Patent ID: 7129147
Filing Date: 2006-10-31
Classification: H01L

Abstract:
1. A delivery position aligning method for use in a transfer system, wherein the transfer system is provided with: a first transfer mechanism having at least one pick for supporting an object to be transferred; a second transfer mechanism having at least one pick for supporting the object; plural devices which can be accessed by at least one of the first and the second transfer mechanism, wherein the object is transferred between the devices and a pick of a transfer mechanism gaining access thereto; a position aligning device as one of the plural devices, wherein the position aligning device can be accessed by the first transfer mechanism and detects an amount of positional displacement of a central position of the object mounted thereon; a first relay unit as one of the plural devices, wherein the first relay unit can be accessed by the first and the second transfer mechanism and temporarily supports the object while being transferred between the first and the second transfer mechanism; and a second relay unit as one of the plural devices, wherein the second relay unit can be accessed by the first and the second transfer mechanism and temporarily supports the object while being transferred between the first and the second transfer mechanism, the method comprising: a temporarily determining step of temporarily determining with a rough accuracy a set of delivery position coordinates that defines an access point of each pick of each transfer mechanism to each of the plural devices; a first fixing step of fixing a set of delivery position coordinates of each pick of the first transfer mechanism for the position aligning device; a second fixing step of fixing parts of sets of delivery position coordinates of each pick of each transfer mechanism for devices other than the position aligning device; a third fixing step of transferring a position alignment object to the position aligning device via a transfer route passing an unfixed set of delivery position coordinates that has been temporarily determined at the temporarily determining step; calculating an amount of positional displacement of the position alignment object that is supported by the position aligning device; correcting the unfixed set of delivery position coordinates based on the amount of positional displacement of the position alignment object; and fixing the corrected set of delivery position coordinates as a fixed set of delivery position coordinates; and a fourth fixing step of repeatedly performing the third fixing step until all unfixed sets of delivery position coordinates, which have been temporarily determined at the temporarily determining step, are fixed.