KR-20260066777-A - Section link substrate transfer device

Abstract

A transfer device comprises: a frame forming a sealed chamber arranged to maintain a processing vacuum inside; and an articulated arm within the sealed chamber, connected to the frame and having a terminal joint around which the articulated arm rotates and extends, at least one movable arm link, and an end effector connected to the at least one movable arm link and having a substrate holding station positioned thereon. The at least one movable arm link includes at least one rotational joint having a rotation axis and has an outer housing in which the at least one movable arm link rotates in an articulated motion around the rotation axis to enable extension and contraction of the articulated arm. The outer housing is an assembly formed of sealed housing parts to maintain a sealed atmosphere within the outer housing inside the processing vacuum of the sealed chamber; the sealed housing parts are joined together by at least one mechanical joint to form a sealed interface, and through the sealed interface, the sealed atmosphere communicates between each sealed housing part of the outer housing and each other sealed housing part.

Inventors

• 메이 로버트 씨.
• 캐버니 로버트 티.
• 맥렐런 매튜 제이.

Assignees

• 브룩스 오토메이션 유에스, 엘엘씨

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20240906

Priority Date

20230908

Claims (20)

1. As a transfer device, the transfer device is: A frame forming a sealed chamber positioned to maintain a processing vacuum inside; and In the above-mentioned sealed chamber, the articulated arm is connected to the frame and has a terminal joint around which the articulated arm rotates and extends, and includes at least one movable arm link and an end effector connected to the at least one movable arm link, on which a substrate holding station is positioned. The above-mentioned at least one movable arm link comprises at least one rotary joint having a rotation axis and has an outer housing that enables the extension and contraction of an articulated arm by the at least one movable arm link rotating in an articulated motion around the rotation axis, and the outer housing is an assembly formed of sealed housing parts to maintain a sealed atmosphere within the outer housing inside the processing vacuum of a sealed chamber; A transfer device in which the above-mentioned sealed housing parts are joined together by at least one mechanical joint to form a sealed interface, and through the sealed interface, the sealed atmosphere communicates between each sealed housing part of the outer housing and each other sealed housing part.
2. A transfer device according to claim 1, wherein at least one sealed housing part is one end of the at least one movable arm link, the at least one sealed housing part accommodates the at least one rotary joint, and the at least one rotary joint is contained within the at least one sealed housing part of the at least one movable arm link.
3. A transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the articulated arm is a SCARA arm extending from the terminal joint, and the SCARA arm rotates and extends around the terminal joint, and further, the end effector has more than one movable arm link dependent therefrom, each movable arm link is connected in series with the end effector, and the end effector is positioned at the distal end of the SCARA arm.
4. A transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the processing vacuum is a high vacuum corresponding to at least one of etching processes, plasma etching, chemical vapor deposition, plasma vapor deposition, implantation processes, ion implantation, metrology, rapid thermal treatment, dry strip atomic layer deposition, oxidation, diffusion, nitride formation, vacuum lithography, epitaxy, wire bonder and evaporation and vacuum thin film processes.
5. In claim 1, the transfer device wherein the at least one rotational joint having the rotation axis is located distal from the terminal joint.
6. In paragraph 1, the sealed interface is: Dividing the at least one movable arm link between one end and the other end of the at least one movable arm link; or A transfer device that bisects the outer wall or shell of the above outer housing.
7. A transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the outer housing forms a pressure vessel and the rotation axis extends from the pressure vessel.
8. A transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the outer housing is at least partially depressurized, so that the walls of the depressurized portion of the outer housing are pressure-equilibrated across the wall thickness.
9. In claim 1, the at least one sealed housing component is: At least some parts of brushless electric machines; or At least part of the encoder; Transfer device accommodating:
10. As one method, the above method is: A frame forming a sealed chamber positioned to maintain a processing vacuum inside, and An articulated arm having a terminal joint connected to the frame within the above-mentioned sealed chamber, wherein the articulated arm rotates and extends around the frame, at least one movable arm link, and an end effector connected to the at least one movable arm link, wherein a substrate holding station is positioned thereon; Step of providing a transfer device including; and A step of performing extension and contraction of the articulated arm, wherein the at least one movable arm link has an outer housing comprising at least one rotational joint having a rotation axis, and the at least one movable arm link rotates in an articulated motion around the rotation axis to implement the extension and contraction of the articulated arm; The outer housing is an assembly formed of sealed housing parts to maintain a sealed atmosphere within the outer housing inside the processing vacuum of the sealed chamber, wherein the sealed housing parts are joined together by at least one mechanical joint to form a sealed interface, and the sealed atmosphere communicates between each sealed housing part of the outer housing and each other sealed housing part through the sealed interface.
11. A method according to claim 10, wherein at least one sealed housing part is one end of the at least one movable arm link, the at least one sealed housing part accommodates the at least one rotary joint, and the at least one rotary joint is contained within the at least one sealed housing part of the at least one movable arm link.
12. A method according to claim 10, wherein the articulated arm is a SCARA arm extending from the terminal joint, and the SCARA arm rotates and extends around the terminal joint, and the end effector has more than one movable arm link dependent therefrom, each movable arm link is connected in series with the end effector, and the end effector is positioned at the distal end of the SCARA arm.
13. In claim 10, the processing vacuum is a high vacuum corresponding to at least one of etching processes, plasma etching, chemical vapor deposition, plasma vapor deposition, implantation processes, ion implantation, metrology, rapid thermal treatment, dry strip atomic layer deposition, oxidation, diffusion, nitride formation, vacuum lithography, epitaxy, wire bonder and evaporation and vacuum thin film processes.
14. In paragraph 10, the method wherein at least one rotational joint having the rotation axis is distal from the terminal joint.
15. In item 10, the above-mentioned sealed interface is: Dividing the at least one movable arm link between the end and the other end of the at least one movable arm link; or A method of bisecting the outer wall or shell of the above outer housing.
16. In claim 10, the method wherein the outer housing forms a pressure vessel and the rotation axis extends from the pressure vessel.
17. A method according to claim 10, wherein the outer housing is at least partially depressurized, so that the walls of the depressurized portion of the outer housing are pressure-equilibrated across the wall thickness.
18. In item 10, the above-mentioned at least one sealed housing part is: Accommodating at least some parts of brushless electric machines; or A method that accommodates at least part of the encoder.
19. As a substrate transfer device, the substrate transfer device is: Base; and articulated arm having a terminal joint connected to the base and rotating and extending around it, at least one movable arm link, and an end effector connected to the at least one movable arm link and having a substrate holding station positioned thereon; The above-mentioned at least one movable arm link has an outer housing comprising at least one rotational joint having a rotation axis, and the articulated arm rotates in an articulated motion around the rotation axis to realize extension and contraction of the articulated arm, wherein the outer housing is an assembly formed of sealed housing parts to maintain a sealed atmosphere within the outer housing, and the articulated arm creates a processing vacuum with respect to the outer housing within the processing vacuum of the sealed chamber; A substrate transfer device configured such that the above-described sealed housing parts are joined together by at least one mechanical joint to form a sealed interface, the sealed atmosphere is sealed from the processing vacuum and the integrity of the processing vacuum is maintained, thereby allowing the sealed atmosphere to communicate between each sealed housing of the outer housing and each other sealed housing part through a flexible tube crossing the sealed interface, and to accommodate rotation of at least one movable arm link around the rotation axis.
20. In paragraph 19 At least one sealed housing part is one end of the at least one movable arm link, the at least one sealed housing part accommodates the at least one rotational joint, and the at least one rotational joint is contained within the at least one sealed housing part of the at least one movable arm link; A substrate transfer device, wherein the flexible tube communicates with a pressurized chamber within the at least one movable arm link to provide a cooling fluid to the pressurized chamber, the cooling fluid is discharged from the articulated arm through at least another pressurized chamber within the at least one movable arm, and the at least another pressurized chamber forms a fluid passage for the discharged cooling fluid.

Description

Section link substrate transfer device Refer to related applications This application is the formal application of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/581,509 filed on September 8, 2023, and claims priority to said application, the entire contents of said application incorporated herein by reference. This application also claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/581,512 filed on September 8, 2023 and Provisional Application No. 63/685,401 filed on August 21, 2024, the entire contents of said applications incorporated herein by reference. The present invention generally relates to robot systems, and in particular to robot transfer systems. A brief description of the related development Generally, transfer robots used in high-vacuum semiconductor manufacturing environments are driven by motors centrally located within the motor housings of the transfer robots. These motor housings are mounted, for example, in a vacuum transfer chamber where coaxial drive shafts extend from the motor housing into the vacuum environment. In this case, the entire motor housing is sealed from the vacuum environment (where the coaxial drive shafts extend through a seal), or the stators of the motors are sealed from the vacuum environment by, for example, "cans" (similar to seals known in the art) and/or ferro-fluidic seals. The robot arms are connected to the coaxial shafts, and one or more arm links of the robot arms are driven by band and pulley transmissions. This configuration ensures that the interior of each arm link has the same vacuum environment as the vacuum transfer chamber. In other embodiments, the arm links of the transfer robots can be directly driven by motors located at the arm joints at the axis of rotation of each arm link. Here, the inner side of the arm links maintains an atmospheric pressure environment to facilitate the protection of the motors and their encoders from corrosive attack caused by the vacuum environment. Additionally, there is a trend toward large vacuum transfer robots with longer reach than small robots. In such large vacuum transfer robots, the arm link length is approximately 400 mm or more, and if an atmospheric pressure environment is maintained within the arm link while the transfer robot operates in a vacuum environment, a large force (e.g., approximately 3500 lbs/in² or more) is generated on the arm link walls. Therefore, to support the increased force applied to the arm link walls, the thickness (and mass) of the arm link structural members must be increased. As the mass of the arm link increases, the inertia of the arm link also increases, which requires larger motors to rotate it. The aforementioned embodiments and other features of the present invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIGS. 1a-1i is a schematic diagram of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention; FIGS. 2a-2h is a schematic diagram of an exemplary substrate transfer device according to the present invention, which can be used in any substrate processing device of FIGS. 1a-1i; FIGS. 3a-3h is a schematic diagram of a part of an exemplary substrate transfer device according to the present invention, which can be used in any substrate processing device of FIGS. 1a-1i; FIGS. 4a-4f are schematic diagrams of the compartmentalized arm link structure of a substrate transfer device according to the present invention; FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a part of the arm link structure of FIG. 4a-4f according to the present invention. FIGS. 7, FIGS. 7a, and FIGS. 7b are schematic diagrams of parts of the arm link structure of FIGS. 4a-4f according to the present invention; FIGS. 8a-8c are schematic diagrams of exemplary couplings between each part of the arm link structure of FIGS. 4a-4f according to the present invention; FIG. 9 is an exemplary drawing showing a Gray code pattern of an encoder of a substrate transfer device disclosed in this specification; FIG. 10 is an exemplary scaled drawing of an encoder of a substrate transfer device disclosed in this specification; FIGS. 11a to 11c are schematic diagrams showing a part of an exemplary substrate transfer device disclosed in the present invention, which can be used in the substrate processing device of FIGS. 1a to 1i; FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing a part of the compartmentalized arm link structure of the substrate transfer device of FIG. 11a to FIG. 11c disclosed in this specification; FIG. 13a is a schematic diagram showing a part of the compartmentalized arm link structure of the substrate transfer device of FIG. 11a to FIG. 11c disclosed herein; FIG. 13b is a schematic diagram showing a part of the compartmentalized arm link structure of the substrate transfer device of FIG. 3a-4f according to the present invention; FIG. 13c is a schematic diagram of a part of the substrate transfer device of FIG. 3a-4f according to the present invention; FIGS. 14, 15, 16 and 17 are exemplary flowcharts of