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US 2003/0190224 A1Published application
Conveying arm
AssigneeTokyo Electron Limited
InventorHiroaki Saeki
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AssigneeTokyo Electron Limited
InventorHiroaki Saeki
Estimating the term…
A conveying arm 100 of the invention includes a first pivotable shaft 104; a first arm 102 having a one-side end portion connected to the first pivotable shaft; a third arm 110 having an intermediate pivotable portion 118a and a one-side end portion pivotably connected to an other-side end portion of the first arm; and a fifth arm 120 having a one-side end portion pivotably connected to an other-side end portion of the third arm. The conveying arm 100 also includes a second pivotable shaft 108; a second arm 106 having a one-side end portion connected to the second pivotable shaft; a fourth arm 114 having an intermediate pivotable portion 118b pivotably connected to the intermediate pivotable portion of the third arm and a one-side end portion pivotably connected to an other-side end portion of the second arm; and a sixth arm 124 having a one-side end portion pivotably connected to an other-side end portion of the fourth arm. A seventh arm 132 has a holding portion 132a for an object to be conveyed, and are pivotably connected to an other-end portion of the fifth arm and an other-end portion of the sixth arm. With respect to both the third arm and the fourth arm, a line linking the one-side end portion to the intermediate pivotable portion is substantially perpendicular to a lime linking the other-side end portion to the intermediate pivotable portion.
A conveying arm comprising;
A conveying arm comprising;
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Backward citations are indexed for grants only.
With parallelograms: of the froglegs type
The wafers being stored in a carrier, involving loading and unloading: mechanical parts of transfer devices
Using mechanical means, e.g. clamps or pinches: the wafers being placed on a robot blade or gripped by a gripper for conveyance
Multiple controlling elements for single controlled element: robotic arm
Term end not estimated
This invention relates to a conveying arm that can be miniaturized and that is superior in characteristics of control.
Conventionally, when a semiconductor substrate such as a semiconductor wafer (that can be abbreviated to “wafer”) is conveyed between a cassette that can accommodate the wafer and a semiconductor manufacturing unit or between various semiconductor manufacturing units, a conveying arm that forms a conveying unit is used.
A multi-chamber type of processing unit is explained as an example, which is also a cluster type of unit. In the case, a conveying arm is accommodated in a transfer-chamber (common transfer-chamber). The conveying arm has a substrate holding portion. The substrate holding portion is formed in such a manner that the substrate holding portion can be moved into not only the transfer-chamber but also various process-chambers or a cassette-chamber that are connected to the transfer-chamber. Thus, when the conveying arm is operated, an unprocessed wafer can be conveyed from a cassette in the cassette-chamber to any of the process-chambers through the transfer-chamber. In addition, when the conveying arm is operated, a processed wafer can be conveyed back from any of the process-chambers to the cassette through the transfer-chamber.
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a first embodiment of a conveying arm according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a third arm and a fourth arm shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of the third arm and the fourth arm shown in FIG. 1;
Embodiments of the invention will now be described in more detail with reference to accompanied drawings. In each of the embodiments, the invention is applied to a conveying arm for a semiconductor substrate.
A conveying arm 100 of a first embodiment is explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. At first, a whole structure of the conveying arm 100 is explained.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a first pivotable shaft 104 is fixed to a one-side end portion of a first arm 102. A second pivotable shaft 108 is fixed to a one-side end of a second arm 106.