Substrate Transfer Layout With Orientation Conversion for Higher Throughput
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional substrate processing apparatuses face throughput deterioration due to inefficient robot operations and indirect transportation paths, leading to increased processing time and reduced efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A substrate processing apparatus with a configuration that includes a carrier placing shelf, transfer block, and processing block, featuring orientation converting mechanisms and substrate handling mechanisms to facilitate direct and efficient transport of substrates between batch and single-wafer processing areas, minimizing transport distances and optimizing substrate orientation changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a robot transports substrates by moving along multiple single-wafer cleaning modules, then the robot can access multiple processing stations, but the robot becomes busy and throughput deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into distinct functional blocks: a transfer block with a substrate handling mechanism and a separate processing block with multiple processing chambers. This segmentation allows the substrate handling mechanism to operate independently, transporting substrates between the carrier and processing chambers without requiring a single robot to traverse multiple stations, thereby improving throughput while maintaining access capability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If substrates are transported indirectly through multiple units (loading/unloading unit → interface unit → batch processing unit), then all processing stages can be integrated, but the transport path becomes long and throughput deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The substrate handling mechanism is extracted from the conventional indirect transport path and repositioned adjacent to both the carrier and the processing chambers. This allows substrates to be transported directly from the carrier to the processing chambers without passing through intermediate units, significantly reducing transport time while maintaining system integration through the shared processing block architecture.
3Productivity
If multiple single-wafer cleaning modules are arranged in a row, then each substrate can be processed individually, but the apparatus width increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of arranging processing chambers in a horizontal row that increases apparatus width, the system uses vertical stacking of processing chambers within the processing block. The substrate handling mechanism transports substrates horizontally to the processing block, where multiple chambers are arranged in the vertical dimension, thereby maintaining single-wafer processing capability while reducing the apparatus footprint in the width direction.
Data Source
AI summary
In a substrate processing apparatus, an orientation converting area is provided between a transfer block and a batch processing area; a single-wafer transporting area is positioned adjacently to the transfer block and the orientation converting area; and the single-wafer processing area is positioned adjacently to the single-wafer transporting area. A center robot in the single-wafer transporting area transports the substrate from the second orientation converting mechanism in the orientation converting area, to the single-wafer processing chambers in the single-wafer processing area, and to the buffering unit. The center robot includes a horizontally movable hand that holds a substrate in a horizontal orientation, and a lifting stage that raises and lowers the hand, and the lifting stage has a fixed position in the horizontal direction.