End Effector Substrate Abutting Portion for High-Density Wafer Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional substrate conveying robots with end effectors having blades that change pitch face challenges in holding high-density substrates due to limited height of wafer receiving portions, leading to particle generation and increased teaching burden, especially with varying cassette dimensions and wafer heights.
Innovation Solution
The end effector design includes substrate holding units with a substrate placing portion and an upright or inclined substrate abutting portion that extends from the blade proximal end, ensuring the substrate does not enter between the blade upper and lower surfaces, allowing for high-density substrate mounting without a plunger and reducing teaching burden by increasing the allowable setting range of the advancing height.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a plunger is used to position wafers in conventional end effectors, then wafer positioning is achieved, but particles are generated
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the plunger component from the end effector structure entirely. Instead of using a separate positioning mechanism, the blade's own structure (with its proximal end extending into the cassette) performs both holding and positioning functions, eliminating the source of particle generation while maintaining positioning capability
Solution Approach 2:
The invention combines the wafer holding function and wafer positioning function into a single integrated blade structure. The blade body simultaneously holds wafers at multiple positions and positions them by extending into the cassette, eliminating the need for separate positioning components that generate particles
2Device complexity
If the wafer receiving portion height is set low in conventional end effectors, then the structure is compact, but the allowable setting range for advancing height is small and teaching burden is large
Solution Approach 1:
The invention makes the blade pitch adjustable between minimum and maximum values, allowing dynamic adaptation to different cassette types and wafer heights. This dynamic pitch adjustment expands the allowable setting range for advancing height without increasing structural complexity, reducing teaching burden while maintaining compactness
3Productivity
If multiple wafers are held at the same time in conventional end effectors, then productivity is improved, but particle generation occurs due to plunger use
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the plunger component that causes particle generation while maintaining the multi-wafer holding capability. The blade structure itself performs positioning without contact mechanisms that generate particles, enabling clean multi-wafer handling for improved productivity
Data Source
AI summary
An end effector has a plurality of blade bodies and a substrate holding unit on a blade proximal end side of each of the blade bodies. The substrate holding unit includes a substrate placing portion on which the bottom surface edge portion of the substrate is placed and a substrate abutting portion which extends upward from the blade proximal end side of the substrate placing portion and on which the side end portion of the substrate abuts. The height of the substrate abutting portion is set to keep the substrate from entering between an upper end of the substrate abutting portion of the blade body on a lower side and the bottom surface of the blade body on an upper side. In an end effector having a plurality of blades capable of changing in pitch in the vertical direction, substrates mounted in high density can be held without a problem.