JPH0669062B2 - High-speed automatic carrier for flat objects - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a plate-shaped object, a flat container or the like in order to automatically or semi-automatically inspect and manufacture a plate-shaped object such as a wafer or a stored object in the flat container. The present invention relates to an automatic transfer device for transferring flat objects.

(Background of the Invention) As is well known, one of the market demands for manufacturing and inspecting semiconductor devices can be processed in a short time. For example, in a wafer appearance inspection, a wafer is often observed by using a microscope or the like, and inspection determination is often performed manually. Therefore, in order to perform work efficiently in a short time, the waiting time of the observer (time until the wafer is sent from the cassette and observation is possible)
Is required to be as short as possible. FIG. 13 is a schematic view of an example of a wafer automatic transfer device used in a conventional wafer visual inspection device.

In the cassette 81 in which the wafer accommodating portions are arranged side by side in the up-down direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface), the wafer accommodating portions are sequentially positioned at a predetermined height position by a first cassette placing device (not shown).
In the case of having a wafer push-out push-back device (wafer push-out members 89A and 89B are arranged before and after the cassette, the push-out of the wafer from the cassette 81 is a linear movement of the member 89B to the right, so that Storage (push back) is member 89A
The members 89a and 89B are driven by raising and moving to the left by the output of a photoelectric sensor or the like for detecting the presence or absence of the wafer.
In this case, the pair of belts 84 are out of the cassette. The cassette 81 can be used for both the sender (for storing wafers before processing) and the receiver (for storing wafers after processing). One end of the pair of belts (conveying belts) 84 is located at a predetermined height position for pulling out and carrying the wafer in the wafer storage section at the above-mentioned predetermined position from the cassette 81, and the other end is opposed to the cassette 81. It is located at a predetermined height position of the second cassette 82 (the wafer push-out push-back device together with the pair of belts 84 constitutes a transfer device for carrying out and carrying in the wafer. Each of them is formed in a loop (ring) shape so as to be integrally rotated by (not shown), and one pulley is rotationally controlled by a motor.The third cassette 83 is arranged in parallel with the second cassette 82. A pair of belts 85 are provided so as to be orthogonal to the pair of belts 84, and a pair of belts 86 are provided so as to be orthogonal to the belt 84 and one end of which is located at a predetermined height position of the third cassette 83. In the middle of a pair of belts 84 Is provided with a positioning device 87, and is provided with a transfer arm 88 for transferring a wafer between the positioning device 87 and a microscope stage (not shown). Wafer detectors T ₁ and T ₂ are disposed at the intersecting positions and at the intersecting positions of the pair of belts 85 and the pair of belts 86. Detectors T ₁ ,
T ₂ detects that the wafer has come upward, and outputs a detection signal to a control device (not shown). The control device controls the rotational driving of the conveyor belts 84, 85, 86 and also the operations of the alignment device 84 and the delivery arm 88 by the operation procedure command signal and the detection signal. For normal use, cassette 81
Is for the sender (for storing wafers before processing), and cassette 8
2,83 are used for receivers (for storing processed wafers). Wafers are cassette 81 → transport belt 84 → alignment device 87 → delivery arm 88 → processing device (not shown) → delivery arm 88
→ alignment device 87 → cassette 82 via conveyor belt 84
Alternatively, it is stored in the cassette 83. When the wafers are stored in the cassette 82, the wafers are stored in the cassette 82 straight from the transfer belt 84. When the wafer is stored in the cassette 83, the wafer of the alignment device 87 is sent to the right by the transfer belt 84 and stopped at the position T ₁ . Then, the conveyor belt 85 rises (a position higher than the upper surfaces of the conveyor belts 84 and 86). Transport belt 85 Stops at rotation position T ₂ . Conveyor belt 85 descends (initial position). Then, the conveyor belt 86 rotates, and the wafer is set in the cassette.
Stored in 83. Further, in this type of apparatus (wafer appearance inspection apparatus or the like), the cassettes 81 to 83 are selectively used depending on the judgment after the completion of the wafer processing. Cassette 81 in conventional equipment
Is for the sender (dedicated) and is used for good (pass) and bad (fail) after processing the cassettes 82 and 83. This is what I mentioned before. (Judgment into 2 types) In addition to this, there are cases where the judgment after the wafer processing is screened into 3 types of good, defective, and regenerated. At this time, as described above, the push-back device is pushed out together with the conveyor belt (the cassette placement device is provided with the wafer push-out device and the push-back device, ... 89A, 89
By using B) together, the cassette 81 can be used as both a sender and a receiver. That is, the flow of the wafer that uses the cassette 81 as a receiver after the wafer determination is processed,
The delivery arm 88 → the alignment device 87 → the conveyor belt 84 → the cassette 81. Therefore, in this case, the next wafer to be processed cannot be taken out from the cassette 81 unless the processed wafer returns to the cassette 81. Further, since the cassette position is different between the returning position and the exiting position of the wafer, the vertical movement time of the cassette 81 by the cassette mounting device is also added, the waiting time of the observer becomes long, and the wafer processing time (throughput) becomes long. There are drawbacks.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention eliminates the conventional problems, and throughput (processing time) when a single cassette is commonly used for unloading and loading
It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic transfer device capable of improving the above.

(Summary of the Invention) The present invention is a cassette placement device (1A) for vertically moving a cassette in which storage units for flat objects are arranged in the vertical direction and positioning any one of the storage units at a predetermined height position. A positioning device (17) for positioning the conveyed flat object in a plane, and is provided linearly between the cassette placing device and the positioning device, and A first transfer device (4,5) for carrying out a flat object existing in the storage section and for carrying the flat object into an unstored storage section;
A processing device (20) for processing a flat object, a second transfer device (18) for transferring a flat object between the alignment device and the processing device, the cassette placement device, and the alignment device. , A control device (20) for controlling driving of the first transfer device and the second transfer device, wherein the first transfer device is a first part (4) on the placement device side. A detector (10) for controlling the presence and absence of a flat object is independently controllably bisected into the second part (5) on the side of the alignment device and independently controllable into two parts. A third transfer device (19) having an arm (19A) for holding the flat object of the alignment device by a holding part (19B) and delivering it to the first part is provided, and the control device (20), After the flat object (n-th sheet) of the alignment device moves to the second transport device, The new flat object (n + 2nd) in the cassette is conveyed by the first portion and the second portion until it returns (207 to 209) and the first signal is detected by the detection signal from the detector. The driving of the first portion and the second portion is stopped, the new flat object (n + 2th sheet) is made to stand by in front of the alignment apparatus, and the flat object (nth sheet) returned to the alignment apparatus is returned. A new flat that is held by the arm and delivered to the first portion, and the second portion is driven to stand by by driving the second portion between the holding by the arm and the delivery to the first portion (209 to 210). An automatic transporting device is characterized in that an object (n + 2nd sheet) is controlled to be transported (211) to the alignment device.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described below based on the embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a first embodiment of the present invention, in which a cassette 1 having wafer storage portions arranged in parallel in the vertical direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface) is moved up and down, and the wafer storage portions of the cassettes are sequentially moved to a predetermined height. The 1st cassette mounting device 1A which positions in a position is provided. The first cassette placing device 1A is configured to be vertically movable by a structure in which a ball bush provided on a moving member slides up and down on a biaxial guide shaft provided on a fixed member, and the vertical movement of the moving member is fixed. A nut provided on the moving member is screwed onto the feed screw provided on the drive screw, and the feed screw is rotationally driven by a stepping motor capable of positioning in an open loop. Instead of stepper motor
The same applies when a DC motor combined with an encoder is used. The up / down movement direction can be easily switched by rotating the motor in the forward and reverse directions.

A first conveyor belt (a pair of parallel belts similar to the conventional one) 4 arranged so as to oppose the cassette 1 at one end at a predetermined height position, and a second conveyor belt 5 linearly continuous with the first conveyor belt 4. Is provided. Further, in order to carry out the wafer in the cassette or carry the wafer into the cassette, there is provided a push-out and push-back device having a well-known structure such as a wafer push-out member 89B and a push-back member 89A. These conveyor belts 4 and 5 are made of urethane-based material and formed into a loop.
A motor and a belt pulley are used to switch the rotation direction by rotating the motor in the forward and reverse directions.

A wafer alignment device 17 is arranged near the other end (the other end) of the second transfer belt 5 that does not oppose the other end of the first transfer belt 4. The position adjusting device 17 stops the wafer conveyed from the left to the right by the second conveyor belt 17A, a stopper 17A that vacuum-adsorbs and rotates the wafer, and a roller 17C that presses the wafer against three roller pins. It is composed of a pressing portion 17B and the like.

The second cassette loading device is arranged in a direction orthogonal to the wafer transport direction by the transport belt 4 with respect to the first cassette loading device 1A.
1B are arranged side by side (upper in the drawing in the figure), and a cassette 2 having wafer accommodating portions arranged side by side in the vertical direction is placed on the second cassette placing device 1B. A third cassette loading device 1C is arranged in parallel with the wafer alignment device 17 so as to face the second cassette loading device 1B. The second cassette placement device 1B and the third cassette placement device 1C are the first cassette placement device.
It has the same structure as 1a. The cassette 3 is placed on the third cassette placing device 1C. The third conveyor belt 7 is arranged side by side with the first conveyor belt 4, one end of which faces the other end of the third conveyor belt 7, and the other end of which is the fourth conveyor belt 6 slightly inserted into the cassette 3 at a predetermined position. The second conveyor belts 5 are arranged side by side. A push-out / push-back device having a wafer push-out member 89B and a push-back member 89A is also provided on the third conveyor belt 7 side. Further, a fifth conveyor belt 8 orthogonal to the first conveyor belt 4 and the third conveyor belt 7 is arranged so as to connect the first conveyor belt 4 and the third conveyor belt 7.

The third conveyor belt 7, the fourth conveyor belt 6, and the fifth conveyor belt 8 are similar to the conveyor belts described above, but the conveyor belt 8 is further provided with a device that moves the belt 8 up and down together with the rotational movement. ing. When the conveyor belt 8 is not used (bottom dead center), the upper surface position (height direction) of the conveyor belt 8 is lower than the belt upper surfaces of the conveyor belts 4 and 7. During use, the upper surface of the conveyor belt 8 is stopped at a position higher than the upper surfaces of the conveyor belts 4 and 7 (top dead center). Although an air cylinder capable of increasing the speed is adopted for the up-and-down drive, of course, another drive source such as various motors may be used.

The wafer processing apparatus 20 is provided on the side opposite to the fourth conveyor belt 6 with respect to the second conveyor belt 5 and includes an XY stage, an observation device, etc., but only the cylinder 20A for adsorbing and holding the wafer is shown in the figure. It was A wafer is held on the cylinder 20A by vacuum suction, and the cylinder 20A is provided with a rotation mechanism. The XY stage stroke is set so that it can be moved over the entire wafer (for example, 150 mm for a 6-inch wafer). Since positional accuracy is required, a DC servo motor and encoder are combined.

Between the wafer alignment device 17 and the cylinder 20A, there is provided an arm 18 which constitutes a delivery device for delivering the wafer between each of them. A wafer is held by the arm 18 by vacuum suction, and an open loop stepping motor is used to drive the arm rotation.

Further, between the second conveyor belt 5 and the fourth conveyor belt 6,
An auxiliary transfer device 19 for transferring the wafer of the wafer alignment device 17 to the first transfer belt 4 and the fourth transfer belt 6 is provided. The auxiliary delivery device 19 has an auxiliary arm 19A having a wafer suction portion 19B at the tip. The structure of the auxiliary transfer device 19 will be described later.

Crossing position of the first conveyor belt 4 and the fifth conveyor belt 8, the second
Photoelectric detectors 9, 10, 13, 12 for detecting the presence / absence of a wafer in the vicinity of one end of the transfer belt 5, the intersection of the third transfer belt 7 and the fifth transfer belt 8 and in the vicinity of one end of the fourth transfer belt 6. The alignment device 17 is also provided with a photoelectric detector 11 for detecting a notch in the wafer.

A keyboard section 21 and a joystick section 22 are provided on the left and right of the wafer processing apparatus 20, and a code 25 is attached to a housing 25.
A control unit 23 connected by is provided, and a keyboard unit 21, a joystick unit 22, a control unit 23, a photoelectric detector 9, 10, 11, 12, 1
3, Control of rotation movement of conveyor belts 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and arm 18,1
A control device is configured by various motors (described later) for performing the control of 9, etc.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the structure of the auxiliary delivery device 19 described above.
As will be described with reference to FIG. 3 which is a cross-sectional view taken along the line XX of FIG. 2 and FIG. 2, the auxiliary transfer device 19 is a cassette in which processed wafers (classified into good, defective, regenerated, etc.) are determined. In order to store the wafer, the wafer is transferred onto the transfer belt (16 or 4) closest to the cassette selected to store the wafer, and the auxiliary arm 19A can be rotated, moved vertically and moved linearly.

The rotation of the arm 19A is performed by rotating the rotation of the motor 54 with a pulley 53B fixed to the rotation shaft of the motor 54 and a large pulley 5 integrated with the rotation shaft of the arm.
The timing belt 53 between the arm 3A and the arm 3A is transmitted to the arm rotation shaft 52 to rotate the arm 19A fixed to the arm rotation shaft 52. An angular contact type bearing 56 is used for the bearing 55, and the structure allows the arm 19A to rotate with low friction by receiving the thrust and radial load around the arm rotation shaft 52. The motor 54 employs a stepping motor whose rotation can be controlled in an open loop. arm
The vertical movement of 19A is a structure in which six bearings 58 attached to the bearing 55 roll on the two round guide shafts 57A and 57B, and the drive is the rotation of a DC motor (not shown) and the cam of the cylindrical cam 59. The roller 55a fixed to the bearing 55 is placed on the surface of the bearing 55 to convert it into a linear motion (vertical motion), and the bearing 55 moves up and down. That is,
The bearing 55 arm 19A and arm rotating shaft 52 move up and down as a unit. The arm rotating shaft 52 is slid on the shaft of the large pulley 53A by the key 60 during the vertical movement. The linear movement of the arm 51 is achieved by ball bushing attached to both ends of the casing 64.
The structure is such that 62 slides on a linear guide shaft 61 fixed to the housing 25, and driving is performed by an air cylinder 63. The cylinder of the air cylinder 63 is fixed to the housing 25, and the piston
63a is fixed to the casing 64. Further, a linear guide surface 25 ′ is formed on the housing 25 on the opposite side (upper side in FIG. 2) of the linear guide shaft 61, and is fixed to the casing 64.
64a is mounted on the linear guide surface 25 '.

FIG. 4 is a state diagram of the auxiliary arm 19A, and FIG. 5 is a state diagram of the upper, middle, and lower positions of the auxiliary arm 19A. Each operation and state will be described with reference to FIGS. In the initial state of the auxiliary arm 19A, the center of the wafer suction portion 19B at the tip of the auxiliary arm 19A is at the position S4 and the upper surface is at the height H1. The height H is determined by the conveyor belt 5,
6 is the belt upper surface position. The processed wafer is sent by the delivery arm 18 onto the alignment device 17. Almost at the same time, the auxiliary arm 19A rotates at the height H1 until the wafer suction portion 19B reaches the position S3. (The rotation angle θ1 at this time). Next, the wafer suction unit 19B rises to the height H2 and vacuum-holds the wafer (which causes the wafer to be transferred from the transfer arm 18 to the auxiliary arm 19A). Next, one of two movements is performed depending on which cassette (1 to 3) the wafer is stored in. First, the case where the wafer is stored in the cassette 2 or the cassette 3 will be described. The auxiliary arm 19A rotates to the position S4 at the height H2 (rotation angle θ1) and releases the wafer suction. And the auxiliary arm 19
Passes through the concave portion of the belt 6 and descends to the height H3, and the wafer is placed on the transfer belt 6. From now on, the conveyor belts 6 and 7 are rotated and moved into one of the cassettes 2 and 3 to be stored. At the same time when the wafer enters the cassette, the auxiliary arm 19A returns to the initial position (position S4, height H1). Next wafer 1
The auxiliary arm 19A has a height of H2.
While moving to the rotation angle θ2 in this state, the linear movement moves from point A to point B. (Wafer suction unit 19A is at position S1
Come). The rotation and the linear movement can be performed in parallel. Next, the wafer suction is released and the conveyor belts 8, 4
The concave portion (V-shaped concave portion may be formed by three pulleys. The belt may be separated into two and each belt may be hung on one pulley.) Is lowered to the height H3. , The well is placed on the conveyor belt 4. From here, the transport belt 4 rotates and the wafer is stored in the cassette 1.
Then, the auxiliary arm 19A rises to the height H1 and returns to the initial position (position S4, height H1). The above is the operation of the auxiliary arm 19A. Any operating mechanism may be used as long as it can achieve its intended function. For example, the air cylinder 63 may be replaced with a combination of a lead screw and a motor.

Next, a configuration related to electrical processing will be described. FIG. 6 is a block diagram, and the control device 23 includes photoelectric detectors 9, 10, 11, 1
A wafer presence / absence signal is input from 2 and 13, and a first wafer mounting device 1A, a second wafer mounting device 1B, and a third wafer mounting device 1
C, first transfer device A400, first transfer device B500, second transfer device A6
00, second transfer device B700, alignment device 17, auxiliary delivery device 1
9. Output a control signal to the delivery device 180.

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 show flow charts concerning wafer transfer. These figures express not only the wafer stop position (FIG. 20A, FIG. 4 S1 to S4, 19) in the wafer transfer process but also the temporal flow. FIG. 7 shows a case where the wafer is transferred from the cassette 1 and is transferred to the cassette 2 or the cassette 3 after processing, and FIG. 8 is a case where the wafer is transferred from the cassette 1 to the cassette 1 after the inspection processing. Is shown. Incidentally, FIGS. 9, 10 and 12 are two-dimensionally abstract representations of the wafer transfer path in the actual embodiment. Incidentally, the steps shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 take the transport path of FIG.

First, FIG. 7 will be described. Process flow indicated by broken line 10
0 indicates processing for one wafer. When there are a plurality of wafers to be processed, the processing step 100 is performed on all the wafers. During the processing operation, the nth wafer is transferred from the cassette 1 to the position S1 (101), and further moved to the position S.
It is transported to 2 (102). The fact that the wafer is in position S2 means that
It is detected by the output of the photoelectric detector 10. Here, when it is detected based on the output of the photoelectric detector 11 that the (n-1) th wafer preceding the nth wafer exists at the position S3 (119), the nth wafer is S2. Wait at the position (103). That is, the belt rotation motor of the first conveyor B500 stops rotating, and the belt 5 stops moving. n-1
When the first wafer is transferred (120) to the wafer processing device (20) by the arm 18 of the transfer device 180 and there are no more wafers at the position S3, the nth wafer can be transferred to the position S3 and the first transfer device B500. The belt rotation motor rotates to position S3.
It is transported to (104). The nth wafer is at position S3
Then, preparation (positioning) for transfer to the wafer processing apparatus (20) is performed (105). The (n-1) th wafer transferred to the processing apparatus 20 is processed simultaneously with the completion of the transfer to the processing apparatus 20 (121). The nth wafer is at position S
When the wafer is transferred from 2 to the position S3 (104), a new wafer can be transferred to the position S2, and the first mounting device 1A moves down by one wafer storage unit, and the n + 1th wafer is placed on the belt 4. Part of the wafer is placed, and the n + 1th wafer is transferred from the cassette 1 to the position S2 by the movement of the belt 4 by the rotation of the belt rotating motor of the first transfer device A400 (125, 126). Here, when the nth wafer is transferred to the position S2 (103), n
The + 1st wafer can be transferred to position S1, but n + 1
The first wafer is transferred from cassette 1 to position S2 (12
5,126) When the n-th wafer is within the time for completing the alignment at the position S3, it has no effect on the processing speed. Further, considering an embodiment of the present apparatus (described later), it is not a good idea to make the subsequent wafer stand by at the position S1.

When the processing of the (n-1) th wafer in the processing apparatus (20) is completed, the (n-1) th wafer is transferred to the position S3. At this time, the nth wafer is moved to the position S3. If the alignment (105) is not completed, the (n-1) th wafer is not transferred to the position S3 until the alignment of the nth wafer is completed. That is, when the alignment of the nth wafer is completed and n
-End of processing in the processing device (20) for the first wafer,
The progress of the process is limited to the slower one. In the embodiment of this apparatus, speeding up is realized in both steps. The n-1th wafer that has been processed by the processing apparatus (20) is transferred to the position S3 by the arm 18 of the transfer apparatus 180, and at the same time, the nth wafer is transferred to the processing apparatus (20) by the arm 18. When delivered (107, 122), at this time, the auxiliary arm 19A of the auxiliary delivery device 19 is on standby at the position S3. n
The -1st wafer is transferred to the auxiliary arm (19A) at the position S3, and the control device 23 judges it by the output of the photoelectric detector 12 and proceeds to the next process (123,124), that is, n.
-The first wafer is transferred to position S4 by the auxiliary arm (19A), the control device 23 knows it from the output of the photoelectric detector 12, and inputs the control signal to the second transfer device A600 and the second transfer device B700. Then, the (n-1) th wafer is stored in the cassette 2 or the cassette 3 based on a command to the keyboard unit 21. At the same time when the (n-1) th wafer is transferred onto the position S4, the (n + 1) th wafer proceeds through the same steps as those followed by the preceding wafer (128, 129, 130), (S2 → S3).
→ alignment). Then, since it becomes possible to transfer a new wafer to the position S2, the (n + 2) th wafer is transferred to the position S2 (132, 133). The nth wafer is the processing device 2
The processing is performed at the same time when it is delivered to 0 (121). Then, when the cassette (2 or 3) in which the wafer to be processed is to be stored is designated by the instruction of the user or the instruction of the apparatus itself, the processing ends. When the processing of the nth wafer is completed and the alignment of the (n + 1) th wafer is completed, the nth wafer is transferred onto the position S3 by the arm 18 (109). At the same time, the (n + 1) th wafer is delivered to the processing apparatus 20 (131). The n-th wafer transferred to the position S3 is transferred to the position S4 by the auxiliary arm 19A (11
0). Then, the nth wafer is transferred from the position S4 to the cassette (2 or 3) by the belt (7 or 6). That is, the position of the wafer processed by the processing device (20) is
Belt (6 or 7) using auxiliary arm 19A from S3
Will not affect the belt (4 or 5) carrying the new wafer in order to be delivered to. FIG. 9 shows the abstracted transport route. In order to improve the throughput of the equipment, the conveyor belt and the cassette should be arranged in a straight line. Although the movement of each part is minimized, this embodiment satisfies this purpose.

The process 200 of FIG. 8 will be described. Regarding the wafer to be processed, the nth wafer is inspected by the processing device (20) and transferred to the auxiliary arm (19A) at the position S3 until steps (201 to 209) shown in FIG. It is similar to 109). After the nth wafer is transferred to the auxiliary arm (19A), the nth wafer is transferred to position S1 (210) by the rotation and linear movement of the auxiliary arm (19A) while maintaining the height H2 and stopped at position S1. At this time, as described in the flow of the wafer (FIG. 100 in FIG. 7), the n + 2th wafer is transferred from the position S2 to the position S3 (211), and the n + 3th wafer is transferred to the position S2. It will be possible. The (n + 3) th wafer is transported to the position S2 by passing under the nth wafer at the height H2 of the position S1 (212,
213). After that, the nth wafer is transferred to the cassette 1 (211). Here, when the nth wafer is transferred to the position S1 (210), the nth wafer is first transferred to the cassette 1 without transferring the n + 3th wafer (211), and then the n + 3th wafer is transferred. The second wafer may be transferred (this is not shown). Correctly, in this case, the row condition is that the time when the (n + 3) th wafer arrives at the position S2 is before the time when the (n + 2) th wafer completes the alignment. In FIG. 9, the wafer processing steps 100 and 200 can be realized at the same time, but they may be realized independently depending on the configuration of the apparatus. When a cassette that contains unprocessed wafers is returned to the cassette after processing, the transfer route to the processing device is reversed in the conventional system to return to the cassette, so the next wafer is transferred unless the preceding wafer is stored again. Did not come out. In this apparatus, the processing speed can be made faster than that of the conventional apparatus by separating the transportation path to the processing apparatus and the transportation path for storage. This is an effective means for shortening the process time in the semiconductor element manufacturing process. The above-described wafer processing process is for transferring wafers from the cassette 1. However, there are cases where the number of wafers to be processed at one time cannot be stored in one cassette. This apparatus can process wafers up to two cassettes at a time.

This will be described.

FIG. 10 shows a transfer path when a wafer is transferred from the cassette 1 and the cassette 2 and processed.

Although FIG. 10 (a) is similar to FIG. 9, in FIG. 10 (a), since the unprocessed wafer is stored in the cassette 2,
There is no step of transferring the wafer from the cassette 1 to the cassette 2. Therefore, the processed wafer is the cassette 1
Alternatively, it is stored in the cassette 3. FIG. 10B shows the case where the wafer is transferred from the cassette 2, and the wafer transferred from the cassette 2 is the fifth transfer belt 8 shown in FIG.
Is carried to the position S1 in FIG. 4 and further carried to the processing device (20). In this case, since the processed wafers are already stored in the cassette 1, there is no step of transferring the processed wafers to the cassette 1. Therefore, the processed wafer is stored in the cassette 2 or the cassette 3.
In the processing shown in FIG. 10, when the wafers of two or more cassettes are processed, the processing can be performed by newly storing unprocessed wafers in the cassettes 1 and 2.

FIG. 11 shows a flowchart for carrying the conveyance shown in FIGS. 10 (a) and 10 (b). It is judged which of the cassette 1 and the cassette 2 is selected on the keyboard portion 21 (110), and when the cassette 1 is selected, the steps 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211 of FIG. 8 are selected.
When the wafer is stored in the cassette 1 in the step 211 through the same steps as the step 1, the cassette 1 is moved up or down (111) to transfer the next wafer. When the cassette 2 is selected, it is transported to the position S5 (112) and then to the position S1 (113), and thereafter, steps 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 2 in FIG.
After passing through the same process as 07, 208, 209, it is delivered at position S4 at process 210, then conveyed to position S5 (211) and stored in the cassette 2 (212). When the wafer is stored in the cassette 2, the cassette 2 is raised or lowered (213),
The next wafer is transferred. The above-described wafer processing steps are all described for the case where the wafer is subjected to the inspection processing in the processing apparatus 20 of the present apparatus. In an actual IC inspection process, there is a step of transferring a wafer from one cassette to another cassette without requiring inspection processing on the wafer. This device has been devised to realize such a process.

FIGS. 12 (a), (b), and (c) show a transfer path of a transfer process which does not require processing in the processing device (20) for the wafer. Cassette transfer for storing unprocessed wafers Depending on the selection of the cassette for storing processed wafers, there are three types: (a), (b), and (c). Further, the number of wafers to be transferred can be controlled.

In the above description, only wafer transfer is described, but it goes without saying that it can be used to transfer flat objects (including wafers) such as flat containers.

In the embodiment, a set of belts surrounded by a chain double-dashed line is regarded as one block, and a total of three wafer transfer units 14, 15 and 16 are used to facilitate assembly and adjustment.

Further, it goes without saying that the wafer or the like may be conveyed by an air flow instead of the belt.

(Effect of the invention) As described above, according to the present invention, even when one flat object is unloaded from the cassette, processed, and then loaded into the same cassette again, the flat object is not loaded into the cassette. Moreover, since the next flat object can be carried out, the throughput can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the auxiliary delivery device used in FIG. 1, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line X--X of FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a plane operation explanatory view of the auxiliary arm, FIG. 5 is a vertical movement explanatory view of the auxiliary arm, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram relating to electrical processing, FIG. 8 and 11 are flow charts relating to wafer transfer, and FIGS. 9 and 10.
Figures (a), (b) and Figures 12 (a), (b), and (c) are diagrams schematically showing a wafer transfer path, and Figure 13 is a view showing an example of a conventional wafer transfer device. ,. (Description of symbols of main parts) 1A ... 1st cassette placing device, 1B ... 2nd cassette placing device, 1C ... 3rd cassette placing device, 4 ... 1st conveyor belt, 400 ... 1 Conveyor A, 5 ...... Second conveyor belt, 50 ......
1st conveyor B, 6 ... 4th conveyor belt, 600 ... 2nd conveyor A, 7 ... 3rd conveyor belt, 700 ... 2nd conveyor B, 17
…… Alignment device, 18 …… Arm, 180 …… Transfer device, 19
...... Auxiliary delivery device, 20 ...... Processing device, 23 ...... Control device, 89A ...... Wafer pushing member, 89B ...... Wafer pushing member.

Front page continued (72) Inventor Kazuaki Saeki 471 Nagaodai-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Japan Optical Industry Co., Ltd.Yokohama Works (72) Inventor Kazuhiro Maekawa 471 Nagaodai-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Japan Kanagawa Prefecture Japan Optical Industry Co., Ltd. Yokohama Works

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cassette placing device for vertically moving a cassette in which accommodating portions for a flat object are arranged side by side to position one of the accommodating portions at a predetermined height position, and a conveyed flat object. A positioning device for performing positioning in the plane, and a flat object linearly provided between the cassette placing device and the positioning device and for carrying out the flat object existing in the storage unit at the predetermined height position and A first transport device for loading a flat object into an unstored storage unit, a processing device for processing a flat object, and a second transport device for transporting a flat object between the alignment device and the processing device. An automatic transporting device including a cassette mounting device, the alignment device, the first transporting device, and a control device that controls driving of the second transporting device. With the first part on the device side A second part on the side of the alignment device is independently controllably divided into two parts, and a detector for detecting the presence or absence of a flat object is provided on the side of the first part of the second part, and the alignment is performed. A third transfer device having an arm for holding a flat object of the device by a holding part and delivering the flat object to the first part is provided, and the control device again controls the flat object of the alignment device to move to the second transfer device. Before returning, a new flat object in the cassette is conveyed by the first portion and the second portion, and the driving of the first portion and the second portion is stopped by the detection signal from the detector. Then, the new flat object is made to stand by in front of the alignment device,
The flat object returned to the aligning device is held by the arm and delivered to the first portion, and the second portion is driven to stand by between the holding by the arm and the delivery to the first portion. A new flat object is controlled to be transported to the alignment device.