JPH0790884B2 - Board storage / removal management system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial field of application> The present invention relates to a thin plate shape such as an exposure mask and a reticle used in a photolithography process in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device and the like. An exposure substrate is provided between a storage shelf for storing and storing the exposure substrate and a substrate holder for temporarily storing the exposure substrate for transporting the exposure substrate taken out from the storage shelf to an exposure machine. The present invention relates to a board storage / removal management system that manages the transfer of substrates.

<Prior Art> In recent years, in the photolithography process of a semiconductor manufacturing line, the automation of the line has been rapidly advanced. In particular, in a small-quantity, high-mix production line, the number of exposure substrates (hereinafter simply referred to as substrates) such as masks and reticles for printing circuit patterns on semiconductor wafers is enormous. There is a strong demand to improve the processing efficiency of the process by taking out the substrate without fail and setting it on the exposure machine quickly.

In order to meet such a demand, for example, JP-A-63-22
There is a substrate transfer device as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 448.

This substrate transfer device takes out a desired substrate from a movable cassette library (referred to as a substrate holder in the present invention) that temporarily stores a plurality of substrates taken out from a storage rack and transfers it to an exposure device. By detecting the board information added to the board on the way and transmitting the board information to the exposure machine to initialize the exposure machine in advance, the time required for the replacement of the board is shortened. .

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> The substrate transfer apparatus described above is intended to improve the process efficiency of the process by automating the transfer of the substrate between the cassette library and the exposure device. It is valid.

However, even if the above-described substrate transfer device is used, the desired substrate is taken out from the storage shelf in which a large number of substrates are stored and stored in the cassette library, and the used substrate is stored in the storage shelf from the cassette library. Since this work is performed manually, there is a problem that it takes time to take out and store the board, and moreover, errors are likely to occur.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and is a substrate storage / removal method that can quickly and accurately take out a required substrate from a storage shelf and store the substrate in the storage shelf. It is intended to provide a retrieval management system.

<Means for Solving the Problems> The present invention has the following configuration in order to achieve such an object.

That is, the present invention provides a storage shelf for storing and storing a plurality of exposure substrates, and a temporary storage of the exposure substrates for transferring required exposure substrates between the storage rack and the exposure machine. Is a substrate storage / removal management system for managing the transfer of an exposure substrate between the storage shelf and the substrate holder, wherein the storage shelf is provided by gripping the required exposure substrate or Substrate holding means for taking in and out of a required position of the substrate holder, transfer means for transferring the substrate holding means between the storage shelf and the substrate holder, and exposure to the storage shelf or the substrate holder during the transfer by the transfer means. Positioning means for positioning the exposure substrate when accommodating the exposure substrate, horizontal and vertical position information of the storage shelf, and information relating to the depth position on which each exposure substrate is placed are stored. Shelf information storage means and identification information of the exposure substrate to be taken out / stored, and /
Alternatively, a designating unit that designates the storage position information of the exposure substrate, a storage position storage unit that stores the storage position information corresponding to the identification information of each exposure substrate, and the storage position information given from the designating unit. On the basis of, or on the basis of reading the storage position information corresponding to the identification information of the exposure substrate given from the designating means from the storage position storage means, and controlling the horizontal and vertical movements of the transport means, and Control means for controlling the movement of the board gripping means in the depth direction based on the depth position information read from the shelf information storage means based on the storage position information.

<Operation> The operation of the present invention is as follows.

Retrieval of Exposure Substrate When the identification information of the exposure substrate to be retrieved from the storage rack is designated by the designating means, the storage position information corresponding to the identification information is read from the storage position storage means. Based on this storage position information, the control means controls the horizontal and vertical movements of the transfer means to transfer the substrate gripping means to the designated position on the storage rack. The substrate gripping means grips and takes out the exposure substrate stored at that position. The taken-out exposure substrate is transferred to the substrate holder by the transfer means,
During this transportation, the positioning means positions the substrate holder at the position where it is to be stored, and then it is carried into a required position of the substrate holder.

Storage of Exposure Substrate There are the following modes for storing the exposure substrate in a predetermined position of the storage rack. For example, it is a mode in which the storage position of the exposure substrate is directly designated by the designating unit, and another example is a case where the identification information of the exposure substrate is designated by the designating unit.

When the storage position information of the exposure substrate is given by the designating means, based on the storage position information, or when the identification information of the exposure substrate is provided by the designating means,
Based on reading the storage position information corresponding to the identification information from the storage position storage means, the control means controls the movement of the transfer means in the horizontal and vertical directions, takes it out from the substrate holder, and positions it to the substrate gripping means. The exposed exposure substrate is conveyed to a predetermined position on the storage rack. Then, depth position information corresponding to the storage position information is read out from the shelf information storage means, and based on this information, the movement of the substrate gripping means in the depth direction is controlled, and the exposure substrate is moved to a predetermined depth position in the storage shelf. Place on.

<Example> Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a substrate storage / removal management system according to an embodiment, FIG. 1 (a) is a plan view, and FIG. 1 (b).
Is a front view.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a storage rack for partitioning and storing a plurality of exposure substrates in the horizontal and vertical directions. The storage shelf 1 stores, for example, a reticle as an exposure substrate. The reticle is stored in the reticle case 4 as shown in FIG. The reticle case 4 is provided with a front lid 3 which can be opened and closed, and a bar code 5 as identification information for identifying the model and attributes of the stored reticle 2 is provided on the front surface of the front lid 3. It is pasted. On both sides of the reticle case 4, the reticle case 4
A pawl 6 and a guide 7 for guiding are formed which are locked at the time of delivery.

The detailed structure of the storage rack 1 is shown in FIG. The shelf on which each reticle case 4 is individually placed is composed of a pair of left and right shelf guides 8. Support pins 9 for supporting the reticle case 4 are provided on the bottom surface of each shelf guide 8, and the left and right directions of the reticle case 4. And a guide bin 10 that regulates the movement of the.

Returning to FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 is a substrate holder that temporarily stores the reticle case 4 taken out of the storage rack 1 in order to transfer it to an exposure machine (not shown). The substrate holder 11 is mounted on a holder mounting table 13 screwed onto a screw shaft 12, and the screw shaft 12 is driven to rotate by a pulse motor 80, whereby the substrate holder 11 can be set to a predetermined substrate transfer height. Is configured.

Reference numeral 14 is a substrate holding mechanism as a substrate holding means for holding the reticle case 4 and putting it in and out of the storage rack 1. The substrate gripping mechanism 14 is transported by the transport mechanism 15 to any position in the storage shelf 1 in the horizontal (X direction in the drawing) / vertical direction (Y direction in the drawing). The transfer mechanism 15 includes, as a vertical transfer mechanism, a screw shaft 16 screwed into the substrate gripping mechanism 14 and a pulse motor 17 for driving the screw shaft 16. Also, as a horizontal transfer mechanism, a rack and pinion mechanism 18 and a pulse motor for driving the rack and pinion mechanism 18. Including 19 etc.

The structure of the substrate holding mechanism 14 is shown in FIG.

1A is a plan view of the substrate gripping mechanism 14, and FIG. 1B is a front view thereof.

The base plate 20 of the substrate gripping mechanism 14 moves up and down along the above-mentioned screw shaft 16 and the guide rod 21, and the substrate gripping mechanism 14 is mounted on the base plate 20 in the depth direction of the storage shelf 1 (Z direction in the drawing). A pulse motor 22 and a screw shaft 23 driven by the pulse motor 22 are attached as a drive mechanism for moving the pulse motor 22. Reference numeral 24 is a support plate for supporting the reticle case 4 from below, and a screw shaft 23 is screwed into the support plate 24 and a guide rod 23a is inserted therethrough. The support plate 24 holds the end portion of the reticle case 4 from above and regulates the movement of the reticle case 4, and an air cylinder 26 pin-connected to the holding plate 25.
And are provided. The pressing plate 25 has a “T” -shaped tip portion, and the shaft 27 loosely fitted to this base portion.
Both ends of are inserted into and supported by the guide holes 29 of the support plate 28. The guide hole 29 is in the shape of a horizontal elongated hole, and its front end (the left end in FIG. 4B) is bent downward in an inclined manner. As a result, the rod 26a of the air cylinder 26
When the rod 26a is retracted, the pressing plate 25 is located above, and when the rod 26a is extended, the end portion of the shaft 27 falls into the depression of the front end portion of the guide hole 29, and the pressing plate 25
25 descends and presses the reticle case 4.

The support plate 24 of the substrate gripping mechanism 14 is provided with optical sensors S1 and S2 for detecting the reticle case 4 and a bar code reader S3 for reading the bar code 5 attached to the reticle case 4. ing. The barcode reader S3 corresponds to a designating unit for designating the identification information of the reticle 2 to be stored in the storage rack 1.

Returning to FIG. 1, reference numeral 30 is a delivery mechanism for delivering the reticle case 4 between the substrate holding mechanism 14 and the substrate holder 11. The structure of the delivery mechanism 30 is shown in FIG. The same figure (a) is a top view and the same figure (b) is I- of the figure (a).
FIG. 1 (c) is a view taken along the line II-II of FIG.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 31 is a pair of grip arms for gripping the reticle case 4 from the side surface side. A concave portion 32 that engages with the claw 6 formed on the side surface of the reticle case 4 is formed inside the tip portion of each gripping arm 31. The base of each gripping arm 31 is connected to a rotary actuator 33, and the gripping arm 31 is opened and closed by driving the rotary actuator 33.

Each rotary actuator 33 is attached to the moving base 34. A screw shaft 35 is screwed onto the moving base 34, and a guide rod 36 is inserted through the moving base 34. By driving a pulse motor 37 connected to the screw shaft 35, the gripping arm 31 is moved to the moving base 34. It is configured to integrally move back and forth (move in the Z direction). 38 is a booth plate to which the screw shaft 35 and the guide rod 36 are attached. The screw shaft 51 is screwed into the base plate 38, and the guide rod 52 is inserted therethrough. The delivery mechanism is rotated by a motor 53 (see FIG. 1 (a)).
30 is configured to move in the X direction. Base plate
Side plates 39 are provided on side surfaces of the reticle 38 in the longitudinal direction. Each side plate 39 has a plurality of guide rollers 40 for supporting the guides 7 of the reticle case 4 from below when the reticle case 4 is delivered, and the reticle case 4. And a support roller 41 for supporting the bottom surface of the.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5 (c), an L-shaped link 43 is swingably supported by the side plate 39, and the reticle case 4 is attached to the substrate holder 11 at the tip of each L-shaped link 43. Alternatively, a positioning roller that contacts the side surface of the reticle case 4 and positions the side surface of the reticle case 4 when it is delivered from the substrate holding mechanism 14.
42 is installed. The lower end of the L-shaped link 43 is in contact with the rod-shaped cam 44. As shown in FIG. 5 (b), a recess 46 is formed on the origin side (right side in FIG. 5 (b)) of the cam surface of the rod-shaped cam 44 that is in contact with the cam follower 45 attached to the moving base 34. Has been done. When the cam follower 45 abuts on the cam surface and rolls, the rod-shaped cam 44 moves up and down to open and close the positioning roller 42.

The rod-shaped cam 44 described above is in contact with the tip of a push rod 47 supported by the base plate 38 so as to be vertically movable. A cam follower 48 is attached to the lower end of the push rod 47, and the cam follower 48 rolls on the rod-shaped cam 50 mounted in the X direction on the fixed base 49, so that the rod-shaped cam 50 is also operated by the push rod 47. It is configured so that 44 can be moved up and down.

Next, the configuration of the control system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

60 is a CPU corresponding to the control means in the present invention,
This CPU 60 uses the input / output interface 67 to output the pulse motors 17, 19
2,37,53, air cylinder 26, rotary actuator 3
3, the bar code reader S3, and a group of sensors installed in various places of the apparatus.

Reference numeral 61 is a ROM that stores the operation program of the apparatus, and 62 is a RAM that includes a shelf information storage unit 63 and a storage position storage unit 64. The shelf information storage unit 63 stores horizontal and vertical position information of each shelf of the storage shelf 1 and depth position information in which the reticle case 4 should be placed in each shelf. This depth position information is created in advance for each shelf so that the reticle case 4 is mounted at a fixed position in the depth direction of each shelf with respect to the support pin 9 as a reference for the mounting position on the shelf. This is the data to be set (see FIG. 3). In addition, the storage position storage unit 64 associates the identification information of each reticle case 4 with the horizontal position of the storage shelf 1 in which each reticle case 4 is to be stored.
Vertical storage position information is stored.

Reference numeral 65 is a keyboard for designating identification information of the reticle 2 and storage position information of the reticle 2.
Reference numeral 65, together with the above-mentioned bar code reader S3, corresponds to the designating means in the present invention. Reference numeral 66 is a CRT that displays input information and messages to the operator.

Reference numeral 68 is a communication interface for communicating with the host computer 71 via the process controller 70 that manages a plurality of reticle storage shelves. The host computer 71 manages the entire semiconductor device manufacturing line, for example.

Next, the operation of the system having the above configuration will be described.

[A] Reticle 2 Takeout Operation (1) Input of Identification Information of Reticle 2 A keyboard is used to take out a desired reticle 2 from a large number of reticles 2 stored and stored in the storage shelf 1.
Key in the identification information of the reticle 2 to be taken out from 65. Alternatively, in a process in which the time at which the desired reticle 2 should be taken out is managed in advance, the identification information of the reticle 2 and the taking out time are transmitted from the host computer 71 via the process controller 70 and the communication interface 68. Then, the identification information of the required reticle 2 stored in the RAM 62 can be automatically read out when the predetermined take-out time is reached.

(2) Horizontal / vertical movement of the transport mechanism 15 When the identification information of the reticle 2 to be taken out is given as described above, the CPU 60 provides the horizontal / vertical position information of the reticle 2 corresponding to the identification information to the storage position of the RAM 62. Memory 64
The pulse motor 19 for driving the horizontal direction and the pulse motor 17 for driving the vertical direction of the transport mechanism 15 are respectively driven and controlled based on this horizontal / vertical position information so that the reticle 2 causes the substrate gripping mechanism 14 to move. Move to the stored shelf position.

(3) Movement of the board gripping mechanism 14 in the depth direction When the board gripping mechanism 14 moves to a predetermined position on the storage rack 1, the pulse motor 22 is driven, and the support plate 24 is moved.
Is moved in the depth direction of the storage rack 1 and inserted below the reticle case 4 in the rack. At this time, the rod 26a of the air cylinder 26 is retracted, and the holding plate 25 is at the upper position. When the support plate 24 is moving,
The detection signal of the optical sensor S1 confirms whether the reticle case 4 is stored in the shelf. When it is confirmed that the reticle case 4 is stored, the substrate holding mechanism 14 is driven further in the back direction. The tip of the reticle case 4 is the optical sensor in front of the support plate 24.
When reaching the position of S2, the pulse motor 22 is stopped based on the detection signal of the optical sensor S2. At this time, by the bar code reader S3 provided in the board holding mechanism 14,
The barcode 5 of the reticle case 4 may be read and compared with the identification information of the designated reticle 2 to check whether there is an error.

(4) Gripping operation of the reticle case 4 When the pulse motor 22 is stopped, the pulse motor 17 for vertical conveyance of the conveyance mechanism 15 is driven, and the support plate 24 is slightly moved upward. As a result, the reticle case 4 placed on the support pins 9 of the shelf guide 8 is transferred to the support plate 24. And the rod of the air cylinder 26
By driving the extension 26a, the pressing plate 25 is pushed forward. When the shaft 27 of the pressing plate 25 advances along the guide hole 29 and falls into the recess of the tip end,
The holding plate 25 descends, and the end portion of the reticle case 4 is held by the support plate 24 and the holding plate 25.

(5) Transporting Operation of Reticle Case 4 When the reticle case 4 is gripped by the substrate gripping mechanism 14, the pulse motor 22 is driven in reverse to move the reticle case 4 gripped by the substrate gripping mechanism 14 from the storage shelf 1. Taken out. Then, the substrate holding mechanism 14 is driven by driving the pulse motor 19 and the pulse motor 17 of the transport mechanism 15.
Are conveyed to the delivery position of the reticle case 4 (the position of the substrate holding mechanism 14 shown by the solid line in FIG. 1).

(6) Transfer operation of reticle case 4 from the substrate gripping mechanism 14 to the transfer mechanism 30 When the sensor (not shown) detects that the substrate gripping mechanism 14 has been transported to the transfer position, it also waits at the transfer position. By driving the pulse motor 37 of the delivery mechanism 30, the moving base 34 is extended forward. At this time, the rotary actuator 33 is set so that the gripping arm 31 is opened. When the moving base 34 is extended to a predetermined position, the pulse motor 37 stops and the rotary actuator 33 is driven to hold the gripping arm.
31 is closed, and the recess 32 of the gripping arm 31 engages with the tab 6 of the reticle case 4.

When the reticle case 4 is gripped by the gripping arm 31, the pressing plate 25 of the substrate gripping mechanism 14 is driven upward. Then, the pulse motor 37 of the delivery mechanism 30 is driven in the reverse direction so that the moving base 34 moves backward. When the reticle case 4 is transferred from the substrate holding mechanism 14 to the delivery mechanism 30, it is guided by the guide roller 40 of the reticle case 4, and then the bottom surface of the reticle case 4 is supported by the support roller 41 and moved to a predetermined position. To be done.

When the reticle case 4 moves to a predetermined position and is stopped, the cam follower 45 attached to the moving base 34 reaches the recess 46 of the rod cam 44, and the rod cam 44 moves down. In this way, the L-shaped link 43 contacting the upper surface of the rod-shaped cam 44 is displaced inward, the positioning roller 42 contacts the side surface of the reticle case 4, and the left and right positions of the reticle case 4 are positioned.

(7) Loading operation of the reticle case 4 from the delivery mechanism 30 to the substrate holder 11 The reticle case 4 is delivered by the delivery mechanism as described in (6) above.
When transferred, the pulse motor 53 of the delivery mechanism 30 is driven, so that the delivery mechanism 30 is horizontally driven in the standby position direction of the substrate holder 11. When the sensor (not shown) detects that the delivery mechanism 30 reaches the position facing the substrate holder 11, the pulse motor 53 is stopped. At the stop position of the delivery mechanism 30, the rod-shaped cam 50 on the fixed base 49 is provided.
Is convex. Therefore, when the delivery mechanism 30 reaches the stop position, the push rod 47 is pushed up by the rod-shaped cam 50 to raise the rod-shaped cam 44, and the L-shaped link 43 is displaced outward, so that the positioning roller 42 and the reticle case 4 are separated from each other. The contact state of is released.

When carrying the reticle case 4 into the substrate holder 11,
The reticle case 4 is inserted into the substrate holder 11 by driving the pulse motor 37 and moving the moving base 34 forward. When the reticle case 4 is inserted into the substrate holder 11, the rotary actuator 33 is driven and the gripping arm 31 is displaced to the open state. When the pulse motor 37 is driven in the reverse direction and the moving base 34 is returned to the fixed position, the pulse motor 53 is further driven in the reverse direction and the delivery mechanism 30 is moved to the original delivery position (shown by the solid line in FIG. 1A). It is returned to the position of the delivery mechanism 30).

By repeating the above operation, the designated reticles 2 are sequentially taken out from the storage rack 1,
It is carried into the substrate holder 11.

When all the required reticles 2 are loaded into the substrate holder 11, the substrate holder 11 is transferred to the exposure device by hand or by automatic transportation.

[B] Next, an operation for storing the used reticle 2 placed in the substrate holder 11 in the storage shelf 1 will be described.

(1) Removal operation of reticle case 4 from substrate holder 11 When removing reticle case 4 from substrate holder 11,
The delivery mechanism 30 is set at a position facing the substrate holder 11,
The pulse motor 37 is driven to move the moving base 34 forward, and the fertilizing arm 31 causes the reticle case 4 in the substrate holder 11 to move.
Is carried out and carried out from the substrate holder 11. Next, the pulse motor 53 is driven, and the reticle case 4 is conveyed to the delivery position to the substrate holding mechanism 14.

At this time, the operation of taking out the reticle 2 ([A]
The left and right positions of the reticle case 4 are positioned by the reverse operation of (6).

(2) Delivery of Reticle Case 4 from Delivery Mechanism 30 to Substrate Holding Mechanism 14 When the delivery mechanism 30 reaches the delivery position to the substrate holding mechanism 14 and stops, the pulse motor 37 is driven to move the base 34.
Is paid out. At this time, the pressing plate 25 of the substrate holding mechanism 14 is waiting in the open state, and the reticle case 4 fed out from the delivery mechanism 30 is detected by the sensor S2, whereby the pressing plate 25 is driven to the closed state. . When the reticle case 4 is fertilized by the substrate gripping mechanism 14, the fertilizing arm 31 is driven to an open state, and then the moving base 34 is retracted, and then is driven to a delivery position to the substrate holder 11, The reticle case 4 is unloaded.

(3) Reading Identification Information of Reticle Case 4 When the reticle case 4 is received by the substrate holding mechanism 14,
A barcode reader S3 provided on the substrate gripping mechanism 14 reads the barcode 5 attached to the reticle case 4. The identification information of the reticle 2 obtained by reading the barcode 5 is sent to the CPU 60. CPU60
Reads the storage position information of the reticle 2 (horizontal / vertical position information of the storage rack 1) corresponding to this identification information from the storage position storage unit 64 of the RAM 62.

(4) Transport operation of reticle case 4 The CPU 60 drives the pulse motors 17 and 19 of the transport mechanism 15 based on the horizontal / vertical position information of the reticle 2 read from the storage position storage unit 64 to move the reticle case 4. Carry it to the specified shelf position.

(5) Storing operation of the reticle case 4 When the reticle case 4 reaches the predetermined shelf position, the CPU6
At 0, the depth position information of the shelf position is read from the shelf information storage unit 63 of the RAM 62 based on the storage position information of the reticle 2. Based on this depth position information, the CPU 60 drives the pulse motor 22 of the substrate gripping mechanism 14 to extend the reticle case 4 supported by the support plate 24 and the pressing plate 25 forward and put it in the shelf. insert.
At this time, the optical sensor S1 attached to the tip of the support plate 24 causes the other reticle case 4 to move to the shelf position.
It is confirmed whether or not is entered. If no other reticle case 4 is inserted, the fattened reticle case 4 is further unrolled and transferred to a predetermined depth position. When the reticle case 4 reaches a predetermined position, the pulse motor 22 is stopped and the pressing plate 25 is driven upward, so that the fertilized state of the reticle case 4 is released. Then, the pulse motor 17 of the transport mechanism 15 is driven and the support plate 24 is slightly lowered. As a result, the reticle case 4 on the support plate 24 is transferred onto the support pins 9 of the shelf guide 8.

When the reticle case 4 is stored at a predetermined position on the storage shelf 1,
The pulse motor 22 rotates in the reverse direction, the support plate 24 retracts, and then the pulse motors 17 and 19 of the transport mechanism 15 are driven, whereby the substrate gripping mechanism 14 and the transfer mechanism 30 receive the next reticle case 4. Returned to the delivery position.

By repeating the above operation, the substrate holder
The reticle cases 4 in 11 are sequentially stored in the corresponding shelf positions.

In the above description of the operation, when the reticle case 4 is stored at a predetermined shelf position of the storage shelf 1, the reticle case 4 is stored.
By reading the barcode 5 of, the storage position information of the reticle 2 is read from the RAM 62.
For this, the storage position information may be directly input from the keyboard 65.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the substrate holder 11 and the substrate gripping mechanism 14 are provided so that the substrate holder 11 can be pulled out forward.
The delivery of the reticle case 4 between the delivery and the delivery was performed via the delivery mechanism 30. By doing so, the device shown in FIG. 1 can be mounted on the wall surface in the process,
Space saving can be achieved. On the other hand, the substrate holder 11
When it is allowed to pull out from the rear side, it is not necessary to provide the delivery mechanism 30, and the reticle case 4 may be directly delivered between the substrate holder 11 and the substrate holding mechanism 14. . According to such a device, the structure of the device can be simplified because the delivery mechanism 30 is not provided.

Furthermore, in the embodiment, the reticle is used as an example of the exposure substrate for explanation, but it goes without saying that the same applies to the case of an exposure mask.

Further, in the embodiment, when the reticle case 4 is taken out from the storage shelf 1, the movement of the pulse motor 22 is controlled based on the detection signal of the optical sensor S2 provided on the support plate 24 of the substrate gripping mechanism 14, but the reticle is The reticle case 4 may be taken out by controlling the movement of the pulse motor 22 on the basis of the depth position information stored in the shelf information storage unit 63, as in the case of housing the case 4.

<Effects of the Invention> As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically take out the exposure substrate from the storage rack and store the exposure substrate in the storage rack. Therefore, the required exposure substrate can be quickly and accurately taken out and stored, as compared with the conventional manual operation, and the processing efficiency of the photolithography process is improved.

Further, according to the present invention, in addition to horizontal / vertical position information of each shelf position of the storage shelf, depth position information on which the exposure substrate should be placed according to each shelf position is stored in advance, and the exposure substrate At the time of storage, the exposure substrate is placed at a position corresponding to this depth information. Therefore, the configuration of the device is simpler than when a sensor is installed at each shelf position and the depth position is determined. Become.

Further, according to the present invention, the exposure substrate is positioned when the exposure substrate is stored in the storage shelf or the substrate holder during the transportation of the exposure substrate. Therefore, the exposure substrate is stored in the storage shelf or the substrate holder. Can be stored in the correct position.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 6 relate to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing each mechanical portion constituting a substrate storage / removal management system, and FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of a reticle case. 3, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a shelf guide of a storage shelf, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a substrate holding mechanism, FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a delivery mechanism, and FIG.
The figure is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control system. 1 ... Storage rack, 2 ... Reticle 4 ... Reticle case, 5 ... Bar code 11 ... Substrate holder, 14 ... Substrate gripping mechanism 15 ... Transport mechanism, 30 ... Delivery mechanism 17,19,22, 37,53 …… Pulse motor 60 …… CPU, 62 …… RAM 63 …… Shelf information storage, 64 …… Storage position storage 65 …… Keyboard, S3 …… Bar code reader

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A storage shelf for storing and storing a plurality of exposure substrates or a storage case (hereinafter, simply referred to as an exposure substrate) in which a plurality of exposure substrates are stored, and a storage rack required between the storage rack and the exposure device. Substrate storage / take-out management system for managing the delivery of the exposure substrate between the storage rack and the substrate holder, the substrate holder temporarily storing the exposure substrate for delivering the exposure substrate. A substrate gripping means for gripping the required exposure substrate and taking it in and out of a required location of the storage shelf or substrate holder; and a transport means for transporting the substrate gripping means between the storage shelf and the substrate holder. Positioning means for positioning the exposure substrate when the exposure substrate is stored in the storage shelf or the substrate holder during the transfer by the transfer means, and horizontal and vertical positions of the storage shelf. Shelf information storage means for storing placement information and information relating to the depth position on which each exposure substrate is placed, identification information of the exposure substrate to be taken out / stored, and /
Alternatively, a designating unit that designates the storage position information of the exposure substrate, a storage position storage unit that stores the storage position information corresponding to the identification information of each exposure substrate, and the storage position information given from the designating unit. On the basis of, or based on reading out, from the storage position storage means, storage position information corresponding to the identification information of the exposure substrate given from the designating means, and controlling the horizontal and vertical movements of the transport means, and Storage / removal of a substrate, comprising: control means for controlling the movement of the substrate gripping means in the depth direction based on the depth position information read from the shelf information storage means based on the storage position information. Management system.