Substrate Posture Turning Unit for Tight-Pitch Wafer Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current substrate treating apparatuses face challenges in transporting substrates from batch processing units to single-substrate processing parts due to the inability of horizontal substrate transporting robots to access gaps between substrates arranged at a pitch, leading to complex constructions and inefficient substrate handling.
Innovation Solution
A substrate treating apparatus with a vertical substrate holder, a vertical substrate transporting robot, a posture turning unit, and a horizontal substrate transporting robot, which collectively and alternately extracts substrates from a vertical posture, turns them horizontally, and facilitates easy access by the horizontal robot, using chucks with holding and passing grooves to manage substrate alignment and transport.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If substrates are arranged at a pitch of 5mm in the batch processing unit, then treatment efficiency is improved, but the gap between substrates becomes too narrow for the horizontal substrate transporting robot to extract individual substrates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a vertical substrate holder that arranges substrates in the vertical direction rather than horizontal arrangement. This dimensional change allows the horizontal substrate transporting robot to easily access and extract substrates from the side, solving the problem of narrow gaps while maintaining high substrate density for efficient batch processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The vertical substrate holder acts as an intermediary between the batch processing unit and the horizontal substrate transporting robot. It receives substrates from batch processing, maintains them in a vertically arranged state for easy robot access, and supplies them to the single-wafer processing unit, thus mediating the interface between the two processing modes.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a rotating mechanism is used to turn substrates from vertical to horizontal posture, then substrate transport between batch and single-wafer units is enabled, but the apparatus construction becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the posture changing function from a separate rotating mechanism and integrates it into the vertical substrate holder itself. The holder is designed to directly present substrates in horizontal posture to the single-wafer processing unit, eliminating the need for an independent rotating mechanism and simplifying the overall apparatus construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the substrate holding function with the posture changing function into a single vertical substrate holder component. This integration eliminates the need for separate rotating mechanisms while achieving the same operational result of enabling substrate transport between batch and single-wafer processing units.
3Reliability
If substrates are held in deionized water to prevent drying, then pattern collapse is prevented, but the rinse liquid bath becomes elongated and the construction becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the substrate holding function from the rinse liquid bath and relocates it to a separate vertical substrate holder. This allows substrates to be held in deionized water for pattern collapse prevention while eliminating the need for an elongated rinse liquid bath, thereby simplifying the overall construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The vertical substrate holder serves as an intermediary that provides a compact environment for holding substrates in deionized water. It maintains the necessary liquid environment for pattern collapse prevention while having a compact footprint, thus mediating between the requirement for substrate protection and the need for apparatus compactness.
Data Source
AI summary
A substrate treating apparatus includes a substrate holder that holds a treatment substrate group, a second transport mechanism configured to pull out and transport a divided substrate group from the treatment substrate group held by the substrate holder, and an underwater posture turning unit to turn the orientation of the divided substrate group from vertical to horizontal. A center robot takes and transports one substrate from the divided substrate group to the one substrate to a single-wafer processing unit. A lifting and lowering unit moves the substrate holder and the second transport mechanism upward/downward relatively. An alignment direction relative moving unit moves the substrate holder and the second transport mechanism horizontally in an alignment direction where the treatment substrate group is aligned. The second transport mechanism includes paired chucks having holding grooves and passing grooves arranged alternately.