JPH0369809B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention is applicable to transportation in which electronic components such as silicon wafers, LCD surface glass, and IC photomasks are carried into and out of various processing devices and measuring instruments in a clean room. Regarding equipment.

<Prior Art> For example, when a silicon wafer is subjected to various treatments or its performance is measured using a measuring instrument, the treatments and measurements are carried out in a clean room with dust and the like excluded. Silicon wafers are usually stored in shelf-type cassettes, but the equipment that takes out each wafer and transports them to the stage of processing equipment is a transport system specifically designed for clean rooms that does not emit minute oil droplets or metal powder. It becomes necessary.

<Problems to be solved by the invention> Belt conveyor-type conveyors have been put into practical use as conventional conveyance devices of this type, but since they cannot move up and down or left and right, an elevating device is used to move the cassettes containing wafers. In addition, wafers can only be taken in and taken out in one direction, which limits the placement of cassettes and processing equipment, and limits the installation space within the clean room.

<Means for Solving the Problems> The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and provides a transport device that can efficiently and freely transport electronic components such as silicon wafers to any desired location within a clean room. It is provided and is structured as follows.

That is, the conveyance device of the present invention is a conveyance device that carries electronic components on an arm to a desired position in a clean room, and has screws between a top plate and a bottom plate that are vertically connected by a plurality of guide rods. A shaft with a threaded shaft is erected so as to be rotatably driven, a movable plate is guided between the top plate and the bottom plate so as to be vertically slidable by a guide rod, and is arranged to move up and down with the rotation of the threaded shaft, the movable plate A cylindrical body that penetrates the upper plate and protrudes upward is installed on the top so that it can be rotated, a horizontally moving part is fixed to the upper end of the cylindrical body, and a carriage with an arm is mounted on the horizontally moving part. It is constructed by locking a drive wire to a carriage, extending between pulleys that are movably disposed and pivotally supported within a horizontal moving section.

<Example> Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a transport device for transporting silicone wafers in a clean room, FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the same, and FIG. 3 shows a right side view of the same. 1st
The main body 1 of the device in FIG. 3 is shown with the outer cover removed, and the bottom plate 2 and top plate 3 of the main body 1 are
They are connected by book guide rods 4, and a movable plate 5 is arranged to be movable up and down while being guided by three guide rods 4. The movable plate 5 moves horizontally up and down by the action of a ball screw, and a cylindrical body 7 is rotatably erected at its center via a bearing 15 as shown in FIG. A threaded shaft 8 of a ball screw is rotatably installed between the bottom plate 2 and the top plate 3, and the threaded shaft 8 is screwed into a female threaded portion 9 attached to a part of the movable plate 5 via a steel ball. The threaded shaft 8 is rotated by a vertical motor 10 installed on the bottom plate 2 via pulleys 11, 12 and a belt 13, so that the movable plate 5 moves vertically. A cylindrical body 7 erected on the movable plate 5 protrudes upward from a hole provided in the center of the upper plate 3, and a horizontal moving part 14 is horizontally fixed to the upper end of the cylindrical body 7. On the other hand, a large gear 16 is attached to the lower end of the cylinder 7, and as shown in FIG.
A large gear 16 is connected to the cylinder 7 through a plurality of gears 18, and the rotation of the rotation motor 17 causes the cylinder 7 and the horizontal moving part 14 to rotate within a range of about 360 degrees. As shown in FIG. 5, a shaft 19 is disposed within the cylinder 7 via bearings 20 and 21, and the shaft 1
The upper end of 9 enters into the horizontal moving part 14, and the driving pulley 22 is pivotally attached thereto, and its lower end enters the recess in the large gear 16, and the small gear 23 is pivotally attached thereto. Further, a horizontal movement motor 24 is fixed to the lower surface of the large gear 16 at the lower end of the cylinder 7.
4 drives the shaft 19 via the small gear 23, and the drive pulley 22 in the horizontal moving section 14 is rotationally driven. Note that the space inside the cylinder body 7 communicates with the inside of the horizontal moving section 14, and wires such as sensors pass through this space.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the horizontal moving section 14 is formed into an elongated box shape, and a slit-like opening is formed in the upper surface of the box along the longitudinal direction. Further, two guide shafts 26 are disposed at a constant interval along the longitudinal direction within the horizontal moving section 14, and a carriage 27 is supported by the guide shafts 26 so as to be horizontally movable. Fourteen rollers 30 are supported vertically and horizontally between the upper plate 28 and the lower plate 29 of the carriage 27, and each roller 30 contacts the guide shaft 26, and the carriage 27 is moved along the longitudinal direction of the horizontal moving section 14. It is possible to drive with it. An arm attachment portion 31 is provided on the upper plate 28 of the carriage 27 so as to protrude upward from an opening at the top of the horizontal moving portion 14.
A plate-shaped arm 32 is horizontally attached to the holder. On the other hand, there are pulleys 3 at both ends at the bottom of the horizontal moving section 14.
3 is pivotally supported, and a wire 34 coated with synthetic resin is stretched with appropriate tension between the aforementioned drive pulley 22 disposed in the center and pulleys 33 on both sides. At this time, the wire 34 is wound once around the drive pulley 22, and the wire 34 between the two pulleys 33 is also wound once around the hook 35 that protrudes downward from the lower plate 29 of the carriage 27 located above. The carriage 27 is wound around the horizontal movement section 14 by the rotational movement of the wire 34 .

Note that the gears used above are made of synthetic resin to prevent the generation of metal powder due to metal wear.

The conveyance device constructed as described above is installed in a clean room and is used to convey silicon wafers from a shelf-like cassette to a stage of a processing apparatus and return them to a regular position in the cassette. Since the arm 32 on which the silicon wafer is placed can move up and down, rotate, and move horizontally back and forth, one processing device 40 can be used as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.
By installing this transfer device in front of the clean room and arranging a plurality of cassettes 41 with multi-tiered shelves on the opposite side, the space in the clean room can be used effectively.

For example, when the arm 32 is located at the position shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 and a silicon wafer is taken out from the upper end of the cassette 41 immediately behind it, the rotation motor 17 is driven to move the cylinder 7 and the horizontal moving part 14 approximately 180 degrees. The arm 32 is rotated once to direct the arm 32 toward the cassette 41, and the vertical motor 10 is driven to raise the movable plate 5, the cylinder 7, and the horizontal moving part 14 to the desired height of the shelf. Next, the horizontal movement motor 24
is driven, and the carriage 27 moves on the horizontal moving part 14 in the direction of the cassette 41 by the rotational movement of the drive pulley 22 and wire 34, and the arm 32 is inserted under the target shelf, and in this state, the carriage 27 is moved up and down. When the motor 10 is activated slightly, the arm 32 (the entire horizontal moving part) is slightly raised and a silicon wafer is placed on the arm 32. Next, the horizontal movement motor 24 is activated again, and the carriage 27, that is, the arm 32, returns to the center with the wafer placed thereon. Subsequently, the vertical movement motor 24 and the swing motor 17 are activated, and the arm 32 is moved to the center of the processing device 40. Return to the starting position facing the stage. And horizontal movement motor 2
4 operates again, the arm 32 moves forward, and with the wafer inserted into the stage, the vertical movement motor 1
0 is actuated slightly to lower the arm 32 slightly and place the wafer on the stage of the processing apparatus 40, after which the carriage 27 and arm 32 return to their initial positions.

Then, when the processing in the processing device is finished,
The arm 32 of the transfer device operates in the reverse order to enter the stage, pick up the wafer, carry it to the shelf of the removed cassette 41, and return the wafer to this shelf. Such operations are repeated for the wafers placed on each shelf of each cassette, and the necessary processing is performed on the silicon wafers.

The above-mentioned operations of the transport device can be performed manually using an operation panel equipped with each switch, but they can also be performed under fully automatic program control using a sequence controller using a microcomputer. You can also do that. In this case, by providing the controller with a teaching function and storing the coordinates of each shelf of each cassette, the positions of the cassettes and the heights of the shelves can be freely determined and used.

In the above embodiment, the arm 32 was used to transport the silicon wafer etc. by simply placing it thereon, but by providing a suction hole on the upper surface of the arm 32 and having a structure in which air is sucked into the interior through the suction hole, It is also possible to adsorb wafers etc. onto the arm and transport them more safely.

<Effects of the Invention> As explained above, according to the conveying device of the present invention, the arm on which electronic components are placed and conveyed is configured to be able to horizontally move, vertically move, and rotate. This eliminates the need for lifting and lowering equipment for cassettes used to store electronic components, which was required in the past.Furthermore, the cassettes can be placed in any position within the clean room, making it easier to transport cassettes, etc. The installation space can be reduced, and the space in a narrow room can be used effectively.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figures show one embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a front view of the conveying device with the outer cover removed, Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof, Fig. 3 is a right side view of the same, and Fig. 4 is a front view of the conveying device with the outer cover removed. 1, FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the central part of FIG. 1, FIG. 6 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of the horizontal moving part, and FIG.
The figure is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the horizontal moving section, FIG. 8 is a plan layout of the conveying device, and FIG. 9 is a front layout of the same device. 2...Bottom plate, 3...Top plate, 4...Guide rod, 5
... Movable plate, 7 ... Cylindrical body, 8 ... Threaded shaft, 14 ... Horizontal moving part, 27 ... Carriage,
32...Arm, 33...Pulley, 34...Wire.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A transport device that transports electronic components on an arm to any desired position in a clean room, in which a threaded shaft stands between a top plate and a bottom plate that are vertically connected by multiple guide rods and can be driven to rotate. A movable plate is arranged between the top plate and the bottom plate to be vertically slidably guided by the guide rod and moved up and down by rotation of the threaded shaft, and on the movable plate, the A cylindrical body that penetrates the plate and protrudes upward is erected so as to be rotatably driven, a horizontally movable part is fixed to the upper end of the cylindrical body, and a carriage provided with the arm is horizontally movable on the horizontally movable part. 1. A conveyance device, characterized in that a driving wire, which is disposed in a horizontally moving section and extends around a pulley that is pivotally supported within the horizontal moving section, is locked to the carriage.