JPH0150102B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application This invention relates to a support device for a transport member in a semiconductor wafer transport mechanism.

The transport mechanism of the present invention is based on a transport mechanism among a plurality of transport modes, in which a semiconductor wafer is transported using a gas or liquid fluid, and a means for ejecting this fluid to float and propel the semiconductor wafer. It is something.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY In general, means for levitating and propelling a semiconductor wafer by jetting a fluid is such that the semiconductor wafer is floated and propelled through a number of small-diameter holes bored in a conveyance member installed in a position determined as the conveyance path. A conveyance method is already known in which a gas or liquid fluid suitable for the process in the conveyance section is used as a conveyance medium and a jetting means is used to convey the fluid without contact with a hard object as the conveyance medium. For example, 1978 Patent Application Publication No. 10829
No. 1 and Patent Application Publication No. 46170 of 1982.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention When a semiconductor wafer is levitated and propelled in a desired direction by jetting pressure fluid,
Pressure differences are likely to occur between the individual ejected fluids, and as a result, the object to be transported, which is a semiconductor wafer, is likely to experience unstable movement.

In order to prevent the above phenomenon as much as possible, the conveying members laid down are made into small blocks and the injection pressure is averaged, and the conveying members made into small blocks are also installed above the floating propulsion position of the conveyed object to prevent pressure fluid. There is a shift toward means that suppresses the swinging motion of the moving object by ejecting it downward, and semi-observes the set traveling position with a constant floating position.

This downward jetting action of the fluid of the carrier medium is not intended for the floating action of the above-mentioned upward jetting;
Its main purpose is to suppress the phenomenon of abnormal levitation and to propulsion in the transport direction, and it may also be used for chemical reactions, cleaning effects, and drying effects depending on the process at the passage point.

As mentioned above, the fluid of the conveyance medium (as mentioned above, even if it is used for chemical reactions other than the purpose of conveyance, cleaning, or drying, it is collectively referred to as the conveyance medium) upwardly for the purpose of downward jetting. Due to its installation position, there is no suitable and simple installation means for the small block conveying member to be installed.In order to improve the accuracy of its operation, a completely immovable frame is constructed, and the small block is placed in this frame. However, depending on the type of semiconductor wafers that require occasional changes, maintenance work such as replacing the conveying member and adjusting the gap with the lower conveying member, and the time required. loss is expected.

These above-mentioned disadvantages have been solved all at once by the development of this invention.

This is accomplished by the detailed means described below.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides a transport path for transporting objects (hereinafter referred to as objects), which are semiconductor wafers, using a gas or liquid fluid as a transport medium for the transport means,
In the method of applying pressure to the conveyance medium and ejecting it to levitate and propel the conveyed object, a conveyance member having a large number of injection holes for ejecting the conveyance medium is formed in a small-scale block body, A large number of the blocks are arranged in tandem to form a transport path to be formed. In this way, a desired conveyance path is formed by vertically arranging the blocks of the conveying member on the base frame for the conveyance path formed based on the set regular route, and this vertically arranged block body is used as the lower conveyance path. By constructing the upper feed passage with a large number of upper block bodies having basically the same structure as the above-mentioned block bodies so that the desired gap can be adjusted accordingly, it is possible to easily arrange and form the upper blocks in tandem. The present invention provides a support device for a conveyance member that can arbitrarily adjust the gap (height) between the conveyance member and the lower conveyance path.

Embodiment Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, starting with the configuration of the block body 3, which is a large number of transport members forming a transport path 2 for transporting the object 1, which is a semiconductor wafer. A rectangle whose length on one side is approximately the same as the width dimension of the conveyance path 2 having the desired width, and whose length on the other side is approximately the same as the width of the conveyance path 2,
A plate-shaped cube having a thickness necessary for installing a pipe 4 for supplying a carrier medium made of gas or liquid fluid inside, and formed with a fine diameter opening or a fine width on one side that connects to the pipe 4. The groove-shaped carrier medium spout 5 is opened, and the pipe 4
A connection port 6 for connecting the end of a conveyance medium supply pipe (not shown) is provided at the base end of the transport medium supply pipe (not shown).

The block support body 7 that supports the block body 3 has a gate shape that can straddle the conveyance path 2 in the width direction, and is made up of two leg parts 8 and a beam part 9 connecting the upper ends of the two leg parts 8. By making the front and rear surfaces of the beam portion 9 sloped, its cross-sectional shape forms a trapezoid with the upper side as the short side, thereby forming the block locking surface 10, and the two leg portions At the lower end of the transport path 8, the transport base frame 11 is provided with lower block bodies 3' having substantially the same configuration as the block bodies 3 forming the transport path 2.
Groove-shaped support grooves 1 provided in parallel positions on both sides of
A locking portion 13 that can be engaged with 2 is provided. Further, in the support groove 12, an engagement groove 14 is provided in which the locking portions 13 provided at the lower ends of both legs 8 of the block support 7 can be engaged so that the block support 7 can be installed parallel to the conveyance path 2. is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the support groove 12, and the distance between both the locking portions 13 is set as one unit dimension, and a plurality of units are constructed with equal intervals so as to have a relatively small gap.

Function The block support body 7 configured as described above is capable of controlling the pressure of the conveyance medium injected from the lower block body 3' of the conveyance path 2 depending on the type of the conveyed object 1, which is a semiconductor wafer, to be conveyed by the conveyance path. The feeding operation of the conveying medium is performed based on each reference value set to satisfy a number of predetermined conditions such as flow rate and conveyance speed. It also determines the height of the conveying medium spout 5 in the block body 3, which is a conveying member installed above the block body 3.
A plurality of the block supports 7 are engaged with the support grooves 12 provided on the sides of the conveyance path 2 through gaps provided in advance, and the beams in the block supports 7 are established. Block locking part 1 of part 9
0, determine the point p at the height h position of the conveyance medium spout 5 on the block body 3, and then set the height h set on the opposing block locking surface 10 of the adjacent block support body 7. The establishment position is determined so that the distance between the point p' and the point p is a very small distance shorter than the length (width dimension) l of the block 3 to be engaged. Then, the block body 3 is engaged with the block locking surface 10 of each block support body 7 with its conveying medium spout 5 facing downward, and at the same time, the block body 3 is engaged with the block locking surface 10 of each block support body 7, and at the same time, the block body 3 is engaged with the block locking surface 10 of each block support body 7, and at the same time, the block body 3 is engaged with the block locking surface 10 of each block support body 7. A downward pressing force is applied to the engaged block body 3 to press fit and fix the block body 3 so as not to cause a natural detachment phenomenon.

In this way, the already formed transport path 2
The block bodies 3 are arranged in tandem at a predetermined height above the conveyance path to form an upper conveyance path.

The above describes a state in which the individual block bodies 3 are connected in series using the block support 7 as a joining means for arranging them in tandem according to the formed transport path 2. In this case, the block bodies 3 are The presence or absence of a support structure on both sides is optional, and if necessary, it is also optional to use a support member with a different structure other than the block support 7. The locking portion 13 of the leg portion 8 is inserted and locked into the engagement groove 14 provided perpendicularly to the support groove 12 so as to be established parallel to the conveyance path 2, and
It is also optional to insert and engage the block body 3 between the opposing block locking surfaces 10, 10.

Effects As described above, the present invention uses a gas or liquid fluid as a transport medium for transporting an object to be transported, which is a semiconductor wafer, and constructs a transport path by installing a transport member that ejects the fluid. A conveyance member for ejecting the conveyance medium downward above the conveyance path 2 is formed in a small unit block body 5, and this is connected to the conveyance path 2.
at a desired height h from the upper surface of the conveyance path 2.
As mentioned above, it is necessary to install the
The gate-shaped block support body 7 that supports this block body 5 is inserted into any position of the support grooves 12 provided in parallel on both longitudinally outer sides of the conveyance path 2, and the block body 5 is mounted so as to straddle the conveyance path 2. By freely adjusting and moving the block support body 7 in the front and back directions, a gap between the block support body 7 and another adjacent block support body 7 is prepared, and this gap allows the block locking surface 10 formed on the beam portion 9 to engage with the block locking surface 10 formed on the slope. It is possible to freely select the height position of the block body 5 to be stopped, and once the distance between each block support body 7 is set, the blocks are established at equal intervals according to this, and By simply inserting and locking the blocks 5 from above with salt pressure, a group of 5 blocks with high height accuracy can be easily installed parallel to the conveyance path 2. In particular, conventionally, there has been a lack of connection means technology for adjusting the continuity in the longitudinal direction of a group of blocks formed in a unit installed above, and therefore it has been difficult to adjust the height in a connected manner with high precision. To accomplish this, a highly precise and complex framework was required, and the work to install it required a high degree of skill, a great deal of labor, and a great deal of time, and it was not possible to easily change the height. However, according to the present invention, once the establishment gap of the block support body 7 is set, it is scaled and established, and the block body 5 can be easily installed by simply inserting and locking the block body 5 by pressing. can,
In addition, a force action is generated in which the mounted block bodies 5 exert pressure on each other in the continuous direction in which they are formed, resulting in a strong solidarity phenomenon, and the set state can be strongly maintained until dismantling work is carried out. It is characterized by its effectiveness.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the conveyance path, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the block body, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the block support, Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line of Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of the block body. FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view to explain the state of engagement between the block body and the block support, and FIG. 7 is a partial side view of the completed conveyance path. . DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Object to be transported, 2...Transportation path, 7...Block support body, 8...Legs, 9...Beams, 10...Block locking surface, 12...Support groove, 13...Engagement stop,
14...Engagement groove.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A conveying medium for conveying an object, which is a semiconductor wafer, is a gas or liquid fluid, and a conveying path is formed by arranging conveying members that eject the fluid in a vertical manner. A conveyance mechanism that ejects a fluid conveyance medium to levitate the object and propel it in a desired direction, and further installs a conveyance member similar to the above, which is installed above the traveling position of the object to be conveyed. In this method, a block support body is formed, which is made up of two legs of a portal that can straddle the conveyance path in its width direction, and a beam section connected to the upper end thereof, and the cross-sectional shape of the beam section is such that the upper side is the short side. A block locking surface is provided whose front and rear surfaces are sloped to form a trapezoid, and the block can be engaged with support grooves provided at the lower ends of the two legs in parallel on both sides of the transport path. A locking portion is provided, and the block support thus constructed is engaged with and established in the support groove, and the front and rear sides of the block body made of the conveyance member are formed into block locking surfaces of each of the established block supports. A plurality of block bodies are press-fitted in between to hold and lock at a desired set height position from the conveyance path, and the plurality of block bodies are connected and engaged in tandem at a predetermined position in a desired section of the conveyance path. 1. A support device for a transport member in a semiconductor wafer transport mechanism, characterized in that the device is configured to be able to 2. A large number of engagement grooves into which the locking parts of the legs can be inserted and engaged are arranged parallel to the conveyance path so that the block support can be established parallel to the conveyance path, with the distance between both legs of the block support being one unit. 2. A support device for a transport member in a semiconductor wafer transport mechanism as set forth in claim 1, wherein said support groove is provided perpendicularly to said support groove.