Robot having independent end effector linkage motion

Details Robot having independent end effector linkage motion Robot having independent end effector linkage motion

2000-07-06

2001-10-02

Masih, Karen (Department: 2837)

Electricity: motive power systems

Positional servo systems

Program- or pattern-controlled systems

C318S568190, C318S567000, C318S571000, C901S008000, C901S015000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06297611

ABSTRACT:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
(Not applicable)
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to substrate handling systems, and more particularly, to systems using robots to transport substrates between different locations.
2. Description of Related Art
During integrated chip manufacture and other industrial applications, substrates such as semiconductor wafers undergo numerous processing steps. Typically, these steps take place in dedicated processing stations remotely situated from each other and from the storage containers or cassettes used to hold the substrates. In integrated chip manufacture, the semiconductor wafers from which the chips are fabricated need to be contained in a carefully controlled environment in which temperature, humidity, and contaminant level, among other factors, need to be carefully controlled. Robots are often deployed to transport the wafers between processing stations, or to retrieve and return the wafers to the storage cassettes before and after processing.
One prior art arrangement for handling semiconductor substrates is shown in
FIG. 1
, wherein a robot arm
10
is used to transport the substrates (not shown) between a bank of processing stations
12
. Robot arm
10
has three arm links
14
,
16
and
18
mounted in a base
19
. Proximalmost link
14
is rotatably mounted at its proximal end to base
20
, and links
16
and
18
are similarly mounted such that each succeeding link is rotatably mounted to the distalmost end of the preceding link. Rotation of links
14
,
16
and
18
is mechanically coupled, using suitable linkages such as belts and pulleys (not shown), such that the distal end of distalmost link
18
can be extended or retracted relative to base
20
. A first motor (not shown) motivates this motion. The distal end of distalmost link
18
supports an end effector
22
which may be mounted for independent motion, using a second motor (not shown), such that yaw motion of the end effector can be achieved.
To laterally extend the reach of robot arm
10
, base
20
is mounted for translation in the x direction, on a track
24
. In this manner, robot arm
10
, and end effector
22
in particular, can be moved along the x direction to reach an increased number of processing stations
12
. A third motor (not shown) is used to effect this translation.
The above prior art arrangement suffers from several disadvantages. First, valuable space is wasted by track
24
and the supporting components required to translate robot arm
10
in the x direction, space generally delineated by the dashed line
26
in FIG.
1
. Second, motion along track
24
generates friction, which in turn generates particles which contaminate the “clean room” environment required for semiconductor processing.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention addresses the aforementioned and other disadvantages of the prior art by providing a robot arm in which an end effector linkage is mounted on an extensible linkage. Extension or retraction of the extensible linkage causes translation of the end effector linkage in the X direction, thereby increasing the range of the robot arm in the X direction. The motions of the extensible linkage and the end effector linkage are decoupled, and motion of one linkage is independent of motion of the other linkage.
The extensible linkage can be used to support more than one end effector linkage. Each end effector linkage can be mounted for motion which is independent from the other end effector linkage(s) and from the extensible linkage. In this manner, more than one processing station or storage location can be accessed by the robot arm.
In accordance with the invention, a robot arm as described above is mounted on a robot housed within a micro-environment enclosure in which semiconductor processing is effected. Process and/or storage stations are in communication with micro-environment enclosure, with the robot serving to transport substrates therebetween.


REFERENCES:
patent: 6105454 (2000-08-01), Bacchi et al.
patent: 6155768 (2000-12-01), Bacchi et al.
patent: 6197017 (2001-03-01), Brock et al.

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