US 12,334,387 B2
Substrate transfer apparatus
Masaya Yoshida, Kobe (JP); Yuji Tanaka, San Jose, CA (US); and Hajime Nakahara, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to KAWASAKI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Kobe (JP); and KAWASAKI ROBOTICS (USA), INC., Wixom, MI (US)
Appl. No. 17/623,487
Filed by KAWASAKI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Kobe (JP); and KAWASAKI ROBOTICS (USA), INC., Wixom, MI (US)
PCT Filed Feb. 28, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/020367
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 28, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/263357, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 30, 2020.
Application 17/623,487 is a continuation in part of application No. 16/456,375, filed on Jun. 28, 2019, abandoned.
Prior Publication US 2022/0359261 A1, Nov. 10, 2022
Int. Cl. H01L 21/687 (2006.01); B25J 15/00 (2006.01); B25J 19/02 (2006.01); H01L 21/67 (2006.01); H01L 21/677 (2006.01); H01L 21/68 (2006.01)
CPC H01L 21/68707 (2013.01) [B25J 15/0014 (2013.01); B25J 19/025 (2013.01); H01L 21/67265 (2013.01); H01L 21/67766 (2013.01); H01L 21/681 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A substrate transfer apparatus comprising:
a base;
a robot arm mounted on the base;
an end effector provided at a tip of the robot arm and having a first tip portion and a second tip portion that are bifurcated;
a light emitting unit configured to emit light from the first tip portion toward the second tip portion;
a light receiving unit configured to convert detection light into an output value continuously changed depending on an amount of received light traveling through a space between the first tip portion and the second tip portion and incident on the second tip portion; and
a control device controlling an operation of the robot arm,
wherein the control device
controls an operation of the robot arm so that light traveling through a tip of the end effector scans edges of a plurality of substrates accommodated in a front opening unified pod (FOUP), and
compares shape patterns of a measured waveform of the output value continuously changed in the light receiving unit with shape patterns of a reference waveform for comparison according to a relative positional relationship between the light and the substrate during the operation of the robot arm and diagnoses at least one of a state of the substrate, a state of the FOUP, and a state of the end effector based on a comparison result.