WO-2026094698-A1 - SUBSTRATE TRANSFER DEVICE

WO2026094698A1WO 2026094698 A1WO2026094698 A1WO 2026094698A1WO-2026094698-A1

Abstract

This substrate transfer device (1) comprises: a housing (10); a robot (2); and an aligner (5) that is positioned above a specific region (191, 192, 193, 194) that is formed by a trajectory obtained by projecting communication ports (171, 172, 173, 174) in a first direction in a transfer space (15), and at least partially overlaps the specific region when viewed in the vertical direction.

Inventors

KORETAKE Ryouma
MURASE DAIKI
NIWA Sosei
MISAO Kazushi
MATSUMURA AKITAKA
SUMITOMO MASAHIKO
SHIMIZU IPPEI

Assignees

川崎重工業株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251020
Priority Date: 20241030

Claims (12)

A housing that forms a transport space for substrates, the housing having at least a first vertical wall that forms a part of the transport space, A robot that transports the substrate in a horizontal first direction inside and outside the transport space through a communication opening formed in the first vertical wall, and also transports the substrate in the first direction, a horizontal second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and the vertical direction within the transport space, An aligner for aligning the substrate transported by the robot, comprising: an aligner located in the transport space above a specific region formed by the trajectory of the communication opening projected in the first direction, and which, when viewed in the vertical direction, at least a portion of which overlaps the specific region; PCB transport device.
In the substrate transport apparatus according to claim 1, The aligner comprises a spindle for rotating the supported substrate and a housing for rotatably holding the spindle. The housing has a flattened shape in which the height in the vertical direction is shorter than the length in the horizontal direction. PCB transport device.
In the substrate transport apparatus according to claim 2, The aforementioned aligner is An electric motor for rotating the spindle, having a second rotation axis that is horizontally offset from the first rotation axis of the spindle, The electric motor further comprises a belt connecting the shaft and the spindle, PCB transport device.
In the substrate transport apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, The transport space further comprises a bracket located above the specific region and supporting the aligner, The housing comprises a main body and a top plate that closes the upper opening of the main body, and the top plate is wider horizontally than the main body. The bracket has a support hole into which the main body of the housing is inserted. The step between the main body and the top plate engages with the edge of the support hole. PCB transport device.
In the substrate transport apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, The aligner further includes an exhaust fan that discharges dust from inside the housing to the outside of the housing. The system further includes an exhaust duct connected to the exhaust fan and which guides the dust to the lower part of the transport space. PCB transport device.
In the substrate transport apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, The housing further has a second vertical wall and a third vertical wall that are opposite to the second direction and form part of the transport space, The aligner is positioned above a specific region adjacent to the second vertical wall, and when viewed in the vertical direction, at least a portion of it overlaps with the specific region. PCB transport device.
In the substrate transport apparatus according to claim 6, The third vertical wall has a door that connects the inside and outside of the transport space. PCB transport device.
In the substrate transport apparatus according to claim 6 or 7, A clean downflow is generated within the aforementioned transport space. The aligner is positioned with a gap between it and the second vertical wall. PCB transport device.
In the substrate transport apparatus according to claim 8, The aligner is positioned at an angle horizontally with respect to the second vertical wall. PCB transport device.
In the substrate transport apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, The robot is fixed within the transport space. PCB transport device.
A substrate transport device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the robot has a manipulator consisting of a first link and a second link, PCB transport device.
In the substrate transport apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11, The first vertical wall has a first communication opening, a second communication opening, a third communication opening, and a fourth communication opening arranged in the second direction. PCB transport device.

Description

PCB transport device The technology disclosed herein relates to a substrate transport device. Patent Document 1 describes a conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. The conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprises a housing and a transport robot installed within the housing. A clean downflow is generated within the housing. The transport robot transports substrates removed from the cassette to the processing apparatus. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus also includes an aligner device for aligning the substrates. In the conventional semiconductor device, the aligner device is positioned at a height outside the range between the height of the substrate housed in the lowest and the height of the substrate housed in the uppermost layer of the cassette. Figure 1 shows the external appearance of the substrate transport device.Figure 2 is a side view of the inside of the substrate transport device.Figure 3 is a top-down view of the inside of the substrate transport device.Figure 4 is a front view of the inside of the substrate transport device.Figure 5 is a perspective view of the aligner device.Figure 6 is a plan view of the aligner device.Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VII-VII in Figure 6.Figure 8 shows the support of the aligner device by a bracket.Figure 9 shows another example of the arrangement of the aligner device in a substrate transport device.Figure 10 shows a modified substrate transport device. The following describes an embodiment of the substrate transport device with reference to the drawings. The substrate transport device described here is illustrative. (Overall structure of the substrate transport device) Figure 1 shows the external appearance of the substrate transport device 1. Figure 2 is a side view of the inside of the substrate transport device 1. Figure 3 is a top view of the inside of the substrate transport device 1. Figure 4 is a front view of the inside of the substrate transport device 1. The substrate transport device 1 transports the substrate 9. The substrate 9 is a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate. Specifically, the substrate transport device 1 is, for example, a sorter. The substrate transport device 1 is, for example, an EFEM (Equipment Front End Module). The substrate transport device 1 is, for example, a stocker. Furthermore, if the substrate transport device 1 is an EFEM (Electron-Feedable Emission Machine), the substrate transport device 1 is incorporated into the substrate processing equipment 4, as hypothetically shown in Figure 3. The substrate processing equipment 4 is not an essential element of the substrate transport device 1. The substrate processing equipment 4 performs processes on the substrate 9, such as heat treatment, impurity introduction, thin film formation, lithography, cleaning, and planarization. Alternatively, the substrate processing equipment 4 inspects the appearance or dimensions of the substrate 9. If the substrate transport device 1 is a stocker, the substrate processing equipment 4 provides temporary storage for the transfer of the substrate 9. Here, the storage of the substrate 9 by the substrate processing equipment 4 is considered part of the processing of the substrate 9. The third vertical wall 13 of the substrate transport device 1, described later, separates the transport space 15 from the substrate processing equipment 4. The robot 2, described later, transports the substrate 9 to or from the substrate processing equipment 4 through the opening in the third vertical wall 13. The substrate transport device 1 comprises a housing 10. The housing 10 has a first vertical wall 11, a second vertical wall 12, a third vertical wall 13, and a fourth vertical wall 14. The first, second, third, and fourth vertical walls 11, 12, 13, and 14 are each walls perpendicular to the floor. The first and third vertical walls 11 and 13 face each other in a first direction. The second and fourth vertical walls 12 and 14 face each other in a second direction. Both the first and second directions are horizontal, and the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction. Hereinafter, the first direction will be referred to as the X direction, and the second direction as the Y direction. The vertical direction perpendicular to the X and Y directions will be referred to as the Z direction. Note that the X, Y, and Z directions are used for the purpose of describing the substrate transport device 1 and are not used to limit the structure of the substrate transport device 1. The first vertical wall 11 and the second vertical wall 12, and the first vertical wall 11 and the fourth vertical wall 14 are connected to each other. The third vertical wall 13 and the second vertical wall 12, and the third vertical wall 13 and the fourth vertical wall 14 are also connected to each other. The first vertical wall 11, the second vertical wall 12, the third vertical wall 13, and the fourth vertical wall 14 form a