TRANSPORT DEVICE WITH LOCAL PURGE FUNCTION

• Main Authors: SATO YUKIHISA, SAKATA KATSUNORI, OKUTSU HIDEKAZU, HIROTA KENJI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: 23.01.2020
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

To provide an inexpensive transport device capable of transporting a semiconductor wafer between a FOUP and a processing device without exposing a to-be-processed surface of the semiconductor wafer to an oxidizing atmosphere.SOLUTION: The transport device includes: a load port with an atmosphere replacement function; a transport robot with the atmosphere replacement function; an aligner with the atmosphere replacement function; and a load lock chamber with the atmosphere replacement function. During the movement of the semiconductor wafer and during the processing such as positioning, the atmosphere of a to-be-processed surface of the semiconductor wafer is locally replaced.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3 【課題】本発明は、半導体ウエハの被処理面を酸化性雰囲気に晒すことなく、ＦＯＵＰと処理装置との間で半導体ウエハを搬送することのできる搬送装置を安価に提供することを目的としている。【解決手段】本発明の搬送装置は、雰囲気置換機能付きロードポートと、雰囲気置換機能付き搬送ロボットと、雰囲気置換機能付きアライナと、雰囲気置換機能付きロードロックチャンバとを備え、半導体ウエハが移動する間、及び位置決め等の処理を施されている間においても、半導体ウエハの被処理面を局所的に雰囲気置換する。【選択図】図３