JP7570247B2 - Susceptor transport mechanism - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a susceptor transport mechanism, and more specifically, to a susceptor transport mechanism for transporting a susceptor in a vapor phase growth apparatus.

Vapor phase growth apparatuses are known as devices for manufacturing thin films of various compound semiconductors. In the thin film manufacturing process, multiple modules that process substrates are provided within the vapor phase growth apparatus, and substrates are sequentially transported between these modules by operating a substrate transport device called a robot arm to perform the specified processing. The robot arm is equipped with a holding means consisting of a suction mechanism or a gripping mechanism to releasably hold the substrate placed at its tip. This makes it possible to sequentially remove multiple substrates stored in a storage cassette by controlling the operation of the robot arm (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2010-201556 A

In vapor phase growth, a substrate is placed on a disk-shaped susceptor, which is a fixture for the equipment. When the susceptor is removed from the storage cassette and transported to the chamber, the susceptor must be accurately positioned in a fixed position in the storage cassette. However, because the width (space) of the storage cassette is set for ease of use, there is a problem that the susceptor is prone to misalignment and tilt when being inserted or removed.

The present invention aims to provide a susceptor transport mechanism that can accurately install and retrieve susceptors from a storage container without requiring complex operations.

In order to achieve the above object, the susceptor transport mechanism of the present invention is a susceptor transport mechanism that includes a transport jig and is used to take out or store a susceptor on a shelf of a storage container. The shelf is arranged in multiple stages in the storage container, and each stage is provided with a notch extending from the front end toward the back. The transport jig has a support plate that supports the susceptor on its upper surface and a convex portion that is provided on the lower surface of the support plate and slidably engages with the notch. Between the shelf and the transport jig, a pair of upper and lower slide parts that slide against each other are interposed. The slide parts are composed of a pair of shelf-side slide parts provided on both sides of the notch and a pair of jig-side slide parts provided on both sides of the convex portion. The sliding surface of the shelf-side slide parts has a gradient that gradually decreases from the front side to the back side, and the sliding surface of the jig-side slide parts has a gradient opposite to that of the sliding surface of the shelf-side slide parts.

The shelves are arranged in multiple tiers, and the positions of the ends of the notches are all aligned in the depth direction, and the lower tier has a step that protrudes further forward than the upper tier.

According to the present invention, a transport jig with a protrusion on the susceptor support plate is used as the susceptor transport mechanism, and a notch is provided on the shelf of the storage container to allow the protrusion of the transport jig to slidably engage with it. Once the transport jig and the shelf are engaged, the position of the transport jig will not shift sideways, and the protrusion can be locked into the end of the notch with the simple action of simply pushing the transport jig forward, i.e., the susceptor can be placed in a fixed position in the storage container.

In addition, the shelf-side slide portion of the slide portion interposed between the shelf and the transport jig has a sliding surface with a downward slope from the front side to the back side, so that the stationary state of the susceptor held on the shelf is stable, and the orientation of the transport jig is prevented from tilting sideways during movement, both when installing and retrieving the susceptor, allowing the susceptor to be transported accurately and stably.

1 is a plan view of a main portion of a susceptor transport mechanism showing an embodiment of the present invention; This is a cross-sectional view of FIG. FIG. 13 is a view of the transport jig as viewed from the underside of the support plate. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. FIG. 13 is an explanatory view showing how the susceptor supported by the transport jig is stored in the storage container. FIG. 13 is an explanatory view showing how the susceptor supported by the transport jig is removed from the storage container. FIG. 13 is a view showing the susceptor in a stored state.

Figures 1 to 7 show an example of the susceptor transport mechanism of the present invention. The susceptor transport mechanism 11 is an element of a vapor phase growth apparatus for forming a semiconductor thin film, and as shown in Figure 7, includes a disk-shaped susceptor 12 having a substrate placement portion 12a, a storage container (storage cassette) 13 for storing the susceptor 12, a transport jig 15 for removing or storing the susceptor 12 from the shelf 14 of the storage container 13, and a slide portion (sliding member) 16 interposed between the shelf 14 and the transport jig 15.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the storage container 13 is large enough to store multiple susceptors 12 in multiple levels, with the height, width, and depth dimensions set to a size that allows multiple susceptors 12 to be stored vertically inside the container body (not shown). The shelves 14 arranged on each level hold the susceptors 12 in a supported state by the transport jig 15, and are provided with a notch 14a in the center in the width direction (vertical direction in Figure 1) that extends from the front end (right side in Figure 1) where the susceptor 12 is inserted and removed to the back side (left side in Figure 1). The notch 14a has a width dimension that allows a part of the transport jig 15 (protrusion 20) to slidably engage, and a length dimension that is deep enough to fit the entire susceptor 12 within the storage space while maintaining that engaged state.

From the viewpoint of the storage capacity of the susceptor 12, a certain vertical gap is provided between the shelves 14 of each tier, and the positions of the end portions 17 of the notches 14a are all aligned on the same plane perpendicular to the depth direction (Fig. 2). In addition, each shelf 14 has a step portion 18 in which the lower tier protrudes further forward (to the right in Fig. 2) than the upper tier, ensuring operability when installing and retrieving the susceptor 12.

As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the transport jig 15 has a support plate 19 that supports the susceptor 12 on its upper surface, and a protrusion 20 that is provided on the underside of the support plate 19 and slidably engages with the notch 14a of the shelf plate 14. The support plate 19 is made up of a circular support plate body 19a that corresponds to the size of the susceptor 12, and an arm portion (gripping portion) 19b that extends radially from the outer edge of the support plate body 19a. In addition, the outer edge of the upper surface of the support plate body 19a is provided with locking pieces 19c at multiple locations in the circumferential direction to fix the susceptor 12 concentrically.

The protrusion 20 is located in the center of the underside of the support plate body 19a, and is a block body (square pillar) with two sides that are the same as the width of the notch 14a of the shelf board 14, and has rounded corners. As a result, when the protrusion 20 is inserted into the notch 14a and fitted, the widthwise position of the transport jig 15 on the shelf board 14 is determined.

In order to transport the susceptor 12 from the storage container 13 to the chamber (reactor) using a transport robot, the susceptor 12 must always be in an accurate position relative to the storage container 13. Therefore, a pair of upper and lower slide parts 16 that slide against each other are interposed between the shelf plate 14 and the transport jig 15, making it possible to easily and accurately set up the susceptor 12.

The slide portion 16 is, for example, a plate-like member made of strong resin that is screwed to the mounting object, and is composed of a pair of shelf-side slide portions 21, 21 provided on both sides in the width direction of the notch 14a on the upper surface of the shelf 14, and a pair of jig-side slide portions 22, 22 provided on both sides in the width direction of the protrusion 20 on the underside of the support plate body 19a of the transport jig 15.

As shown in FIG. 7, the upper and lower slide parts 21, 22 have inclined sliding surfaces 21a, 22a formed by changing the thickness in the depth direction, and when the slide parts 21, 22 are overlapped, the plate surfaces of the shelf board 14 and the transport jig 15 can be held parallel to each other. Specifically, the sliding surface 21a of the shelf board side slide part 21 has a gradient that gradually decreases from the front side to the back side. On the other hand, the sliding surface 22a of the jig side slide part 22 has a gradient opposite to that of the sliding surface 21a of the shelf board side slide part 21, that is, a gradient in the opposite direction at the same angle as the downward gradient of the shelf board side slide part 21.

To place the susceptor 12 on the shelf 14 of the storage container 13 using the susceptor transport mechanism 11 thus formed, the susceptor 12 is supported by the transport jig 15 in a cantilevered state, and the convex portion 20 of the transport jig 15 is inserted into the notch 14a of the shelf 14 as shown in FIG. 5. At this time, the tip portions of the shelf-side slide portion 21 and the jig-side slide portion 22 are engaged with each other, so that the sliding surfaces 21a, 22a of both are in contact with each other. In this contact state, the weight of the susceptor 12 is placed on the shelf 14 via the transport jig 15, so that only the force in the pushing direction shown by the arrow in FIG. 5 can be applied to the arm portion 19b of the transport jig 15.

When the conveying jig 15 is pushed forward while sliding the jig-side slide portion 22 on the shelf-side slide portion 21, the convex portion 20 of the conveying jig 15 moves linearly from the front side to the back side while being guided by the notch 14a of the shelf 14, as shown in FIG. 6, until it reaches the innermost part of the notch 14a and engages with the end portion 17. That is, when the susceptor 12 is inserted into the opening of the storage container 13 together with the conveying jig 15 and the arm portion 19b of the conveying jig 15 is pushed, they move gently down the shelf 14, and when the convex portion 20 of the conveying jig 15 abuts against the end portion 17 of the notch 14a, they are positioned in a fixed position (storage position) in the storage container 13 and are in an installed state.

On the other hand, to retrieve the susceptor 12 from the shelf 14 of the storage container 13, the arm portion 19b of the transport jig 15 is grasped and a force is applied in the pull-out direction shown by the arrow in Figure 6. As a result, the susceptor 12 moves linearly from the back to the front in the reverse order to when it was installed, and is smoothly pulled out of the storage container 13.

In this way, according to the present invention, the susceptor transport mechanism 11 employs a transport jig 15 having a protrusion 20 on the support plate 19 of the susceptor 12, and a notch 14a is provided on the shelf 14 of the storage container 13 to allow the protrusion 20 of the transport jig 15 to slidably engage with it. Once the transport jig 15 and shelf 14 are engaged, the position of the transport jig 15 will not shift sideways (widthwise), and the protrusion 20 can be engaged with the end 17 of the notch 14a by simply pushing the transport jig 15 forward, i.e., the susceptor 12 can be placed in a fixed position in the storage container 13.

Moreover, the shelf-side slide portion 21 of the slide portion 16 interposed between the shelf 14 and the transport jig 15 has a sliding contact surface 21a with a downward slope from the front side to the back side, so that the stationary state of the susceptor 12 held on the shelf 14 is stable, and the orientation of the transport jig 15 is prevented from tilting sideways during movement, both when the susceptor 12 is being installed and when it is being retrieved, and the transport of the susceptor 12 can be performed with high precision and stability.

In addition, the positions of the end portions 17 of the notches 14a of the shelves 14 arranged in multiple tiers are all aligned in the depth direction, so that continuous operations can be stably performed when removing the susceptors 12 in sequence, and since the lower tier has a step portion 18 that protrudes further forward than the upper tier, it becomes easier to place the transport jig 15 on each tier of the shelves 14, which contributes to improved operability when installing and retrieving the susceptors 12.

Furthermore, since the susceptor 12 can be moved simply by applying a horizontal force to the transport jig 15 on the shelf 14, installation and recovery work, including positioning of the susceptor 12, can be easily performed even if the vertical distance between the shelves 14 is narrowed to the minimum necessary, thereby reducing the workload of the operator engaged in such work. Moreover, from the viewpoint of manufacturing, it is only necessary to align the positions of the notches 14a of the upper and lower shelves 14 during the provisional assembly of the storage container 13, which makes it easier to design the jig and also helps prevent increases in the cost of the storage container 13.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and susceptor transport can be applied not only to unprocessed substrates, but also to processed substrates on which a film has been formed. In addition, the components of the susceptor transport mechanism, such as the transport jig, shelves, and slides, can be changed appropriately according to the size of the susceptor. For example, the number of shelves can be increased to improve transport efficiency.

11...susceptor transport mechanism, 12...susceptor, 12a...substrate placement section, 13...storage container, 14...shelf, 14a...notch, 15...transport jig, 16...slide section, 17...terminal section, 18...step section, 19...support plate, 19a...support plate main body, 19b...arm section, 19c...locking piece, 20...projection, 21...shelf side slide section, 21a...sliding surface, 22...jig side slide section, 22a...sliding surface

Claims (3)

A susceptor transport mechanism including a transport jig for removing or storing a susceptor from or on a shelf of a storage container,
The shelf boards are arranged in multiple stages in the storage container, and each stage is provided with a notch extending from a front end toward a back end,
the transport jig has a support plate that supports the susceptor on an upper surface thereof, and a protrusion that is provided on a lower surface of the support plate and slidably engages with the notch;
Between the shelf board and the transport jig, a pair of upper and lower slide parts that slide against each other are interposed, and the slide parts are composed of a pair of shelf board side slide parts provided on both sides of the notch, and a pair of jig side slide parts provided on both sides of the protrusion,
A susceptor transport mechanism characterized in that the sliding surface of the shelf side slide part has a gradient that gradually decreases from the front side to the back side, and the sliding surface of the jig side slide part has a gradient opposite to that of the sliding surface of the shelf side slide part. The susceptor transport mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that the shelf plates arranged in multiple stages all have the end positions of the notches aligned in the depth direction. The susceptor transport mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the shelves arranged in multiple stages have a step portion in which the lower stage protrudes further forward than the upper stage.

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