JPH08217183A - Plate-shaped storage cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] Efficiently accommodates a plurality of plate-shaped bodies and facilitates the handling of individual plate-shaped bodies. [Structure] A plurality of substrates 2 can be accommodated in a substrate cassette 1. Each substrate 2 is placed on the receiving rack 4.
The receiving shelves 4 are formed on the side plate 5 in every plural stages. Side plate 5
Is inserted into an insertion hole 6 formed in the frame 3 of the substrate cassette 1 and can be displaced in the longitudinal direction. By selectively pushing up the side plate 5 from below the bottom plate of the frame body 3, the space between the substrates 2 is changed to widen the space of a specific portion, while ensuring a sufficient clearance for the robot transfer arm and the like. Can be inserted while

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plate-like body for separately accommodating various substrates for electronic equipment such as glass substrates for liquid crystal display devices and other flat plate-like bodies so as not to contact each other. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a storage cassette, particularly a plate storage cassette that allows a space for handling a plate and can be made compact as a whole.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in each manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device, glass substrates are handled in a cassette so that they do not come into contact with each other for thin film formation, etching, cleaning, transportation or storage. In a configuration that is widely used as a substrate cassette for this purpose, substrates are stored in a box-shaped frame body in a substantially horizontal state in multiple stages. Grooves or shelves are provided between opposite side surfaces of the box-shaped frame body to accommodate the substrates in a multi-stage manner. The cassette containing the glass substrate is transported between the respective manufacturing process devices such as cleaning, thin film forming processing, etching, etc. provided in a clean room by an automatic transport vehicle or the like. A loader or a buffer unit is provided in each device, and the glass substrates are taken out one by one or the entire cassette is collectively processed. When the glass substrates are taken out one by one, a loader, a robot carrying arm, or the like is inserted into the space between the housed glass substrates, taken out and processed, and the processed glass substrates are housed in the cassette again.

[0003]

In order to improve the efficiency of glass substrate transfer and the productivity of processing in the entire cassette, as many glass substrates as possible can be accommodated in one cassette, and the shape of the cassette is also as small as possible. It is required to be small. However, if many glass substrates are accommodated in a small cassette, the space between the glass substrates becomes narrow. Since the glass substrates are handled individually, when the robot arm or the like is inserted into the space between the glass substrates, the surface of the glass substrate different from the glass substrate to be handled may be rubbed or collided. This may undesirably stain, scratch, or damage the surface of the glass substrate.

If the thickness of the robot arm is reduced so that the robot arm can be inserted even at narrow intervals, the rigidity becomes insufficient. That is, there is a trade-off relationship between the compact design and the plate thickness of the arm, and if the arm is thinned due to the limitation of the substrate spacing, the fluctuation of the arm tip portion due to insufficient rigidity and the limitation of the use of the suction portion are involved. Insufficient adsorption causes damage to the glass substrate and displacement. Further, in recent years, in the liquid crystal display device, the thickness and the area of the glass substrate have been reduced, and countermeasures against the bending of the glass substrate have become more and more important.

An object of the present invention is to provide a plate accommodating cassette capable of efficiently accommodating plate-like members such as glass substrates and changing the distance between the plate-like members so that they can be easily handled. That is.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a cassette for accommodating a plurality of plate-like bodies in a multi-stage manner at intervals.
Supporting means for individually mounting and supporting each plate-like body, and a spacing varying means capable of changing the spacing between the supporting means of each stage at least for the supporting means of each stage It is a plate-shaped body accommodation cassette. Further, the distance varying means of the present invention is characterized in that the distance between the plate-shaped bodies of adjacent steps can be expanded to a width necessary for inserting an arm for conveying the plate-shaped bodies. Further, the supporting means of the present invention is grouped by a fixed number of steps, and the spacing varying means is capable of displacing the supporting means simultaneously for each group to change the spacing between the plate-shaped bodies between adjacent steps. Is characterized by. Further, the supporting means of the present invention is displaceable at each stage independently, and the spacing varying means is capable of individually changing the spacing between the supporting means. Further, the plate-shaped body of the present invention is a substrate for electronic equipment.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the plurality of plate-shaped members are placed on the supporting means and individually supported. By changing the distance between the housed plate-like bodies by the distance changing means, the distance between the plate-like bodies placed by the supporting means can be changed. When a plate-shaped body is accommodated in the plate-shaped body cassette and is transported or processed, the interval between the plate-shaped bodies can be reduced to make the whole compact and efficient. When individually handling the plate-shaped bodies, even if the spacing between the plate-shaped body to be handled and the adjacent plate-shaped body is widened and the rigidity of the handling member is increased to improve the working accuracy, they are adjacent to each other. There is no risk of undesirably damaging the plate-like body, and safe and efficient work can be performed.

Further, according to the present invention, the distance between the plate-shaped bodies of the adjacent steps can be expanded to the width required for inserting the plate-shaped body conveying arm by the distance varying means. When collectively handling the plate-shaped bodies accommodated in the plate-shaped body storage cassette, the space between the plate-shaped bodies can be reduced, so that the outer shape of the plate-shaped body storage cassette can be reduced and accommodated. The number of plate-shaped bodies can be increased.

Further, according to the present invention, the plate-like bodies are grouped and the interval can be changed for each group.
It is possible to simplify the configuration of the external device by reducing the number of external devices that act on the interval varying means.

Further, according to the present invention, the supporting means can be independently displaced in each step, and the distance varying means can change the distance between the respective supporting means individually, so that the plate-shaped bodies are adjacent to each other. It can be handled by adjusting the space between it and the plate.

Further, according to the invention, since the plate-shaped body is a substrate for electronic equipment, it is necessary to carry out a process necessary for a manufacturing process thereof.
It can be carried out in a single state or collectively on a large number of substrates as needed, and productivity can be improved.

[0012]

1 shows the appearance of a substrate cassette 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. A plurality of flat substrates 2 such as glass substrates for a liquid crystal display device can be accommodated in the substrate cassette 1 in a multi-stage manner. In the box-shaped frame 3 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape of the substrate cassette 1, the substrates 2 are placed on a plurality of receiving shelves 4 provided between opposite side surfaces. The receiving rack 4, which is a supporting unit, supports the substrate 2 substantially horizontally. The number of substrates 2 accommodated is about 10 to 40. The receiving shelves 4 are arranged so that as many substrates as possible can be accommodated at an interval of 5 to 30 mm between the substrates 2 so that the substrates 2 do not contact each other. In this embodiment, the receiving shelves 4 are grouped into a plurality of slender side plates 5 so that they can be displaced. For convenience of explanation, it is assumed that each side plate 5 is provided with three stages of receiving shelves 4. Each side plate 5 has an insertion hole 6 provided in the top plate of the frame body 3.
And is displaceable in the longitudinal direction. A stopper 7 is provided on the back side of the substrate cassette 1 to prevent the substrate 2 inserted from the front side from going too far.

FIG. 2 shows an operation of changing the distance between the substrates 2.
As shown in FIG. 2A, the adjacent side plates 5a, 5b, 5
Receiving shelves 4a, 4b, and 4c are provided in c, respectively. The substrates 2a placed on the receiving shelves 4a, 4b, 4c,
The distance Da between 2b and 2c is constant.

In FIG. 2B, the side plates 5b and 5c are pushed up so that the space Db1 between the substrates 2a and 2b and the substrates 2b and 2c.
The distance Db2 between the substrates 2c and 2a is narrowed, and the distance Db3 between the substrates 2c and 2a is reduced.
The state which expanded is shown. There is a relationship of 3 × Da = Db1 + Db2 + Db3 with the interval Da in FIG.
Since the distance Db3 is enlarged, the substrate 2c is placed within this distance.
It is possible to insert the tip of the transfer arm 8 for individually taking out. Since the distance Db3 is sufficiently large, the thickness of the transfer arm 8 can be increased to ensure sufficient rigidity, and the surface of the substrate 2a below the contact arm 8 can be contacted with the dirt, scratches, or damage. There is no fear.

FIG. 3 shows a structure for displacing the side plates 5a and 5c upward. A stepped portion 10 for supporting the bottom plate 9 of the substrate cassette 1 is formed at the base of each side plate 5a, 5c. Below the stepped portion 10, the thickness is reduced so that the protrusion 1
1 is formed. When the bottom plate 9 is mounted on the mounting table 13 in which the through holes 12 are formed so as to correspond to the protrusions 11,
The push-up rod 14 projects from the inside of the through hole 12, pushes up the projecting portion 11, and displaces the side plate 5c upward. By such an operation from the outside, the distance between the receiving shelves 4a and 4c can be increased from Da to Db3.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of a loader that handles the substrate cassette 1. In order to handle the substrates 2 one by one with this loader, a horizontal joint robot 20 is installed. The robot 20 is displaced up and down by the elevator 21 to move the swing unit 2
It is possible to pivotally displace by 2, and bend and extend the bending arms 24 and 25 in the horizontal direction by the joint portion 23 so that the transfer arm 8 can be inserted or ejected between the substrates 2 housed in the substrate cassette 1. Below the substrate cassette 1, cylinders 26a, 26b, 26c that can individually push up the side plates 5a, 5b, 5c are arranged. Robot 2
The operation of 0 and the operations of the cylinders 26a, 26b, 26c are performed in conjunction with each other according to a preset sequence program, and the substrates 2 can be sequentially processed individually.

The material forming the substrate cassette 1 is selected in consideration of strength, chemical resistance, heat resistance, etc. according to the purpose of use and the place of construction. In order to integrally form the receiving rack 4 with the side plate 5, a synthetic resin that can be melt-formed is preferable. For example, polyetherimide, polyetheretherketone, polyimide or the like is preferably selected as the main component. When such a synthetic resin is used, the substrate cassette 1
With the substrate 2 housed in the substrate, cleaning treatment with an organic solvent or the like can be collectively performed.

FIG. 5 shows the substrate 2 by the transfer arm 8 of FIG.
The transport state of is shown. FIG. 5A shows the bending and stretching arms 24 and 2.
5 shows an extended state, and FIG.
25 shows a contracted state. In the stretched state, the angle formed by the bending and stretching arms 24 and 25 with the joint portion 23 as the center is large, and in the contracted state, the angle is small.

As shown in FIG. 6, a two-stage type single-axis robot 30 may be used, and the sliding arms 31 and 32 may be bent and extended directly in the carrying direction. The solid line shows the extended state of the sliding arms 31 and 32, and the chain double-dashed line shows the contracted state. The sliding arms 31 and 32 are the robot 2 of FIG.
As with 0, the lifting and lowering unit 31 and the turning unit 22 can move up and down and turn and displace.

FIG. 7 shows a modified state of the substrate spacing according to the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7 (A), the frame body 43 of the substrate cassette 41 is provided with a step portion 45 on which a receiving shelf 44 as a supporting means is placed. A cylinder 46 is arranged at the side of the frame body 43, and a wrist-up hand 47 is provided at the tip of the rod of the cylinder. Figure 7
As shown in (B), when the cylinder 46 is extended, the receiving shelves 44 are individually lifted by the list-up hand 47, and the substrate 2 placed between the opposing receiving shelves 44 is lifted and the lower portion thereof is lifted. The distance Dc between the substrate 2 and the substrate 2 can be increased. When the distance Dc is widened, a large clearance for inserting the tip of the transfer arm 8 or the like can be secured. By taking out the substrates 2 in this manner and repeating the operation while changing the position of the cylinder 46, all the substrates 2 can be taken out with a margin of the substrate spacing. When the substrate 2 is received to be accommodated in the substrate cassette 41, the receiving shelf 44 on which the received substrate is to be placed may be raised.

FIG. 8 shows the configuration and operation of the third embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8A, in the substrate cassette 51 according to the third embodiment, the receiving shelf 54 is the side body block 5.
5 is provided. The side body blocks 55 are vertically connected by a connecting rod 56, and the distance between them can be changed. As shown in FIG. 8B, when the upper and lower side body blocks 55 are stretched, the distance Dd can be widened within a range allowed by the connecting rod 56 connecting one ends of the adjacent side body blocks 55. By inserting the tip of the transfer arm 8 into the widened space, it is possible to easily process the substrate 2. As shown in FIG. 8 (C), the side body block 55 and the connecting rod 56 are provided with an eaves 5
7 is provided so as not to fall off.

As shown by the solid line in FIG. 9, during transportation and storage, the side body blocks 55 are brought into close contact with each other to keep the whole compact. At the time of substrate transfer, each of the accommodated substrates can be individually handled by suspending the upper part of the substrate cassette 51 by the gripper 58 and extending the interval between the side body blocks 55 as shown by a two-dot chain line.

In each of the above embodiments, the case where the substrate cassettes 1, 41 and 51 are used in the process of manufacturing the glass substrate for the liquid crystal display device as the substrate 2 has been described. A substrate for equipment, a semiconductor wafer, and the like can be handled in the same manner. It is possible to sufficiently cope with the use of such a conductive plate and an increase in area. Further, a tray in which fine parts are arranged can be accommodated in a cassette in a multi-stage manner and handled in the same manner. Also, as a magazine such as a compact disc (CD), the same configuration can be used to improve the storage efficiency and to quickly and stably operate the magazine.

Further, although it is preferable that the plate-shaped members are accommodated in a horizontal state, they can be tilted if necessary.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to change the interval between a plurality of plate-like bodies accommodated in the plate-like body accommodating cassette. The efficiency in processing can be increased. In addition, it is possible to easily form a space between the plate-shaped bodies required when the plate-shaped bodies are individually handled, and to efficiently handle each plate-shaped body.

Further, according to the present invention, the space between the plurality of plate-like bodies accommodated in the plate-like body accommodating cassette can be expanded to the width required for inserting the plate-like body conveying arm.
It is also possible to easily take out the plate-shaped bodies that are efficiently accommodated individually.

Further, according to the present invention, since the plurality of plate-like bodies accommodated in the plate-like body accommodating cassette are grouped and handled, the mechanism for externally operating the spacing changing means can be simplified. Further, since the intervals between the plurality of plate-shaped bodies can be changed at the same time, it is possible to handle the plurality of plate-shaped bodies at the same time and perform efficient work.

Further, according to the present invention, since the intervals of the respective steps of the plate-like body having a plurality of steps can be changed independently from the adjacent steps,
It can be easily handled for any plate.

Further, according to the present invention, since the plate-shaped body is a substrate for electronic equipment, it is possible to efficiently process a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, a high-density multilayer printed wiring board and the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified perspective view showing an appearance of a substrate cassette 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial front view of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a partial front sectional view of the embodiment of FIG.

4 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an apparatus for handling substrates housed in a substrate cassette 1 of the embodiment shown in FIG.

5 is a simplified plan view showing a state in which the substrate 2 is conveyed by the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a simplified side view showing the configuration of another device for individually transporting substrates.

FIG. 7 is a simplified partial front view showing the configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a simplified partial front view and partial sectional view showing the configuration of a third embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a simplified perspective view showing an operation of enlarging the substrate interval of the substrate cassette 51 according to the embodiment of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 41, 51 Substrate cassette 2 Substrate 3,43 Frame body 4,44, 54 Receiving rack 5 Side plate 6 Insertion hole 8 Transfer arm 9 Bottom plate 10 Stepped portion 11 Projection portion 14 Push-up rod 20, 30 Robot 26a, 26b, 26c, 46 cylinder 47 list up hand 55 side body block 56 connecting rod

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A cassette for accommodating a plurality of plate-shaped bodies in a multi-stage manner with a space provided between each plate-shaped body, the supporting means for individually mounting and supporting each plate-shaped body, and the supporting means for each stage. Regarding the above, a plate-shaped body accommodating cassette, characterized in that it includes at least a space varying means capable of changing a space between the supporting means of at least an adjacent stage. 2. The distance varying means is capable of expanding a distance between plate-shaped bodies of adjacent steps to a width required for inserting an arm for transporting the plate-shaped bodies. The plate-shaped body containing cassette. 3. The supporting means is grouped by a fixed number of steps, and the spacing varying means simultaneously displaces the supporting means for each group to change the spacing between the plate-shaped bodies between adjacent steps. The plate-shaped body accommodating cassette according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that. 4. The support means is displaceable independently for each stage, and the spacing varying means is capable of individually changing the spacing between the support means. Plate-shaped body storage cassette. 5. The plate-shaped body accommodating cassette according to claim 1, wherein the plate-shaped body is a substrate for an electronic device.