Robot hand

Details Robot hand Robot hand

1999-07-16

2001-02-20

Cherry, Johnny D. (Department: 3652)

Handling: hand and hoist-line implements

Utilizing fluid pressure

Venturi effect

C294S902000, C901S040000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06189943

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot hand of an automatic handling robot in a semiconductor manufacturing device or an inspection device to inspect semiconductor wafers in the manufacturing process thereof, etc., which is used for carrying semiconductor wafers from a wafer cassette to the devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a known robot hand of an automatic handling robot for carrying a wafer from a wafer cassette to an inspection device or the like, a mechanism in which a wafer is held by vacuum suction is adopted. The known holding mechanism is shown in
FIGS. 3 and 4
. Namely, a robot hand
1
is provided on its one end with a suction air intake
2
, and on the other end thereof with a plurality of suction portions
3
. A groove
4
for an air passage is provided to connect the suction air intake
2
with the suction portions
3
and to interconnect the suction portions
3
. The groove
4
is covered by a cover
5
adhered thereto.
In use, the robot hand
1
is inserted in a gap of a predetermined pitch between adjacent wafers in the cassette to hold a wafer through the suction portion
3
due to vacuum suction and remove the wafer from the cassette. Thereafter, the robot hand
1
transfers the wafer to a wafer chuck portion of the inspection device or the like. The robot hand is inserted in a robot hand transferring/receiving recess formed on the wafer chuck portion to hold the wafer by the chuck portion due to vacuum suction. Consequently, the wafer is delivered from the robot hand. The robot hand is removed from the recess. Thus, the robot hand delivers the wafers from the cassette to the wafer chuck portion.
As described above, since it is necessary to insert the robot hand into the gap between the wafers in the cassette and into the robot hand transferring/receiving recess of the wafer chuck portion, the robot hand must be very thin, i.e., about 3 mm in thickness, and furthermore, a groove for air passage of not more than about 1 mm in depth must be provided. Consequently, the strength is reduced, so that the robot hand can be easily broken.
In recent years, the holding method of a wafer has been changed from a support at points to a support by a surface, in accordance with an increase in the diameter and the precision of a wafer. To prevent a wafer from being deformed, it is desirable to hold the wafer by as large a surface as possible. Consequently, it is difficult to form a wafer transferring/receiving recess whose width is large enough to transfer or receive the wafer in the wafer chuck portion, and hence the width of the robot hand must be made small. This also makes it difficult to obtain a rigid and sufficiently strong robot hand.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of above-mentioned problems that the thickness and the width of the robot hand must be decreased, in spite of an increase in the weight of a wafer due to an increase in the diameter, the object of the present invention is to provide a rigid robot hand having sufficient strength, which can be made thin and small in width, and in which no groove is necessary.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the robot hand is made of a porous material, and the robot hand is coated with a film, which does not permit air to pass therethrough, at a surface portion thereof other than suction air intake and suction portion for holding the wafer. Accordingly, the robot hand can be made thin and narrow and with sufficient strength. In addition, it is not necessary to provide the groove used in a known robot hand.
Furthermore, in an embodiment of the present invention, the porous material is porous ceramic, and the film to prevent the passage of air is made of a fluorocarbon resin coat.
The present invention may be more fully understood from the description of preferred embodiments of the invention set forth below, together with the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 2956769 (1960-10-01), Sigler et al.
patent: 3377096 (1968-04-01), Wood
patent: 4049484 (1977-09-01), Priest et al.
patent: 4881770 (1989-11-01), Marzinotto et al.
patent: 4040570 (1991-07-01), None
patent: 360984 (1991-03-01), None
patent: 3264287 (1991-11-01), None
patent: 6-71689 (1994-09-01), None

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