KR-20260063472-A - TRANSFER ROBOT AND SUBSTRATE PROCESSING METHOD

KR20260063472AKR 20260063472 AKR20260063472 AKR 20260063472AKR-20260063472-A

Abstract

The present invention provides a conveying robot. A conveying robot for conveying a substrate comprises a hand that supports the substrate and a driving unit that drives the hand, wherein the hand comprises a base plate; a first support member mounted on the base plate and supporting the bottom surface of the substrate by vacuum suction; and a second support member mounted on the base plate and supporting the edge region of the substrate, wherein the first support member and the second support member may be configured to support the substrate at different heights.

Inventors

백두현
한기원
김희찬
김상오

Assignees

세메스 주식회사

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20241030

Claims (20)

In a conveying robot for conveying substrates, A hand supporting the substrate; It includes a driving unit that drives the above hand, The above hand is, base plate and; A first support member mounted on the base plate and supporting the bottom surface of the substrate by vacuum adsorption; It includes a second support member mounted on the base plate and supporting the edge region of the substrate, The first support member and the second support member are configured to support the substrate at different heights. Return robot.
In paragraph 1, The above second support member is, A first support member and a second support member that support the side end of the substrate and are arranged to face each other with the first support member in between when viewed from above; and A conveying robot comprising: a driving unit that moves the first support and the second support in a direction toward each other or toward each other.
In paragraph 2, The above-mentioned drive unit is, The first support member and the second support member are moved between the first position and the second position, The above first position is a position in which the first support and the second support support the substrate, and The second position is a position where, when viewed from above, the first support and the second support are spaced apart from the substrate supported on the first support. Return robot.
In paragraph 2, The first support member and the second support member each include a guide member provided on the upper surface of the first support member and the second support member, and The above guide member is, When the substrate is supported by the second support member, the side end of the substrate is supported and at the same time the side of the substrate is guided. Return robot.
In paragraph 4, The above guide member is provided at the tip and base of the first support and the second support, respectively, A conveyor robot positioned to surround the substrate when the substrate is supported by the first support member.
In paragraph 2, The above-mentioned drive unit is, A drive pulley rotated by a motor; Driven pulley and; It includes a belt provided to wrap around the driving pulley and the driven pulley, The first support member and the second support member are coupled to the belt. Return robot.
In paragraph 1, The above-mentioned return robot further comprises a base, and A conveyor robot, wherein the hand is provided to be able to move back and forth relative to the base.
In paragraph 1, The above-mentioned first support member is, A connecting part connected to the above base plate; It includes a first finger and a second finger extending from the above-mentioned connecting portion, and A vacuum pad for vacuum adsorbing the substrate is provided on each of the first finger, the second finger, and the connecting portion. Return robot.
In paragraph 1, A conveying robot in which a plurality of hands are provided, and the plurality of hands are provided so as to be spaced apart from each other in the vertical direction.
In paragraph 8, The above second support member is, A fixed guide member provided on the upper surface of the first finger and the upper surface of the second finger; A driving guide member provided on the upper surface of the above-mentioned connection part; and It includes a driving unit that moves the above-mentioned driving guide member, and The above fixed guide member and the above driving guide member are, Supporting the side end of the substrate and guiding the side of the substrate when the substrate is supported by the second support member. Return robot
In Paragraph 10, The above-mentioned drive unit is, The above driving guide member is moved between a first position and a second position, The first position is a position where the driving guide member supports the substrate when the second support member supports the substrate, and The second position is the position of the driving guide member when the second support member does not support the substrate, Return robot
In Paragraph 10, When viewed from above, When the first support member supports the substrate, the center position of the substrate and, A substrate processing device in which the center position of the substrate is provided differently when the second support member supports the substrate.
In a method for processing a substrate, A substrate is conveyed using a hand having a first support part that supports the substrate by vacuum suction and a second support part that supports the substrate by gripping it, A substrate processing method that supports and transports the substrate with different support members when bringing the substrate into the chamber and when taking the substrate out of the chamber.
In Paragraph 13, When introducing the above substrate into the chamber, the substrate is supported and transported by vacuum adsorption, and A substrate processing method for gripping, supporting, and transporting the substrate when removing the substrate from the chamber.
In Paragraph 13, A substrate processing method in which the first support member and the second support member support the substrate at different heights.
In Paragraph 13, A substrate processing method in which the above chamber is a liquid processing chamber that supplies a processing liquid to the substrate to liquid process the substrate.
In Paragraph 13, A substrate processing method in which the above chamber is a buffer chamber for temporarily storing the above substrate.
In Paragraph 13, A substrate processing method in which, when the substrate is supported by either the first support member or the second support member, the substrate does not come into contact with the other support member among the first support member and the second support member.
In a conveying robot for conveying substrates, A hand supporting the substrate; It includes a driving unit that drives the above hand, The above hand is, base plate and; A first support member mounted on the base plate and supporting the bottom surface of the substrate by vacuum adsorption; It includes a second support member mounted on the base plate and supporting the edge region of the substrate, The above-mentioned first support member is, A connecting part connected to the above base plate; It includes a first finger and a second finger extending from the above-mentioned connecting portion, and A vacuum pad for vacuum adsorbing the substrate is provided at each of the first finger, the second finger, and the connecting portion, and The above second support member is, A first support member and a second support member that support the side end of the substrate and are arranged to face each other with the first support member in between when viewed from above; and A driving unit that moves the first support and the second support in a direction toward each other or toward each other; is included. The first support member and the second support member each include a guide member provided on the upper surface of the first support member and the second support member, and The above guide member is, When the above substrate is supported by the second support member, it supports the side end of the substrate and simultaneously guides the side of the substrate, A conveyor robot configured such that the first support member and the second support member support the substrate at different heights.
In Paragraph 19, The above-mentioned return robot further comprises a base, and The above hands are provided in multiple numbers, The plurality of hands are provided on the upper part of the base so as to be spaced apart from each other in the vertical direction, and The above plurality of hands are each provided to be able to move back and forth relative to the base, a conveying robot.

Description

Transfer Robot and Substrate Processing Method The present invention relates to a conveying robot and a substrate processing method, and more specifically, to a conveying robot for conveying a substrate and a method for processing a substrate using the same. To manufacture semiconductor devices or liquid crystal displays, various processes such as photolithography, etching, ashing, ion implantation, and thin film deposition are performed on a substrate. Before or after these processes, a cleaning process is carried out to remove contaminants and particles generated during each process. Generally, the cleaning process includes a liquid treatment process for the substrate. Since the substrate before the cleaning process contains contaminants such as particles and fumes, there is a problem of reverse contamination of the hand if the dirty substrate before the cleaning process and the clean substrate after the cleaning process are transported using the same hand. Accordingly, a method is known to transport the substrate before the cleaning process and the substrate after the cleaning process using different hands. However, when transporting substrates using different hands, there is a problem where the size of the transport robot increases and process efficiency decreases. The various features and benefits of the non-limiting embodiments of this specification may become more apparent from a review of the detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings are provided for illustrative purposes only and should not be construed as limiting the claims. Unless expressly stated otherwise, the accompanying drawings are not to be drawn to scale. For clarity, various dimensions in the drawings may be exaggerated. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing one embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing one embodiment of the liquid treatment chamber of Figure 1. FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the hand of FIG. 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a plan view of the hand of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a side view of the hand of FIG. 3. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing one embodiment of a liquid treatment chamber provided as the process chamber of FIG. 1. Figure 7 is a flowchart for the substrate processing method of the present invention. Figures 8 and 9 show the hand of Figure 3 supporting the substrate during the step of bringing the substrate of Figure 7 into the chamber before processing. Figures 10 and 11 show the hand of Figure 3 supporting the substrate during the step of removing the substrate from the chamber after processing of Figure 7. FIGS. 12 to 16 illustrate a hand according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 17 and 18 illustrate a hand according to another embodiment of the present invention. Exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Exemplary embodiments are provided to ensure that the present disclosure is thorough and will fully convey its scope to those skilled in the art. To provide a complete understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure, many specific details, such as examples of specific components, devices, and methods, are presented. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details are not necessary, that exemplary embodiments may be implemented in many different forms, and that neither should be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. In some exemplary embodiments, known processes, known device structures, and known technologies are not described in detail. The terms used herein are merely for describing specific exemplary embodiments and are not intended to limit exemplary embodiments. Singular expressions or expressions where singularity is not specified, as used herein, are intended to include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprising,” “comprising,” “having,” and “having” are open-ended and thus specify the presence of the mentioned features, components, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, and do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, components, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. Method steps, processes, and operations in this specification are not to be interpreted as necessarily being performed in the specific order discussed or described unless the order of performance is specified. Additionally, additional or alternative steps may be selected. When an element or layer is referred to as being "on," "connected," "combined," "attached," "adjacent," or "covering" another element or layer, it may be directly on, connected to, combined with, attached to, adjacent to, or covering said other element or layer, or intermediate elements or layers may exist. Conversely, when an element is referred to as being "