National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

Design Network Co., Ltd.

Agency of Industrial Science and Technology

Ministry of International Trade & Industry

Hitoshi Maekawa

Shiro Hara

Shizuka Nakano

Sommawan Khumpuang

Kazuo Tanie

Yuuki Ishida

Shinichi Imai

Shinji Futagawa

Koji Sagisawa

Takahiro Fukuda

Kenji Hirota

Takashi Yajima

Hiroyuki Nishihara

In a power transmission mechanism, a line connecting a center shaftof a reference gear memberand a first shaftof a first planetary gear memberand a line connecting the center shaftof the reference gear memberand a second shaftof a second planetary gear memberform a specific angle α. Rotation in one direction is prevented when a first carrier memberand a second carrier memberare relatively rotated in a direction to decrease the specific angle α. Further, a rotation prevention release unit is provided to release a prevention state of the rotation when the first carrier memberand the second carrier memberare relatively rotated in a direction to increase the specific angle α.

Power transmission mechanism

An encapsulated cleanroom system comprising a processing chamber and a storage section in which the processing chamber is stored, wherein, during operation, the pressure in the storage section is lower or higher than the pressures in the processing chamber and exterior space. The system can simultaneously prevent the entry of outside gases into its processing chamber and the leakage of the gases inside the processing chamber to the exterior space.

Encapsulated cleanroom system

An automatic clamping mechanism capable of automatically securing and releasing a wafer transport container to or from a manufacturing apparatus and having a small height dimension is provided at low cost. A wafer transport container is placed on a container placing table. A semiconductor wafer is loaded into the manufacturing apparatus main body from a wafer loading port while being placed on a container base part of the wafer transport container. An automatic clamping mechanism generates a press force component in a vertical direction at the wafer transport container and secures the wafer transport container to the container placing table by bringing claw parts of a plurality of clamping claws into contact with an inclined contact surface provided on a container lid part of the wafer transport container and pressing the inclined contact surface in a substantially horizontal direction.

Transport container automatic clamping mechanism

A compact manufacturing device to automatically transport a wafer transport container. The compact manufacturing device comprises a processing chamber and a device front chamber provided inside a housing, a container mounting table provided in the housing to mount a substrate transport container accommodating a processing substrate, and a container transport mechanism. The container transport mechanism delivers the substrate transport container to the adjacent compact manufacturing device along a container transport path and/or receives the substrate transport container from adjacent compact manufacturing device along the container transport path when a plurality of the compact manufacturing devices are provided in parallel.

Compact manufacturing device, and inter-device transport system for production line

The present invention provides a transfer robot which has a simple structure and a small occupied area in an operation. A transfer robot of the present invention includes a support member fixed to a side wall or the like, a transfer arm by which a hand member is held capable of linear movement, and first and second link members. One end portions of the first and second link members are rotatably linked to the support member, respectively. Another end portions of the first and second link members are rotatably linked to the transfer arm, respectively. The hand member holds/transfers a work. A rotational driving force applied to a linking portion between the support member and the first link member is transmitted to the transfer arm by a predetermined mechanism and linearly moves the hand member. The transfer arm moves by rotating the first link member or the second link member.

Link-type transfer robot

A transfer box has a sealing structure hermetically sealable by means of tight coupling of a transfer box body and a transfer box door. The transfer box is structured in such a way that magnets on the transfer box body face magnetic bodies on the transfer box door when the transfer box door is closed on the transfer box body, with these magnets and magnetic bodies forming a magnetic closed circuit.

Coupling transfer system

There is provided a substrate transfer antechamber mechanism for a compact manufacturing apparatus that produces various types of devices in small volume using a small-diameter processing substrate at low cost. A container placement table, on which a wafer transfer container housing a semiconductor wafer is placed, is provided on an upper surface of an apparatus antechamber for a compact semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and the apparatus antechamber includes therein a wafer elevating mechanism and a horizontal transfer mechanism. The wafer elevating mechanism moves down while holding from below a delivery bottom of the wafer transfer container, on which the semiconductor wafer remains placed, to transfer the semiconductor wafer into the apparatus antechamber. The horizontal transfer mechanism transfers the semiconductor wafer into a processing chamber using a transfer arm that receives the semiconductor wafer from the delivery bottom and extends.

Substrate transfer antechamber mechanism

A production system to facilitate the commonization of front chambers among a plurality of production devices that are different in the kind of a process to be performed for a processing substrate. Control units are provided separately in a processing chamber and a front chamber of a small production device. When the processing-chamber control unit outputs a load request signal, the front-chamber control unit loads a processing substrate to the processing chamber, and outputs a load acknowledgment signal. When the load acknowledgment signal is input, the processing-chamber control unit performs a process for the processing substrate, and outputs an unload request signal after the completion of the process. When the unload request signal is input, the front-chamber control unit unloads the processing substrate, and outputs an unload acknowledgment signal. When the unload acknowledgment signal is input, the processing chamber starts the preparation of the next process.

Small production device and production system using the same

Mounting structure to allow a production line made up of movable manufacturing devices to be rearranged quickly, safely, and reliably. The mounting structure according to the present invention includes a fixing structure installed on a floor and a leg portion installed on a bottom plate of the movable manufacturing device. The fixing structure comprises a floor side positioning member and a floor side coupling member while the leg portion comprises a leg side positioning member and a leg side coupling member. The floor side positioning member and the leg side positioning member positions the movable manufacturing device accurately by fitting each other when the device is placed at the specified location of the fixing structure. The floor side coupling member and the leg side coupling member fixes the movable manufacturing device located on the fixing structure by coupling each other.

Mounting structure of movable manufacturing device, fixing structure and movable manufacturing device

In a transfer system for wafers, etc., a coupling chamber corresponding to a port is formed only when a transfer box comes in tight contact with an apparatus as a transfer target in the transfer box is transferred into the apparatus, so that the transfer target will be transferred together with the coupling chamber into the apparatus by means of magnetic attraction forces exerted between the transfer box, transfer box door and apparatus door, thereby simplifying the structures of the transfer box and apparatus and also allowing the transfer target to be transferred into the apparatus without fail.

A self reconfigurable cellular robotic system comprises cells having arms which can be independently extended and retracted in both directions along three orthogonal axes by actuators and coupling member at the distal ends of the arms for coupling adjacent cells. The arrangement of the cells can be modified by extending and retracting the arms and coupling and uncoupling the coupling members.

Growing community of inventors

Tsukuba, Japan

Hitoshi Maekawa