JPS6318329B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic wafer extractor for extracting wafers from a cartridge.

Semiconductor elements, which are the main components of semiconductor devices, are manufactured by subjecting semiconductor wafers to various treatments such as impurity diffusion treatment and photo-etching treatment. When performing these treatments, semiconductor wafers are first stored one at a time from a cartridge in which multiple semiconductor wafers are stored at equal intervals. Each time, it is pulled out and various processing is performed.

The conventional structure of an automatic wafer extractor that extracts semiconductor wafers from a cartridge is that a cartridge receiver is provided on a part of the outer periphery of a cartridge transport rotating plate that rotates at a low speed, and a cartridge upper and lower plate that moves up and down by the rotation of a screw is provided below it. A wafer transport air bearing is arranged at the same height as the uppermost wafer held in the cartridge receiver, and the cartridge containing a large number of semiconductor wafers is transported by the cartridge transport rotary plate, and the cartridge receiver holds a large number of semiconductor wafers. While holding it, the cartridge is raised by upper and lower cartridge plates, and the semiconductor wafers that have reached the height of the air bearing are pulled out of the cartridge one by one, and the semiconductor wafers are transported to a predetermined location by the air bearing. .

However, in the automatic wafer drawer of the above structure, when drawing out semiconductor wafers, the cartridge is lifted up and removed from the cartridge holder before the semiconductor wafer is drawn out, so the cartridge loses support on the side and may fall over. There is a problem that this causes wafer damage. In addition, if the cartridge is misaligned when lowering the cartridge and holding it in the cartridge holder again after the wafer has been pulled out, the cartridge will not be held in the slanted cartridge holder, and the next operation will be carried out. become unable to do so. As a result, the drawing operation was interrupted and the wafer drawing operation could not be carried out smoothly.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and its purpose is to eliminate the fall of the cartridge when drawing out wafers, prevent damage to the wafers caused by this, and return the cartridge to a predetermined position in the cartridge holder. To provide a wafer drawer which eliminates displacement of a cartridge when the cartridge is removed, securely holds the wafer in a cartridge holder, and enables smooth wafer drawer work.

The present invention will be explained in detail below.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an embodiment of an automatic wafer extractor from a cartridge according to the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a cartridge conveying device consisting of a rotary plate, around which a large number of cartridge receivers 2 are arranged which rotate and move as the rotary plate rotates. The cartridge receiver 2 is made up of two corresponding swinging plates, each having a tab 3 protruding inward, and a semiconductor wafer 5 held in a large number of equally spaced grooves 4 formed in parallel on the inner wall surface as shown in the figure. A large number of stored cartridges 6 are held and transported in a fixed direction by intermittent rotation of a cartridge transport device (rotary plate) 1. At a predetermined position below the moving cartridge receiver 2, an opening/closing device 7 as shown in FIG. 2 is arranged to open and close the cartridge receiver 2 as necessary. This opening/closing device 7
A ratchet wheel 9 coaxial with the central gear 8, a pawl lever 10, a ratchet pawl 11 attached thereto, a rotation stop pawl 12 attached to the ratchet wheel 9, a left idle gear 13a meshing with the central gear 8, and a left idle gear 13a meshing with the central gear 8; It is composed of a right idle gear 13b that meshes with each other, small idle gears 14a, 14b that mesh with each idle gear, and curved cams 15a, 15b that are coaxial with the small idle gears 14a, 14b, respectively. When the cartridge is moved up and down, the central gear 8 rotates in a certain direction, and the left and right curved cams 15a and 15b are rotated outward (in different directions) through the idle gear, thereby opening the lower side of the cartridge receiver 2. ing.

In addition, a cartridge receiver 2 is installed in parallel with the opening/closing device 7.
A vertically moving device 16 for vertically moving the cartridge 6 as shown in FIG. 3 is disposed directly below.

This vertical movement device includes a vertical plate 18 supported by a support rod 17, and a feed nut 1 attached to the other end of the support rod.
9. A guide rod 20 and a feed screw rod 21 arranged vertically in parallel to support, guide and move the feed nut 19.
It consists of a gear 22 attached to a threaded rod 21, a toothed gear 23 attached directly to a motor 24, and a motor 24. When the cartridge receiver 2 is opened, the motor 24 is rotated and the upper and lower plates 18 are used to remove the cartridge. 6 up and down.

Further, at the position where the opening/closing device 7 and the vertical movement device 16 are arranged, an air bearing is provided near the same height as the lowest semiconductor wafer 5 held in the cartridge receiver 2. A wafer transfer device 25 is arranged.

Then, a cartridge 6 containing a large number of semiconductor wafers 5 is held in a cartridge receiver 2 disposed around the cartridge transport device 1 with its side opening facing outward, and rotates at a slow speed of about 60 minutes per rotation. The cartridge 6 is intermittently conveyed by rotating the opening/closing device 7 and the cartridge vertical movement device 1.
6, as shown in FIG. 4a, the cartridge transport device (rotary plate) 1 is stopped and the vertical movement device 16 is operated to cause the rotation of the feed screw rod 21 to raise the vertical plate 18. At this time, the cartridge 6 is being held. Cartridge holder 2 is still closed. Next, as shown in FIG. 4b, the opening/closing device 7 is operated to convert the vertical movement of the claw lever 10 into a rotational movement, and the curved cams 15a and 15b open the cartridge receiver 2, and at the same time, the upper and lower plates 18
further raises the cartridge 6.
support and raise it once. Then, as shown in FIG. 4c, the upper and lower plates 18 are gradually lowered with the cartridge receiver 2 open, starting with the lowest semiconductor wafer 5 that has reached the height of the wafer transfer device 25 consisting of an air bearing. The semiconductor wafers 5 are pulled out and transported one by one by the wafer transport device 25 to a predetermined location, for example, a photoresist coating device.
In this way, all the semiconductor wafers 5 are pulled out from the cartridge 6.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4d, the empty cartridge 6 is raised by the upper and lower plates 18, and the cartridge receiver 2 is closed at a position slightly higher than its original height. With the cartridge receiver 2 closed, the upper and lower plates 18 are lowered to return the cartridge 6 to its original position and held by the cartridge receiver 2. Thereafter, the cartridge transfer device 1 is restarted to rotate and transfer the previous cartridge 6 from that position to another position, and at the same time, the cartridge 6 containing a large number of semiconductor wafers 5 is rotationally transferred to this position. Similarly, the cartridges 6 transferred to the opening/closing device 7 and the cartridge vertical movement device 16 are sequentially moved starting from the lowest semiconductor wafer 5 which has reached the height position of the wafer transfer device 25 as shown in FIGS. 4a to 4e. The wafers are pulled out and transported one by one to a predetermined location by the wafer transport device 25.

In this manner, the cartridge 6 containing the semiconductor wafer 5 is transported and the semiconductor wafer 5 is pulled out from the cartridge 6. Cartridge turned into a shell 6
During transportation, the semiconductor wafers 5 are pulled up from the cartridge transport device 1, replaced with a cartridge 6 in which a large number of semiconductor wafers 5 are newly arranged and stored, and then transported intermittently by the cartridge transport device 1, and the semiconductor wafers 5 are successively pulled out from the cartridge 6.

According to the present invention as described above, the initial objective is achieved for the following reasons.

In other words, when drawing out semiconductor wafers, the cartridge is lowered while being pulled out, and the cartridge receiver is opened at this time, but the cartridge is always supported at the top of the cartridge receiver to prevent it from falling over, thereby preventing wafer damage caused by the cartridge falling over. This is completely preventable. In addition, after the semiconductor wafer has been drawn out, the cartridge is raised and returned to its original position while being supported by a part (upper part) of the cartridge receiver, so the cartridge does not shift when it is returned to the specified position, and it returns to the cartridge receiver securely. Work interruptions due to misalignment are eliminated, and semiconductor wafer extraction work can be carried out smoothly.

Further, according to the present invention, since all operations are performed by mechanical drive, remarkable effects such as reliable operation and high reliability of the automatic wafer extraction device are achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, in which a is a front view, b is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main opening/closing device and a wafer transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a front view of a main part vertical movement device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an operational model diagram of an automatic wafer pull-out device of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Cartridge transfer device, 2...Cartridge receiver, 3...Claw, 4...Groove, 5...Semiconductor wafer, 6...Cartridge, 7...Switching device,
8...Central gear, 9...Ratchet foil, 10
...Claw lever, 11...Rachietsu tome, 12
...Stopping claw, 13a...Left idle gear, 1
3b...Right idle gear, 14a, 14b...Small idle gear, 15a, 15b...Curved cam, 1
6... Vertical movement device, 17... Support rod, 18... Up and down plate, 19... Feed nut, 20... Guide rod, 2
1...Feed screw rod, 22, 23...Gear, 24...
...Motor, 25...Wafer transfer device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotating station to which a plurality of cartridges storing a large number of semiconductor wafers can be attached; a plurality of cartridge holders provided on the rotating station and holding a part of the lower surface and side surfaces of each of the plurality of cartridges; The semiconductor wafer drawer has an opening/closing device that opens and closes as necessary, a semiconductor wafer drawer separate from the rotating station, and a cartridge vertical movement mechanism provided in the semiconductor wafer drawer to hold and move the cartridge up and down. The rotating station is capable of intermittently guiding the plurality of cartridges to the semiconductor wafer drawer by rotation of the rotating station while each of the plurality of cartridges is held by the plurality of cartridge receivers,
and the semiconductor wafer drawer is capable of sequentially taking out semiconductor wafers one by one from the cartridge while raising or lowering the cartridge by holding the lower surface of the cartridge guided by the rotating station with the vertical movement mechanism. A semiconductor wafer drawing device characterized by: