Substrate transfer device and substrate transfer method

A substrate transfer method for transferring a substrate in a substrate transfer device including an atmosphere introduction unit and an atmosphere exhaust unit provided at a top and a bottom portion of a main body of the device, respectively;

• a substrate transfer mechanism provided between the atmosphere introduction unit and the atmosphere exhaust unit;
• and a downward flow forming unit provided adjacent to the atmosphere introduction unit, the method comprising:
• allowing an atmosphere to be introduced through the atmosphere introduction unit and to downwardly flow through the substrate transfer mechanism and be exhausted through the atmosphere exhaust unit, by using the downward flow forming unit;
• and charge-neutralizing charged particles included in the atmosphere by ionizing the atmosphere by a gas ionizing unit provided between the downward flow forming unit and the substrate transfer mechanism and collecting charged particles that remain in the atmosphere by a particle collecting unit provided downstream of and adjacent to the gas ionizing unit.

A substrate transfer device comprising:

• a main body;
• an atmosphere introduction unit introducing the atmosphere and an atmosphere exhaust unit exhausting the atmosphere provided at a top and a bottom portion of the main body of the device, respectively;
• a substrate transfer mechanism provided between the atmosphere introduction unit and the atmosphere exhaust unit;
• a downward flow forming unit flowing the atmosphere introduced from the atmosphere introduction unit through the substrate transfer mechanism to be exhausted through the atmosphere exhaust unit;
• and a gas ionizing unit for ionizing the atmosphere and a particle collecting unit for collecting particles included in the atmosphere, the gas ionizing unit and the particle collecting unit being sequentially provided in the direction in which the atmosphere downwardly flows, between the downward flow forming unit and the substrate transfer mechanism.

A substrate transfer method for transferring a substrate in a substrate transfer device,

• the substrate transfer device including a main body;
• an atmosphere introduction unit introducing the atmosphere and an atmosphere exhaust unit exhausting the atmosphere provided at a top and a bottom portion of a main body of the device, respectively;
• a substrate transfer mechanism provided between the atmosphere introduction unit and the atmosphere exhaust unit;
• a downward flow forming unit flowing the atmosphere introduced from the atmosphere introduction unit through the substrate transfer mechanism to be exhausted through the atmosphere exhaust unit;
• and a gas ionizing unit for ionizing the atmosphere and a particle collecting unit for collecting particles included in the atmosphere, the gas ionizing unit and the particle collecting unit being sequentially provided in the direction in which the atmosphere downwardly flows, between the downward flow forming unit and the substrate transfer mechanism, the method comprising:
• allowing the atmosphere to be introduced through the atmosphere introduction unit;
• passing the atmosphere through the downward flow forming unit to charge particles included in the atmosphere;
• flowing downwardly the atmosphere passed through the downward flow forming unit through the substrate transfer mechanism to be exhausted through the atmosphere exhaust unit;
• ionizing the atmosphere to form an ionized gas by the gas ionizing unit;
• charge-neutralizing the charged particles with the ionized gas;
• and
• collecting the charge-neutralized particles by the particle collecting unit.