Substrate transporting apparatus, control apparatus for substrate transporting apparatus, displacement compensation method for substrate transporting apparatus, program for implementing method and recording medium that records program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10557211-B2
Application number	US-201815933280-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2018
Priority date	Mar 28, 2017
Publication date	Feb 11, 2020
Grant date	Feb 11, 2020

Abstract

In assembly of a conventional plating apparatus, a position of a processing tank is adjusted so that the processing tank is disposed at an ideal position. This adjustment takes time and effort to assemble a plating apparatus, and assembly of the plating apparatus requires a high cost. The invention provides a substrate transporting apparatus provided with a substrate holder for holding a substrate, a holder griping mechanism that grips the substrate holder, a substrate transporting section that transports the substrate holder, a rotation mechanism that rotationally moves the holder griping mechanism around a vertical direction as an axis, and a linear motion mechanism that linearly moves the holder griping mechanism in a direction perpendicular to a plane defined by a transporting direction of the substrate holder by the substrate transporting section and a vertical direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substrate transporting apparatus comprising:
a plurality of substrate holders configured to hold substrates;
a holder gripper configured to grip each substrate holder;
a substrate transporting section that includes a horizontal guide, a vertical guide, and an arm on which the holder gripper is mounted, the arm configured to move along the horizontal guide and the vertical guide;
a rotation mechanism configured to rotate the holder gripper about a vertical direction axis;
a linear motion mechanism configured to linearly move the holder gripper in a direction perpendicular to a plane defined by the horizontal guide and the vertical guide;
a plurality of processing tanks configured to process the substrates;
a controller;
a memory that stores a first angular displacement compensation value and a first linear displacement compensation value relating to each of the plurality of processing tanks;
wherein the controller controls the rotation mechanism and the linear motion mechanism based on the first angular displacement compensation value and the first linear displacement compensation value so as to compensate for displacement of each of the plurality of the processing tanks;
wherein the memory further stores a second angular displacement compensation value and a second linear displacement compensation value relating to each of the plurality of substrate holders; and
wherein the controller controls the rotation mechanism and the linear motion mechanism based on the second angular displacement compensation value and the second linear displacement compensation value so as to compensate for displacement of each of the plurality of substrate holders.

2. The substrate transporting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the vertical axis about which the holder gripper rotates by the rotation mechanism passes through at least part of the holder gripper.

3. The substrate transporting apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a first inclination mechanism that rotates the holder gripper about an axis parallel to the horizontal guide.

4. The substrate transporting apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a second inclination mechanism that rotates the holder gripper about an axis perpendicular to the plane defined by the horizontal guide and the vertical guide.

5. A displacement compensation method for a substrate transporting apparatus as recited in claim 1 for housing a substrate in a processing tank using a substrate holder, wherein the method comprises a step of operating the linear motion mechanism for moving the holder griping mechanism and compensating for displacement of a predetermined processing tank and/or displacement of a predetermined substrate holder.

Assignees

• Ebara Corp

Inventors

• Yamasaki Gaku
• Ohashi Hirotaka

Classifications

• H10P72/7618

  characterised by a movable susceptor, stage or support, others than those only rotating on their own vertical axis, e.g. susceptors on a rotating carrousel · CPC title

• H10P72/7602

  the wafers being placed on a robot blade or gripped by a gripper for conveyance · CPC title

• H10P72/3308

  Vertical transfer of a single workpiece · CPC title

• H10P72/3302

  Mechanical parts of transfer devices · CPC title

• H10P72/3221

  Overhead conveying · CPC title