JPH115630A - Substrate transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suck a wafer out of contact by arranging a communicating hole which is communicated with a nozzle for supplying gas and a diffuser for exhausting the gas and opened to the lower surface of tweezers in the tweezers. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a nozzle 1 for supplying air to the interior in the direction of an arrow and with a diffuser 2 for exhausting air from the other end side. Further, the lower surface of the tweezers is provided with a communicating hole 8 communicated with a part corresponding to the center of a wafer 5 and with the nozzle 1 and the diffuser 2. The sucking force is produced in the direction of an arrow in the communicating hole 8 by supplying air from the nozzle 1 and exhausting the air from the diffuser 2. Accordingly, the wafer 5 can be sucked at a certain distance (t). Such non- contact distance is arbitrarily adjusted and varied by regulating the pressure of the supplied air or varying the shape of the nozzle 1 or the diffuser 2. Thus, the wafer 5 can be transported out of contact by the tweezers 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate transfer apparatus for transferring a wafer in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus,
The present invention relates to a substrate transfer device capable of transferring a wafer in a non-contact manner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a substrate transfer apparatus for transferring a wafer in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of this type, for example, a substrate transfer apparatus as shown in FIGS. 6 to 9 is known.
FIG. 6 is an external perspective view of the conventional substrate transport apparatus from the front, and FIG. 7 is an external perspective view of the conventional substrate transport apparatus from the rear. As shown in FIG. 6, the cassette 12 inserted from the cassette insertion port 11 is transported to the cassette shelf 14 by the cassette loader 13. A plurality of wafers 15 are stored in the cassette 12 in parallel. And
As shown in FIG. 7, the wafers 15 in the cassette 12 installed on the cassette
7 and transferred. Then, the wafer 15 transferred on the boat 7 is loaded into the upper reaction chamber 18 to perform the film forming process. After the biofilm treatment, perform the reverse operation,
The cassette 12 is paid out of the substrate transfer device.

At this time, the wafer 15 by the transfer machine 16 is
Is transported by a tweezer 19 as shown in FIGS. The tweezer 19 has a plurality of hands arranged in parallel in the vertical direction, and a plurality of wafers 1 at a time.
The wafer 15 can be transferred by a method of vacuum-sucking the back surface of the wafer or a contact method of picking up from below. Even with the vacuum suction method, the tweezers 19 come into contact with the back surface of the wafer in order to perform evacuation.

[0004] For this reason, since the tweezer 19 and the wafer 15 come into direct contact with each other, static electricity may be charged by rubbing, which may affect the characteristics of the wafer 15. Further, fine dust is generated due to contact between the tweezers 19 and the wafer 15 and may be adsorbed to the wafer 15, so that the quality of the wafer 15 is deteriorated.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, such as the generation of dust due to the elimination of static electricity due to friction caused by the contact between the wafer and the tweezers of a transfer machine for transporting the wafer. It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate transfer apparatus capable of preventing a decrease in quality of a wafer due to the above and transferring a wafer in a non-contact manner.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has the following arrangement to solve the above-mentioned problems. The present invention
In the substrate transfer apparatus for transferring a wafer (5) by a tweezer (4), a nozzle (1) for supplying a gas into the tweezer (4), a diffuser (2) for exhausting the supplied gas, A communication hole (8) communicating with the nozzle (1) and the diffuser (2) and openingly communicating with the lower surface of the tweezer is provided, and the gas supplied from the nozzle (1) is supplied to the diffuser ( The wafer (5) is suctioned in a non-contact manner through the communication hole (8) so as to exhaust air from (2). With this configuration, air is supplied from the nozzle (1) and exhausted from the diffuser (2), so that a suction force is generated in the communication hole (8) in the direction of the arrow, so that the wafer (5) is held at a certain distance. It is possible to suck while keeping it.

In the substrate transfer apparatus according to the first aspect, a plurality of the tweezers (4) are arranged in parallel so that the wafer (5) is suction-held at a plurality of points in a non-contact manner. . With such a configuration, a plurality of tweezers (4) can be arranged and the wafer (5) can be held at a plurality of points. Therefore, in the case where rotation is caused by one point of suction holding, the suction is held without rotating. be able to.

In the substrate transfer apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, the tweezer (4) supplies gas to a nozzle from a transfer machine (3) side, and the diffuser (2).
Is characterized in that air is exhausted from the wafer (5) side. 3. The substrate transport device according to claim 1, wherein the tweezers (4) supply gas to the nozzles from a transfer machine (3) side, and the diffuser (2).
Is characterized by being disposed so as to exhaust air from the transfer machine side. With such a configuration, if the gas is exhausted to the wafer (5) side, even if there is a problem in transporting or forming a film, there is no influence by the exhaust.

Note that the above reference numerals correspond to the reference numerals in the drawings described in the present embodiment.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(First Embodiment) Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Here, FIG. 1 is a top view of a substrate transfer device showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a tweezer 10 in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate transfer apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention has a transfer device 3 to which one end in the longitudinal direction of a tweezer 4 is attached and fixed. Can hold the wafer 5 by suction without contact. The tweezers 4 need to be slender and long enough to allow the center of the wafer 5 to be sucked at the tip side of the tweezers 4.
As shown in a cross section in FIG. 2, the tweezers 4 are a nozzle 1 which is a passage capable of supplying air to the inside in the direction of the arrow from the transfer machine 3 side, and a passage capable of exhausting air from the other end side. On the lower surface of the diffuser 2 and the tweezers 4, the wafer 5
And a communication hole 8 that communicates with a portion corresponding to the center of the nozzle and that communicates with the nozzle 1 and the diffuser 2. In addition,
The gas supplied into the nozzle 1 is not limited to air, but may be N
Any gas may be used as long as there is no problem in film formation such as ₂ gas.

As the nozzle 1 approaches the communication hole 8,
The diffuser 2 has a tapered shape, and the diffuser 2 also has a tapered shape in the vicinity of the communication hole 8 and has a shape that expands in the exhaust direction. Supply air from nozzle 1
By exhausting air from the diffuser 2, a suction force is generated in the communication hole 8 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2, so that the wafer 5 can be suctioned while maintaining a certain distance t. Non-contact distance adjusts the supply air pressure,
Alternatively, it can be adjusted and changed arbitrarily by changing the shapes of the nozzle 1 and the diffuser 2. As described above, since the wafer 5 can be suction-held by the tweezers 4 in a non-contact manner, there is no need for the tweezers 4 to come into contact with the wafer 5 during wafer transfer.

The basic structure of a substrate transfer apparatus for transferring a wafer in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the type according to the first embodiment is the same as that of the conventional substrate transfer apparatus shown in FIGS. The same is true. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the cassette 12 inserted from the cassette insertion port 11 is transported to the cassette shelf 14 by the cassette loader 13. A plurality of wafers 5 are stored in the cassette 12 in parallel. And, as shown in FIG.
The wafers 5 in the cassette 12 installed on the cassette shelf 14 are transferred to the boat 17 by the transfer machine 16 and transferred. The wafer 5 transferred on the boat 17 is loaded into the upper reaction chamber 18 to perform a film forming process. After the completion of the film forming process, the reverse operation is performed to discharge the cassette 12 to the outside of the substrate transfer device. In the second and third embodiments described below, the same configuration is used. is there. (Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a top view of a substrate transfer device according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a top view of the substrate transfer device obtained by changing the design of FIG.

Exhaust from the diffuser 2 of the tweezer 4 may cause a problem in transporting the wafer 5 or forming a film. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the direction of exhaust can be the same as the air supply side. In FIG. 3, the diffuser 2
Is arranged to communicate with the air supply side.

In FIG. 4, a joint 6 is provided on the tweezer 4 on the wafer 5 side, the diffuser 2 is passed through the joint 6, and a tube 7 connected to the joint 6 is routed to the transfer machine on the air supply side. The air is exhausted to a predetermined position on the third side. (Third Embodiment) Further, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in the drawing, there is a case where the wafer 5 is suction-held at a plurality of locations. This is, of course, possible to hold the wafer 5 by suction at one place as in the first and second embodiments, but depending on conditions such as the size, weight and balance of the wafer 5, There are cases where the wafer 5 rotates around one location. In such a case, as shown in the drawing, since the rotation is prevented by suctioning a plurality of portions, the suction and holding of the wafer 5 in a non-contact manner is enabled. In the present embodiment, the air supply and the exhaust are disposed on the same side, but if the influence of the exhaust does not matter, FIG.
As described above, the exhaust port of the diffuser 2 may be provided on the wafer 5 side. Also, as shown in FIG. 4, it is of course possible to provide a joint 6 and exhaust the air through the tube 7.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As an embodiment of the present invention, there is a case where a tweezer 4 is a vacuum ejector. As the vacuum ejector, for example, a ZH series vacuum ejector manufactured by SMC Corporation can be used.

[0018]

According to the substrate transfer apparatus of the present invention, in a substrate transfer apparatus for transferring a wafer by a tweezer,
In the tweezers, a nozzle for supplying gas, a diffuser for exhausting the supplied gas, and a communication hole communicating with the nozzle and the diffuser and communicating with the lower surface of the tweezer with an opening are provided. Since the gas supplied from the nozzle is exhausted from the diffuser and the wafer is sucked in a non-contact manner by the communication hole, it is not necessary to directly contact the wafer with the tweezer. It can be transported by contact. For this reason, it is possible to prevent generation of static electricity due to rubbing due to contact as in the related art, and also to prevent generation of dust, so that it is possible to prevent occurrence of molding failure of film formation on a wafer. effective. As a result, the number of defective wafers can be significantly reduced, and the manufacturing cost of the wafer can be reduced.

Further, by arranging a plurality of the above-mentioned tweezers in parallel, when the wafer is rotated by one-point suction holding, it is possible to hold the wafer in a non-contact state in a stationary state without contact. Further, the tweezers may supply gas from the transfer machine side, and the diffusers may exhaust gas from the wafer side. The tweezers are
The gas is supplied from the transfer machine side, and the diffuser is disposed so as to be evacuated from the transfer machine side. Can be designed so as not to be affected by

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view of a substrate transfer device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along a longitudinal center line of the tweezer 10 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a top view of a substrate transfer device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. .

FIG. 4 is a top view of a substrate transfer device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a top view of a substrate transfer device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an external perspective view of a conventional substrate transfer device as viewed from the front.

FIG. 7 is an external perspective view of a conventional substrate transfer device as viewed from the rear.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional substrate transfer device as viewed from the front.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a state when a wafer is transferred in a transfer device of a conventional substrate transfer device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Nozzle 2 Diffuser 3 Transfer machine 4 Tweezer 5 Wafer 6 Joint 7 Tube 8 Communication hole

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A tweezer in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus,
Alternatively, in a substrate transfer apparatus that transfers a plurality of wafers, a nozzle that is a passage for supplying gas, a diffuser that is a passage for exhausting gas supplied in connection with the nozzle, and the nozzle in the tweezer, And a communication hole communicating with the connecting portion of the diffuser and communicating with the opening on the lower surface of the tweezer, and the gas supplied from the nozzle is exhausted from the diffuser to be generated in the communication hole. A substrate transfer device, wherein the wafer is held in a non-contact manner by a suction force. 2. The substrate transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the tweezers are arranged in parallel, so that the wafer is suctioned and held by the plurality of tweezers in a non-contact manner. . 3. The substrate transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the tweezer is fixedly attached to one side of a transfer machine, and supplies gas to the nozzle from the transfer machine side. A substrate transfer device, wherein exhaust is performed from the wafer side. 4. The substrate transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the tweezers supply gas to the nozzle from the transfer machine side, and the diffuser exhausts gas from the transfer machine side. A substrate transfer device, which is provided.