Indexer Robot Dual-Arm Substrate Transport Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing substrate processing apparatuses have a short cycle time and low throughput due to the inefficiency of the indexer cell's transport mechanism, which makes it difficult to transport substrates with stability at high speeds.
Innovation Solution
The substrate processing apparatus employs a multi-transport arm mechanism and a substrate transfer part with multiple rest points, allowing simultaneous transport of multiple substrates and optimizing the transfer process to reduce transport time and increase throughput.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the operating speed of the transport mechanism in the indexer cell is increased to improve throughput, then the processing speed increases, but substrate transport stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The transport mechanism is segmented into multiple independent transport arms (N≥2), each capable of transporting substrates independently. This segmentation allows parallel transport operations while maintaining individual control over each arm, enabling high-speed operation without compromising stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The substrate transfer part introduces a vertical dimension with multiple levels of substrate rest parts (at least N+1 levels). This multi-level arrangement allows simultaneous loading and unloading operations across different heights, enabling the transport mechanism to operate at high speeds while maintaining stability through distributed substrate positioning.
2Device complexity
If a single transport arm is used to transport substrates one by one, then the device complexity is low, but the processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple transport arms are merged into a single coordinated system controlled by a transport controller. The controller synchronizes the operations of all transport arms to perform parallel substrate transfers, reducing total processing time while maintaining manageable system complexity through centralized control.
Solution Approach 2:
The multi-level substrate rest parts enable continuous substrate availability for each transport arm. While one arm is loading a substrate, another arm can simultaneously unload or position substrates at different levels, ensuring that no transport arm remains idle and maximizing the continuity of useful action.
Data Source
AI summary
An indexer robot includes two transport arms. The indexer robot simultaneously transports two unprocessed substrates from a cassette to a substrate transfer part in such a manner that each of the two transport arms holds a single unprocessed substrate. Also, the indexer robot simultaneously receives two processed substrates from the substrate transfer part and simultaneously transports the two processed substrate to a cassette in such a manner that each of the two transport arms holds a single processed substrate. The provision of three sending substrate rest parts and three returning substrate rest parts in the substrate transfer part enables the indexer robot to smoothly accomplish the simultaneous two-substrate transport, thereby reducing the time required for the transport of substrates in an entire substrate processing apparatus.