Transfer Robot Hand With Central Recess For Warped Substrate Grip
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing substrate handling apparatuses face instability in gripping warped substrates due to wide gaps between vacuum pads, leading to unreliable substrate transfer during photolithography processes.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus features a hand design with a central recess and concentric vacuum pads, including outer and inner fingers with guide recesses to prevent interference with support pins, ensuring a stable grip on warped substrates by maintaining a narrow gap between vacuum pads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a U-shaped hand with wide gap between vacuum pads is used, then interference with counterpart objects is avoided, but grip stability on warped substrates deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The hand is divided into multiple independent vacuum pads (first vacuum pads on inner fingers and second vacuum pad on inner support member) arranged in a specific pattern. This segmentation allows each pad to independently adapt to local variations in the substrate surface while maintaining overall grip stability, resolving the contradiction between avoiding interference and maintaining reliable grip.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the hand have different functional characteristics: the inner fingers with first vacuum pads provide localized clamping force, while the inner support member with the second vacuum pad provides additional support. This local differentiation allows the hand to adapt to warped surfaces effectively while maintaining stable grip.
2Reliability
If vacuum pads are positioned to clamp warped substrates, then grip reliability improves, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The hand structure serves multiple functions: the inner fingers provide both support and clamping through first vacuum pads, while the inner support member provides structural support and additional clamping through the second vacuum pad. This multi-functionality achieves reliable grip on warped substrates without requiring separate components for each function, thus limiting complexity increase.
Solution Approach 2:
The inner fingers are positioned within the U-shaped hand structure, and the inner support member is nested within the hand. This nested arrangement allows compact integration of multiple functional elements, achieving reliable grip stability while minimizing structural complexity and space occupation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design enhances the stability of substrate transfer by securely clamping warped substrates with vacuum pressure, preventing deviation and ensuring accurate positioning during transfer operations.
Implementation Method 1
a vacuum clamping member that clamps the substrate by vacuum pressure
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for transferring a substrate includes a hand on which the substrate is placed, and the hand includes an outer support member that supports a first region of the substrate and has a pair of outer fingers, an inner support member that supports a second region of the substrate that is closer to the center of the substrate than the first region, the inner support member having a pair of inner fingers located inward of the pair of outer fingers, and a central recess formed in a region between the pair of inner fingers of the inner support member, the region corresponding to the center of the substrate placed on the hand and the central recess being open toward a front side.