Substrate processing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10818532-B2
Application number	US-201715834427-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 7, 2017
Priority date	Dec 9, 2016
Publication date	Oct 27, 2020
Grant date	Oct 27, 2020

Abstract

A substrate processing apparatus includes a processing section that performs a batch process to a plurality of substrates. A first substrate transport mechanism removes one of substrates contained in a substrate container placed on a stage, and transport the substrate to a position adjusting unit, in which the position of the substrate in the rotating direction of the substrate is adjusted, and transports the substrate back to the substrate container. Then a second substrate transport mechanism collectively removes from the substrate container the substrates whose positions in the rotating direction have been adjusted by the position adjusting unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substrate processing apparatus including a processing section configured to perform a batch process to a plurality of substrates, the substrate processing apparatus comprising:
at least one stage each for placing thereon a substrate container containing a plurality of substrates to be subjected to the batch process in the processing section;
a position adjusting unit configured to adjust a position of the substrate in the rotating direction of the substrate;
a first substrate transport mechanism configured to perform a first operation for removing only one of the plurality of substrates contained in the substrate container and transporting the one substrate to the position adjusting unit, and a second operation for removing the one substrate whose position in the rotating direction has been adjusted by the position adjusting unit and transporting the one substrate back to the same substrate container, the first substrate transport mechanism having only two substrate holding arms, each configured to hold only one substrate, wherein the first substrate transport mechanism is configured to perform a pick-and-place operation at least when the second operation is performed, wherein in the pick-and-place operation, one of the only two substrate holding arms removes the one substrate whose position in the rotating direction has been adjusted, from the position adjusting unit, and immediately thereafter another substrate of the plurality of substrates removed from the same substrate container and held by the other of the only two substrate holding arms is transferred to the position adjusting unit;
a second substrate transport mechanism configured to perform a collective removal operation for collectively removing, from the substrate container, the plurality of substrates which have been subjected to the first and second operations and whose positions in the rotating direction have been adjusted by the position adjusting unit, the second substrate transport mechanism including an arm portion, and a plurality of substrate holders defined at a distal end of the arm portion; and
a batch forming unit configured to form and divide the plurality of substrates into a batch of the substrates for transfer thereof between the substrate container and the processing section, and comprising at least a first arrangement mechanism configured to combine a first selected number of substrates having a first pitch from the second substrate transport mechanism, prior to processing, and a second arrangement mechanism configured to divide the first selected number of substrates having the first pitch, after processing, into a second selected number of substrates, smaller than the first selected number, having a second pitch different from the first pitch,
wherein the second substrate transport mechanism is configured to remove the plurality of substrates from the substrate container in a substantially horizontal orientation, change the orientation of the plurality of substrates to a substantially vertical orientation, and deliver the plurality of substrates to the batch forming unit in the substantially vertical orientation.

2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a control unit configured to control the position adjusting unit, the first substrate transport mechanism and the second substrate transport mechanism so as to make the position adjusting unit and the first substrate transport mechanism perform the first operation and the second operation on each of the plurality of substrates contained in the substrate container, and thereafter make the second substrate transport mechanism perform the collective removal operation.

3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one stage includes a first stage on which the substrate container is placed when the first substrate transport mechanism removes the substrate from the substrate container; and
the first stage and the position adjusting unit are arranged in a vertical direction.

4. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one stage includes:
a first stage on which the substrate container is placed when the first substrate transport mechanism removes the only one substrate from the substrate container; and
a second stage on which the substrate container is placed when the second substrate transport mechanism removes the substrates from the substrate container,
said substrate processing apparatus further comprising a container transport mechanism that transports the substrate container between the first stage and the second stage.

5. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the first stage and the second stage are arranged in the vertical direction.

6. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 4 , the first stage and the position adjusting unit are arranged in a vertical direction.

7. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 4 , further comprising:
a storage unit configured to temporarily store the substrate container containing the plurality of substrates whose directions in the rotating direction have been adjusted;
a control unit configured to control operations of the substrate processing apparatus such that a first substrate container is stored in the storage unit and the positions in the rotating direction of the substrates contained in a second substrate container are adjusted, thereafter, the container transport mechanism transports the first substrate container from the storage unit to the second stage and then the second substrate transport mechanism collectively removes the substrates from the first substrate container, and subsequently, the substrate transport mechanism transports the second substrate container from the first stage to the second stage, and the second substrate transport mechanism collectively removes the substrates from the second substrate container.

8. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 4 , further comprising:
a storage unit configured to temporarily store the substrate containers each containing the plurality of substrates whose directions in the rotating direction have been adjusted;
a controlling section configured to control operations of the substrate processing apparatus such that after the two substrate containers are stored in the storage unit, the container transport mechanism successively transports the two substrate containers from the storage unit to the second stage, and the second substrate transport mechanism successively performs the operations each for collectively removing the substrates from each of the two substrate containers.

9. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing section includes a substrate holding unit configured to collectively hold the plurality of substrates having been collectively removed from the substrate container by the second substrate transport mechanism, and a processing tank configured to store a treatment liquid therein, wherein the plurality of substrates is immersed in the treatment liquid with the substrate being held by the substrate holding unit.

10. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 9 , the substrate holding unit is configured to hold the plurality of substrates referred to as first substrates having been removed from the substrate container referred to as a first container, and the plurality of substrates referred to as second substrates having been removed from the substrate container referred to as a second container, with the first and second substrates being arranged alternately.

11. The substrate processing apparatus according

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Onzuka Keiji
• Murakami Kouki
• Hoshino Hirozumi

Classifications

• H10P72/7602

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

• H10P72/3412

  Batch transfer of wafers · CPC title

• H10P72/3411

  involving loading and unloading of wafers · CPC title

• H10P72/3312 Primary

  Vertical transfer of a batch of workpieces · CPC title

• H10P72/3311

  Horizontal transfer of a batch of workpieces · CPC title