Substrate treating apparatus and substrate treating method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10115588-B2
Application number	US-201515515768-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2015
Priority date	Sep 30, 2014
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

A substrate treating apparatus including an unloading order changing unit. The unloading order changing unit reverses an order, in regard to unloading of substrates in a carrier from the top, between a poor inclined substrate and a substrate at least immediately above the poor inclined substrate when the poor inclined substrate is present whose inclination is determined larger than a pre-set threshold by a poor inclination determining unit. That is, the order is reversed such that the poor inclined substrate whose surface may be possibly be scratched with a hand is unloaded prior to the substrate immediately above the poor inclined substrate. Accordingly, this inhibits damages on the substrate caused by scratching a substrate surface with the hand of a substrate transport mechanism.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A substrate treating apparatus, comprising:
a mount unit on which a carrier for accommodating a plurality of substrates is placed;
a substrate level detecting mechanism that detects presence/absence of a substrate and a level of the substrate;
a substrate condition acquiring unit that acquires an inclination of the substrate in a forward/backward direction relative to a horizontal direction in accordance with the detected presence/absence of the substrate and the detected level of the substrate;
a poor inclination determining unit that determines whether or not the inclination of the substrate is larger than a pre-set threshold; and
an unloading order changing unit that reverses an order, in regard to unloading of the plurality of substrates in the carrier from the top, between the poor inclined substrate and a substrate at least immediately above the poor inclined substrate when the poor inclination determining unit determines presence of the poor inclined substrate.

2. The substrate treating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
when successive poor inclined substrates are present, the unloading order changing unit reverses the order between a poor inclined substrate of the successive poor inclined substrates on the lowermost stage and a substrate at least immediately above the poor inclined substrate of the successive poor inclined substrates on the uppermost stage.

3. The substrate treating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the unloading order changing unit reverses the order between a substrate at least immediately below the poor inclined substrate and a substrate at least immediately above the poor inclined substrate.

4. The substrate treating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the carrier comprises:
a container main body;
a lid that closes an opening of the container main body and is attachable/detachable to/from the container main body;
a side holder provided on both side faces of the interior container main body and places the substrates thereon;
a rear holder provided on a rear face of the interior container main body and having grooves formed thereon; and
a front holder provided on a face of the lid directed to the interior container main body and having grooves formed thereon, wherein
the rear holder and the front holder nip the substrates while separating the substrates from the side holder when the lid is attached to the opening of the container main body.

5. The substrate treating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the substrate level detecting mechanism comprises:
a presence/absence sensor that is directed horizontally orthogonal to the forward/backward direction where the substrates are loaded/unloaded into/from the carrier and detects presence/absence of the substrate;
a level sensor that detects a level of the presence/absence sensor;
a vertical moving mechanism that moves the presence/absence sensor vertically;
an entering/exiting mechanism that moves the presence/absence sensor into the carrier through the opening of the carrier; and
a controller that detects substrate levels at two or more different positions in the forward/backward direction by moving the presence/absence sensor vertically with the vertical moving mechanism and detecting the presence/absence of the substrates with the presence/absence sensor and detecting a level of the presence/absence sensor with the level sensor while the presence/absence sensor enters into the carrier with the entering/exiting mechanism.

6. A substrate treating method, comprising:
a detecting step of detecting presence/absence and levels of a plurality of substrates in a carrier placed on a mount unit with a substrate level detecting mechanism;
an acquiring step of acquiring an inclination of a substrate in a forward/backward direction relative to a horizontal direction in accordance with the detected presence/absence and the detected levels of the substrates with a substrate condition acquiring unit;
a determining step of determining whether or not the inclination of the substrate is larger than a pre-set threshold with a poor inclination determining unit;
a changing step of reversing an order, in regard to unloading of the plurality of substrates in the carrier from the top, between the poor inclined substrate and a substrate at least immediately above the poor inclined substrate with an unloading order changing unit when the poor inclination determining unit determines presence of the poor inclined substrate.

7. A substrate treating apparatus, comprising:
a mount unit on which a carrier for accommodating a plurality of substrates is placed;
a substrate level detecting mechanism that detects presence/absence of the substrates and levels of the substrates;
a substrate condition acquiring unit that acquires an inclination of a substrate in a forward/backward direction relative to a horizontal direction in accordance with the detected presence/absence of the substrates and the detected levels of the substrates;
a poor inclination determining unit that determines whether or not the inclination of the substrate is larger than a pre-set threshold; and
an unloading order changing unit that sets an unloading order between a poor inclined substrate and a substrate immediately above the poor inclined substrate so as to unload the poor inclined substrate prior to the substrate immediately above the poor inclined substrate when the poor inclination determining unit determines presence of the poor inclined substrate, and sets an order of unloading substrates other than the poor inclined substrate and the substrate immediately above the poor inclined substrate.

Assignees

• Screen Holdings Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hashimoto Koji
• Hatano Akito

Classifications

• H10P95/00

  Generic processes or apparatus for manufacture or treatments not covered by the other groups of this subclass · CPC title

• H10P72/3604

  the workpieces being stored in a carrier, involving loading and unloading · CPC title

• H10P72/3411 Primary

  involving loading and unloading of wafers · CPC title

• H10P72/3406

  involving removal of lid, door or cover · CPC title

• H10P72/3402

  Mechanical parts of transfer devices · CPC title