Transfer Robot Inclined Rotary Base for Wafer Posture Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional transfer robots in semiconductor manufacturing face challenges in maintaining the horizontal posture of the hand unit during wafer transfer, leading to potential distortion and improper delivery, which complicates the structure and increases the risk of particle generation.
Innovation Solution
A transfer robot design featuring a support unit with a rotary base, a first rotation mechanism rotating about a vertical axis, a second rotation mechanism rotating about an inclined axis, and a pivotal member that pivots about a perpendicular axis, allowing the hand unit to maintain a horizontal posture through adjustable inclination without rotating the base, thus preventing structural complexity and particle generation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a drive mechanism is provided at the proximal end of the hand unit to make the hand unit swing and maintain horizontal posture, then the hand unit can maintain horizontal posture during transfer, but the number of parts is considerably increased and the structure becomes more complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces a new degree of freedom by allowing the rotary base itself to tilt in addition to rotating, thereby maintaining the hand unit's horizontal posture through base orientation adjustment rather than adding a separate swing mechanism at the hand unit proximal end
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the posture control function from the hand unit and relocates it to the rotary base level, where the base's tilting capability compensates for the cantilever effect without requiring additional mechanisms at the hand unit
2Stability of the object's composition
If a drive mechanism is provided at the proximal end of the hand unit to make the hand unit swing, then the hand unit can maintain horizontal posture, but particles undesirable for the wafer transfer are prone to be generated
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the swing mechanism from the hand unit proximal end area, eliminating the source of particle generation in the wafer transfer path while maintaining posture control through rotary base tilting
3Productivity
If the plurality of plates and one plate are configured to independently move in the horizontal direction, then multiple wafers can be efficiently transferred, but the number of parts is considerably increased
Solution Approach 1:
The rotary base serves multiple functions: it rotates to orient the hand unit, it tilts to maintain horizontal posture, and it supports the linear movement mechanism. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate mechanisms for each plate while maintaining efficient wafer transfer capability
Data Source
AI summary
A transfer robot includes a support unit, a rotary base supported by the support unit, a rotation mechanism that rotates the rotary base, a hand unit supported by the rotary base and configured to support a work, and a linear movement mechanism that moves the hand unit in a horizontal direction relative to the rotary base. The rotation mechanism includes a first rotation mechanism that rotates the rotary base relative to the support unit about a first rotation axis extending in a vertical direction, and a second rotation mechanism that rotates the rotary base about a second rotation axis inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to the first rotation axis. The support unit includes a pivotal member that pivots about a pivotal axis perpendicular to the first rotation axis.