JP2003128243A - Wire transfer device and inspection device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] To simplify and reduce the size of an apparatus. A wire transport device (1) comprises two wire portions (8) which are located in the middle of an annular transport wire (6) stretched so as not to bend and move in parallel and opposite directions.
And a driving means 3 for reciprocating the two wire portions 8 in opposite directions, and individually supporting the two wire portions 8 reciprocated in opposite directions to move in the transport direction of the semiconductor wear 31. Lifting means 4 for raising and lowering the wire portion 8 on the side alternately. The surface of the wire portion 8 was coated with silicone rubber. Two transport wires 6 were arranged in parallel so that the wire portions 8 were parallel to each other. Inspection device 2
No. 1 used the wire transfer device 1 as the transfer section.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wire transfer device for transferring an object using a wire and an inspection apparatus using the wire transfer device, and particularly to a wire transfer device suitable for transfer and inspection of a semiconductor wafer and the wire transfer device. Related to the inspection device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An inspection device for measuring the thickness, resistance value, etc. of a semiconductor wafer is generally known. In such an inspection apparatus, semiconductor wafers are continuously transported, and the thickness and the like are continuously measured.

A transfer device is used to transfer a semiconductor wafer. This transfer device is composed of a suction arm portion that sucks and supports a semiconductor wafer, a moving mechanism that moves the suction arm portion, and the like. Then, while the semiconductor wafer is transferred by this transfer device, the thickness, resistance value and the like are continuously measured.

[0004]

However, in the conventional inspection apparatus, the transfer device for transferring the semiconductor wafer becomes bulky and bulky. For this reason, the inspection device using this transport device also becomes large-scale.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wire transporting device having a simple structure and capable of downsizing the device, and an inspection device using the same. .

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a wire carrying device according to a first invention is located in the middle of an annular carrying wire stretched so as not to bend, and is parallel and opposite to each other. Transporting means composed of two wire portions moving to each other, driving means for reciprocating two wire portions of the transporting means in opposite directions, and the two reciprocating movements in opposite directions by the driving means. And an elevating means for alternately elevating and lowering the wire portion on the side that moves in the conveying direction of the object to be conveyed.

With the above-mentioned structure, the driving means is used as the conveying means.
The two wire parts are reciprocated in opposite directions, and the two wire parts are alternately moved up and down by the elevating means. Of the two wire portions reciprocating in opposite directions, one of them moves in the carrying direction of the object to be carried, and the other one moves in the opposite direction to the carrying direction. Further, since the moving directions of the two wire portions are alternately changed, the wire portions are alternately moved up and down by the elevating means according to the change cycle. For example, the wire part on the side that moves in the carrying direction of the object to be carried is maintained at the upper position and the wire part on the opposite side is lowered. As a result, the object to be conveyed on the wire portion on the side where the object to be conveyed moves in the direction of transfer is moved in the direction of transfer. This wire transfer device has a simple structure and can be downsized.

A wire conveying device according to a second invention is the first invention.
In the wire transport device according to the invention, the surface of the two wire portions of the transport means is coated with a material for protecting the transport object.

With the above structure, by transporting at the coating portion, it is possible to transport a difficult-to-handle plate material such as a semiconductor wafer. As the coating agent, a material such as silicone rubber that is soft and does not generate much dust is used.

A wire conveying device according to a third aspect of the present invention is the first aspect.
Alternatively, in the wire carrying device according to the second invention, a plurality of carrying wires are arranged in parallel so that the wire portions of the carrying means are parallel to each other.

With the above structure, it is possible to stably support and carry an object to be carried, particularly a plate material such as a semiconductor wafer, with a plurality of carrying wires.

An inspection apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention comprises one or a plurality of arranged inspection units, and a transportation unit arranged in a state of being laid over the inspection unit and moving an inspection object to the inspection unit. The inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the transport unit is provided.
It is constituted by the wire conveying device described in any one of 1 above.

With the above construction, since the wire transfer device is small, the inspection device can be downsized.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A wire conveying device and an inspection device using the same according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Wire Transfer Device] The wire transfer device will be described below. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the wire transfer device 1, and FIG. 2 is a front view showing the wire transfer device 1.

The wire carrying device 1 mainly comprises a carrying means 2 and
It is composed of a driving means 3 and an elevating means 4. In the present embodiment, the two transfer wires 6 are arranged in parallel and face each other. Each of the carrying wires 6 is provided with a carrying means 2, a driving means 3, and an elevating means 4.

The conveying means 2 is composed of two wire portions 8 located in the middle of the conveying wire 6 (between the elevating pulleys 10B, 10C, 10D and 10E described later). Each wire portion 8 is arranged along the transport path. As the carrying wire 6, a high-strength metal wire such as stainless steel or its alloy is used. A transport wire 6 is formed by making this metal wire annular. Since it is difficult to make a seamless annular wire, both ends are connected to each other at the joint portion 7 to form the annular carrying wire 6. The transport wire 6 includes six pulleys 10A, 10B,
It is provided across 10C, 10D, 10E, and 10F. Two pulleys 10A at both ends of each pulley,
10F is a drive pulley and a driven pulley. Intermediate pulleys 10B, 10C, 10D and 10E are lifting pulleys. The wire portion 8 of the transport wire 6 is a lifting pulley 10B,
They are arranged in parallel so as to be parallel to each other by 10C, 10D and 10E.

Drive pulley 10A and driven pulley 10F
Is a pulley for stretching the carrying wire 6 so as not to bend, and for causing the carrying wire 6 to reciprocate, that is, to reciprocate at a constant distance without being circulated.
The driven pulley 10F is a pulley for stretching the transport wire 6 together with the drive pulley 10A so as not to bend and supporting the reciprocating movement of the transport wire 6 by the drive pulley 10A. Between the driven pulley 10F and the lifting pulley 10E,
A tensioner 11 for providing the transport wire 6 with a constant tension (a tension that does not bend even when an object to be transported is placed) is provided.

Lifting pulleys 10B, 10C, 10D, 10
E is a pulley for alternately supporting and ascending and descending the two wire portions 8 serving as the transporting means 2, and constitutes a part of the ascending / descending means 4 described later. Lifting pulley 10B,
Reference numeral 10E designates one wire portion 8 as the lifting pulleys 10C and 10C.
D supports the other wire portion 8, respectively.

The surfaces of the two wire portions 8 of the transfer means 2 are coated with silicon rubber in order to protect an object to be transferred (particularly a semiconductor wafer). The silicone rubber coating is applied in such a range that the silicone rubber does not contact each pulley 10 when the wire portion 8 is reciprocated.

The driving means 3 is a device for reciprocating the two wire portions 8 of the conveying means 2 in opposite directions.
The drive means 3 is composed of a drive pulley 10A and a stepping motor (not shown). The drive pulley 10A is connected to the stepping motor. This stepping motor appropriately rotates the drive pulley 10A in the forward and reverse directions at a set angle (an angle corresponding to a distance for reciprocating the carrying wire 6 (wire portion 8)). The reciprocating distance is set according to the distance between the drive pulley 10A and the elevating pulley 10C. The carrying wire 6 is spanned so that its joint portion 7 is located between the drive pulley 10A and the elevating pulley 10C. When this joint portion 7 comes into contact with the drive pulley 10A and the elevating pulley 10C, minute dust or the like may be generated, so it is necessary to prevent them from coming into contact with each other. Therefore, it is necessary to set the joint portion 7 to reciprocate only between the drive pulley 10A and the elevating pulley 10C. Therefore, the distance for reciprocating the transport wire 6 is set to the distance between the drive pulley 10A and the elevating pulley 10C. This reciprocating distance is adjusted by changing the distance between the drive pulley 10A and the lifting pulley 10C.

The elevating means 4 is a device for alternately elevating and lowering the two wire portions 8 of the conveying means 2. The lifting means 4 includes lifting pulleys 10B, 10C, 10D and 10E.
, An air cylinder 13, and an air supply system (not shown). Lifting pulleys 10B, 10C, 10
The D and 10E are connected to the air cylinders 13 and moved up and down. Lifting pulleys 10B, 1
One wire portion 8 supported by 0E and the lifting pulley 10
The other wire portion 8 supported by C and 10D is supported close to each other (for example, at an interval of about 3 mm).
The stroke of the air cylinder 13 is set to about 3 to 5 mm, and the two wire portions 8 are alternately moved up and down within a range of about 3 to 5 mm. The air supply system is
It is controlled by a control device (not shown) so that the stepping motor of the driving means 3 is interlocked with the stepping motor.

Each of the above means is provided on each of the transfer wires 6 arranged in parallel, and the transfer target such as the semiconductor wafer 31 is supported by the two wire portions 8.

[Operation] The wire transfer device 1 configured as described above operates as follows.

First, an object to be transferred such as a semiconductor wafer 31 is placed on the wire portion 8 of the transfer means 2. In the driving means 3, the stepping motor is rotated in the forward and reverse directions, and the conveying means 2
The wire part 8 is reciprocated. In conjunction with this, the air cylinder 13 is moved up and down. When an object to be conveyed is conveyed in the forward direction of the conveying path, the stepping motor contracts the air cylinder 13 of the pulley supporting the wire portion 8 moving in the reverse direction to support the wire portion 8 moving in the forward direction. The operating air cylinder 13 is maintained as it is. As a result, the wire portions 8 moving in the opposite direction are alternately lowered, and the wire portion 8 maintained at the upper position becomes the transport side. Since the moving direction of each wire portion 8 changes alternately, each air cylinder 13 is moved up and down in synchronization with the forward and reverse rotation cycle of the stepping motor. As a result, the object to be conveyed is always on the wire portion 8 on the side moving in the forward direction (the wire portion 8 on the side moving in the conveying direction).
Then, it is carried by the moving distance of the wire portion 8 in one carrying operation. Further, by continuing this operation, the object to be transported is moved in the transport direction.

Since the moving distance of the wire portion 8 is accurately controlled by the stepping motor, the object to be conveyed is moved to an accurate position.

[Effect] As described above, since the object to be conveyed is conveyed by using the conveying wire 6, the structure is extremely simple and a very small installation space is required. As a result, the wire carrying device 1 can be downsized.

Further, since the carrying wire 6 is made of a high-strength metal wire and is supported by a pulley located at a sufficiently distant point, the position of the pulley is adjusted and the movement distance of the wire portion 8 is controlled by the stepping motor. Thus, the object to be transported can be moved to an accurate position.

[Inspection Device] Next, an inspection device using the wire transfer device 1 having the above-described structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

The inspection device 21 is mainly used for the loading table 2
2, a carry-in device 23, an inspection unit 24, a transport unit 25,
The unloading side mounting table 26 and the unloading device 27 are included.

The loading-side mounting table 22 is a table for supporting the loading-side wafer carrier 28. Wafer carrier 2
Six 8 are provided on an arc centered on the center of the mounting surface of the loading-side mounting table 22. A carry-in device 23 is provided at the center of the placement surface.

The carry-in device 23 is a device for gripping the semiconductor ware 31 stored in each wafer carrier 28 on the mounting surface of the carry-in side mounting table 22 one by one and mounting it on the transfer section 25.

The inspection unit 24 mainly includes a position adjusting device 32,
It is composed of a thickness detecting unit 33, a high resistivity detecting unit 34, and a low resistivity detecting unit 35. The position adjusting device 32 is
The carry-in device 23 aligns the semiconductor wafer 31 placed on the transfer unit 25 to an accurate position. The thickness detecting unit 33 is a device for detecting the thickness of the semiconductor wafer 31, and the resistivity detecting units 34, 35 are devices for detecting the resistivity of the semiconductor wafer, respectively. The position adjusting device 32, the thickness detecting unit 33, the high resistivity detecting unit 34, and the low resistivity detecting unit 35 are all installed at equal intervals. This installation interval is a distance that the semiconductor wear 31 can move in one carrying operation by the carrying unit 25. That is, it is a distance that the semiconductor wear 31 can be advanced by one rotation of the stepping motor in the forward direction or the reverse direction. The semiconductor wafer 31 can be accurately moved to the position of the next apparatus by one transfer operation of the transfer section 25.

The transfer unit 25 is a device for sequentially moving the semiconductor wafer 31 to the position adjusting device 32 of the inspection unit 24, the thickness detecting unit 33, the high resistivity detecting unit 34, and the low resistivity detecting unit 35. The transfer unit 25 is configured by the wire transfer device 1. The wire transfer device 1 includes a loading adjustment table 32, a thickness detection section 33, a high resistivity detection section 34, and a low resistivity detection section 35, respectively. It is built in between.

The carry-out side mounting table 26 is a table for supporting an empty wafer carrier 38 on the carry-out side. Six wafer carriers 38 are provided on an arc centered on the center of the mounting surface of the unloading side mounting table 26. A carry-out device 27 is provided at the center of the placement surface.

The carry-out device 27 is a device for gripping the semiconductor wafers after the inspection one by one and storing them in each wafer carrier 38 on the mounting surface of the carry-out side mounting table 26.

[Operation] The inspection device 21 configured as described above operates as follows.

The semiconductor wafer 31 to be inspected is placed on the loading table 22 while being inserted into the wafer carrier 28. The carry-in device 23 takes out the semiconductor wear 31 one by one from the wafer carrier 28 placed around the carry-in device 23, and the wire part 8 of the wire carrying device 1 which is the carrying part 25.
Place on.

In the wire conveying device 1, the wire portion 8 is reciprocated by the driving means 3 and the wire portion 8 is moved by the elevating means 4.
Are alternately moved up and down to send the semiconductor wear 31 to the position adjusting device 32. The carry-in device 23 places the next semiconductor wear 31 on the wire portion 8.

In the position adjusting device 32, the position of the semiconductor wear 31 placed on the wire portion 8 is adjusted according to the inspection position of the thickness detecting portion 33 and the like. Next, the wire transfer device 1
The wire section 8 sends the semiconductor wear 31 to the thickness detecting section 33 by the driving means 3 and the elevating means 4 of FIG. The thickness detector 33 detects the thickness of the semiconductor wear 31. At the same time, the semiconductor wear 31 newly placed on the wire portion 8 by the carry-in device 23 is sent to the position adjusting device 32. Next, the semiconductor ware 31 is sequentially sent to the high resistivity detecting section 34 and the low resistivity detecting section 35 by the wire transport device 1 and is inspected.
After that, it is stored in the wafer carrier 38 on the unloading side mounting table 26 by the unloading device 27.

[Effect] As described above, since the transport unit 25 of the inspection device 21 is configured by the wire transport device 1 mainly composed of the wire and the pulley, the transport unit 25 becomes a simple and small device, and the inspection device 21 can be miniaturized.

Also, since the amount of movement of the wire portion 8 can be accurately controlled by the stepping motor by eliminating the bending of the carrying wire 6, the semiconductor wear 31 can be moved accurately.

[Modification] (1) In the above-described embodiment, the wire transfer device 1 is configured such that the two transfer wires 6 are arranged in parallel and the semiconductor wear 31 is supported by the two wire portions 8. Although it is configured, three or more transfer wires 6 are arranged in parallel to form three wire parts 8
The semiconductor ware 31 may be supported by.

(2) Further, in the above-described embodiment, the semiconductor wear 31 is set as the object to be transferred and is placed on the two wire parts 8 and transferred, but three or more wire parts 8 are used.
The object to be conveyed may be sandwiched between and conveyed.
In this case, it is suitable for conveying a sheet-shaped object to be conveyed which has no problem even if the wire portions 8 come into contact with both side surfaces. Alternatively, the object to be conveyed may be sandwiched between the wire portions 8 and conveyed in the vertical direction.

(3) In the above embodiment, the carrying wires 6 are arranged in parallel, but when carrying a long distance,
A plurality of transport wires 6 may be continuously arranged in series. In this case, the elevator pulleys 10B, 10C, 10D, and 10E arranged horizontally as in the above embodiment are arranged vertically so that the wire portions 8 of the wire transfer device 1 connected in series overlap each other. Thereby, the object to be conveyed can be continuously conveyed between the plurality of wire conveying devices 1.

(4) In the above-described embodiment, the surface of the wire portion 8 is coated with the silicone rubber that protects the semiconductor wear 31 which is the object to be conveyed. To coat. Also,
Depending on the type of object to be transported, it may not be necessary to coat it.

(5) In the above embodiment, the inspection device 21
Although the inspection unit 24 is composed of the three detection units 33, 34, and 35, it goes without saying that four or more detection units or two or less detection units may be provided.

(6) In the above embodiment, two driving means 3 are provided for each carrying wire 6, but each driving pulley 10
A may be connected and driven by one stepping motor.

[0049]

As described above, the wire conveying device and the inspection device using the same of the present invention have the following effects.

(1) Since the means for conveying the object to be conveyed is composed of the wire, the structure is simple and the wire conveying device can be downsized.

(2) Since the surface of the wire portion is coated to protect the object to be conveyed, it can be safely conveyed without damaging the object to be conveyed. In particular, the use of silicone rubber protects the object to be conveyed due to its softness, generates less dust, and does not contaminate the object to be conveyed.

(3) By arranging a plurality of wire portions in parallel, it is possible to stably support and convey an object to be conveyed, particularly a plate material such as a semiconductor wafer.

(4) Since the transport section of the inspection device is constituted by the wire transport device, the inspection device can be downsized. As a result, the inspection device can be easily installed even in a limited space.

(5) By supporting a semiconductor wafer or the like with a wire portion having a sufficient tension, the semiconductor wafer or the like can be accurately conveyed without moving up and down, so that it can be used as a conveying means for precision equipment or the like. can do. Besides this, it can be used as a transporting means for various devices.

(6) Since both ends of a linear wire are connected to each other to form an annular carrying wire, the carrying wire can be easily manufactured and its size can be freely set. With this, it is not necessary to provide the tensioner more than necessary, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a wire transfer device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the wire transfer device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the inspection device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an inspection apparatus according to this embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: wire conveying device, 2: conveying means, 3: driving means,
4: Elevating means, 6: Transport wire, 7: Joint part,
8: Wire part, 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, 10
E, 10F: pulley, 10A: drive pulley, 10B, 1
0C, 10D, 10E: lifting pulley, 10F: driven pulley, 11: tensioner, 13: air cylinder, 21: inspection device, 22: loading side mounting table, 23: loading device, 24:
Inspection unit, 25: transfer unit, 26: unloading side mounting table, 27: unloading device, 28: wafer carrier, 32: position adjusting device,
33: thickness detecting section, 34: high resistivity detecting section, 35: low resistivity detecting section.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 4M106 AA01 DG02 DG03 DG08                 5F031 CA02 DA01 FA01 FA07 FA09                       FA11 FA14 GA02 GA30 GA32                       GA42 GA47 GA51 GA60 HA12                       HA57 HA60 LA09 LA13 LA15                       MA13 MA16 MA33 PA02 PA26

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A conveying means comprising two wire portions which are positioned in the middle of an annular conveying wire stretched so as not to bend and which are parallel and move in opposite directions, and two wires of the conveying means. Means for reciprocating the parts in opposite directions, and a wire part for moving the object to be conveyed in the conveying direction by individually supporting the two wire parts reciprocating in opposite directions by the driving means. And a lifting means for alternately lifting and lowering the wire. 2. The wire carrying device according to claim 1, wherein the surfaces of the two wire portions of the carrying means are coated to protect the object to be carried. 3. The wire carrying device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of carrying wires are arranged in parallel so that the wire portions of the carrying means are parallel to each other. apparatus. 4. An inspection apparatus comprising one or a plurality of arranged inspection units and a conveyance unit which is arranged in a state of being hung on the inspection unit and moves an inspection object to the inspection unit, wherein the conveyance unit. Is constituted by the wire conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.