JPH036581Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Field of industrial application] The present invention is a method for processing thin plate materials (hereinafter referred to as wafers) such as semiconductor wafers, glass plates, ceramic plates, printed circuit boards, etc. from a cassette containing a plurality of sheets in upper and lower stages. , relates to a device, that is, a loader, that carries out wafers one by one to a transfer device, and in particular, relates to a submerged storage loader that stores wafers in a cassette in a liquid until the wafers stored in the cassette are carried out. be.

[Conventional technology]

The wafers are mechanically transported and processed in an extremely clean room to avoid contamination from manual contact.

As a first process, wafers that have been processed, such as cleaning, are stored in a cassette, and these wafers are sequentially transported one by one to a device that performs a process such as drying, as a second process. In this case, if the wafer is left on standby in the air until being carried out, a small amount of dust floating in the air may adhere to the wafer or the surface may become oxidized, resulting in defective products.

Therefore, a method is used in which the wafers are stored in a liquid such as pure water while being stored in the cassette until the wafers are transferred one by one from the cassette to the processing apparatus.

[Problems that this invention attempts to solve]

However, when attempting to immerse the wafer horizontally into pure water along with the cassette, the bottom surface of the wafer, which is horizontal, comes into contact with the pure water surface all at the same time. The wafers may float and fly out of the cassette, colliding with the wall of the pure water tank, for example, and causing damage.

[Means for solving problems]

This invention has an arm that can be raised, lowered, and tilted.
A cassette containing a large number of wafers in multiple stages above and below is placed, the cassette is tilted and immersed in a liquid tank filled with the required liquid, and the wafers are stored in the liquid.
In addition, when unloading the wafers, the cassette is held horizontally, the wafers are raised one by one from the upper stage above the liquid surface, and the wafers are pushed out to the transfer device using a pusher, thereby solving the above-mentioned problems. It is something.

[Effect]

According to the device of the present invention, each wafer is immersed in the liquid over time from one inclined lower end toward the other end, so that the air below the wafer is sequentially expelled along the lower surface of the wafer. Therefore, no air bubbles remain on the bottom surface.

Therefore, the wafers do not float and fly out of the cassette, and when the wafers are used, they can be taken out in order from the top without touching the wafers.

〔Example〕

Figures 1 and 2 show an example of the device of the present invention.
is erected, and in the middle of the guide rod 2, a screw rod 3 is pivotally installed parallel to the guide rod 2.

The lower end of the screw rod 3 connects to a deceleration motor 6 mounted on the base frame 1 via a sprocket 4 and an endless chain 5.
is linked to.

A downward solenoid 8 is fixed to the lower front surface of an elevating body 7 which is attached to the guide rod 2 so as to be movable up and down and is screwed into the screw rod 3.

Reference numeral 9 designates an arm, as shown in Fig. 1, which has a shape in which a base portion 9a having an inverted L-shape in front and an upper end of an L-shaped tip portion 9b are connected to each other. A support plate 9c is mounted thereon.

The arm 9 is supported so that the bent part of the base 9a has a pivot 10 and is pivotally attached to the right side of the elevating body 7 in FIG. It is engaged with the forward pin 12 of 8.

When the solenoid 8 is operated to project, the arm 9 tilts counterclockwise about the pivot 10, and the support plate 9c tilts upward from the horizontal lower limit.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a pure water tank filled with pure water 14, which has a size that allows the tip 9b of the arm 9 to be immersed therein, and the bottom end of the outer surface is surrounded by an overflow groove 15, and the bottom center and overflow ditch 15, respectively.
A water injection pipe 16 and a drain pipe 17 are connected.

The pure water tank 13 is preferably provided with a water injection pipe 16,
If pure water 14 is constantly injected, the water will always overflow from the top surface, and even a small amount of dust that has fallen on the water surface 14a will be washed away, making the water surface 14a always extremely clean, which is preferable.

An air cylinder 18 is attached to the rear surface of the base frame 1, and is oriented toward the pure water tank 13, that is, the wafer unloading direction, and is shortened when not in the wafer unloading operation. 1
A plate-shaped pusher 19 that reciprocates directly above the pusher 3 is attached.

A conveyor 20, which is a wafer transport device, is placed in close proximity to the pure water tank 13 at a location facing the air cylinder 18 across the pure water tank 13, and whose transport surface is slightly higher than the upper end of the pure water tank 13. . In addition,
Even if the conveyance surface of the conveyor 20 is at the same height as the upper end of the pure water tank 13, the water overflows from the upper surface of the pure water tank, so that wafers can be transferred from the cassettes to the conveyor 20 without any trouble.

FIG. 3 shows a wafer storage cassette 21, which has a horizontally rectangular cylindrical shape and has opposite side plates 21a.
A large number of horizontal support grooves 22 are cut at equal intervals on the inner surface of the
The wafer 23 is stored horizontally.

In order to allow wafers to be loaded and unloaded from only one direction, the both direction grooves are cut to the side edge on the side of both side plates 22 where wafers are loaded and unloaded, but on the opposite side where wafers are not loaded and unloaded, the grooves are cut to the side edges. It is not necessary to cut only to the front of the edge.

In FIG. 1, 24 is a detection piece attached to the elevating body 7, 25, 26, and 27 are photoelectric sensors for detecting the detection piece 24, and 24 is a photoelectric sensor that detects the detection piece 24.
They are installed in order from the top at 8 important points.

29 is a detection piece fitted to the lower end of the screw rod 3;
0 is a photoelectric sensor that detects the notch of the detection piece 29.

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned apparatus will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.

FIG. 4 shows that the sensor 25 shown in FIG.
The elevating body 7 is raised until the detecting piece 24 is detected, and when the arm 9 reaches the upper limit, the cassette 21 containing the wafers 23 is placed on the support plate 9c, and before lowering the elevating body 7, A state in which the solenoid 8 is projected and the arm 9 is tilted is shown.

Next, when the motor 6 is rotated to lower the elevating body 7 until the sensor 27 detects the detection piece 24, as shown in FIG.
At the same time, the cassette 21 plunges into the pure water 14 in the pure water tank 13 while remaining tilted.

At this time, since each wafer 23 is tilted, it is immersed in the pure water 14 over time from one end (left end in FIG. There will be no residual air bubbles.

When the sensor 27 detects the detection piece 24, the motor 6 stops and the solenoid 8
When the wafer 23 is retracted, the arm 9 is tilted to a horizontal position as shown in FIG. Note that the wafers may be stored while being tilted, and the arm 9 may be tilted to a horizontal state when storage is stopped.

To take out this wafer 23 and carry it out from the cassette 21, the motor 6 is reversed and the sensor 2
By raising the elevating body 7 until the wafer 6 detects the detection piece 24, the uppermost wafer 23 comes out from the water surface 14a of the pure water 14, as shown in FIG.
Next, due to the action of the sensor 30 and the detection piece 29,
When the detection piece 29 is rotated a predetermined number of revolutions, the motor 6 stops, and the uppermost wafer 23 becomes at the same height as the conveyance surface of the conveyor 20.

Then, the air cylinder 18 is extended, and the pusher 19 pushes the uppermost wafer 23 onto the conveyor 20.

The wafers transported by the conveyor 20 are sent to the next processing device, such as a drying device, and after being completely dried, they are stored in another cassette.

Then, when the air cylinder 18 is shortened,
Due to the action of the sensor 30 and the detection piece 29, the motor 6 rotates until the arm 9 rises by exactly the distance between each wafer 23, and then stops, and as described above,
The pusher 19 pushes the second wafer 23 onto the conveyor 20.

In this way, the wafers 23 in the cassette 21
When the arm 9 intermittently rises until all of the objects are pushed out from above, the sensor 25 detects the detection piece 2.
4 is detected, and after that, solenoid 8 protrudes,
The arm 9 is tilted to a position similar to that shown in FIG.

Next, the empty cassette is removed, and the next cassette containing wafers is placed on the support plate 9c of the arm 9. Note that the arm 9 may be tilted after the cassette is replaced.

In the above description, the solenoid 8 is used as the tilting drive source for the arm 9, but this may be replaced with an air cylinder, and a rack and pinion may also be used as the drive means for the pusher 19.

The shape of the arm is as shown in the first diagram, in which the inverted L-shaped base and the upper ends of the L-shaped free parts are connected to each other.
Although it is preferable that the wafer can be tilted greatly even in a relatively small liquid tank, the shape is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. The shape may be extended laterally toward the elevating body, or may be any other shape, and is not particularly limited.

Further, the direction in which the arm is tilted is not limited to being tilted around an axis perpendicular to the direction in which the wafers are unloaded from the cassette, as in the embodiment shown in the first figure, that is, in this embodiment, it is tilted around the pivot axis 10. For example, it may be tilted around an axis in the same direction as the wafer unloading direction. In short, the wafer surface may be oriented in any direction with respect to the liquid level, as long as it is inclined.

The liquid for storing wafers is not limited to pure water, but may be other liquids such as alcohol.

The thin plate material stored in the liquid in the present invention is not limited to semiconductor wafers, for example, glass plates, ceramic plates, printed circuit boards, etc.

[Effect of idea]

As described above, according to the apparatus of the present invention, each wafer is immersed in the liquid at an angle, so that air bubbles do not adhere to the lower surface of the wafer.

Therefore, there is no risk that the wafer will float up and fly out from the wafer and be damaged, and can be safely stored in the liquid.

Additionally, when transferring wafers to the secondary process, they can be automatically transferred one after another without manual intervention.
It is extremely effective when used in semiconductor product manufacturing factories, etc.

In addition to the above-mentioned storage of wafers, this device can also be effectively used for storage of easily damaged thin plate materials that do not like drying during the manufacturing process.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway front view showing the state of one embodiment of the device of the present invention during wafer storage, and FIG.
3 is a front view of the cassette, FIG. 4 is a front view corresponding to FIG. 1 showing the cassette placed on the device of the present invention, and FIG. The figure is a front view corresponding to Figure 1, showing a cassette placed on the device of the present invention being immersed in pure water. FIG. 7 is a front view corresponding to FIG. 1 showing a state in which a wafer inside is taken out, and FIG. 7 is a partially cutaway front view showing a different embodiment from FIG. 1... Base frame, 2... Guide rod, 3... Screw rod, 4...
... Sprocket, 5 ... Endless chain, 6 ... Deceleration motor, 7 ... Lifting body, 8 ... Solenoid, 9
...Arm, 9a...Base, 9b...Tip, 9
c... Support plate, 10... Pivot, 11... Long hole, 1
2...Pin, 13...Pure water tank, 14...Pure water, 1
4a... Water surface, 15... Overflow groove, 16... Water injection pipe, 17... Drain pipe, 18... Air cylinder,
18a... Piston rod, 19... Pushya, 20
...Conveyor, 21...Cassette, 21a...Side plate, 22...Support groove, 23...Wafer, 24...
Detection piece, 25, 26, 27...Sensor, 28...
Pillar, 29...detection piece, 30...sensor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) A cassette in which a large number of thin plates are stored in multiple levels above and below, a pure water tank that stores pure water inside and immerses the cassette in the pure water, and a tiltable lifting device. It consists of a base that is supported and engaged with a tilting drive source, and a play part on which the cassette is placed at the tip.By moving up and down, the play part on which the cassette is placed appears in and out of the pure water tank, and also moves in the vertical direction. an arm that can be tilted in a direction; a lifting device that raises and lowers the arm; a tilting drive source that is attached to the lifting device and that tilts the arm; It consists of a thin plate material conveying device that places the thin plate material and transports it in the horizontal direction, and a pusher that pushes the thin plate material in the cassette near the liquid surface from the cassette to the conveying device on the pure water surface. , After tilting the thin plate material in the cassette placed on the arm and immersing it in pure water, it is stored in the liquid, and when using the thin plate material, the thin plate material is in a horizontal position, and one sheet from the upper stage is 1. A submerged liquid storage loader made of thin plate material, characterized in that the thin plate material is made to protrude above the pure water surface one by one, and is sequentially pushed out onto a conveying device by a pusher. (2) The arm has a shape in which an inverted L-shaped base and an L-shaped play section are connected to each other at their respective upper ends, and the cassette is placed at the tip of the play section,
The thin plate material according to claim 1, which is pivotally supported by an elevating device via a pivot at the inverted L-shaped bent portion of the base, and engaged with a tilting drive source at the tip of the base. submerged reservoir loader.