transferring a semiconductor substrate from a cassette to a boat, thereby maintaining the cleanness of the substrate. CONSTITUTION:A cassette 2 which is placed in dotted chain line state is raised to the position indicated by solid lines, and a push arm 4 is forwarded from a starting point B from this state toward feeding guide rails 8. Then, undiffused semiconductor substrate 1a in the cassette 2 is pushed into the rails 8 via a V- grooved roller 6, lowered over the bent crest top of the rails 8 toward a boat 3 at opposite side, and received by the V-grooved roller 6 of a slider 12. Thereafter, the slider 12 starts returning from this state toward the starting point D, the substrate 1a is thus lowered while being stopped by the roller 6 of the slider 12 in the rails 8, and transferred into the initial containing groove 3a of the vacant boat 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention automatically transfers semiconductor substrates between a cassette for storing semiconductor substrates and a boat used as a heat treatment jig for a heat treatment plate of the semiconductor substrate in a diffusion furnace. The present invention relates to a device adapted to perform such a process.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the substrate storage cassette of the present invention.
1 is a semiconductor substrate, and 2 is a cassette for storing a large number of the semiconductor substrates 1 in parallel at equal intervals. For example, several dozen semiconductor substrates 1 are arranged in parallel in storage grooves 2a at equal intervals formed in the opposing inner wall surface. will be stored in.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a heat treatment boat (hereinafter simply referred to as a boat) 3 used in a diffusion furnace. Similarly to the above, there are storage grooves arranged at equal intervals to store several dozen semiconductor substrates 1 in a staggered state. 3a is recessed in the upper surface.

Conventionally, the work of transferring the semiconductor substrate 1 from the cassette 2 to the boat 3 has been performed manually using air tweezers. However, such a manual transfer method has drawbacks such as being directly affected by dust emitted by the worker, leading to a decrease in yield, poor workability, and requiring skill for transfer.

This invention was made to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and by automatically performing the work of transferring the semiconductor substrate from the cassette to the ports, it is possible to maintain the cleanliness of the semiconductor board and to transfer the semiconductor board from the cassette to the port. This is aimed at improving sexual performance. Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 3 to 5.

In these figures, reference numeral 4 denotes an arm for pushing out the semiconductor substrates 1 in the juxtaposed state in the cassette 2. A groove p-ra 6 is rotatably attached to the tip of the arm 4, and the semiconductor substrate 1 is pushed out using the supporting shaft 5 at the other end as a fulcrum. A swing motion is performed back and forth with respect to the feeding direction of the substrate 1.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a swinging drive device for this extrusion 7-m 4, and 8 denotes transfer guide rails for the semiconductor substrate 1, including an upper rail 8a and a lower rail 8b, each curved into a chevron shape, as shown in FIG.
They form a pair and are fixed to the rail mounting plate 10 with their chevrons facing up and at predetermined intervals above and below.

The transfer guide rail 8 is used for transferring the semiconductor substrate 1 from the cassette 2 to the boat 3, but the cleanliness of the undiffused semiconductor substrate 1a is usually high;
Therefore, each clamping groove 11 of the transfer guide rail 8 for the undiffused semiconductor substrate 1a is free from contamination, and therefore a common groove 11 is provided for each tube housing the semiconductor substrate 1 of the diffusion furnace.
It is located at a specific location.

On the other hand, a similar chevron-shaped transfer guide rail 9, which is provided on one side of the transfer guide rail 8 and forms a pair of upper and lower sides, is used to transfer the diffused semiconductor substrates 1 from the boat 3 to the cassette 2, contrary to the above case.
When this diffused semiconductor substrate 1b, especially the phosphorus-diffused semiconductor substrate 1b, passes through the clamping groove 11 of the transfer guide wheel 9, the phosphorus compound is transferred to the surface of the clamping groove 110. Easy to stick to. Therefore, if these transfer guide rails 9 are provided in one place so that they are shared by each tube of the diffusion furnace, the semiconductor substrate 1b that has been subjected to other diffusion treatments (oxidation film formation, etc.) They will pass through the same rails 9a and 9b, and in this case, problems such as contamination with the phosphorus compound adhering to the clamping groove 11 will occur.

For this reason, the transfer guide rails 9 are attached in accordance with the number of tubes in the diffusion furnace, and only the diffused semiconductor substrates 1b of the same process are always transferred by the same transfer guide rail 9. The cleanliness level of 1b is maintained.

The V-groove p-ruler 6 is configured to receive the undiffused semiconductor substrate 1a descending from the transfer guide rail 8 and heading towards the boat 3. 13 is a slider driving device. In this slider drive device 13, one corresponding to the transfer guide rail 8 and the other corresponding to the transfer guide rail 9 are attached to the port feed 15 via a support plate 14.

20 is a boat support on which the hoard 3 is placed, and the port feed 1
At a pitch corresponding to the pinch between the storage grooves 3a (Fig. 2) recessed in the boat 3 by the protruding pins 16, index feeding is performed, for example, toward the front in Fig. 3. ing. 19 is the cassette 2
The cassette feeder 18 provides vertical swinging movement by an angle θ as shown in FIG. It has become.

Next, the operation of one embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention will be described.

First, the undiffused semiconductor substrate 1 is transferred from the cassette 2 to the port 3.
When transferring a, the cassette 2 placed in the state shown by the dashed line in FIG. 3 is lifted by the chuck 19 of the cassette feed 18 to the position shown by the solid line in FIG. For the first storage groove 2 of cassette 2
From this state, the push-out arm 4 and the slider 12 on the opposite side corresponding to the transfer guide rail 8 are moved from their respective starting points B and D to V simultaneously toward the transfer guide rail 8 side. advance.

As the extrusion arm 4 moves forward, the undiffused semiconductor substrate 1a in the cassette 2 is moved to the transfer guide rail 8 by the V-groove p-ra 6 at the tip of the extrusion arm 4, which swings about the support shaft 5. When the semiconductor substrate 1a is pushed in and the grooved roller 6 reaches the stop point C shown in the figure, the center of gravity G of the semiconductor substrate 1a crosses the peak of the chevron-shaped curve of the transfer guide rail 80 and moves toward the port 3 on the opposite side. You will be heading down towards it.

On the other hand, the V groove μm 6 of the extrusion 7-m 4 is at the above-mentioned stopping point C.
At the time when the slider 120 has reached the position, the slider 120 and the grooved roller 6 are ready to receive the semiconductor substrate 1a that has reached the operation end point E from the starting position and is descending within the transfer guide rail 8. FIG. 5 shows this state.

After that, from this state, the push-out arm 4 and the slider 1
2 begin to return toward the initial starting points B and D, respectively, and along with this, the semiconductor substrate 1a descends within the transfer guide rail 8 while being received by the V-groove p-ra 6 at the tip of the slider 12. , for example, into the first storage groove 3a of the empty port 3.

In this way, when the pusher 7-m 4 and the slider 12 return to their initial positions, the cassette 2 is moved by the cassette feed 18, and the bolt 3 is moved by the port feed 15 to the next storage grooves 2a and 3a, respectively. After index feeding, the transfer of the next undiffused semiconductor substrate 1a is repeated in the same order as above using the transfer guide rail 8, and all the undiffused semiconductor substrates 1a in the cassette are placed in the hoard 3. It can be transferred.

Next, the semiconductor substrate 1b that has been diffused from port 3 to cassette 2
When transferring a port 3 in which a large number of semiconductor substrates 1b that have undergone a predetermined diffusion process are placed side by side, and an empty cassette 2 that does not contain any semiconductor substrates 1b, the storage grooves 2a,
Each transfer guide rail 9 3a corresponds to a tube of a diffusion furnace
These are fed in parallel by the port feed 15 and the cassette feed 18 to a position where the clamping grooves 11 of the two are aligned.

After that, from this state, the semiconductor substrate 1b which has been diffused on the port 3 is sequentially moved from the end to the groove p- of the slider 12 similar to the above.
The cassettes 6 are fed into the empty cassettes 2 through the transfer guide rails 9 of each row. In other words, the groove roller 6 of the slider 12 moves from the starting points B and D to the ending point E.
When the semiconductor substrate 1b is pushed forward, the spread semiconductor substrate 1b is sent out along the clamping groove 11 of the transfer guide rail 9, and the center of gravity G of the semiconductor substrate 1b is reached at the operation end point E position of the V-groove p-ra 6. If the end point position E of the operation slider 12 at that time is set so that each of It is transferred into an empty cassette 2.

At this time, when the groove p-ra 6 of the slider 12 returns to the starting point, the hoard 3 and the cassette 2
is transferred to the next storage groove, and the transfer operation of the next semiconductor substrate 1b is repeated again by the groove p-ra 6 of the slider 12. This is the same as in the above case. .

As explained above, according to the transfer device of the present invention,
Each semiconductor substrate can be transferred automatically without manual intervention due to contamination, which improves work efficiency.
Since the semiconductor substrates are transferred using the same transfer guide 1/-, the cleanliness of each semiconductor substrate can be maintained, which has the advantage of improving yield and saving labor.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The first section is a perspective view of a substrate storage cassette according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a heat treatment port, FIG. FIG. 5 is a sectional view of each transfer guide rail taken along the line IV--IV in the direction of arrow A, and FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a state in which a semiconductor substrate is being transferred. In the figure, 1a is an undiffused semiconductor substrate, 1b is a diffused semiconductor substrate, 2 is a cassette, 2a and 3a are storage grooves, 3 is a heat treatment port, 4 is an extrusion 7-m, and 8.9 is a transfer guide rail. , 12 are sliders. Note that the same reference numerals in the figures indicate the same or corresponding parts. Agent Shin Kuzuno - (1 other person) αυ Diagram 1 Procedural Amendment (Voluntary) 1 Summons 571 Self August 24th 1, Display of case 0 relation to patent application No. 57-68215 Patent applicant residence Address: 2-2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Name (601) Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Representative Piece 11
1 Ren, 8th Department, 4, Agent Address: 5, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, 2-2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Detailed Description of the Invention in the Specification Subject to Amendment - Contents of the Amendment) Specification No. 3 In the second line of the page, the phrase "distant state" is corrected to "parallel state." (2) Similarly, on page 3, line 19, the phrase "extrusion arm" is corrected to "extrusion 7-arm". 13) Also on page 6] Lines 3 to 16 “The said Porto J
There are 15... '' area, wash it in the following manner. "The index is fed according to the pitch of the storage groove 2a of the cassette 2." (4) Similarly, in the first oulo line, it is written that "the transfer of each semiconductor substrate is done manually due to contamination." , ``Correct that the transfer of each semiconductor substrate requires manual labor that involves contamination.''

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In an apparatus for transferring semiconductor substrates one by one between a cassette and a port, there is provided a transfer means for transferring undiffused semiconductor substrates from the cassette to the boat one by one, and a transfer means for transferring the undiffused semiconductor substrates from the boat to the boat, and the diffusion of the cassettes from the boat. 1. A semiconductor substrate transfer apparatus comprising a plurality of transfer means for transferring finished semiconductor substrates one by one. (2) The transfer means for transferring the undiffused semiconductor substrate includes transfer guide rails curved in a mountain shape provided to sandwich the semiconductor substrate from above and below, and a device for pushing and swinging the semiconductor substrate from the bottom opening of the cassette. - a reciprocating slider that receives the semiconductor substrates falling naturally over the curved apex of the transfer guide rail and places the semiconductor substrates one by one in parallel on the port. A semiconductor substrate transfer apparatus according to claim (1). (3) The plurality of transfer means for transferring the diffused semiconductor substrates include transfer guide rails curved in a chevron shape provided to sandwich the semiconductor substrates from above and below, and transfer means that push up the semiconductor substrates on the boat. A semiconductor substrate transfer device according to claim 1, characterized in that the device includes a reciprocating slider that is housed in a cassette via a transfer guide rail.