Method and apparatus for carrying a variety of products

• US 5,536,128 A
• Filed: 06/14/1993
• Issued: 07/16/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Renesas Electronics Corporation
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Kikuchi, Hiroshi, Kawaji, Hiroyuki, Iwasaki, Takemasa, Hamada, Toyohide, Ikeda, Minoru, Shimoyashiro, Sadao, Nagatomo, Hiroto
• Primary Examiner(s): Werner, Frank E.
• Application Number:
  US08/076,190
• Time in Patent Office: 1,128 Days
• Field of Search: 414/222, 414/225, 414/226, 414/416, 414/417, 414/331, 414/273, 414/286, 414/271, 414/277, 414/744.2, 414/935, 414/744.8, 414/939, 414/940, 414/283, 414/786, 118/500, 118/719, 118/728, 118/729, 118/730, 118/50, 118/50.1, 204/298.23, 204/298.25, 364/468, 364/478, 364/403, 198/347.1, 198/347.4, 198/349.1, 198/341, 29/469
• US Class Current: 414/273
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67161 characterized by the layout of the process chambers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67276 Production flow monitoring, e.g. for increasing throughput program-control systems per se G05B19/00, e.g. total factory control G05B19/418
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67727 using a general scheme of a conveying path within a factory
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67736 Loading to or unloading from a conveyor
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67781 Batch transfer of wafers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/6838 with gripping and holding devices using a vacuum; Bernoulli devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 414/135 Associated with semiconductor wafer handling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 414/139 including wafer charging or discharging means for vacuum chamber
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 414/14 Wafer cassette transporting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49904 Assembling a subassembly, then assembling with a second subassembly

Abstract

An apparatus for carrying a variety of products for effectively processing and carrying plural kinds of works such as semiconductor wafers includes a plurality of processing stations for processing plural kinds of works, a carriage system for carrying plural kinds of works, and a transfer system for delivering works between the carriage system and a processing station. A method for carrying a variety of products is realized in which the carriage system simultaneously carries plural kinds of works between the plurality of processing stations and stops at a predetermined position of the transfer system, whereas the transfer system identifies and delivers the desired kind of work to and from the carriage system.

Claims

1. An apparatus for carrying a variety of products comprising:

carriages having carriage boxes for transferring plural kinds of wafers one by one and isolating the wafers to be transferred from an external atmosphere to carry the wafers;

a loop-like carrying rail on which said carriages travel; and

a charge-removal device for charging raw wafers into said carriages and removing wafers transferred on said carriages and already subjected to all the processing processes;

an equipment module comprising;

a processing apparatus for processing one process or plural processing processes for wafers;

storage boxes for temporarily storing wafers by product groups and processes one by one;

a discriminator for discriminating a wafer number comprising at least a product number and a serial number of a wafer written on the wafer;

transfer devices for receiving and delivering the wafers among said carriage, said processing apparatus, said storage box, and said discriminator; and

a wafer delivery unit including said transfer device, said storage box and said discriminator, which are surrounded by clean boxes to maintain the interior at a clean atmosphere isolated from the external atmosphere, said wafer delivery unit being connected to said processing apparatus to mediate the delivery of wafers between said carriage and said processing apparatus;

a plurality of kinds and units of said equipment module serving as a fundamental unit being arranged to be connected to the circumference of said carrying rail; and

a host controller for collectively controlling, through a communication network, controllers which hold a process flow data indicative of process numbers in accordance with a process order by product groups collectively including products in which the process order and the processing conditions belong to the same category to manage inventory data by product group showing the quantity of inventory by product group and process, standard inventory data showing the quantity of standard inventory by product group and process, inventory data by apparatus showing the quantity of inventory for said storage boxes every processing apparatus of each of said equipment modules, and carriage data comprising at least product group, processing record and number of sheets of wafers being carried by said carriage, so as to determine the product group, the processing record, the number of sheets of wafers being carried by said carriage, so as to determine the product group, the processing record, the number of sheets and the charging order of the wafers delivered between the carriage and the equipment module to individually control said carrying system and a group of said equipment modules.

2. An apparatus for carrying a variety of products according to claim 1, wherein said wafer delivery unit is constituted by a united common interface unit corresponding to different processing apparatuses.

3. An apparatus for carrying a variety of products comprising:

a carriage having a box for transferring a cassette which holds at least one wafer and isolating the cassette to be transferred from an external atmosphere to carry the cassette;

a loop-like carrying rail on which said carriage travels; and

a charge-removal device for charging the cassette which holds the wafer into said carriage and removing the cassette which holds the wafer transferred on said carriage and already subjected to all the processing processes;

an equipment module comprising;

a processing apparatus for processing one process or plural processing processes for wafers;

a storage box for temporarily storing said cassettes by product group and process;

a discriminator for discriminating a wafer number comprising at least a product number and a serial number of a wafer written on the wafer or a data write/read device for writing and reading cassette information added to the cassette;

a transfer device for receiving and delivering the cassettes between said carriage, said processing apparatus, said storage box, and said discriminator; and

a cassette delivery unit including as constituent elements, said transfer device, said storage box and said discriminator, which are surrounded by a clean box to maintain the interior at a clean atmosphere isolated from the external atmosphere, said wafer delivery unit being connected to said processing apparatus to mediate the delivery of cassettes and wafers between said carriage and said processing apparatus;

a plurality of kinds and units of said equipment module serving as a fundamental unit being arranged to be connected to the circumference of said carrying rail; and

a host controller for collectively controlling, through a communication network, controllers which hold a process flow data indicative of process numbers in accordance with the process order by product groups collectively including products in which the process order and the processing conditions belong to the same category to manage inventory data by product group showing the quantity of inventory by product group and process, standard inventory data showing the quantity of standard inventory by product group and process, inventory data by apparatus showing the quantity of inventory for said storage boxes every processing apparatus of each of said equipment modules, and carriage data comprising at least product group, processing record and number of sheets of wafers being carried by said carriage, so as to determine the product group, the processing record, the number of sheets and the charging order of the wafers delivered between the carriage and the equipment module to individually control said carrying system and a group of said equipment modules.

4. An apparatus for carrying a variety of products according to claim 3, wherein said wafer delivery unit is constituted by a united common interface unit corresponding to different processing apparatuses.