Transferring apparatus and substrate processing apparatus

• US 6,761,178 B2
• Filed: 11/28/2001
• Issued: 07/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
• Original Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
• Inventors: Ogami, Takayuki, Kuroda, Osamu
• Primary Examiner(s): Stinson, Frankie L.
• Application Number:
  US09/998,431
• Publication Number:
  US 20020153098A1
• Time in Patent Office: 958 Days
• Field of Search: 134/56.R, 134/57.R, 134/58.R, 134/137, 134/140, 134/158, 134/902, 414/222.01, 414/222.02, 414/222.13, 901/1, 901/46, 901/49
• US Class Current: 134/56.00R
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 3/04 Cleaning involving contact with liquid
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67259 Position monitoring, e.g. misposition detection or presence detection
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 134/902 Semiconductor wafer

Abstract

A cleaning apparatus 11 includes a cleaning bath 30 for cleaning wafers W, a wafer guide 31 moving up and down to accommodate the wafers W in the cleaning bath 30, a motor 49 for moving the wafer guide 31 up and down, an absolute encoder 33 for detecting the position of the wafer guide 31, a driver 62 and a controller 63. The absolute encoder 33 detects a rotational angle of a rotating shaft 53 of the motor 49 and outputs a detection signal to the driver 62. Based on this detection signal, the driver 62 detects the position of the wafer guide 31 and further outputs the positional information of the wafer guide 31 to the controller 63. Thus, the invention provides a transferring apparatus and a substrate processing apparatus both of which allow of easy detection of the wafer guide and further facilitate their maintenance.

Claims

1. A transferring apparatus comprising:

at least two moving bodies with mutual interference potential, at least one moving body being driven by a motor; and

a detection unit for detecting a position of the at least one moving body, the detection unit includes;

an absolute encoder directly connected to the motor thereby to detect a revolution amount of a rotating shaft of the motor and further output a detection signal,

a driver for receiving the detection signal outputted from the absolute encoder thereby to output a positional information of the at least one moving body, said positional information determined by using an established proportional relationship between a rotational angle of the rotating shaft of the motor and the position of the at least one moving body, and

a controller for inputting a sequence control program to the driver and receiving the positional information outputted from the driver thereby to judge the position of the at least one moving body; and

wherein the driver controls the motor according to the inputted sequence control program, the controller controlling movements of the at least two moving bodies in a manner that the at least one moving body does not interfere with any other moving body.

2. A transferring apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the positional information outputted from the driver to the controller is identical to a sensor output which is generated by detecting whether the moving body is positioned in a predetermined area when the rotating shaft is rotating and/or stops rotating.

3. A transferring apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the moving body is a substrate holder that moves while holding a substrate.

4. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:

a transferring apparatus including;

at least two substrate holders with mutual interference potential, at least one substrate holder being driven by a motor; and

a detection unit for detecting a position of the at least one substrate holder, the detection unit includes;

an absolute encoder directly connected to the motor thereby to detect a revolution amount of a rotating shaft of the motor and further output a detection signal;

a driver for receiving the detection signal outputted from the absolute encoder thereby to output a positional information of the at least one substrate holder, said positional information determined by using an established proportional relationship between a rotational angle of the rotating shaft of the motor and the position of the at least one substrate holder; and

a controller for inputting a sequence control program to the driver and receiving the positional information outputted from the driver thereby to judge the position of the at least one substrate holder;

wherein the driver controls the motor according to the inputted sequence control program, the controller controlling movements of the at least two substrate holders in a manner that the at least one substrate holder does not interfere with any other substrate holder; and

a processing bath for processing a substrate;

wherein the substrate holder is movable to accommodate the substrate in the processing bath.

5. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:

a transferring apparatus including;

at least one first substrate holder and at least one second substrate holder with mutual interference potential, the at least one first substrate holder being driven by a motor; and

a detection unit for detecting a position of the at least one first substrate holder, the detection unit includes;

an absolute encoder directly connected to the motor thereby to detect a revolution amount of a rotating shaft of the motor and further output a detection signal;

a driver for receiving the detection signal outputted from the absolute encoder thereby to output a positional information of the at least one first substrate holder, said positional information determined by using an established proportional relationship between a rotational angle of the rotating shaft of the motor and the position of the at least first one substrate holder; and

a controller for inputting a sequence control program to the driver and receiving the positional information outputted from the driver thereby to judge the position of the first substrate holder;

wherein the driver controls the motor according to the inputted sequence control program, the controller controlling movements of the at least two substrate holders in a manner that the at least one substrate holder does not interfere with any other substrate holder; and

a processing bath for processing a substrate;

wherein the first substrate holder is movable to accommodate the substrate in the processing bath, while the second substrate holder transfers the substrate thereby to give and receive the substrate to and from the first substrate holder, the second substrate holder being provided with drive means for moving the second substrate holder and the controller controls the drive means and the motor.

6. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the controller controls the drive means and the motor so that the first substrate holder does not collide with the second substrate holder.

7. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:

a plurality of processing baths arranged in a horizontal direction to process a substrate therein;

a plurality of first substrate holders provided for the plurality of processing baths respectively, the first substrate holders each moving between a position inside the corresponding processing bath and another position above the corresponding processing bath, in a vertical direction;

a plurality of vertical movement units for moving the plurality of first substrate holders in the vertical direction;

a second substrate holder which holds the substrate and moves to the horizontal direction above the plurality of processing baths;

a horizontal movement unit for moving the second substrate holder in the horizontal direction; and

a control unit which drives the vertical movement units and the horizontal movement unit so that the first substrate holders and the second substrate holder do not interfere with each other, thereby to move the first substrate holders and the second substrate holder.

8. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a plurality of position sensors which are arranged in respective positions along a horizontal movement of the second substrate holder thereby to detect various horizontal positions of the second substrate holder.