Tokyo Electron Limited

Tokyo Electron Kyushu Limited

Tokyo Electron Saga Limited

Mitsuo Nishi

Yuuji Kamikawa

Yuji Kamikawa

Hiroshi Tanaka

Eiichi Mukai

Yoichi Deguchi

Takanori Miyazaki

Shori Mokuo

Yoshiyuki Honda

Kouki Kuroda

Shinji Tadakuma

Ryuichi Mizoguchi

Masafumi Inoue

A transfer apparatus for transferring a plurality of substrates between carriers holding these equidistantly arranged substrates thereon and a support member, comprising a carrier table for arranging a plurality of the carriers arranged in a serial array so as to hold the substrates mutually parallel to each other, a plurality of push-up members, each of the push-up members being adapted to be moved below each of the carriers for pushing up the substrates supported on the carriers through a lower opening portion of each of the carriers, each of the push-up members having an upper surface with a plurality of equidistantly spaced grooves for receiving and lifting all of the substrates supported in one carrier as a whole, devices for bringing at least one of the plurality of push-up members into proximity to a corresponding remaining push-up member to allow the at least one push-up member to face the corresponding push-up member so that their mutually adjacent, directly-facing endmost substrates held in an endmost grooves of the mutually adjacent, directly-facing push-up members have their mutual distance adjusted to a distance equal to a pitch distance of those wafers supported by the push-up member, wherein all the substrates lifted by the plurality of the push-up members and mutually equidistantly arranged are transferred at a time from the push-up members to the support member.

Transfer apparatus

A transfer apparatus comprising a carrier table for arranging a plurality of the carriers arranged in a serial array so as to hold the substrates mutually parallel to each other, a plurality of push-up members being adapted to be moved below each of the carriers for pushing up the substrates supported on the carriers through a lower opening portion of each of the carriers and having an upper surface with a plurality of equidistantly spaced grooves for receiving and lifting all of the substrates supported in one carrier as a whole, devices for bringing at least one of the plurality of push-up members into proximity to a corresponding remaining push-up member to allow the at least one push-up member to face the corresponding push-up member so that their mutually adjacent, directly-facing endmost substrates held in an endmost grooves of the mutually adjacent, directly-facing push-up members have their mutual distance adjusted to a distance equal to a pitch distance of those substrates supported by the push-up member to transfer the substrates to a support member.

There is provided a transfer apparatus which is capable of transferring objects on a plurality of carriers at a time to a desired point. This apparatus comprises a carrier table for linearly arranging a plurality of the carriers, a plurality of push-up members for pushing up the objects supported on the carriers, drive devices for moving the push-up members towards or away from each other, and a rotary transfer arm mechanism having a pair of support arms for receiving the objects lifted on the push-up members, and transferring the objects to a desired point.

A substrates-cleaning apparatus comprising process vessels in which washing solutions are contained, a chuck mechanism having a first substrate holder section for carrying silicon wafers to the process vessels while holding them in it, and a boat mechanism having a second substrate holder section for receiving the wafers from the chuck mechanism and for supporting the wafers in the washing solutions, wherein said second substrate holder section comprises base members made of erosion and heat resistant material, and receiver members attached to the base members, having a plurality of substrate holding grooves thereon, and made of erosion and heat resistant synthetic resin substantially same in softness as or softer than the wafers.

Substrate washing device

A substrate detector device comprises a boat or chuck for holding substrates, a light emitting section having a plurality of light emitting elements, arranged side by side, for respectively applying light beams to the substrates, a light receiving section, facing the light emitting section and having a plurality of light receiving elements, for receiving light beams passed through the substrates, the light receiving elements arranged side by side so as not face the light emitting elements, a polarization filter provided on optical axes of the respective optical beams incident on the light receiving elements, a memory for storing, as reference data, an amount of light received by a receiving element which has been measured in advance when a light beam is applied to a substrate in a state where no other substrate is present on either side of the substrate, and controller for discriminating the presence, the number, and the state of arrangement of the substrates on the holding means based on the reference data and measured data based on the amount of light received by the light receiving elements after a light beam scattered by the substrate to be detected and a light beam wraparound substrates adjacent thereto are removed by the polarization filter.

Substrate detector with light emitting and receiving elements arranged

A cleaning apparatus includes a cleaning unit provided with cleaning tubs in which cleaning liquid is contained, and a carrying mechanism for carrying matters to be processed into and out of the cleaning unit. The carrying mechanism has holding members for holding the matters thereon. The cleaning apparatus further includes a chamber in which the carrying mechanism is housed, and a cleaning/drying system arranged in an upper portion of the chamber to clean and dry the matters-holding members of the carrying mechanism. The cleaning/drying system has cleaning and drying nozzles through which cleaning liquid and drying air are jetted against the matters-holding members of the carrying mechanism.

Cleaning apparatus

A washing system comprising a wafer washing section having plural chemical washing vessels, plural water washing vessels and a drier, a cassette washing section having a water washing device and a drier, a loader section for taking out the wafers from the cassettes and loading the wafers into the wafer washing section, an unloader section for returning the washed wafers in the washed cassette and unloading the wafers from the wafer washing section, a wafer transfer device the wafers in the wafer washing section, a cassette lifter for carrying the cassettes from the loader section to the cassette washing section, and a wire drive unit for carrying the cassettes in the cassette washing section.

Washing system

A rotary transfer arm for transferring semiconductor wafers is disposed in a closed housing. A closable opening portion is formed in the housing, through which the transfer arm can extend out from the housing. A fork is disposed at the distal end of the transfer arm. A plurality of holding grooves are formed in the fork to set a plurality of wafers with predetermined intervals between them. A cleaner for the fork is disposed in the upper portion of the housing. The cleaner has cleaning and drying nozzles mounted at the distal end of a switch arm. The switch arm can pivot between an operation position and a standby position. The switch arm can also move the cleaning and drying nozzles along the fork. During cleaning and drying, pure water is sprayed from the cleaning nozzles against the fork, and a drying gas is sprayed from the drying nozzles against it.

A driving device comprises a first cover, a second cover telescopically engaging with the first cover, and a third cover surrounding the first and second covers. Part of a driving member for moving the second cover in relation to the first cover is arranged in a first space defined in the first cover. The first space is supplied with nitrogen, and pressure in the space is kept at a positive value. Gas is fed into and exhausted from a second space defined between the first and second covers, in accordance with a change in the volume thereof, whereby pressure in the second space is kept at a substantially constant value. Gas contained in a third space defined between the third cover and the first and second covers is exhausted, and pressure in the third space is kept at a negative value. Thus, the first space is completely isolated from a space around the driving device.

Driving device having sealing mechanism

A washing apparatus for performing a batch treatment of a plurality of wafers has a vessel and a wafer boat dedicated to the vessel and movable in the vertical direction. The boat has a fork, which supports the wafers in the vessel in a manner such that the wafers are spaced from one another at predetermined intervals. The wafers are received in a carrier, and are transferred to the boat by a rotary transfer arm. This arm has a fork for supporting the wafers during transfer thereof in a manner such that the wafers are spaced from one another at the predetermined intervals. Transfer of the rotary transfer arm is performed above the washing vessel by moving the boat up and down. At this time, the forks of the boat and arm engage with each other.

Growing community of inventors

Kumamoto, Japan

Mitsuo Nishi