US-12628611-B2 - Substrate transfer apparatus and substrate transfer method

US12628611B2US 12628611 B2US12628611 B2US 12628611B2US-12628611-B2

Abstract

There is a substrate transfer apparatus comprising: a circular tube having a tube axis extending in a lateral direction and having a transfer region for a substrate in the circular tube; a magnetic field generating portion having a magnetic field generating surface facing the transfer region and configured to generate a magnetic field on the magnetic field generating surface; and a transfer body configured to transfer the substrate while moving in a plane direction of the magnetic field generating surface in a state that the transfer body is distant from the magnetic field generating surface by the magnetic field.

Inventors

Akinori Shimamura
Hiroki Oka

Assignees

TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20221103
Priority Date: 20211112

Claims (17)

1 . A substrate transfer apparatus comprising: a circular tube having a tube axis extending in a lateral direction and having a transfer region for a substrate in the circular tube; a magnetic field generating portion having a magnetic field generating surface facing the transfer region and configured to generate a magnetic field on the magnetic field generating surface; a transfer body configured to transfer the substrate while moving in a plane direction of the magnetic field generating surface in a state that the transfer body is distant from the magnetic field generating surface by the magnetic field; and a guide member configured to guide the relative movement of the magnetic field generating portion along the tube axis with respect to the circular tube to attach and detach the magnetic field generating portion to and from the circular tube through a tube opening of the circular tube, wherein the movement of the transfer body, by the magnetic field, in the plane direction of the magnetic field generating surface includes movement in the lateral direction and movement in a longitudinal direction orthogonal to the lateral direction.
2 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the circular tube forms a part of a housing having a sealed space therein, and the housing is provided with an exhaust port that evacuates the sealed space to form a vacuum atmosphere.
3 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the magnetic field generating portion partitions an inner space of the circular tube into a lower space and an upper space including the transfer region, the exhaust port is opened to the lower space in the circular tube, a communication channel is provided to allow the upper space and the lower space to communicate with each other, and one or more first gas supply ports configured to supply a first gas to the upper space are provided to form air flow from the upper space toward the lower space.
4 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the supply of the first gas and an exhaust of the first gas from the exhaust port are performed such that a pressure in the upper space becomes higher than a pressure in the lower space.
5 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 3 , wherein a plurality of the first gas supply ports are arranged at different positions in the axial direction of the circular tube, transfer paths for the wafer, which are opened and closed by a plurality of valves, are opened at different positions in a tube axis direction of the circular tube on a side surface of the circular tube, and a first gas supply device is provided to supply the first gas to the plurality of the first gas supply ports such that a flow rate of the first gas from a first gas supply port among the plurality of the first gas supply ports that corresponds to an opened valve among the valves becomes greater than a flow rate of the first gas from a first gas supply port corresponding to a closed valve.
6 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the circular tube includes a first circular tube having a first flange at an end thereof and a second circular tube having a second flange at an end thereof, the first flange and the second flange face each other, a first seal member and a second seal member are provided to be in close contact with the first flange and the second flange, and are formed in an annular shape along a tube opening of the first circular tube and a tube opening of the second circular tube, and an air flow forming device is provided to form air flow along a circumference of a gap between the first seal member and the second seal member by supplying a second gas to the gap.
7 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the circular tube is a double tube including an inner tube and an outer tube having an inner circumferential surface separated from an outer circumferential surface of the inner tube and surrounding the inner tube, and the magnetic field generating portion is disposed in the inner tube, and a vacuum atmosphere is generated between the inner tube and the outer tube.
8 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: a heat shield member disposed on the opposite side of the magnetic field generating surface with respect to the transfer region in the circular tube, wherein the heat shield member is configured to block radiant heat from the substrate supported by the transfer body to a tube wall of the circular tube.
9 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: a cooling device disposed to face the substrate supported by the transfer body and having a temperature controlled by a temperature controller to cool the substrate, wherein the cooling device is disposed on the opposite side of the magnetic field generating surface with respect to the transfer region in the circular tube.
10 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the circular tube forms a part of a housing having a sealed space therein, the housing is provided with an exhaust port that evacuates the sealed space to form a vacuum atmosphere, and a cleaning mechanism is provided to clean the housing maintained in a vacuum atmosphere.
11 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the cleaning mechanism includes a gas supply mechanism configured to supply a gas into the housing at a flow rate greater than a flow rate of a gas supplied during the transfer of the substrate, or supply a gas different from a gas supplied during the transfer of the substrate.
12 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the cleaning mechanism is a cleaning liquid supply mechanism configured to supply cleaning liquid into the housing.
13 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the circular tube is inclined such that one end in the tube axis direction becomes lower than the other end, and a drain port through which the cleaning liquid is discharged is formed at a bottom portion of the circular tube on said one end side.
14 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the cleaning mechanism includes a vibration mechanism configured to vibrate the housing.
15 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic field generating surface has a first inclined surface rising from a center of the circular tube toward a left side or a right side and a second inclined surface rising from the center of the circular tube toward the other side when viewed in the tube axis direction, and the transfer body includes a first transfer body moving in a plane direction of the first inclined surface, and a second transfer body moving in a plane direction of the second inclined surface.
16 . The substrate transfer apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic field generating surface forms an inner circumferential surface of the circular tube.
17 . A substrate transfer method comprising: generating a magnetic field on a magnetic field generating surface facing a transfer region for a substrate, in a magnetic field generating portion disposed in a circular tube that extends in a lateral direction and have therein the transfer region; transferring the substrate by moving a transfer body in a plane direction of the magnetic field generating surface in a state that the transfer body is distant from the magnetic field generating surface by the magnetic field; and guiding the relative movement of the magnetic field generating portion by a guide member along the tube axis with respect to the circular tube to attach and detach the magnetic field generating portion to and from the circular tube through a tube opening of the circular tube, wherein the movement of the transfer body, by the magnetic field, in the plane direction of the magnetic field generating surface includes movement in the lateral direction and movement in a longitudinal direction orthogonal to the lateral direction.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-185146 filed on Nov. 12, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a substrate transfer apparatus and a substrate transfer method. BACKGROUND In a semiconductor device manufacturing process, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as “wafer”) that is a substrate is transferred and processed in an apparatus. Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2020-170866 discloses an apparatus in which a plurality of vacuum modules, each being provided with a robot for transferring a wafer, are arranged and connected to each other by vacuum lines. Each vacuum module is connected to a processing module and configured to transfer a wafer using a robot. A multi joint arm having a bottom portion disposed on the floor of the vacuum module is described as an example of the robot. The shape of the vacuum line is not described. SUMMARY The present disclosure provides a substrate transfer apparatus capable of suppressing an increase of an occupied floor area and a weight. In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, there is a substrate transfer apparatus comprising: a circular tube having a tube axis extending in a lateral direction and having a transfer region for a substrate in the circular tube; a magnetic field generating portion having a magnetic field generating surface facing the transfer region and configured to generate a magnetic field on the magnetic field generating surface; and a transfer body configured to transfer the substrate while moving in a plane direction of the magnetic field generating surface in a state that the transfer body is distant from the magnetic field generating surface by the magnetic field. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The objects and features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of embodiments, given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a plan view of a substrate processing apparatus including a substrate transfer module according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a vacuum transfer module along the tube axis of the module; FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the vacuum transfer module perpendicular to the tube axis; FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a circular tube that constitutes the vacuum transfer module; FIG. 5 is a front view of a flange at the end of the circular tube that constitutes the vacuum transfer module; FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a transfer body and a floor plate provided in the substrate processing apparatus; FIG. 7 explains an example of nitrogen gas supply in the vacuum transfer module; FIG. 8 explains separation of the circular tube; FIG. 9 explains extraction of a magnetic field generating portion from the circular tube; FIG. 10 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the vacuum transfer module in the case of providing a temperature control mechanism; FIG. 11 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a vacuum transfer module to which a cleaning liquid supply mechanism is applied; FIG. 12 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the vacuum transfer module having a double tube structure; FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a configuration example in which the substrate processing apparatuses are connected to each other; FIG. 14 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a vacuum transfer module having different magnetic field generating surfaces; and FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a vacuum transfer module having a magnetic field generating surface forming a circular tube. DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 shows a substrate processing apparatus 1 including a substrate transfer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The substrate processing apparatus 1 is installed in an atmospheric environment and includes a loader module 2, a load-lock module 25, a vacuum transfer module 3, and eight processing modules 7. Each processing module 7 processes a wafer W that is a circular substrate in a vacuum atmosphere. The loader module 2 is referred to as “equipment front end module (EFEM)” and loads and unloads the wafer W to and from a transfer container C referred to as “front open unified pod (FOUP)” accommodating wafers W. A wafer W unloaded from the transfer container C is loaded into the substrate processing apparatus 1. The loader module 2 is horizontally elongated, and has an inner atmosphere maintained in an atmospheric atmosphere and a normal pressure atmosphere. Hereinafter, the lengthwise direction of the loader module 2 will be described as the X direction, and the direction perpendicular to the X direction will be described as the Y direction. The X and Y directions are horizontal directions. One side and the other side in the X direction will be described as the +X side and the −X side, respectively, a