Substrate transporter and substrate transport method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11276595-B2
Application number	US-202016881044-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 22, 2020
Priority date	Sep 29, 2016
Publication date	Mar 15, 2022
Grant date	Mar 15, 2022

Abstract

In a substrate transporter, a carry-in-and-out mechanism transports a substrate placed in a horizontal posture. A notch aligner rotates a substrate in a circumferential direction to change a circumferential position of a notch. The carry-in-and-out mechanism includes four supporters that oppose a lower surface of the peripheral portion of the substrate. In the substrate transporter, a controller controls the notch aligner on the basis of warpage-and-notch-position information and input information that is input about the warped state of the substrate, to determine the circumferential position of the notch of the substrate. Thus, the lower surface of the substrate placed on the transport mechanism comes into contact with the four supporters of the transport mechanism. As a result, it is possible to prevent or suppress the occurrence of rattling or misalignment of the substrate during transport by the transport mechanism, and enables stable transport of the substrate.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A substrate transporter comprising:
a transport mechanism for transporting a substrate that is placed in a horizontal posture, said transport mechanism including a support arm that supports said substrate from an underside of said substrate without adsorbing said substrate and opposes a lower surface of a peripheral portion of said substrate;
a notch-position changing mechanism for rotating said substrate that is to be placed on said transport mechanism, in a circumferential direction, to change a position in said circumferential direction of a notch that is provided in said peripheral portion of said substrate;
a storage for storing warpage-and-notch-position information in advance that includes a plurality of pieces of combination information of a warped state of said substrate and a notch position at which said substrate in said warped state is held in an optimal posture where said lower surface of said peripheral portion of said substrate and said support arm of said transport mechanism are brought into contact with each other when said substrate is placed on said transport mechanism, said plurality of pieces of combination information being obtained by combining a plurality of warped states with a plurality of notch positions respectively, said substrate in a warped state corresponding to each notch position is held in said optimal posture at each notch position; and
a controller for controlling said transport mechanism,
wherein said controller controls said notch-position changing mechanism on the basis of said warpage-and-notch-position information and input information that is input about the warped state of said substrate to determine a notch position in said circumferential direction of said substrate, and
said controller controls said transport mechanism on the basis of the result of comparing a distance in the thickness direction between an upper edge of said substrate and a contacting part of said peripheral portion of said substrate that contacts said support arm with a threshold value to control acceleration at a time of starting and deceleration at the time of stopping movement, said distance in the thickness direction being estimated from said warped state of said substrate.

2. The substrate transporter according to claim 1 , wherein
said substrate is curved in a first radial direction to one side in a thickness direction of said substrate with a first curvature, and
said substrate is curved in a second radial direction orthogonal to said first radial direction to said one side in said thickness direction with a second curvature greater than said first curvature.

3. The substrate transporter according to claim 1 , wherein
said substrate is curved in a first radial direction to one side in a thickness direction of said substrate, and
said substrate is curved in a second radial direction orthogonal to said first radial direction to the other side in said thickness direction.

4. A substrate transport method comprising:
a) storing warpage-and-notch-position information in advance that includes a plurality of pieces of combination information of a warped state of a substrate and a notch position, said substrate that is to be placed in a horizontal posture on a transport mechanism including a support arm that supports said substrate from an underside of said substrate without adsorbing said substrate and opposes a lower surface of a peripheral portion of said substrate, and said notch position being a position at which said substrate in said warped state is held in an optimal posture where said lower surface of said peripheral portion of said substrate and said support arm of said transport mechanism are brought into contact with each other when said substrate is placed on said transport mechanism, said plurality of pieces of combination information being obtained by combining a plurality of warped states with a plurality of notch positions respectively, said substrate in a warped state corresponding to each notch position is held in said optimal posture at each notch position;
b) rotating said substrate that is to be placed on said transport mechanism, in a circumferential direction on the basis of said warpage-and-notch-position information and input information that is input about the warped state of said substrate to determine a position in said circumferential direction of a notch that is provided in said peripheral portion of said substrate;
c) supporting a substrate in a horizontal posture by said support arm;
d) starting movement of said transport mechanism; and
e) stopping the movement of said transport mechanism,

wherein in said operation d), acceleration at a time of starting the movement of said transport mechanism is controlled on the basis of the result of comparing a distance in the thickness direction between an upper edge of said substrate and a contacting part of said peripheral portion of said substrate that contacts said support arm with a threshold value, said distance in the thickness direction being estimated from said warped state of said substrate, and
in said operation e), deceleration at a time of stopping the movement of said transport mechanism is controlled on the basis of the result of comparing said distance in the thickness direction with said threshold value.

Assignees

• Screen Holdings Co Ltd

Inventors

• Miyamoto Yukiteru

Classifications

• H10P72/7602 Primary

  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

• H10P72/3402

  Mechanical parts of transfer devices · CPC title

• H10P72/3302 Primary

  Mechanical parts of transfer devices · CPC title

• H10P72/0616

  Monitoring of warpages, curvatures, damages, defects or the like · CPC title