Disco Corporation

Satoshi Ohkawara

Kazunari Tanaka

Shigeru Ishii

Takaaki Inoue

Xiaoming Qiu

Kuniharu Izumi

Ryu Komine

Naritoshi Ozawa

There is provided a conveyance system that conveys a workpiece to each of plural processing apparatuses. The conveyance system includes a conveyance passage, an automated workpiece conveying vehicle that travels on the conveyance passage, a stock unit, and a control unit. The conveyance passage is set in a space directly above the processing apparatus across the plural processing apparatus. The stock unit includes a placement base on which a workpiece stocker capable of housing plural workpieces is placed, two temporary putting bases on which the workpiece carried out from the workpiece stocker on the placement base is temporarily put, a temporary putting base movement part that moves the two temporary putting bases in such a manner as to interchange the two temporary putting bases between a first position that faces the placement base and a second position adjacent to the first position.

Conveyance system

A conveying mechanism for conveying a wafer unit having a wafer disposed inside of and supported on an annular frame by a holding tape includes a housing tray housing the wafer unit therein and a transport unit supporting and transporting the housing tray between wafer treating apparatus. The housing tray includes a ceiling plate and a bottom plate that are interconnected by a pair of side walls facing each other across an opening defined in a side through which the wafer unit can be taken into and out of the housing tray. An air flow generator is disposed on the ceiling plate for generating air downflows in the housing tray that are directed from the ceiling plate into the opening. The transport unit conveys wafer units, one by one, between the wafer treating apparatus.

Conveying mechanism

A rectangular substrate dividing apparatus, which can divide a rectangular substrate in a smaller space, accommodate devices, formed as individual pieces by the division, into device cases, and pick up the devices reliably and efficiently from a protective tape affixed to the back of the rectangular substrate, is provided. This apparatus separates a rectangular substrate, to whose back a protective tape is affixed and on which a plurality of devices are partitioned by a lattice of scheduled-separation lines, along the scheduled-separation lines to divide the rectangular substrate into the individual devices, and accommodates the devices in device cases. In a cutting-responsible region, the rectangular substrate is carried out of cassettes, cut by a cutter, and then cleaned by a cleaner. In a tape peeling-responsible region, the devices are picked up with the protective tape being peeled off. In a device accommodation-responsible region, the picked-up individual devices are accommodated into device cases.

Rectangular substrate dividing apparatus

A semiconductor wafer processing machine comprising a cassette-placing mechanism having a cassette-placing table for placing a cassette storing a semiconductor wafer, a workpiece take-in/take-out mechanism for taking out the semiconductor wafer stored in the cassette placed on the cassette-placing table and taking the semiconductor wafer into the cassette, a workpiece conveying mechanism for conveying the semiconductor wafer taken out by the workpiece take-in/take-out mechanism, a chuck table mechanism having a chuck table for holding the semiconductor wafer conveyed by the workpiece conveying mechanism, and a processing mechanism for processing the semiconductor wafer held on the chuck table, wherein the cassette-placing mechanism comprises an aligning mechanism for aligning the crystal orientation of the semiconductor wafer, which is situated below the cassette-placing table.

Semiconductor wafer processing machine

A cleaning apparatus includes a nozzle having an ejection port, a cleaning liquid path communicating with the ejection port, and a compressed gas path communicating with the ejection port. The cleaning apparatus further includes a cleaning liquid feeding component for feeding a cleaning liquid to the cleaning liquid path, and a compressed gas feeding component for feeding a compressed gas to the compressed gas path. The compressed gas is ejected from the ejection port through the compressed gas path, while the cleaning liquid is ejected from the ejection port through the cleaning liquid path.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Satoshi Ohkawara