Substrate positioning device, substrate positioning method and program

A substrate positioning device that detects a notch mark formed at a circumferential edge of a substrate and positions said substrate based upon said notch mark having been detected, comprising:

• a rotary stage on which said substrate is placed;
• a sensor unit that includes a light sensor capable of detecting the circumferential edge of said substrate placed on said rotary stage;
• and
• a control unit that obtains substrate edge shape data indicating detection values provided by said light sensor of said sensor unit and positions said substrate based upon said substrate edge shape data thus obtained, wherein:
• said control unit executes first noise reduction processing for detecting sudden abnormal data in said substrate edge shape data, eliminating said sudden abnormal data thus detected and interpolating said substrate edge shape data by using estimated substrate edge shape data generated based upon data from surrounding areas in place of the eliminated abnormal data, second noise reduction processing for correcting individual sets of data constituting said substrate edge shape data resulting from said first noise reduction processing based upon data sampled in surrounding areas, first judgment processing by detecting a notch mark candidate in said substrate edge shape data having undergone said second noise reduction processing and making a decision as to whether or not an error manifesting between sets of data sampled over an area corresponding to said notch mark candidate having been detected and an approximate curve obtained by curvilinearly approximating the sets of data over the area corresponding to said notch mark candidate satisfies a predetermined first judgment condition, second judgment processing for making a decision as to whether or not a coefficient in a curvilinear approximation expression of said approximate curve obtained in correspondence to a notch mark candidate judged to satisfy said first judgment condition through said first judgment processing satisfies a predetermined second judgment condition and substrate positioning processing for positioning said substrate based upon a notch mark judged to satisfy said second judgment condition through said second judgment processing.

A substrate positioning method for detecting a notch mark formed at a circumferential edge of a substrate and positioning said substrate based upon said notch mark having been detected, comprising:

• a data acquisition step for detecting the circumferential edge of said substrate with a light sensor and obtaining detection values provided by said light sensor as substrate edge shape data;
• a noise reduction step for detecting sudden abnormal data in said substrate edge shape data, eliminating the detected sudden abnormal data and interpolating said substrate edge shape data with estimated substrate edge shape data obtained based upon data from a surrounding area in place of the eliminated abnormal data;
• a notch mark judgment step for detecting a notch mark candidate in said substrate edge shape data having undergone said noise reduction step and making a decision as to whether or not an error manifesting between sets of data sampled over an area corresponding to the notch mark candidate having been detected and an approximate curve obtained by curvilinearly approximating the sets of data over the area corresponding to the notch mark candidate satisfies a predetermined judgment condition;
• and
• a substrate positioning step for positioning said substrate based upon a notch mark satisfying said predetermined judgment condition.

A substrate positioning method for detecting a notch mark formed at a circumferential edge of a substrate and positioning said substrate based upon said notch mark having been detected, comprising:

• a data acquisition step for detecting the circumferential edge of said substrate with a light sensor and obtaining detection values provided by said light sensor as substrate edge shape data;
• a first noise reduction step for detecting sudden abnormal data in said substrate edge shape data, eliminating the detected sudden abnormal data and interpolating said substrate edge shape data with estimated substrate edge shape data obtained based upon data from surrounding areas in place of the eliminated abnormal data;
• a second noise reduction step for correcting individual sets of data constituting said substrate edge shape data having undergone said first noise reduction step based upon data sampled from surrounding areas;
• a first judgment step for detecting a notch mark candidate in said substrate edge shape data resulting from said second noise reduction step and making a decision as to whether or not an error manifesting between sets of data sampled over an area corresponding to said notch mark candidate having been detected and an approximate curve obtained by curvilinearly approximating the sets of data over the area corresponding to said notch mark candidate satisfies a predetermined first judgment condition;
• a second judgment step for making a decision as to whether or not a coefficient in said approximate curve for a notch mark candidate judged to satisfy said first judgment condition through said first judgment step satisfies said predetermined second judgment condition;
• and
• a substrate positioning step for positioning said substrate based upon a notch mark judged to satisfy said second judgment condition through said second judgment step.

A program for detecting a notch mark formed at a circumferential edge of a substrate and positioning said substrate based upon said notch mark having been detected, that enables a computer to execute:

• a data acquisition procedure for detecting the circumferential edge of said substrate with a light sensor and obtaining detection values provided by said light sensor as substrate edge shape data;
• a noise reduction procedure for detecting sudden abnormal data in said substrate edge shape data, eliminating the detected sudden abnormal data and interpolating said substrate edge shape data with estimated substrate edge shape data obtained based upon data from a surrounding area in place of the eliminated abnormal data;
• a notch mark judgment procedure for detecting a notch mark candidate in said substrate edge shape data having undergone said noise reduction procedure and making a decision as to whether or not an error manifesting between sets of data sampled over an area corresponding to said notch mark candidate having been detected and an approximate curve obtained by curvilinearly approximating the sets of data over the area corresponding to said notch mark candidate satisfies a predetermined judgment condition;
• and
• a substrate positioning procedure for positioning said substrate based upon a notch mark satisfying said predetermined judgment condition.

A program for detecting a notch mark formed at a circumferential edge of a substrate and positioning said substrate based upon said notch mark having been detected, that enables a computer to execute:

• a data acquisition procedure for detecting the circumferential edge of said substrate with a light sensor and obtaining detection values provided by said light sensor as substrate edge shape data;
• a first noise reduction procedure for detecting sudden abnormal data in said substrate edge shape data, eliminating the detected sudden abnormal data and interpolating said substrate edge shape data with estimated substrate edge shape data obtained based upon data from a surrounding area in place of the abnormal data;
• a second noise reduction procedure for correcting individual sets of data constituting said substrate edge shape data having undergone said first noise reduction procedure based upon data sampled from surrounding areas;
• a first judgment procedure for detecting a notch mark candidate in said substrate edge shape data resulting from said second noise reduction procedure and making a decision as to whether or not an error manifesting between sets of data sampled over an area corresponding to said notch mark candidate having been detected and an approximate curve obtained by curvilinearly approximating the sets of data over the area corresponding to said notch mark candidate satisfies a predetermined first judgment condition;
• a second judgment procedure for making a decision as to whether or not a coefficient in said approximate curve for a notch mark candidate judged to satisfy said first judgment condition through said first judgment procedure satisfies said predetermined second judgment condition;
• and
• a substrate positioning procedure for positioning said substrate based upon a notch mark judged to satisfy said second judgment condition through said second judgment procedure.