JPS632142B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a substrate (semiconductor wafer, glass, etc.)
Concerning conveyance equipment, especially rotational processing equipment (resist coating machines, scrubbers, developing machines, surface inspection machines, etc.)
The purpose of the present invention is to accurately position the substrate and transport the substrate, which are necessary for processing, without generating dust or impacting the peripheral edge of the substrate after rotation processing.

Conventionally, the substrate transport mechanism has been air transport or O
Ring transport is used.

As shown in Fig. 1a, the air conveyance is performed by providing a through hole 3 in the conveying plate 2 that is in contact with the substrate 1 and providing an air passage 4 by providing a back plate 5, and applying pressure to the air passage 4. By blowing air, the air passing through the air passage 4 is ejected obliquely from the through hole 3, thereby transporting the board. When the board is transported using this air transport, transport starts. At first, the conveyance speed of the substrate is slow, but the conveyance speed gradually increases until it collides with a stationary object, such as a carrier, and comes to a stop. This causes the peripheral edge of the board to break, and the broken powder becomes dust and adheres to the board.
Therefore, the yield will be reduced.

In order to prevent the above-mentioned collision, there is a method in which a vacuumed through hole 3 is provided in front of the stopping object to temporarily stop the substrate being transported, and then the vacuum is turned off to transport the substrate and stop it at the stopping object. In the case of a substrate coated with high viscosity negative resist etc. using a resist coating machine, when the substrate is stopped at the vacuumed through hole 3, the conveyor plate 2 and the substrate 1
is a highly viscous negative resist that adheres to the conveying plate 2, causing trouble that conveyance becomes impossible. Furthermore, when the substrate is transported, it is transported while contacting the board guide provided on the transport plate 2, so if the board is coated with resist, the resist may adhere to the board guide and generate dust. A negative resist with a high viscosity or a high viscosity has the disadvantage that the substrate adheres to the guide, making it impossible to transport the resist.

Next, in O-ring conveyance, as shown in FIG. 1b, a drive belt 6 is installed by rollers 7, and the substrate 1 is conveyed by the drive belt 6. Generally, the material of the drive belt 6 is rubber. or plastic resin, etc., dust may be generated due to wear of the drive belt 6 due to friction between the substrate 1 and the drive belt 6 that occurs at the start of conveyance or when positioning the substrate 1 along the guide while rotating the drive belt 6. In general, because the conveyance speed is not changed, the peripheral edge of the substrate may be broken due to collision between the substrate and a stationary object, similar to air conveyance, or after applying a positive resist or a diffusing agent, the coated material on the substrate may be broken. There is a drawback that the yield rate decreases due to the generation of dust due to crushing.

The configuration when the above-mentioned air conveyance or O-ring conveyance is used in a rotary processing apparatus will be explained below using air conveyance as an example.

FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view of a rotary processing apparatus using conventional air conveyance, showing a supply carrier 8 and a supply side conveyance section 11 that guides the substrate 1 in the carrier to a movable table 10, and a supply side conveyor section 11 that guides the substrate 1 in the carrier to a movable table 10. A spindle chuck 12 for receiving and rotating the substrate 1 from the spindle chuck 10, an alignment guide 13 on the movable table 10 for setting the substrate 1 in the center of the spindle chuck 12, and a storage side transport for guiding the substrate 1 to the storage side carrier. It is composed of a section 14. Note that the transport section is provided with a base guide 9 and a through hole 3 necessary for transporting the substrate.

However, to explain its effect, see Figure 3 a.
It becomes as shown in ~f.

FIG. 3a shows the substrate 1 being guided from the supply side transport section 11 and the substrate 1 being rotated on the spindle chuck 12.
The substrate is sent to the alignment guide 13 on the substrate 0, and stops with the peripheral edge of the substrate in contact with the alignment guide 13. After the rotation process is completed, the rotated substrate on the spindle chuck 12 is raised to the position shown by the dashed line in the figure. Next, as shown in FIG. 3b, by moving the movable table 10 in the direction of the arrow, that is, from the supply side to the storage side, the substrate 1 on the spindle chuck 12 is transferred onto the movable table 10, and by further movement, the It will look like Figure 3c. At this point, as shown in FIG. 3d, the storage side of the movable table 10,
By injecting air from the through hole 3 of the storage-side transport section 14, the substrate 1 on the movable table 10 is passed through the storage-side transport section 14 and transferred to a storage-side carrier (not shown).
Let it guide you. This alignment guide 13
A spindle chuck 12 is waiting at a position below the current one substrate 1 which is stopped at the edge of the substrate 1.Next, as shown in FIG. The substrate 1 is supported on the upper surface of the movable table 12, and the movable table 10 is then moved to the supply side transport section 11. This state is shown in Figure 3f, and the spindle chuck 1
2 is lowered to perform the rotation process, and the same process is repeated thereafter.

By the way, the transport positioning method for such a conventional coating machine is that when the substrate 1 is fed into the alignment guide 13 on the movable table 10 in FIG. When the substrate 1 on the spindle chuck 12 is transferred onto the movable table, a collision occurs at its rear edge. Therefore, the collision may break the peripheral edge of the substrate, or damage may occur after the positive resist or diffusion agent is applied. This causes dust to be generated when the substrate is transported, and troubles such as the movable table 10 and the substrate 1 sticking together occur after coating the high viscosity negative resist.

A rotary processing device using O-ring conveyance also has a second
The only difference is that the transportation method in Figures and Figures 3 a to 3 f is changed from air to O-ring, but the same positioning method is used, so the board gets dirty due to crumbling of the periphery of the board and dust generation, similar to the air transport described above. The reality is that this, combined with the generation of dust on the belt, further reduces the yield of substrates.

The inventors of the present invention have made extensive studies in view of these conventional drawbacks, and as a result have arrived at the apparatus of the present invention, which has a simple configuration, does not generate dust, and enables reliable substrate transport and accurate positioning. An example of the implementation of the device of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the fork portion movable mechanism of the device of the present invention. In this figure, 30 is a base plate fixed to a device frame (not shown), 31 is a through hole bored in the center of the base plate, and a spindle shaft is provided through the through hole. The spindle chuck 12 is moved up and down and rotated by a mechanism (not shown) at a constant height on the surface. Since these mechanisms are the same as those of the conventional ones, their explanations will be omitted.

32 is a rail integrally attached to the front edge of the base plate 30;
is used as a guide, and the pair of forks 17, 17' move back and forth as one at a constant height position on the base plate at opposing intervals that do not hinder the vertical movement of the spindle chuck 12 at the center of the base plate. It is provided. In this specific configuration, arm support rods 21, 21' of a certain length are erected on the front wall surface of a sliding box 27, which is designed to hold a rail 32 between bearings 23, 23' provided in the longitudinal direction, on the base plate side. At the same time, horizontal support plates 19, 19' are placed perpendicular to the table plate surface and horizontal to each upper edge thereof.
are attached with fixing screws 20, 20', and each horizontal support plate 19, 19' is provided with a pair of forks 17a, 17b, respectively, at a constant spacing d.
and 17'a, 17'b, each fork is composed of a horizontal claw body A of a constant length parallel to the length direction of the base plate 30, and an L-shaped arm body B, and an L-shaped arm body B. Depending on the height of the vertical part of the letter-shaped arm body B, there is a certain height n and width m between the horizontal support plates 19 and 19'.
They are fixed in such a way that three-dimensional spaces V and V' are formed. During the reciprocating movement described later in the three-dimensional space, the spindle chuck 12 with the substrate attached thereto can freely pass through the spaces V and V' at the upper limit position of its rise.

In addition, the fork 17 facing the supply side carrier 8
a, 17b; positioning hooks 18a, 18b having cutout circles that coincide with a part of the peripheral edge of the substrate 1;
Each fork has vacuum holes 37a, 37b, and 3 for suctioning and fixing the substrate on the fork during reciprocating action, which will be described later.
7'a, 37'b are provided, and these vacuum holes communicate with the through holes (shown by dotted lines) drilled in the horizontal claw body A and the L-shaped arm body B, and are connected to the horizontal support plates 19, 19'. It is connected to vacuum pump means (not shown) via hoses 15, 15'.

On the other hand, 16a and 16b are substrate holders which are set upright on the base plate on the side facing the supply side carrier 8 in a state parallel to the length direction of the plate,
At this time, the distance W between the opposing sides is the forks 17a and 17b.
The forks 17a, 1
It is designed to be equal to or slightly lower than the height h above the base plate of 7b.

On the other hand, the sliding box 27 supporting the fork means having the above structure is made to reciprocate in the longitudinal direction on the base plate using two cylinders 25 and 26. Attach the L-shaped bracket 29 for fixing,
The piston rod side of one cylinder (26 in the illustrated example) is fixed to the bracket 29 in parallel with the base plate, and the cylinder body side of the cylinder 26 is a small supply side carrier with respect to the sliding box 27 that supports the fork means. Another L-shaped bracket 2 is suspended from the rail 32 so as to be separated from the rail 32.
The cylinder body side of one cylinder (25 in the illustrated example) is fixed to the L-shaped bracket 29', and the piston rod side of the cylinder is integral with the bottom surface of the sliding box 27. The unique L-shaped bracket 2
It is fixed at 8. Incidentally, reference numeral 24 denotes a bearing provided on the upper part of the bracket so that the L-shaped bracket 29' holds the rail 32 and slides smoothly.

Next, the operation of the device of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 a to 6.
The explanation will be based on i.

FIG. 5 is an overall perspective view showing the state of the standby position, in which, in addition to the fork portion and its drive mechanism explained in FIG. Storage side carrier 22
Further, a guide groove 33 is provided between the supply side carrier 8 and the substrate holders 16a and 16b, so that the substrate 1 stored in the supply side carrier 8 can be vacuum-adsorbed from a lower position, and the guide groove 33 can be A conveying chuck 34 is provided for conveying the material through the groove 33 to the positions of the pedestals 16a and 16b. In addition,
Reference numeral 35 indicates a vacuum hole provided in the transport chuck, and the supply side carrier 8 has a number of small grooves 36 provided at equal pitches in a horizontal state on each of the opposing plate surfaces, and the substrate is inserted into each groove. It is then maintained. On the other hand, the storage side carrier 22 is also provided with small grooves 36 at equal pitches in a horizontal state.

Figure 6a shows forks 17a, 17b and 17'a, 17'b with cylinders 25 and 26 retracted.
indicates the standby position, and the spindle chuck 12 is holding the substrate 1 and rotating it. At this time, the supply side carrier 8 descends, holds one of the substrates 1 in the carrier above the vacuum hole 35 from below at the position where the transport chuck 34 has risen to its upper limit, and passes the substrate 1 through the guide groove 33 to the cradle. 16a, 16
The spindle chuck 12 is moved toward the b side and waits for the completion of the coating process on the substrate 1 on the spindle chuck 12 while holding the substrate 1. The height H above the base plate 30 of the conveyance chuck 34 in this holding state is designed to be higher than both the height h above the base plate of the forks 17a and 17b and the height g of the pedestals 16a and 16b. has been done.

When the spindle chuck 12 rotates for a certain period of time and the coating process is completed, the spindle chuck 12 rises to its upper limit while holding the substrate 1, resulting in the state shown in FIG. 6b.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6c, by operating the cylinder 26 to extend the piston rod, the sliding box 27 is moved, and the fork support means receiving pedestal 16 is moved.
a, 16b side. At this time, the left forks 17a and 17b move under the substrate 1 held by the transport chuck 34, and the fork 17
Positioning hooks 18a, 18 at the tips of a, 17b
b stops at a position slightly away from the left edge of the substrate holders 16a and 16b, and the spindle chuck 12, which supports the substrate 1 and has risen to its upper limit during the movement, is supported by the horizontal support plate 19'. and the right fork 17'a, 17'b so as not to get in the way, and at the stop position, the right fork 17'
It is designed so that the tips of a and 17'b substantially coincide with the right edge of the substrate 1 held by the spindle chuck 12.

FIG. 6d shows a state in which the vacuum of each suction hole of the transport chuck 34 and spindle chuck 12 is cut off and lowered in the above state, and the substrate on the transport chuck 34 is moved onto the pedestals 16a and 16b. Also, the substrate 1 on the spindle chuck 12 is a fork 1.
7'a and 17'b.

In this state, the vacuum holes 37a, 37b of the forks 17a, 17b and the forks 17'a, 1
The vacuum holes 37'a and 37'b of the forks 17'b are vacuum-suctioned, and the cylinder 26 is made to contract the piston rod, so that the positioning hooks 1 on the forks 17a and 17b are moved as shown in FIG. 6e.
The substrate 1 on the pedestals 16a, 16b is hooked to the positioning hooks 18a, 18b and is moved to the side of the spindle chuck 12 while sliding on the pedestals 16a, 16b. However, when the board 1 comes off from the board holders 16a and 16b,
The substrate 1, positioned by the positioning hooks 18a, 18b, is held by the forks 17a, 17b by the vacuum holes 37a, 37b, and is conveyed onto the spindle chuck 12. On the other hand, the substrate 1 on the forks 17'a and 17'b is inserted into the storage side carrier 22 and held in the small groove 36, and at this time the cylinder 2
5 and 26, the piston rod of the cylinder 25 is extended and the piston rod of the cylinder 26 is contracted, as shown in FIG. 6(f).

Next, the vacuum holes 37a of the forks 17a and 17b,
37b and vacuum holes 37 of fork 17'a, 17'b
When the vacuum is turned off to a' and 37'b and the vacuum hole 38 provided in the spindle chuck 12 is raised to the upper limit, the substrate 1 is attracted onto the spindle chuck 12 and lifted. On the other hand, the storage side carrier 22
is raised by one pitch to obtain the state shown in Figure 6g. After this state, the piston rod of the cylinder 25 is contracted to move the entire fork support means to the left, and at this time the spindle chuck 12 supporting the substrate 1 is placed between the horizontal support plate 19 and the forks 17a and 17b. By passing through the formed three-dimensional space V, there is no obstruction and the robot returns to the waiting position shown in FIG. 6h. After this, the spindle chuck 12 is lowered to its lower limit as shown in FIG. By raising the pitch one pitch at a time, the above-mentioned figure 6a
The actions of ~i are continuously and automatically repeated.

As described above, the present invention has a spindle chuck on a base plate, and a storage side carrier is arranged in series on one side and a supply side carrier on the other side, and a base plate facing the spindle chuck of the supply side carrier is arranged in series. A pair of substrate holders are erected on the top facing each other at a certain distance W, and a guide groove is provided between the two. In addition, the substrates in the supply side carrier are vacuum-adsorbed from a lower position, and the above-mentioned A transport chuck is provided for transporting the substrate through the guide groove to the substrate holder position, and a spindle chuck is provided to move up and down between fixed height positions, and a fixed horizontal symmetrical direction around the spindle chuck is provided. A pair of forks that move over a distance are arranged at a constant height position parallel to the base plate, and among these, the fork facing the supply side carrier has a distance d between them that is larger than the distance W between the substrate holders. Moreover, a positioning hook in which a cutout circle that coincides with a part of the circumferential edge of the board is formed is attached to each distal end, and each fork is connected to a horizontal support arm that supports each fork. Since the spindle chuck and the substrate held on the spindle chuck are configured to have a three-dimensional space sufficient to pass through, it is possible to simultaneously supply the substrate to the fork and remove the substrate from the spindle chuck.
And/or to supply a substrate to a spindle chuck and to store the substrate in a carrier on a storage side without causing collision of the peripheral edge of the substrate, and to surely position and transport the substrate. As a result, variations in film thickness are eliminated, dirt around the wafer and dust adhesion during transportation are eliminated, and the wafer can be reliably transported after coating with a high viscosity negative resist, which was difficult with conventional methods. This is an extremely effective device that is ideal for mass production of super SLI.

In the above embodiment, the left and right movement of the fork was explained as being performed by the expansion and contraction of the piston of the cylinder, but instead of the cylinder, the present invention may be implemented by using a timing belt and a pulse motor or a linear pulse motor. within the range of Other parts may be modified or changed freely.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing conventional air conveyance and O-ring conveyance, FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view of a rotary processing apparatus using conventional air conveyance, FIG. Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the fork part movable mechanism of the device of the present invention, Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the entire device of the present invention in the standby position, and Figs.
i is an explanatory diagram of its action. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Board, 8... Supply side carrier, 12... Spindle chuck, 16a, 16b... Board holder,
17, 17'...Fork, 18a, 18b... Positioning hook, 19, 19'... Horizontal support plate, 22...
Storage side carrier, 25...Cylinder, 26...Cylinder, 27...Sliding box, 30...Base plate, 32
...Rail, 33...Guiding groove, 36...Transportation chuck,
36...Small groove, 37a, 37b, 37'a, 37'b
...Vacuum hole.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A storage side carrier is placed on one side of the spindle chuck on the base plate, and a supply side carrier is placed on the other side in series, and the spindle chuck is directed toward the spindle chuck of the supply side carrier. A pair of substrate holders are erected on the base plate facing each other at a certain distance W, and a guide groove is bored between the two, and the substrates in the supply side carrier are vacuum-adsorbed from a lower position. A conveyance chuck is also provided for conveying the substrate through the guide groove to the substrate holder position, while a spindle chuck is provided to move up and down between fixed height positions, and in a symmetrical direction around the spindle chuck. A pair of forks that move over a certain distance are arranged at a certain height parallel to the base plate, and among these, the fork facing the supply side carrier has a dimension larger than the distance W between opposite sides, and has a diameter at each tip. A positioning hook having a cutout circle formed therein which coincides with a part of the peripheral edge of the board is attached facing outwardly to the opposite side, and each fork is provided with the spindle chuck and the horizontal support arm formed by supporting each fork. A substrate conveyance device characterized in that a three-dimensional space sufficient for passing the substrate held on the spindle chuck is formed. 2. A storage side carrier is arranged in series on one side of the spindle chuck on the base plate, and a supply side carrier is arranged on the other side, and a fixed distance is placed on the base plate facing the spindle chuck of the supply side carrier. In addition to setting up a pair of substrate holders facing each other at W, and drilling a guide groove between them, the substrates in the supply side carrier are vacuum-adsorbed from a lower position, and the substrates are transferred through the guide grooves. A transport chuck is provided for transporting the material to the receiving position, while a spindle chuck is provided to move up and down between fixed height positions, and to move over a fixed distance in a symmetrical direction around the spindle chuck. A pair of forks are arranged at a constant height position parallel to the base plate, and among these, the fork facing the supply side carrier has a distance d between the opposing sides that is larger than the distance W between the substrate holders, and each tip thereof A positioning hook having a cutout circle formed with a part of the circumferential edge of the board is attached facing outward to the opposite side, and each fork has the spindle chuck between it and a horizontal support arm supporting each fork. A sufficient three-dimensional space is formed for the substrate held on the spindle chuck to pass through, and a large number of small grooves are bored at equal horizontal pitches in the supply side carrier and the storage side carrier, and The substrates are placed on each of the small grooves of the supply side carrier in a tiered manner, and the supply side carrier is intermittently lowered every pitch, whereas the storage side carrier is intermittently raised every pitch. Transport device for printed circuit boards.