JP6955922B2 - Inline system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an in-line system for transporting a workpiece between a plurality of processing devices.

Conventionally, in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, an in-line system capable of transporting an workpiece between a plurality of apparatus and continuously performing a predetermined process on the workpiece has been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1). reference). The in-line system described in Patent Document 1 includes a grinding device as a first device and a laser processing device as a second device. In addition, the in-line system further includes a transfer means for transferring the workpiece between the grinding device and the laser machining device. As a result, the workpiece is ground to a predetermined thickness by the grinding device, and then laser-machined by the laser processing device along the planned division line.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-308929

By the way, in Patent Document 1, the machining time (processing time per work) does not always match between the grinding device and the laser machining device. For example, when the machining time of the grinding machine is longer than the machining time of the laser machining device, a standby time is generated in the transfer means on the laser machining device side. Further, when a trouble occurs in one of the devices, the one device cannot deliver the workpiece to the other device, so that the other device has a standby time. As a result of the standby time occurring in one of the devices in this way, the throughput of the entire system may be affected.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and one of the objects of the present invention is to provide an in-line system capable of reducing the standby time of an apparatus and realizing continuous machining between a plurality of apparatus.

The in-line system according to one aspect of the present invention includes a first device for processing a wafer, a second device for processing a wafer processed by the first device, and a first device and a second device installed side by side in the X direction. An in-line system including a delivery means for delivering a wafer from a first device to a second device, which is arranged between the devices of the above, and the first device is -X based on the delivery means. The second device includes a first robot arranged on the directional side and transporting the wafer, and the second device includes a second robot arranged on the + X direction side with reference to the delivery means and transporting the wafer. Is provided with a temporary storage cassette that supports a plurality of wafers in a shelf shape and a table having a mounting surface on which the temporary storage cassette is placed. The temporary storage cassette includes a plurality of support shelves that support the wafers in a shelf shape. , A side plate that connects both sides of the support shelf in the Y direction that is orthogonal to the X direction in the table mounting surface direction and faces each other, a top plate that connects the upper side of the side plate, and a bottom plate that connects the lower side of the side plate. The first opening formed on the side surface in the −X direction, the second opening formed on the side surface in the + X direction, the first region in which the first robot moves in the Z direction orthogonal to the XY direction, and the second robot The second region moving in the Z direction is arranged so as to be offset in the Z direction, and the wafer is transferred from the first device to the second device in the region where the first region and the second region overlap. In the delivery area to be processed, the first recovery area for collecting the wafer in the process of being taken out from the first apparatus in the region obtained by subtracting the delivery area from the first region, and the region obtained by subtracting the delivery area from the second region. It is characterized by including a second recovery area for recovering the wafer in the process of being taken out from the second device.

According to this configuration, for example, the wafer processed by the first apparatus can be temporarily placed in the temporary storage cassette through the first opening. On the other hand, the second device can take out the wafer temporarily placed in the temporary storage cassette from the second opening on the opposite side of the first opening. That is, in the first device, the workpiece can be taken in and out from the first opening on the −X side, and in the second device, the wafer can be taken in and out from the second opening on the + X side.
In particular, since a plurality of wafers can be temporarily placed in the temporary storage cassette, even if the processing time differs between the first device and the second device, there is no waiting time in one device. It is possible to continuously process the wafer between the first and second devices.
Further, the plurality of support shelves constituting the temporary storage cassette are divided into a plurality of areas in the Z direction, and the processed wafers are delivered in the delivery areas that the first and second robots can access in common. Further, by separately providing the first collection area accessible by the first robot and the second collection area accessible by the second robot, either one of the first and second devices is provided. Even if a trouble occurs in the above, the wafer in the process of processing can be temporarily collected in the first or second collection area. As a result, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of the standby time in the other device of the first and second devices.

Further, in the in-line system of one aspect of the present invention, the delivery area includes more support shelves than the first collection area and the second collection area.

Further, the in-line system according to one aspect of the present invention is a rotation that makes the table rotatable ± 90 degrees around the center of the mounting surface with the direction perpendicular to the mounting surface on which the temporary mounting cassette is mounted as the axial direction. Provide means.

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the standby time of the device and realize continuous machining between a plurality of devices.

It is an overall perspective view of the in-line system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the operation example of the in-line system which concerns on this embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the operation example of the in-line system which concerns on this embodiment.

Hereinafter, the in-line system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of an in-line system according to the present embodiment. The in-line system according to the present embodiment is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 1, and can be changed as appropriate. Further, in FIG. 1, the back side in the X direction is the −X side, the front side in the X direction is the + X side, the back side in the Y direction is the −Y side, and the front side in the Y direction is the + Y side. Further, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that the X direction is the left-right direction of the device, the Y direction is the front-rear direction of the device, the Z direction is the up-down direction, and the X, Y, and Z directions are orthogonal to each other.

As shown in FIG. 1, the in-line system 1 is located between the protective member attaching device 2 as the first device, the grinding device 3 as the second device, and the protective member attaching device 2 and the grinding device 3. The delivery means 4 for carrying out the delivery of the wafer W and the control means 5 for controlling these are provided. The protective member attaching device 2 and the grinding device 3 are installed side by side with a slight interval in the X direction. The delivery means 4 is arranged between the protective member attaching device 2 and the grinding device 3. That is, the protective member attaching device 2 is arranged in the −X direction (right side) with respect to the delivery means 4, and the grinding device 3 is arranged in the + X direction (left side) with reference to the delivery means 4.

The wafer W to be processed is, for example, an as-slice wafer before the device pattern is formed, and the columnar ingot is sliced with a wire saw to form a disk shape. The wafer W is not limited to workpieces such as silicon, gallium hiso, and silicon carbide. For example, ceramic, glass, sapphire-based inorganic material substrates, ductile materials of plate-like metals and resins, and various processed materials that require flatness (TTV: Total Thickness Variation) on the order of micron to submicron can be used as wafer W. good. The flatness referred to here means, for example, the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the heights measured in the thickness direction with the surface to be ground of the wafer W as a reference surface.

A swell is formed on the surface of the wafer W after being sliced from the ingot. The in-line system 1 according to the present embodiment is configured to remove the waviness from the surface of the wafer W after slicing. Specifically, the in-line system 1 removes waviness by attaching a protective member to one surface of a plate-shaped wafer W and grinding the wafer W from the other side. That is, in the in-line system 1 according to the present embodiment, a protective member is attached to one surface of the wafer W as the first processing, and the other surface of the wafer is ground as the second processing, and these two types are used. It is configured to continuously carry out the processing of the above in a series of flows.

The protective member attaching device 2 is configured to attach a protective member (both not shown) made of resin and a film to the surface of the wafer W. Although a detailed configuration is omitted, the protective member attaching device 2 is configured by providing a first robot 21 that conveys the wafer W in a rectangular parallelepiped housing 20 having a longitudinal direction in the Y direction. A first load port 22 on which a work cassette (not shown) accommodating a plurality of wafers W is placed is provided on the front surface of the housing 20.

The first robot 21 is arranged behind the first load port 22 so as to be biased toward the front side of the housing 20. The first robot 21 takes out the wafer W from the work cassette on the first load port 22. Specifically, the first robot 21 is configured by providing a suction type hand portion 24 at the tip of a robot arm 23 composed of a multi-node link. The hand portion 24 sucks and holds the surface of the wafer W. Further, the robot arm 23 is configured to be able to move up and down by means of raising and lowering means (not shown). The first robot 21 can move the hand portion 24 to an arbitrary position within the movable range of the robot arm 23. Although the details will be described later, the protective member attaching device 2 attaches the protective member to the surface of the wafer W, and then conveys the wafer W to the delivery means 4 by the first robot 21.

The grinding device 3 is configured to grind the opposite surface of the wafer W to which the protective member is attached to a predetermined thickness. Although a detailed configuration is omitted, the grinding device 3 is configured by providing a second robot 31 that conveys the wafer W in a rectangular parallelepiped housing 30 having a longitudinal direction in the Y direction. A second load port 32 on which a work cassette (not shown) accommodating a plurality of wafers W after grinding is placed is provided on the front surface of the housing 30.

The second robot 31 is biased toward the front side of the housing 30 behind the second load port 32. The second robot 31 is configured by providing a suction type hand portion 34 at the tip of a robot arm 33 composed of a multi-node link. The hand portion 34 sucks and holds the surface of the wafer W. Further, the robot arm 33 is configured to be able to move up and down by means of raising and lowering means (not shown). The second robot 31 can move the hand portion 34 to an arbitrary position within the movable range of the robot arm 33. Although the details will be described later, the grinding device 3 takes out the wafer W from the delivery means 4 by the second robot 31 and conveys it to a predetermined place in the device. After that, the grinding device 3 grinds the wafer W to a predetermined thickness, and then conveys the wafer W to the second load port 32 by the second robot 31.

The delivery means 4 is arranged in the housing 40 that connects the front side portion of the housing 20 and the front side portion of the housing 30. The housings 20, 40, and 30 are internally communicated with each other so as to form one delivery space (not shown). The delivery means 4 constitutes a temporary storage means for temporarily storing the wafer W after the protective member is attached. Specifically, the delivery means 4 includes a temporary storage cassette 6 that supports the wafer W in a shelf shape, and a table 7 having a mounting surface 70 on which the temporary storage cassette 6 is placed.

The temporary storage cassette 6 is formed in a box shape with the left and right sides open and a plurality of shelf boards 60 provided inside. In the temporary storage cassette 6, a plurality of wafers W are placed on the shelf boards 60 and accommodated so as to be stacked in the Z direction. Specifically, the temporary cassette 6 is formed in a square shape in a top view larger than the outer diameter of the wafer W, and is configured by connecting both ends of a plurality of shelf plates 60 that support the wafer W in a shelf shape with a pair of side plates 61. NS. In FIG. 1, a plurality of shelf boards 60 are arranged side by side in the Z direction, and both sides of the shelf boards 60 in the Y direction orthogonal to the X direction in the mounting surface direction of the table 7 are connected by a pair of side plates 61. Has been done.

Further, the lower side (lower end) of the pair of side plates 61 facing each other is connected by the bottom plate 62, and the upper side (upper end) of the pair of side plates 61 is connected by the top plate 63. As a result, a plurality of flat slits are formed on the left and right side surfaces of the temporary cassette 6. Here, a plurality of openings formed on the side surface (-X surface) of the temporary cassette 6 on the protective member attaching device 2 side (right side) are designated as the first opening 64 (see FIG. 2), and the grinding device 3 side (see FIG. 2). The plurality of openings formed on the side surface (+ X side surface) of the temporary storage cassette 6 on the left side) are referred to as the second opening 65.

The table 7 has a mounting surface 70 having a square shape when viewed from above, which is larger than the temporary mounting cassette 6. The temporary mounting cassette 6 is mounted on the mounting surface 70. Further, the table 7 includes a rotating means 71 for rotating the table 7 by a predetermined angle about the center of the mounting surface 70 with the direction perpendicular to the mounting surface 70 (Z direction) as the axial direction. The rotating means 71 is composed of, for example, an electric motor and is provided below the table 7. The rotating means 71 is configured to rotate the table 7 by, for example, ± 90 degrees. The rotation direction will be described later.

The control means 5 is composed of a processor, a memory, or the like that executes various processes. The memory is composed of one or a plurality of storage media such as ROM (Read Only Memory) and RAM (Random Access Memory) depending on the intended use. For example, a control program that controls each part of the device is stored in the memory. The control means 5 mutually controls the drive of the protective member attaching device 2, the grinding device 3, and the delivery means 4, for example.

By the way, in an in-line system in which a plurality of devices are combined, it is assumed that the processing time (machining time) per work of each device is different. For example, in the present embodiment, the grinding device 3 generally has a longer processing time than the protective member attaching device 2. In a conventional in-line system, when a wafer is delivered between a plurality of devices, the wafer can be delivered only one by one. Therefore, due to the difference in processing time of each device, the standby time is set to a predetermined device. There is a problem that it occurs.

Further, when a trouble occurs in one device, one device cannot deliver the workpiece to the other device. Therefore, there is a possibility that the other device may have a standby time. As a result of the standby time occurring in one of the devices in this way, the throughput of the entire system may be affected.

In addition, many of the devices constituting the in-line system (in the present embodiment, the protective member attaching device 2 and the grinding device 3) have been independently developed, and the transport means of each device (the present embodiment). The movable range (particularly, the movable range in the Z direction) of the first robot 21 and the second robot 31) is different. Therefore, in order to smoothly deliver the wafer between these two devices, it is necessary to design a delivery means corresponding to each movable range of the first robot 21 and the second robot 31. In this case, for example, it is conceivable to modify the first robot 21 and the second robot 31 to adjust the movable range thereof. However, as a result, the man-hours for designing the inline system may increase.

Therefore, the present inventor has invented the in-line system 1 according to the present embodiment, focusing on the delivery means for delivering the wafer between the plurality of devices. Specifically, in the present embodiment, a temporary storage cassette 6 having left and right openings is arranged as the delivery means 4 between the two processing devices (protective member attaching device 2 and grinding device 3).

The temporary storage cassette 6 is provided with a plurality of shelf boards 60 arranged side by side in the Z direction, and a plurality of wafers W processed by one processing device (protective member attaching device 2) are temporarily stored. Is possible. In this case, the protective member attaching device 2 can be accessed from the right side of the temporary storage cassette 6. The other processing device (grinding device 3) is accessed from the left side of the temporary storage cassette 6, and the wafer W temporarily placed in advance is taken out to perform a predetermined processing.

In particular, since a plurality of wafers W can be temporarily placed in the temporary storage cassette 6, even if the processing time differs between the protective member attaching device 2 and the grinding device 3, the standby time in one device is different. It is possible to continuously process the wafer W between the protective member attaching device 2 and the grinding device 3 without causing the occurrence.

Further, the plurality of shelf boards 60 (support shelves) constituting the temporary storage cassette 6 are divided into a plurality of areas in the Z direction, and after processing in the delivery area D which the first and second robots 21 and 31 can access in common. Wafer W is delivered. Further, by separately providing the first recovery area R1 accessible by the first robot 21 and the second recovery area R2 accessible by the second robot 31, the protective member attaching device 2 and Even if a trouble occurs in any one of the grinding devices 3, the wafer W in the process of processing can be temporarily recovered in the first or second recovery areas R1 and R2. As a result, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of waiting time in either the protective member attaching device 2 or the grinding device 3.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, the shelving allocation of the temporary cassette and the operation of the in-line system according to the present embodiment will be described. 2 and 3 are schematic views showing an operation example of the inline system according to the present embodiment. Specifically, FIG. 2 shows an example of an operation of delivering an workpiece between two processing devices, and FIG. 3 shows an example of an operation when an operator accesses the delivery means. In addition, in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, a part of the configuration shown in FIG. 1 is omitted for convenience of explanation. Further, in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the number of shelf boards (support shelves) is different for convenience of explanation. Further, it is assumed that the work cassette containing the sliced wafer is placed in the first load port.

First, the shelving allocation of the temporary storage cassette 6 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, in the temporary storage cassette 6, 11 shelf boards 60 form a total of 12 support shelves. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, numbers "-3" to "9" are assigned in order from the bottom support shelf.

The first robot 21 is configured to be able to move up and down between the first to ninth support shelves in the Z direction. Here, the area between the first to ninth support shelves of the temporary storage cassette 6 is the "first area A1" in which the first robot 21 moves, that is, the first robot 21 is movable in the Z direction. It shall represent a range.

On the other hand, the second robot 31 is configured to be able to move up and down between the third to sixth support shelves in the Z direction. Here, the region between the third to sixth support shelves of the temporary storage cassette 6 is the "second region A2" in which the second robot 31 moves, that is, in the Z direction of the second robot 31. It shall represent the movable range. As described above, the first region A1 and the second region A2 are arranged so as to be offset in the Z direction.

Further, the area where the first area A1 and the second area A2 overlap, that is, the area between the first to sixth support shelves of the temporary storage cassette 6, is the first and second robots 21, 31. Represents the "delivery area D" of the temporary storage cassette 6 which is commonly accessible. Although the details will be described later, in the present embodiment, the wafer W is delivered between the protective member attaching device 2 and the grinding device 3 via the delivery area D.

Further, the area obtained by subtracting the delivery area D from the first area A1, that is, the area between the 7th to 9th support shelves of the temporary storage cassette 6, is accessible only to the first robot 21. Recovery area R1 ". In the first recovery area R1, the wafer W in the process of being taken out from the protective member attaching device 2 is recovered.

Similarly, the area obtained by subtracting the delivery area D from the second area A2, that is, the area between the third to -1st support shelves of the temporary storage cassette 6, is accessible only to the second robot 31. It shall represent the "second recovery area R2". In the second recovery area R2, the wafer W in the process of being taken out from the grinding device 3 is recovered.

In the present embodiment, the delivery area D is provided with six support shelves, which is more than the three-stage support shelves of the first and second collection areas R1 and R2.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the normal operation of the inline system, that is, a series of flows from the first machining to the transfer of the wafer to the second machining will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, first, in the protective member attaching device 2, the first robot 21 takes out the wafer W from the work cassette on the first load port 22. The first robot 21 sucks and holds the upper surface of the wafer W by the hand portion 24, and conveys the wafer W to a predetermined location in the housing 20. A protective member is attached to the wafer W as the first processing. The processed wafer W is again sucked and held by the hand portion 24, and then conveyed to the temporary storage cassette 6.

In the temporary storage cassette 6, the first opening 64 is directed to the −X side (right side), and the second opening 65 is directed to the + X side (left side). The first robot 21 adjusts the hand portion 24 to a height at which the wafer W can be placed on a predetermined shelf board 60 in the delivery area D. Specifically, the first robot 21 adjusts the height of the hand portion 24 so that the heights of the wafer W and the predetermined first opening 64 match in the delivery area D. Then, the first robot 21 inserts the wafer W into the temporary storage cassette 6 through the first opening 64 and places it on the predetermined shelf board 60.

When the wafer W is carried into the shelf board 60 from the first opening 64, the control means 5 places the wafer W on each shelf board 60 from the output of a sensor (not shown) provided on each shelf board 60. It may be determined whether or not it is placed and the operation of the first robot 21 may be controlled. Further, the order in which the wafer W is placed on the shelf board 60 is not particularly limited, and the wafer W may be placed from the bottom shelf board 60, and the wafer W is placed from the top shelf board 60. May be good. Further, the first robot 21 may check the vacancy of the shelf board 60 each time and place the wafer W on any vacant shelf board 60.

In the grinding device 3, the second robot 31 carries out the wafer W housed in the temporary storage cassette 6. The control means 5 determines, for example, whether or not the wafer W is mounted on each shelf board 60 from the output of a sensor (not shown) provided on each shelf board 60, and operates the second robot 31. To control.

The second robot 31 adjusts the hand portion 34 to a height at which the wafer W can be taken out from a predetermined shelf board 60 on which the wafer W is placed in the delivery area D. Specifically, the second robot 31 adjusts the height of the hand portion 24 so that the tip of the hand portion 34 coincides with the predetermined second opening 65 in the delivery area D. Then, the second robot 31 inserts the hand portion 34 into the second opening 65 and sucks and holds the upper surface of the wafer W placed on the predetermined shelf board 60.

Next, the second robot 31 takes out (unloads) the wafer W from the second opening 65 and conveys it to a predetermined location in the housing 30. Then, as a second process, the surface of the wafer W opposite to the protective member is ground to remove waviness. The processed wafer W is again sucked and held by the hand portion 34 and conveyed to the work cassette on the second load port 32.

According to the present embodiment, for example, the wafer W processed by the protective member attaching device 2 can be temporarily placed in the temporary storage cassette 6 through the first opening 64. On the other hand, the grinding device 3 can take out the wafer W temporarily placed in the temporary placement cassette 6 from the second opening 65 on the side opposite to the first opening 64. That is, in the protective member attaching device 2, the wafer W can be taken in and out from the first opening 64 on the −X side, and in the grinding device 3, the wafer W can be taken in and out from the second opening 65 on the + X side. be.

In this way, the status of each processing device can be grasped by transferring the wafer W between the two processing devices (protective member attaching device 2 and grinding device 3) via the temporary storage cassette 6 as the temporary storage means. You don't have to. That is, it is not necessary to confirm the transfer position of the transfer robots (first and second robots 21, 31) of each processing device, and a complicated control configuration is not required. As a result, it is possible to transfer the wafer W between a plurality of processing devices with a simple configuration.

In particular, since a plurality of wafers W can be temporarily placed in the temporary storage cassette 6, even if the processing time differs between the protective member attaching device 2 and the grinding device 3, the standby time in one device is different. It is possible to continuously process the wafer W between the protective member attaching device 2 and the grinding device 3 without causing the occurrence. Further, the plurality of support shelves constituting the temporary storage cassette 6 are divided into a plurality of areas in the Z direction, and the processed wafers are delivered in the delivery area that the first and second robots 21 and 31 can access in common. Will be.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, the operation of the inline system when the operator needs to access the device will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, for example, when the wafer W is being processed by the protective member attaching device 2 and the processing cannot be continued due to some trouble, the first robot 21 is set in the protective member attaching device 2. The plurality of wafers W transported to the location are temporarily collected in the temporary storage cassette 6. Specifically, the first robot 21 picks up the wafer W from a predetermined location in the protective member attaching device 2, and accommodates the wafer W in the predetermined shelf board 60 in the first collection area R1.

In this case, the second robot 31 can access the temporary storage cassette 6 in the delivery area D regardless of the operating status of the protective member attaching device 2. That is, the wafer W can be conveyed from the temporary cassette 6 to the grinding device 3 by the second robot 31, and the machining can be continued in the grinding device 3. Therefore, there is no waiting time on the grinding device 3 side.

Similarly, if the grinding device 3 is machining the wafer W and the machining cannot be continued due to some trouble, the second robot 31 temporarily temporarily temporarily sets a plurality of wafers W being conveyed to a predetermined position in the grinding device 3. Collect in the placement cassette 6. Specifically, the second robot 31 picks up the wafer W from a predetermined location in the grinding device 3, and accommodates the wafer W in the predetermined shelf plate 60 in the second recovery area R2.

In this case, the first robot 21 can access the temporary storage cassette 6 in the delivery area D regardless of the operating status of the grinding device 3. That is, the wafer W can be conveyed from the temporary storage cassette 6 to the protective member attaching device 2 by the first robot 21, and the processing can be continued in the protective member attaching device 2. Therefore, there is no waiting time on the protective member attaching device 2 side.

As described above, by separately providing the first recovery area R1 accessible only by the first robot 21 and the second recovery area R2 accessible only by the second robot 31, the protective member is attached. Even if a trouble occurs in either the landing device 2 or the grinding device 3, the wafer W in the process of processing can be temporarily recovered in the first or second recovery areas R1 and R2. As a result, in any one of the protective member attaching device 2 and the grinding device 3, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of the waiting time, that is, to reduce the waiting time.

When the operator wants to check the wafer W in the temporary storage cassette 6 or during maintenance, the operation of each processing device (protective member attaching device 2 and grinding device 3) is stopped, and the rotating means 71 is used. The table 7 is rotated by a predetermined angle.

The rotating means 71, for example, rotates the table 7 by 90 degrees in the + direction and positions the first opening 64 on the + Y direction side, that is, on the front side of the device. Here, the counterclockwise direction when viewed from the upper surface of the device is defined as the + direction around the Z axis. Further, the rotating means 71 may rotate the table 7 by 90 degrees in the − direction and position the second opening 65 on the + Y direction side. In this case, the clockwise direction of the top view of the device is the negative direction around the Z axis.

As shown in FIG. 3, the first opening 64 or the second opening 65 is directed to the front side of the apparatus, so that the operator is housed in the temporary storage cassette 6 without accessing each processing apparatus. It becomes possible to extract the wafer W. As a result, the interlock for maintenance can be eliminated, and the control configuration of the inline system 1 can be simplified.

In the present embodiment, an in-line system 1 in which a protective member is attached to the wafer W and the waviness is removed by grinding the wafer W is taken as an example, and the protective member attaching device 2 and the second are used as the first processing device. The grinding device 3 is provided as the processing device of 2, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. Any processing device may be applied to the first and second processing devices, for example, a cutting device, a grinding device, a polishing device, a laser processing device, a plasma etching device, an edge trimming device, an expanding device, and braking. Equipment and various other processing equipment can be applied. Further, the number of processing devices is not limited to two, and an in-line system may be configured by combining three or more processing devices. Further, the arrangement relationship (positional relationship) of each processing apparatus can be changed as appropriate.

Further, in the above embodiment, the temporary storage cassette 6 is placed on the table 7 as a temporary storage means, but the configuration is not limited to this. The table 7 and the temporary storage cassette 6 may be integrally configured.

Further, as the wafer W to be processed, various workpieces such as a semiconductor device wafer, an optical device wafer, a package substrate, a semiconductor substrate, an inorganic material substrate, an oxide wafer, a raw ceramic substrate, and a piezoelectric substrate are used depending on the type of processing. May be used. As the semiconductor device wafer, a silicon wafer after device formation or a compound semiconductor wafer may be used. As the optical device wafer, a sapphire wafer or a silicon carbide wafer after device formation may be used. Further, a CSP (Chip Size Package) substrate may be used as the package substrate, silicon, gallium arsenide or the like may be used as the semiconductor substrate, and sapphire, ceramics, glass or the like may be used as the inorganic material substrate. Further, as the oxide wafer, lithium tantalate or lithium niobate after device formation or before device formation may be used.

Further, in the above embodiment, the temporary storage cassette 6 is provided with 12 support shelves, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. The number of support shelves can be changed as appropriate, and may be less than or more than 12 steps. Further, when the plurality of support shelves are divided into a plurality of areas (first and second areas A1 and A2, delivery area D, first and second collection areas R1 and R2), the number of support shelves in each area. Can be changed as appropriate. For example, the number of support shelves in the first and second collection areas R1 and R2 depends on the number of wafers W (for example, 5) conveyed to a predetermined location in the protective member attaching device 2 or the grinding device 3. It is possible to set.

Moreover, although each embodiment of the present invention has been described, as another embodiment of the present invention, the above-described embodiments and modifications may be combined in whole or in part.

Moreover, the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to each of the above-described embodiments, and may be variously modified, replaced, or modified without departing from the spirit of the technical idea of the present invention. Furthermore, if the technical idea of the present invention can be realized in another way by the advancement of technology or another technology derived from it, it may be carried out by using that method. Therefore, the scope of claims covers all embodiments that may be included within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

As described above, the present invention has the effect of reducing the standby time of the apparatus and realizing continuous machining between a plurality of apparatus, and in particular, transporting the wafer between the plurality of processing apparatus. Useful for inline systems.

1 In-line system 2 Protective member attachment device (first device)
21 First robot 3 Grinding device (second device)
31 Second robot 4 Delivery means 6 Temporary storage cassette 60 Shelf board (support shelf)
61 Side plate 62 Bottom plate 63 Top plate 64 First opening 65 Second opening 7 Table 70 Mounting surface 71 Rotating means W Wafer A1 First area A2 Second area D Delivery area R1 First collection area R2 Second Recovery area

Claims (3)

The first device for processing wafers and
A second device for processing a wafer processed by the first device, and a second device for processing a wafer.
An in-line system including a delivery means arranged between the first device and the second device installed side by side in the X direction and for delivering a wafer from the first device to the second device. And
The first device is arranged on the −X direction side with respect to the delivery means, and includes a first robot that conveys a wafer.
The second device includes a second robot that is arranged on the + X direction side with respect to the delivery means and conveys a wafer.
The delivery means is
A temporary cassette that supports multiple wafers in a shelf shape,
A table having a mounting surface on which the temporary cassette is mounted is provided.
The temporary storage cassette
Multiple support shelves that support the wafer in a shelf shape,
Side plates facing each other by connecting both sides of the support shelf in the Y direction orthogonal to the X direction in the mounting surface direction of the table.
A top plate connecting the upper sides of the side plates and
A bottom plate connecting the lower sides of the side plate and
The first opening formed on the side surface in the −X direction,
A second opening formed on the side surface in the + X direction,
Extending in the Z direction perpendicular to XY directions, possible first robot and the second robot access, receive pass regions accept pass wafer processed by the apparatus of the first to the second device When,
A first recovery area arranged on one side of the delivery area in the Z direction, accessible only to the first robot, and recovering a wafer being processed by the first device taken out from the first device. ,
A second recovery area arranged on the other side of the delivery area in the Z direction, accessible only to the second robot, and recovering a wafer being processed by the second device taken out from the second device. , With an inline system. The in-line system according to claim 1, wherein the delivery area includes the first collection area and more support shelves than the second collection area. 1. 2. The inline system described.

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