Substrate transfer mechanism and substrate transferring method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11705359-B2
Application number	US-202217679352-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 24, 2022
Priority date	Feb 25, 2021
Publication date	Jul 18, 2023
Grant date	Jul 18, 2023

Abstract

A substrate transfer mechanism for transferring a substrate to each of a plurality of stacked processing modules that process the substrate includes an arm base provided with a first driver, a lift configured to move up and down the arm base, a first arm extending transversely from a lower side of the arm base, and having a tip end that pivots around a vertical axis with respect to the arm base by the first driver, a second arm extending transversely from an upper side of the tip end of the first arm, and having a tip end that pivots around a vertical axis with respect to the first arm along with the pivoting of the first arm, and a substrate holder provided on an upper side of the tip end of the second arm, and configured to rotate around a vertical axis with respect to the second arm.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substrate transfer device comprising:
an arm base main body provided with a first driver;
a lift configured to move up and down the arm base main body;
a first arm extending transversely from a lower side of the arm base main body, and having a tip end that pivots around a vertical axis with respect to the arm base main body by the first driver;
a second arm extending transversely from an upper side of the tip end of the first arm, and having a tip end that pivots around a vertical axis with respect to the first arm along with the pivoting of the first arm; and
a substrate holder provided on an upper side of the tip end of the second arm, and configured to hold a substrate and rotate around a vertical axis with respect to the second arm, thereby transferring the substrate to one of a plurality of stacked processing modules that process the substrate;
wherein
when a side of the lift on which the arm base main body is provided is a front side,
the lift includes:
a plurality of rails and a plurality of seal belts arranged side by side in a left-right direction and extending longitudinally vertical,
a fourth driver shared by the rails and configured to move up and down the arm base main body along an extending direction of each of the rails,
a slider supported by the lift and configured to move up and down and physically connected to the plurality of rails, and
a connecting member,

wherein a portion of each seal belt is opened, and the slider and the arm base main body are connected to each other via the connecting member provided in the opening.

2. The substrate transfer device according to claim 1 , wherein
a base is provided on the upper side of the tip end of the second arm to rotate around a vertical axis with respect to the second arm, and
the substrate holder is configured to advance and retreat with respect to the base on an upper side of the base.

3. The substrate transfer device according to claim 2 , wherein
the substrate holder includes a first holder and a second holder arranged longitudinally and each configured to hold a single substrate,
when an advancing/retreating direction of the first holder and the second holder is a front-rear direction, a first mover configured to move the first holder in the front-rear direction and a second mover configured to move the second holder in the front-rear direction are provided on a left side and a right side of the base, respectively, inside the base, and
a first connector is provided on only one side of the left and right sides of the base to connect the first holder to the first mover, and a second connector is provided on only a remaining side of the left and right sides of the base to connect the second holder to the second mover.

4. The substrate transfer device according to claim 2 , wherein the substrate holder includes absorption holes for absorbing and holding the substrate, and a sensor is provided in the second arm to detect a state of an exhaust path connected to the absorption holes.

5. The substrate transfer device according to claim 1 , wherein
the stacked processing modules form one stacked body and another stacked body that are arranged side by side transversely, and
auxiliary facilities of the processing modules are provided in a manner that the two stacked bodies are sandwiched between the auxiliary facilities in a direction in which the two stacked bodies are arranged side by side.

6. The substrate transfer device according to claim 1 ,
wherein
the arm base main body protrudes transversely from an upper portion of the slider and is provided with the first driver, and
a proximal end of the first arm is connected to a lower side of the arm base main body.

7. The substrate transfer device according to claim 6 , wherein
the slider, the arm base main body, the first arm, and the second arm include a housing for the slider, a housing for the arm base main body, a housing for the first arm, and a housing for the second arm, respectively,
a communication path is provided to communicate an inside of the housing for the slider, an inside of the housing for the arm base main body, an inside of the housing for the first arm, and an inside of the housing for the second arm with each other, and
a second exhaust fan is provided in the slider to exhaust the inside of the housing for the slider, the inside of the housing for the arm base main body, the inside of the housing for the first arm, and the inside of the housing for the second arm, through the communication path.

8. A substrate transferring method comprising:
providing a substrate transfer device including:
an arm base main body provided with a first driver;
a lift configured to move up and down the arm base main body;
a first arm extending transversely from a lower side of the arm base main body, and having a tip end that pivots around a vertical axis with respect to the arm base main body by the first driver;
a second arm extending transversely from an upper side of the tip end of the first arm, and having a tip end that pivots around a vertical axis with respect to the first arm along with the pivoting of the first arm; and
a substrate holder provided on an upper side of the tip end of the second arm, and configured to hold a substrate and rotate around a vertical axis with respect to the second arm;
wherein
when a side of the lift on which the arm base main body is provided is a front side,
the lift includes:
a plurality of rails and a plurality of seal belts arranged side by side in a left-right direction and extending longitudinally vertical,
a fourth driver shared by the rails and configured to move up and down the arm base main body along an extending direction of each of the rails,
a slider supported by the lift and configured to move up and down and physically connected to the plurality of rails, and
a connecting member,
wherein a portion of each seal belt is opened, and the slider and the arm base main body are connected to each other via the connecting member provided in the opening;

moving up and down the arm base main body;
causing the tip end of the first arm to pivot around the vertical axis with respect to the arm base main body by the first driver;
causing the tip end of the second arm to pivot around the vertical axis with respect to the first arm along with the pivoting of the first arm; and
causing the substrate holder to rotate around the vertical axis with respect to the second arm, thereby transferring the substrate to one of a plurality of stacked processing modules that process the substrate.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Ide Kousei
• Iida Naruaki

Classifications

• H10P72/3206

  the substrate being handled substantially vertically · CPC title

• H10P72/0458 Primary

  vertical arrangement · CPC title

• H10P72/7602 Primary

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

• H10P72/3302

  Mechanical parts of transfer devices · CPC title

• H10P72/0464

  characterised by the construction of the transfer chamber · CPC title