JPH0626231B2 - Placement mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a mounting mechanism for mounting and holding a plate-like object such as a semiconductor wafer.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in a semiconductor manufacturing process, for example, an inspection apparatus such as a wafer prober is provided with a transfer body mechanism in which a semiconductor wafer as a plate-like object is transferred by a transfer belt and transferred by a transfer arm. ing.

This transfer body mechanism is, for example, as known from Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho 62-6691, and has a circular trapezoidal mount body and a plurality of mountable bodies that are inserted into the holes of the mount body from below and can be projected and retracted upward. A push-up member having a pin standing upright is provided, and a plurality of pins are projected upward from the upper surface of the mounting body by raising the push-up member, and are transferred by the transfer arm by the plurality of projected pins. The semiconductor wafer coming in is temporarily received and supported, and in this state, the push-up member is lowered to immerse the pins into the mounting body, so that the semiconductor wafer is mounted on the upper surface of the transfer body and the vacuum is drawn. It is configured to be adsorbed and held by.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, in the above-described conventional mounting body mechanism, a push-up member having a plurality of pins standing upright is moved up and down with respect to a transfer body fixed at a fixed position to move the pins. The semiconductor wafer transferred from the transfer arm onto the pin is placed on the upper surface of the mounting body by suction / retention of the semiconductor wafer transferred from the transfer arm onto the mounting body. In doing so, a difference occurs between the descending speed of the pin and the descending speed of the semiconductor wafer that receives air resistance, and the semiconductor wafer may drop while flying in the air. As a result, the semiconductor wafer is displaced and lands on the upper surface of the mounting body, and the semiconductor wafer cannot be accurately positioned and held at a predetermined regular position on the upper surface of the mounting body. There was a problem that hindered him.

Therefore, contrary to the conventional technique, a push-up member having a plurality of pins erected is fixed at a fixed position, and the transfer body is moved up and down with respect to the push-up member so that the pins are projected and retracted upward with respect to the mount body. I thought about that. However, in that case, how to move the transfer body up and down while fixing and supporting the push-up member that penetrates the hole of the transfer body so that the pin can be retracted and retracted at a fixed position (constant height), There are some difficult points in the configuration, and the configuration is complicated and difficult to realize easily.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a push-up member having a plurality of pins capable of projecting and retracting with respect to a transfer body with a constant height with a very simple structure. On the other hand, it is possible to smoothly move the transfer body up and down while supporting the plate-like object such as a semiconductor wafer transferred onto the pins without causing a positional deviation by flying or falling in the air. An object of the present invention is to provide a mounting body mechanism that can be stably mounted and held at a regular position on the upper surface of the mounting body.

[Structure of Invention]

(Means for Solving the Problem) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the mounting body mechanism of the present invention includes a mounting body and a plurality of mounting bodies which can be inserted into the holes of the mounting body from below and retracted upward. A push-up member having a pin standing upright, and the transfer body has a hollow shaft projecting from the lower part, and the lower hollow shaft of this transfer body is vertically movable with respect to the base through a guide member. A screw shaft, which is supported and is erected from below in the lower hollow shaft of the mounting body, is screwed with a part of the hollow shaft, and supports the push-up member at a constant height from the lower side at the upper end. Provided with a vertically rotatable drive motor,
It is characterized in that the mounting body is moved up and down by the screw feeding action by the forward and reverse rotation of the screw shaft of the drive motor so that each pin of the push-up member is projected and retracted with respect to the mounting body.

The guide member is composed of a rotary cylinder rotatably supported on the base and a bearing for guiding and supporting the lower hollow shaft of the mounting body vertically movable on the inner circumference of the rotary cylinder. A drive motor for vertical movement is preferably attached to the lower part of the rotary cylinder.

(Operation) According to the mounting body mechanism having such a configuration, the lower hollow shaft of the transfer body is guided and supported so as to be vertically movable with respect to the base through the guide member, and is screwed with a part of the hollow shaft. While the mounting body can be smoothly moved up and down by the screw feed action by the forward and reverse rotation of the drive motor that has a rotatable screw shaft, a push-up member with multiple pins standing upright at the upper end of the same screw shaft can be used. It can be supported at a certain height from below. In other words, one screw shaft of the drive motor can vertically move the transfer body and support the push-up member with the pin at a certain height, and the number of parts is small, and the configuration is very simple.

In addition, as described above, the plate and the plate-like object above the plate-like object, such as a semiconductor wafer, which is transferred onto the plurality of pins which are projected at the upper surface of the mounting body and supported at a constant height, are not moved. Without
Since the plate-shaped object can be placed on the top surface of the mounting body by smoothly raising the mounting body, at that time, the plate-shaped object does not fly or drop in the air to cause positional deviation, The upper surface of the mounting body can be stably mounted and held at the regular position.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the mounting body mechanism of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, a mounting body mechanism used for mounting and holding the semiconductor wafer 14 as a plate-like object and performing an inspection process by the wafer prober is illustrated.

First, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the mounting body mechanism includes a mounting body 1, a push-up member 2, and a guide member 3 supported by a base 12 which is a housing of the wafer prober. It is configured to include a drive motor 13A for vertical movement.

The above-mentioned mounting body 1 is composed of a thick disk-shaped top plate 4 and a cylindrical hollow shaft 5 that is concentrically fixed to and hang down from a central lower part of the top plate 4, and a hollow portion inside the hollow shaft 5 A screw hole 7 that works as a nut for screw feeding upward and downward at a substantially middle portion in the vertical direction of 6
Is provided. A stepped hollow portion 6a having a diameter slightly larger than the inner diameter of the hollow shaft 5 is formed on the lower surface of the center of the top plate 4 between the lower side and a part of the upper end flange of the hollow shaft 5. And the top plate 4 from the stepped hollow portion 6a.
A plurality of (for example, three) holes 9 penetrating the upper surface are formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. Further, the top plate 4 has a vacuum hole 1 for vacuum-sucking the semiconductor wafer 14 on the upper surface thereof.
5 is formed and connected to a vacuum pump or the like (not shown) via a hose or the like.

The push-up member 2 includes a disk-shaped support substrate 10 installed in a stepped hollow portion 6a on the lower surface of the center of the top plate 4 of the mounting body 1 so as to be vertically movable within a predetermined range, and from the support substrate 10. It is composed of a plurality of protruding pins 8 (the same number as the holes 9) which are vertically installed and inserted in each hole 9 of the top plate 4 so as to be able to project upwards and downwards. These protruding pins are rounded with a fine upper end.

The guide part 3 includes a vertical cylindrical rotary cylinder 3a rotatably supported in the central ring part 12a of the base 12 through a pair of upper and lower bearings 12b, and an upper peripheral surface of the rotary cylinder 3a. A bearing 11 that guides and supports the lower hollow shaft 5 of the description body 1 so as to smoothly move up and down. The bearing 11 is, for example, a ball bearing, and guides and supports the lower hollow shaft 5 of the mounting body 1 so as to be movable only in the vertical direction in a state where the rotation is restricted. The rotary cylinder 3a is rotated by a rotation drive mechanism (not shown) provided on the base 12 side when rotationally positioning (positioning in the θ direction) the entire mounting body 1.

The drive motor 13A for vertical movement is the guide member 3
Is attached to the lower end of the rotary cylinder 3a in the vertical axis.
This is a reversible motor that rotates the motor shaft forward and reverse, and has a screw shaft 13 standing upright coaxially with the motor shaft of the motor 13A. The screw shaft 13 is formed by engraving screws on the upper and lower sides for a long time.
It is inserted into the hollow shaft 5 from below and is screwed into the screw hole 7 in the hollow shaft 5, and further protrudes upward to support the support substrate 10 of the push-up member 2 at a constant height from below by the upper end head portion. It is like this. By rotating the screw shaft 13 forward and backward by the drive motor 13A, the mounting body 1 is moved up and down by a screw feeding action with the screw hole 7 into which the screw shaft 13 is screwed, so that the push-up member 2 is moved.
Each of the projecting pins 8 of (1) is projected and retracted upward with respect to the top plate 4 of the mounting body 1.

Next, the operation of the mounting pair mechanism having the above configuration will be described. The lower hollow shaft 5 of the transfer body 1 is guided and supported on the base 12 via the guide member 3 so as to be movable up and down, and the screw shaft 13 that is screwed into a screw hole 7 in a part of the hollow shaft 5 can be rotated. While the mounting body 1 can be smoothly moved up and down by the screw feeding action by the forward / reverse rotation of the drive motor 13A having
The upper end head portion of the same screw shaft 13 can support the push-up member 2 in which a plurality of projecting pins 8 are erected from a lower side at a constant height. That is, one screw shaft 13 of the drive motor 13A
Thus, the transfer body 1 can be moved up and down and the push-up member 2 with the pin 8 can be supported at a constant height, the number of parts is small, and the configuration is very simple.

Moreover, since the screw shaft 13 can be rotated forward and backward by the drive motor 13A to move the transfer body 1 up and down by the screw feeding action,
As shown in FIG. 2, the mounting body 1 is lowered so that the plurality of projecting pins 8 supported at a constant height project above the top plate 4 of the transfer body 1. Protruding pin 8
The semiconductor wafer 14 is transferred onto the upper part by a moving arm,
Thereafter, without moving the pins 8 and the semiconductor wafer 14 thereon, the mounting body 1 is raised as shown in FIG. 1, and the semiconductor wafer 14 is mounted on the top plate 4 of the mounting body 1. At this time, the semiconductor wafer 14 does not move or drop in the air and is not displaced, so that the semiconductor wafer 14 can be stably placed at a regular position on the upper surface of the top plate 4 of the placing body 1. It can hold vacuum suction.

From the state of FIG. 1, the screw shaft 13 is driven by the drive motor 13A.
3, the transfer body 1 is further raised by the screw feeding action, and as shown in FIG. 3, the probe of the probe card 17 set by wiring connection to the performance board 18 under the test head 16 of the wafer prober. The semiconductor wafer 14 on the upper surface of the mounting body 1 can be brought into contact with the needle 17a, and thus the electrical characteristics of the semiconductor elements (chips) of the semiconductor wafer 14 can be inspected and measured.

At that time, the push-up member 2 in which a plurality of projecting pins 8 are erected is engaged with the lower flange step portion in the stepped hollow portion 6a below the top plate 4 of the mounting body 1 to form a screw shaft. 13 rises together with the mounting body 1 away from the upper end head portion of 13, and also descends when the transfer body 1 is lowered by the screw feed action by the reverse rotation drive of the drive motor 13A after the inspection. . When the transfer body 1 is lowered to the height shown in FIG.
The push-up member 2 standing upright is joined again to the upper end head portion of the screw shaft 13 and is supported at a constant height. When the transfer body 1 is further lowered than this, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of projecting pins 8 are projected above the top plate 4 of the transfer body 1,
The top plate 4 of the transfer body 1 is separated downward from the lower surface of the inspected semiconductor wafer 14 so that the wafer 14 can be carried out by the transfer arm.

〔The invention's effect〕

Since the transfer body mechanism of the present invention is configured as described above, the transfer body is supported by a very simple structure while the push-up member having a plurality of pins capable of projecting and retracting from the transfer body is supported at a constant height. Can be moved up and down smoothly, and plate-like objects such as semiconductor wafers that have been transferred onto the pins do not move and drop in the air, causing no positional displacement The effect of being able to stably mount and hold is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the mounting body mechanism of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the mounting body in a state in which it is raised until the projecting pins are retracted, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a state in which the projecting pin is lowered to the projecting state, and FIG.
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a state in which the semiconductor wafer is further raised from the drawing and brought into contact with the needle of the probe card of the wafer prober. 1 ... Placement body, 2 ... Push-up member, 3 ... Guide member, 3a ... Rotating cylinder body, 4 ... Top plate, 5 ... Hollow shaft, 7 ... Screw hole, 8 ... Pin, 9 ... hole, 10 ... support substrate, 11 ... bearing, 12 ... base, 13A ... vertical drive motor, 13 ... screw shaft, 14 ... plate-like object (semiconductor wafer).

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location H01L 21/68 P 8418-4M

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A mounting body, and a push-up member in which a plurality of pins that are inserted into a hole of the mounting body from below and are capable of projecting and retracting upward are provided upright, and the plurality of pins of the push-up member are provided. In a mounting body mechanism in which a plate-like object to be transferred onto the mounting body is mounted on the upper surface of the mounting body by suction of the pin and is held by suction, the transferring body projects a hollow shaft at a lower portion. The lower hollow shaft of the transfer body is guided and supported on the base by a guide member so as to be vertically movable, and is vertically installed in the lower hollow shaft of the mount body from below. A drive motor for vertical movement is provided, which has a screw shaft that is screwed with a part of the inner part and supports the push-up member at a constant height from below from the lower side. The mounting body is moved up and down by the screw feeding action by the so that each pin of the push-up member is projected and retracted with respect to the mounting body. A mounting body mechanism characterized by being configured to be. 2. The guide member comprises a rotary cylinder rotatably supported with respect to a base, and a bearing for vertically guiding and supporting a lower hollow shaft of a mounting body on an inner circumference of the rotary cylinder. The mounting body mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that a drive motor for vertical movement is attached to a lower portion of the rotary cylinder.