CN116604549A - Wafer carrying robot, fault detection method thereof and semiconductor device - Google Patents

Abstract

The application provides a wafer handling robot and a fault detection method thereof, and a semiconductor device. The wafer carrying robot comprises a horizontal arm, a vertical arm, a verticality detection module and a lifting device, wherein one end of the horizontal arm is connected with the vertical arm; the perpendicularity detection module is arranged on the vertical arm and used for detecting the perpendicularity state of the vertical arm; the lifting device is connected with the vertical arm and used for driving the vertical arm to lift up and down. According to the application, the data monitoring of the angle offset value corresponding to the end face of the base shaft in the Z/Y direction is realized by additionally arranging the perpendicularity detection module on the vertical arm of the main body, and the stability performance of the base surface is judged by comparing the empirical data information, so that in the regular maintenance of the robot arm, a technician can combine the data with the appearance detection, and a good maintenance effect is achieved. In addition, in a process chain for guaranteeing the quality of the wafer, the stability of the robot is guaranteed through actual and visual data.

Description

Wafer carrying robot, fault detection method thereof and semiconductor device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing technology, and in particular, to a wafer handling robot, a fault detection method thereof, and a semiconductor device.

Background

In the semiconductor industry, a rotary robot arm, i.e., a wafer handling robot, is often used in the manufacturing and wafer inspection processes for wafer pick and place operations. In the process of taking and placing wafers, the surface of an actuating mechanism at the tail end of the robot arm needs to keep good levelness with the surface of the wafers, and if oblique deviation occurs, abnormal accidents such as dropping of the wafers are easily caused. In adjusting the levelness of the end gripping surface, the levelness is generally checked by placing a level on the end surface. The vertical arm shaft and the horizontal shaft of the wafer carrying robot are designed to be connected in a vertical 90-degree mode, so that in the practical application process, the perpendicularity of the vertical arm shaft is required to be adjusted firstly, and meanwhile, necessary horizontal detection is carried out on each shaft. However, in the prior art, the inspection of the wafer handling robot is focused on the inspection of the horizontal arm, and the stability of the vertical arm of the main body of the wafer handling robot is neglected. The main body vertical arm shaft is used as a base shaft of the whole robot arm, the stable operation of the main body vertical arm shaft is the basis of the stable operation of the whole robot arm, and the levelness stability of the tail end face can be ensured only by ensuring the verticality and the stability of the main body vertical arm shaft. Based on this, the present application proposes an improvement to better evaluate the stability performance of the main body vertical arm shaft.

It should be noted that the foregoing description of the background art is only for the purpose of providing a clear and complete description of the technical solution of the present application and is presented for the convenience of understanding by those skilled in the art. The above-described solutions are not considered to be known to the person skilled in the art simply because they are set forth in the background of the application section.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, an object of the present application is to provide a wafer handling robot and a failure detection method thereof, and a semiconductor device for solving the problems of the prior art in which the wafer handling robot is focused only on the detection of the horizontal arm, and ignoring the performance detection of the main body vertical arm.

To achieve the above and other related objects, the present application provides a wafer handling robot, including a horizontal arm, a vertical arm, a verticality detection module, and a lifting device, wherein one end of the horizontal arm is connected to the vertical arm; the perpendicularity detection module is arranged on the vertical arm and used for detecting the perpendicularity state of the vertical arm; the lifting device is connected with the vertical arm and used for driving the vertical arm to lift up and down.

Optionally, the wafer handling robot further comprises a vertical base, and the vertical arm is located in the vertical base.

Optionally, the lifting device comprises a lifting motor, a connecting component and a guiding structure, the lifting device is connected with the vertical arm through the connecting component, and the guiding structure is arranged on the side face of the vertical arm at intervals in parallel and is connected with the vertical arm.

Optionally, the wafer handling robot further includes a display device, and the display device is connected with the verticality detection module.

Optionally, the wafer handling robot further includes a clamping portion and a horizontal detection module for detecting levelness of the clamping portion and/or the horizontal arm, where the clamping portion is connected to one end of the horizontal arm away from the vertical arm.

Optionally, the horizontal arm includes a first horizontal arm and a second horizontal arm connected to each other.

Optionally, the verticality detection module is fixed to an upper portion of a side surface of the vertical arm through a locking screw.

Optionally, the perpendicularity detection module includes an attitude sensor.

The application also provides a wafer handling robot fault detection method according to any one of the above aspects, comprising the step of judging whether the wafer handling robot has a fault by detecting the vertical state of the vertical arm.

The application also provides a semiconductor device, which comprises a process chamber, a transfer chamber and the wafer transfer robot in any scheme, wherein the process chamber is connected with the transfer chamber, and the wafer transfer robot is positioned in the transfer chamber.

As described above, the wafer handling robot, the failure detection method thereof, and the semiconductor device of the present application have the following advantages: according to the application, the data monitoring of the angle offset value corresponding to the end face of the base shaft in the Z/Y direction is realized by additionally arranging the perpendicularity detection module on the vertical arm of the main body, and the stability performance of the base surface is judged by comparing the empirical data information, so that in the regular maintenance of the robot arm, a technician can combine the data with the appearance detection, and a good maintenance effect is achieved. In addition, in a process chain for guaranteeing the quality of the wafer, the stability of the robot is guaranteed through actual and visual data. If the processing equipment is first installed and used, the tool adjusting time of the robot arm can be greatly shortened by adopting the application, and the tool for adjusting the verticality is not required to be additionally arranged, and the verticality of the base surface is ensured by visual detection data, so that the levelness of the wafer carrying robot terminal is ensured.

Drawings

Fig. 1a shows an exemplary front view of a wafer handling robot provided by the present application.

Fig. 1b shows an exemplary top view of a wafer handling robot provided by the present application.

Fig. 1c shows an exemplary side view of a wafer handling robot provided by the present application.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view illustrating an exemplary structure of a wafer handling robot according to the present application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view illustrating an exemplary structure of a clamping portion of the wafer handling robot according to the present application.

Fig. 4 is an installation schematic diagram of a verticality detection module of a wafer handling robot according to the present application.

Fig. 5 shows a simulation of the offset angle of the attitude sensor in various directions.

FIG. 6 shows an offset point bitmap saved for the history of the attitude sensor.

Fig. 7 is an exemplary schematic view showing a lifting structure of a vertical arm of the wafer handling robot according to the present application.

Fig. 8 is a schematic view showing an exemplary structure of a semiconductor device according to the present application.

Detailed Description

Other advantages and effects of the present application will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following disclosure, which describes the embodiments of the present application with reference to specific examples. The application may be practiced or carried out in other embodiments that depart from the specific details, and the details of the present description may be modified or varied from the spirit and scope of the present application. As described in detail in the embodiments of the present application, the cross-sectional view of the device structure is not partially enlarged to a general scale for convenience of explanation, and the schematic drawings are only examples, which should not limit the scope of the present application. In addition, the three-dimensional dimensions of length, width and depth should be included in actual fabrication.

For ease of description, spatially relative terms such as "under", "below", "beneath", "above", "upper" and the like may be used herein to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element or feature as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that these spatially relative terms are intended to encompass other orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. Furthermore, when a layer is referred to as being "between" two layers, it can be the only layer between the two layers or one or more intervening layers may also be present.

In the context of the present application, a structure described as a first feature being "on" a second feature may include embodiments where the first and second features are formed in direct contact, as well as embodiments where additional features are formed between the first and second features, such that the first and second features may not be in direct contact.

It should be noted that, the illustrations provided in the present embodiment merely illustrate the basic concept of the present application by way of illustration, and only the components related to the present application are shown in the drawings and are not drawn according to the number, shape and size of the components in actual implementation, and the form, number and proportion of the components in actual implementation may be arbitrarily changed, and the layout of the components may be more complex. In order to make the illustration as concise as possible, not all structures are labeled in the drawings.

As shown in fig. 1a, 1b, 1c and 2, the present application provides a wafer handling robot 1, which includes a horizontal arm, a vertical arm 112, a verticality detection module 113, and a lifting device connected to the vertical arm 112. The horizontal arm, as the name implies, is horizontal and is primarily responsible for movement of the wafer in the horizontal direction, with one end connected to the vertical arm 112 and the other end typically also connected to the clamping portion 116. The clamping portion 116 is used to directly clamp a wafer or to clamp a cassette on which a wafer is loaded. Therefore, the structure of the clamping portion 116 will be different depending on the object to be clamped. For example, if the wafer handling robot is used to directly clamp a wafer, the clamping portion 116 may be a disk-like structure as shown in fig. 1a or an interdigital structure as shown in fig. 3. The disc-shaped clamping portion 116 shown in fig. 1a is generally sized to match the wafer size and may be provided with a vacuum suction port/cup on its surface for clamping the wafer. The clamping portion 116 shown in fig. 3 includes a body portion and a tine structure integrally connected to the body portion, and may be ceramic as a whole, with an end face having an annular cavity matching the wafer size, for example. A plurality of vacuum chucks 117 are spaced apart on the clamping portion 116. For example, the number of vacuum chucks 117 is 3, and the vacuum chucks 117 are distributed on three vertex angles of an isosceles triangle, and the wafer is fixed by vacuum suction. The upper surface of the vacuum chuck 117 may be flush with the surface of the clamping portion 116, or may be higher than the surface of the clamping portion 116, i.e., the wafer is fixed on the clamping portion 116 only by the suction of the vacuum chuck, and is not in direct contact with the surface of the clamping portion 116, so as to reduce the contact area between the wafer and the clamping portion 116 as much as possible, and reduce pollution and heat transfer. The annular chamber is also provided to reduce the contact area with the wafer. If the wafer handling robot 1 is used to clamp a wafer cassette, the clamping portion 116 may have a carrier plate that matches the bottom surface of the wafer cassette, and the carrier plate may be provided with a fastening structure to be fastened to the bottom of the wafer cassette. The structure of the holding portion 116 is not limited in this embodiment, and the present embodiment is applicable to a wafer transfer robot for various purposes. Since it is very important to ensure the stability of the transfer robot during the transfer process, and to avoid the deviation of the wafer position, both the wafer transfer and the wafer cassette loading the wafer are directly transferred, the technical scheme of the present application is suitable.

The vertical arm 112, as the name implies, is in a vertical state, which is primarily responsible for the up and down movement of the wafer handling robot in the vertical direction. The verticality detection module 113 is disposed on the vertical arm 112, and is configured to detect a vertical state of the vertical arm 112, that is, detect whether the vertical arm 112 is inclined. The specific type of the verticality detection module 113 can be selected according to the requirement, and the installation position of the verticality detection module can be correspondingly adjusted according to the type of the verticality detection module. And the number of the verticality detection modules 113 may be one or more than two. In the case of more than two, different perpendicularity detection modules 113 may be disposed on different sides of the vertical arm 112, the sides being a plurality of surfaces adjacent to and perpendicular to the upper surface of the vertical arm 112. In an example, the perpendicularity detection module 113 may be a distance sensor. In the initial installation, a plurality of distance sensors are installed on different sides of the vertical arm 112 and ensure that the heights of the distance sensors from the same horizontal plane (e.g., ground as a reference horizontal plane) are identical. If the vertical arm 112 of the wafer handling robot is always kept vertical, the distances of the different sensors from the same horizontal plane are always identical. In other words, if the height values of the different sensors are found to be different in the detection process, the vertical arm 112 is inclined, and the detection mode is simple and visual.

In a preferred example, the verticality detection module 113 is an attitude sensor in the X/Y/Z direction, and can transmit the collected data to the information processing system, and read the angle offset data in the X/Y/Z spatial direction in real time through a visual interface. The attitude sensor can realize accurate measurement under different static and dynamic working conditions, so that the perpendicularity of the robot in a static state can be detected, and the perpendicularity of the robot in the carrying operation process can be detected, which is very important for monitoring the working stability of the robot. The conventional wafer transfer robot inspection only focuses on whether the wafer transfer robot is offset in a static state, but neglects the offset inspection in the process of transfer operation. However, if the transfer robot is displaced during the wafer transfer, the damage is very serious. For example, since the space in the semiconductor device is small, the movement route of the transfer robot is strictly set. If the wafer is transferred while being offset, it may collide with other parts of the apparatus, causing damage to the wafer. In addition, if the inside damage that takes place of transfer robot, the in-process that leads to the conveying wafer takes place to shake, not only leads to the wafer to drop easily, probably leads to the granule impurity on the transfer robot to shake off on the wafer moreover, causes the wafer to pollute. The application adopts the attitude sensor, and carries out real-time continuous detection and output on the state of the wafer carrying robot, thus being capable of timely finding hidden danger and improving the operation safety.

In the case of using the attitude sensor, there are various choices of the setting position of the attitude sensor. In a preferred example, the attitude sensor design is mounted on the upper portion of the side of the vertical arm 112, i.e., at a spatial location near the upper end face. The attitude sensor may be installed by providing a locking screw hole in a side of the vertical arm 112 adjacent to and perpendicular to the upper surface, mounting and fixing the custom tooling 114 to the vertical surface, and then fixing the attitude sensor to the tooling 114, as shown in fig. 4. In other examples, the attitude sensor may also be disposed on the top surface or other location of the vertical arm without affecting the movement of the horizontal arm. The number of the attitude sensors is not limited to one, and may be 2 or more, for example, and a plurality of attitude sensors may be provided at different positions of the vertical arm to more fully detect the state of the vertical arm. Meanwhile, the detection results of the plurality of gesture sensors can be mutually verified, and detection errors caused by faults of the individual sensors are avoided.

The perpendicularity data of the attitude sensor are represented by a Y offset angle of a Z axis and an X offset angle of a Y direction, and an offset angle simulation diagram of the attitude sensor in each direction is shown by referring to FIG. 5. Referring to fig. 6, if the vertical arm 112 is in a stable vertical posture as a whole, the angle offset values in the X-direction and the Y-direction are read to be about 0 degrees. That is, the data near the zero point position indicates that the perpendicularity of the vertical arm 112 is normal, and the farther the deviation from the zero point, the larger the perpendicularity deviation, the more the correction is needed. The attitude sensor may be connected to other devices, for example, to a display device (not shown) through a connection line 115 to display detection data of the attitude sensor in real time through the display device. In addition, an alarm device connected to the attitude sensor/verticality detection module 113 may be provided to issue alarm information when detecting abnormality of the verticality of the vertical arm 112. In addition, the verticality detection module 113 may be connected to a control module, which also controls a driving module of the wafer handling robot. When the verticality detection module 113 detects that the vertical arm 112 is deviated, the control module may control the wafer handling robot to stop the operation, so as to avoid causing greater loss.

The lifting device connected to the vertical arm 112 is used to drive the vertical arm 112 to lift up and down. In a preferred example, the wafer handling robot further includes a vertical base 118, and the vertical arm 112 is positioned within the vertical base 118, and more specifically, a vertical arm shaft is mounted within the vertical base 118. The vacuum seal can be kept in the vertical base, so that the vertical arm can be prevented from being polluted, the movement resistance in the vertical arm lifting process can be reduced, and the stability in the vertical arm lifting process is further ensured. The surface of the vertical arm shaft where the horizontal arm is connected is designed at 90 degrees to the vertical arm shaft, and the clamping portion 116 (e.g., clamping jaw) and the surface of the horizontal arm are designed in the same horizontal parallel plane. To ensure that the surface of the end clamp 116 is level, the vertical arm 112 is first ensured to be vertical. The lifting device of the vertical arm 112 may include, for example, an air cylinder, where a piston rod of the air cylinder may be directly connected to the vertical arm shaft, and the vertical arm 112 is driven to lift up and down by the up and down movement of the piston rod. In a preferred example, as shown in fig. 7, the lifting device includes a lifting motor, a connection assembly, and a guide structure, the lifting device is connected to the vertical arm 112 through the connection assembly, and the guide structure is disposed at a side of the vertical arm 112 in parallel with a space therebetween and is connected to the vertical arm 112. The guiding structure comprises, for example, two guiding columns 119 located in the vertical base 118 and located on two opposite sides of the vertical arm 112, a sliding groove is formed in each guiding column 119, the connecting assembly comprises a plurality of sliding blocks 120, one ends of the sliding blocks 120 are fixedly connected with the vertical arm shaft, and the other ends of the sliding blocks are located in the sliding grooves of the guiding columns 119 in a one-to-one correspondence mode. When the vertical arm 112 moves up and down by the driving of the lift motor, the slider 120 moves up and down in synchronization with the corresponding slide groove of the guide column 119. By providing the guide structure, stability of the vertical arm 112 in the lifting process can be greatly improved, and tilting of the vertical arm shaft can be avoided. In the case of a guide structure, a sensor, for example a height sensor, may be provided on each slide. The elevation of each slider is monitored by a height sensor to further ensure stability during elevation of the vertical arm shaft and avoid tilting of the vertical arm 112.

In other examples, the wafer handling robot further includes a bottom plate 121 and a second lifting device 122, the vertical arm 112 and the guide column 119 are fixed to an upper surface of the bottom plate 121, and the second lifting device 122 is located directly below the bottom plate 121 and connected to a lower surface of the bottom plate 121. The lifting of the second lifting device 122 can drive the vertical arm 112, the guide post and other structures to integrally lift, so that the overall lifting height of the wafer handling robot can be increased, and the wafer handling robot can be suitable for wafer transfer operations in different situations. The wafer handling robot is typically also provided with a rotational drive (not shown), such as a rotary motor, which may be coupled to the vertical arm shaft to drive the vertical arm shaft in rotation. Or may be connected to the base plate 121 as described above to rotate the base plate 121, thereby rotating the vertical arm 112. By driving the base plate to rotate to drive the vertical arm 112 to rotate, the guide post also rotates synchronously during rotation, so that the vertical arm 112 can be prevented from shaking during rotation. The vertical arm 112 may be rotated back and forth, i.e., in the range of 0-180. In other examples, a plurality of elastic buffering means may be provided at the lower portion of the bottom plate 121 and connected to the bottom plate. For example, a plurality of springs connected to the lower surface of the base plate 121 are provided, and the springs are synchronously stretched during the lifting of the base plate to further improve the stability during the lifting of the base plate, thereby preventing the vertical arm 112 from shaking and/or tilting. In other examples, an orthotic device may be provided to return the vertical arm to a vertical position when an offset in the vertical arm's perpendicularity is detected, i.e. tilting of the vertical arm is detected. The correction device is, for example, a plurality of correction blocks which are arranged on the same circumferential surface of the bottom plate at intervals, and the height of the correction blocks in the corresponding area is finely adjusted so as to enable the bottom plate to slightly incline and enable the vertical arm to return to the vertical state. The correction is preferably performed without a wafer, so that the wafer handling robot may be provided with a detection module for detecting whether the wafer is held by the clamping portion, and the correction device starts the correction when the vertical arm is detected to be inclined and the wafer is not held by the clamping portion.

The horizontal arm can be of a single-section structure, and has the advantages of relatively simple structure and small movable range. In a preferred example, the horizontal arm includes a first horizontal arm 111a and a second horizontal arm 111b connected to each other, for example, the first horizontal arm 111a directly connected to the vertical arm 112 vertically may be defined as a large arm, and the second horizontal arm 111b connected to an end of the first horizontal arm 111a facing away from the vertical arm 112 may be defined as a small arm. A clamping portion 116, such as a jaw, is secured to the end of the forearm. The horizontal arm is provided with a movement mechanism for driving the horizontal arm to stretch and retract. The multistage structure can greatly improve the motion stroke of the wafer handling robot, but the requirement on the motion precision is higher. Any displacement of the position of the motion arm may cause a displacement of the wafer. In a preferred example, the wafer handling robot further comprises a level detection module (not shown) for detecting the levelness of the horizontal arm and/or the clamping portion 116, e.g. a level detection module is provided on both the horizontal arm and the clamping portion 116. The horizontal detection module on the clamping portion 116 includes, for example, a laser emitter, where the emitting end and the receiving end are located on opposite sides of the wafer, and only when the wafer is in a horizontal state, the light emitted by the emitting end can be received by the receiving end. In other words, when the receiving end does not receive the light, it indicates that the wafer is not in a horizontal state. The level detection module of the level arm can also adopt a sensor based on the optical detection principle, and the level detection module is not developed one by one.

The operation principle of the wafer transfer robot provided by the application is that firstly, the stability detection of the vertical arm is incorporated into a part of the performance detection data acquisition system of the wafer transfer robot, and the integrated and developed software system can realize the storage and real-time calling and secondary application development of the data information of the verticality detection module. When the device is used, the vertical initial state of the perpendicularity detection module can be initialized at the software system end, and the vertical arm base surface with the adjusted position is the default horizontal initial state.

When the vertical arm is initially installed and used, under the static condition, the base shaft surface of the vertical arm shaft only needs to read the comparison condition of the actual value and the reference value of the inclination angle in the Z/Y shaft direction. Under the default condition, the vertical arm is vertical, the base shaft surface of the connecting large arm is in a horizontal state, and the X-angle offset and the Y-angle offset are close to zero. This can be used to adjust the perpendicularity in the vertical direction to ensure the levelness of the end face of the later execution.

In operation, or in the process of maintenance tracing, the spatial attitude data of the vertical arm shaft vertical surface can be read and closed at fixed time according to the requirement. Corresponding trend graphs can be generated according to the data information, and the stability performance of the vertical arm shaft in a certain time period can be judged and detected by monitoring the trend graph data. The stability performance of the vertical axis of the robot arm is detected through the maintained historical data trend graph and compared with the empirical data, reliable data support is provided for periodic maintenance of the robot arm, and the effect of predictive maintenance can be achieved. Meanwhile, in the source tracing process after the occurrence of the abnormal accidents in operation, effective reference data can be provided.

The performance detection of the existing wafer handling robots only focuses on the levelness of the horizontal arm, especially the levelness detection of the tail end, and the performance detection of the vertical arm is ignored. But the main body vertical arm shaft is used as a base shaft of the whole robot arm, and the stable operation of the main body vertical arm shaft is the basis of the stable operation of the whole robot arm. Only the perpendicularity and stability of the end face are ensured, and the levelness of the end face is ensured to be stable. During operations such as transportation, if the equipment is improperly protected, it is easy to cause variable damage inside the vertical axis of the wafer handling robot, and the change in appearance may not be obvious. In addition, in the initial installation process, the levelness of the end face needs to be adjusted, and in the process, the verticality of the vertical axis of the main body needs to be adjusted first. According to the application, the data monitoring of the angle offset value corresponding to the end face of the base shaft in the Z/Y direction is realized by additionally arranging the perpendicularity detection module on the vertical arm of the main body, and the stability performance of the base surface is judged by comparing the empirical data information, so that in the regular maintenance of the robot arm, a technician can combine the data with the appearance detection, and a good maintenance effect is achieved. In addition, in a process chain for guaranteeing the quality of the wafer, the stability of the robot is guaranteed through actual and visual data. If the processing equipment is first installed and used, the tool adjusting time of the robot arm can be greatly shortened by adopting the application, and the tool for adjusting the verticality is not required to be additionally arranged, and the verticality of the base surface is ensured by visual detection data, so that the levelness of the wafer carrying robot terminal is ensured.

The application also provides a wafer handling robot fault detection method, which can be based on the wafer handling robot described in any of the above schemes, so the foregoing content can be cited here in its entirety and is not repeated for the sake of brevity. Of course, the fault detection method of the wafer handling robot provided by the application can also be performed on other similar equipment. The wafer handling robot fault detection method provided by the application comprises the step of judging whether the wafer handling robot has faults or not by detecting the vertical state of the vertical arm. In most cases, when the verticality of the vertical arm is shifted, that is, the vertical arm is inclined, the wafer is shifted and cannot be in a horizontal state. Therefore, potential risks can be found in time by monitoring the vertical state of the vertical arm, and faults can be removed. On this basis, the levelness detection of the horizontal arm can be increased to more comprehensively eliminate risks. When detecting the abnormal verticality of the vertical arm and/or the abnormal levelness of the horizontal arm, the operation of the wafer carrying robot can be stopped, so that larger loss is avoided. The fault detection method may be a stepwise detection, for example, only when the vertical arm is in a stationary state, but is preferably a real-time continuous detection, i.e. the verticality of the vertical arm in a dynamic operation is detected throughout the wafer handling operation, so as to more comprehensively monitor the state of the vertical arm.

As shown in fig. 8, the present application further provides a semiconductor apparatus, which includes a process chamber 2, a transfer chamber 3, and the wafer handling robot 1 as described in any of the above schemes. Therefore, the foregoing description of the wafer handling robot may be incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for the sake of brevity. The process chamber 2 is connected with a transfer chamber 3, and the wafer handling robot 1 is located in the transfer chamber 3. The process chamber 2 may be any one of a vapor deposition chamber, an etching chamber, an ion implantation chamber, a diffusion chamber, an annealing chamber, and the like, or may include multiple types of chambers at the same time. The number of chambers may be single or more than two. For example, as shown in fig. 8, there are 4 process chambers 2, and these 4 process chambers 2 may be used to perform the same and/or different processes. The semiconductor device may further comprise a pretreatment chamber 6 and a front end module 4, wherein one end of the pretreatment chamber 6 is connected with the transfer chamber 3, and the other end is connected with the front end module 4, and the wafer handling robot 1 of the present application is also arranged in the front end module 4. The wafer handling robots 1 in the transfer chamber 3 and the front end module 4 may be single or 2. The top of the closed cavity of the transfer chamber can be provided with a detection device, and the detection device is correspondingly arranged right above the movement path of the wafer handling robot so as to detect whether the movement track of the wafer handling robot deviates from a normal track. The detection device may be, for example, a CMOS image sensor, and obtains a motion track of the wafer handling robot and compares the motion track with preset information. The front opening unified pod 4 (FOUP) has its opening facing the front end module 4. Filters may be provided on the front end module 4 to keep the front end module 4 clean. The wafer handling robot 1 in the front end module 4 transfers wafers from the front end open wafer cassette 5 to the pretreatment chamber 6 for cleaning and/or preheating, and then the wafer handling robot 1 in the transfer chamber 3 transfers pretreated wafers from the pretreatment chamber 6 to the process chamber 2, and the wafers after process treatment are transferred back to the pretreatment chamber 6, cooled and/or cleaned, and then transferred back to the front end open wafer cassette 5. By adopting the wafer carrying robot provided by the application, the accuracy in the wafer conveying process can be greatly improved, the risk of wafer damage is reduced, and the production yield is improved.

In summary, the present application provides a wafer handling robot, including a horizontal arm, a vertical arm, a verticality detection module, and a lifting device, wherein one end of the horizontal arm is connected to the vertical arm; the perpendicularity detection module is arranged on the vertical arm and used for detecting the perpendicularity state of the vertical arm; the lifting device is connected with the vertical arm and used for driving the vertical arm to lift up and down. According to the application, the data monitoring of the angle offset value corresponding to the end face of the base shaft in the Z/Y direction is realized by additionally arranging the perpendicularity detection module on the vertical arm of the main body, and the stability performance of the base surface is judged by comparing the empirical data information, so that in the regular maintenance of the robot arm, a technician can combine the data with the appearance detection, and a good maintenance effect is achieved. In addition, in a process chain for guaranteeing the quality of the wafer, the stability of the robot is guaranteed through actual and visual data. If the processing equipment is first installed and used, the tool adjusting time of the robot arm can be greatly shortened by adopting the application, and the tool for adjusting the verticality is not required to be additionally arranged, and the verticality of the base surface is ensured by visual detection data, so that the levelness of the wafer carrying robot terminal is ensured. Therefore, the application effectively overcomes various defects in the prior art and has high industrial utilization value.

The above embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles of the present application and its effectiveness, and are not intended to limit the application. Modifications and variations may be made to the above-described embodiments by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, it is intended that all equivalent modifications and variations of the application be covered by the claims, which are within the ordinary skill of the art, be within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

Claims (10)

1. The wafer transfer robot is characterized by comprising a horizontal arm, a vertical arm, a perpendicularity detection module and a lifting device, wherein one end of the horizontal arm is connected with the vertical arm; the perpendicularity detection module is arranged on the vertical arm and used for detecting the perpendicularity state of the vertical arm; the lifting device is connected with the vertical arm and used for driving the vertical arm to lift up and down.

2. The wafer handling robot of claim 1, further comprising a vertical base, the vertical arm being located within the vertical base.

3. The wafer handling robot of claim 2, wherein the lifting device comprises a lifting motor, a connecting assembly, and a guide structure, the lifting device is connected to the vertical arm via the connecting assembly, and the guide structure is disposed on a side of the vertical arm at a parallel interval and is connected to the vertical arm.

4. The wafer handling robot of claim 1, further comprising a display device coupled to the verticality detection module.

5. The wafer handling robot of claim 1, further comprising a clamping portion and a level detection module for detecting the levelness of the clamping portion and/or the level arm, the clamping portion being connected to an end of the level arm facing away from the vertical arm.

6. The wafer handling robot of claim 1, wherein the horizontal arm comprises a first horizontal arm and a second horizontal arm connected to each other.

7. The wafer handling robot of claim 1, wherein the perpendicularity detection module is fixed to an upper portion of a side of the vertical arm by a lock screw.

8. The wafer handling robot of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the perpendicularity detection module comprises an attitude sensor.

9. A wafer handling robot failure detection method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the wafer handling robot failure detection method comprises a step of judging whether a wafer handling robot has failed by detecting a vertical state of a vertical arm.

10. A semiconductor device, characterized in that the semiconductor device comprises a process chamber, a transfer chamber and a wafer handling robot according to any of claims 1 to 8, the process chamber being connected to the transfer chamber, the wafer handling robot being located in the transfer chamber.