CN111687861A - Manipulator arm assembly with camera shooting detection device and semiconductor production equipment - Google Patents

Manipulator arm assembly with camera shooting detection device and semiconductor production equipment Download PDF

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Publication number
CN111687861A
CN111687861A CN202010573208.8A CN202010573208A CN111687861A CN 111687861 A CN111687861 A CN 111687861A CN 202010573208 A CN202010573208 A CN 202010573208A CN 111687861 A CN111687861 A CN 111687861A
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China
Prior art keywords
wafers
wafer
counting
module
camera
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CN202010573208.8A
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Chinese (zh)
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CN111687861B (en
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不公告发明人
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Changxin Memory Technologies Inc
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Changxin Memory Technologies Inc
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    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B25HAND TOOLS; PORTABLE POWER-DRIVEN TOOLS; MANIPULATORS
    • B25JMANIPULATORS; CHAMBERS PROVIDED WITH MANIPULATION DEVICES
    • B25J11/00Manipulators not otherwise provided for
    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B25HAND TOOLS; PORTABLE POWER-DRIVEN TOOLS; MANIPULATORS
    • B25JMANIPULATORS; CHAMBERS PROVIDED WITH MANIPULATION DEVICES
    • B25J11/00Manipulators not otherwise provided for
    • B25J11/0095Manipulators transporting wafers
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67005Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67242Apparatus for monitoring, sorting or marking
    • H01L21/67259Position monitoring, e.g. misposition detection or presence detection
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67005Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67242Apparatus for monitoring, sorting or marking
    • H01L21/67276Production flow monitoring, e.g. for increasing throughput
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/677Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations
    • H01L21/67739Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations into and out of processing chamber
    • H01L21/67742Mechanical parts of transfer devices
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L22/00Testing or measuring during manufacture or treatment; Reliability measurements, i.e. testing of parts without further processing to modify the parts as such; Structural arrangements therefor
    • H01L22/30Structural arrangements specially adapted for testing or measuring during manufacture or treatment, or specially adapted for reliability measurements
    • H01L22/34Circuits for electrically characterising or monitoring manufacturing processes, e. g. whole test die, wafers filled with test structures, on-board-devices incorporated on each die, process control monitors or pad structures thereof, devices in scribe line

Abstract

The invention provides a mechanical arm component with a camera detection device and semiconductor production equipment, wherein the mechanical arm component comprises: robotic arm, robotic arm includes: the conveying base, the fixing frame and the inserting sheet; the camera shooting detection device is used for shooting the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat to obtain the arrangement real images of the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat, counting the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat according to the obtained arrangement real images of the wafers, and obtaining the distance between the adjacent wafers according to the counting time interval. The manipulator arm assembly can acquire the arrangement real images of the wafers by arranging the camera detection device, and can detect the millimeter-level difference between the wafers by combining the counting of the acquired distance between the adjacent wafers, so that the manipulator arm assembly has higher accuracy.

Description

Manipulator arm assembly with camera shooting detection device and semiconductor production equipment
The present application is a divisional application of a patent with an application date of 2017, 9, 12 and an application number of 201710815798.9, entitled robot arm assembly with a camera detection device and a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.
Technical Field
The invention belongs to the technical field of semiconductor manufacturing, and particularly relates to a mechanical arm assembly with a camera detection device and semiconductor production equipment.
Background
In conventional semiconductor equipment, wafers are typically transferred by a robot, such as between a cassette and a cassette, between a cassette and a boat, between a cassette and a reaction chamber, and so on. As shown in fig. 1, a light emitting sensor 12 and a receiving sensor 13 corresponding to the light emitting sensor 12 are disposed at a front end of a conventional robot arm 11, and when a wafer is captured from a wafer cassette or a wafer boat, the robot arm 11 is first used to scan all wafers from top to bottom, and the arrangement of the wafers in the wafer cassette or the wafer boat is sensed through the light emitting sensor 12 and the receiving sensor 13 while scanning (i.e., it is determined whether the wafers in the wafer cassette or the wafer boat are stacked, broken or fallen). However, when the light emitting sensor 12 and the receiving sensor 13 are used together to detect the wafer arrangement in the wafer cassette or the wafer boat, due to the influence of the precision of the light emitting sensor 12 and the receiving sensor 13 and the external environment, various errors may exist in the process of detecting and sensing, and the accuracy of detecting and sensing is not high enough. However, if the sensing accuracy is not high enough, it may cause serious production accidents, for example, as shown in fig. 2 and fig. 3, for example, in a batch processing apparatus of a diffusion process, when the process is completed, if the wafers 15 on the wafer boat 14 are broken due to expansion (as shown in fig. 2), if the light emitting sensor 12 and the receiving sensor 13 on the robot arm 11 do not detect the broken wafers 15, the robot arm 11 performs a normal grabbing operation, and when the broken wafers 15 are grabbed, the wafer boat 14 is tilted (as shown in fig. 3), so that the wafers 15 on the entire wafer boat 14 are dropped. In addition, since the light emitting sensor 12 and the receiving sensor 13 are both located at the front end of the robot arm 11, it is impossible to detect and sense whether an abnormality occurs in the wafer during the transportation process when the robot arm 11 grabs the wafer for transportation.
Disclosure of Invention
In view of the above-mentioned shortcomings of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide an image pickup detection device, a robot arm assembly having the image pickup detection device, and a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, which are used to solve the problems of the prior art that the accuracy is low when the arrangement of the wafer is detected and sensed by using the light emitting sensor and the receiving sensor, and that whether the wafer is abnormal or not during the transportation cannot be detected and sensed.
To achieve the above and other related objects, the present invention provides a robot arm assembly, including:
a robotic arm, the robotic arm comprising: the conveying base, the fixing frame and the inserting sheet; the fixed frame is fixed on one side of the upper surface of the conveying base; one end of the insert is fixed on the fixing frame, and the insert is parallel to the upper surface of the conveying base and used for grabbing wafers in a wafer box or a wafer boat; the conveying base is used for driving the fixing frame and the inserting pieces to rotate and move so as to realize the transfer of the wafer;
the camera shooting detection device is used for detecting the arrangement condition of wafers in a wafer box or a wafer boat, and comprises:
the camera module is used for shooting the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat to obtain the arrangement real images of the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat;
the counting module is connected with the camera module and used for counting the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat according to the arrangement real image of the wafers acquired by the camera module and acquiring the distance between the adjacent wafers according to the counting time interval;
the camera shooting detection device further comprises:
the camera shooting module and the counting module are both positioned in the accommodating cavity and have a distance with the shell; an opening which exposes the camera module is arranged at one end of the shell, and an air inlet through hole and an air outlet through hole are formed in the shell; the air inlet through hole is communicated with an air inlet pipeline and is used for introducing cooling gas into the shell when the camera module and the counting module work so as to cool the camera module and the counting module; the exhaust through hole is communicated with an exhaust pipeline;
the camera shooting detection device is fixed at the top of the fixing frame, and the camera shooting end of the camera shooting module faces towards one side of the fixing frame, where the inserting pieces are arranged.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the camera module is an optical camera module.
As a preferable aspect of the present invention, the counting module includes:
the counting unit is connected with the camera module and used for counting the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat in real time according to the arrangement real image of the wafers acquired by the camera module;
and the processing unit is connected with the counting unit and used for calculating the distance between the adjacent wafers according to the time interval between the two adjacent times of counting of the counting unit.
As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the camera detection device further includes a display module, and the display module is connected to the camera module and the counting module, and is configured to display at least one of the real arrangement image of the wafer acquired by the camera module, the counting result of the counting module, and the distance between adjacent wafers acquired by the counting module.
As a preferable scheme of the invention, the mechanical arm comprises five inserting pieces which are arranged in parallel at intervals along the height direction of the fixing frame.
The present invention also provides a semiconductor production apparatus including:
a loading table for loading a wafer cassette;
a vacuum transfer chamber connected to the loading station;
a robot arm assembly as in any preceding claim, located within the vacuum transfer chamber;
a reaction chamber connected to the vacuum transfer chamber.
The present invention also provides a semiconductor production apparatus including:
a loading table for loading a wafer cassette;
a wafer loading zone having a load-lock vacuum; the wafer loading area is connected to the loading platform;
the robot arm assembly of any of the above aspects, located within the wafer loading zone and between the load lock vacuum and the load station;
a batch-type diffusion processing chamber connected to the wafer loading region;
the wafer boat is positioned in the wafer loading area and used for loading wafers; the wafer boat may be transferred back and forth between the wafer loading zone and the batch-type diffusion processing chamber.
The invention also provides a semiconductor process method, which comprises the following steps:
1) loading a wafer cassette containing wafers to be processed on the semiconductor production equipment in any one of the above schemes;
2) using the camera detection device to take a picture of the wafers in the wafer box from top to bottom so as to obtain the arrangement real images of the wafers in the wafer box, counting the wafers in the wafer box according to the obtained arrangement real images of the wafers, and obtaining the distance between the adjacent wafers according to the counting time interval;
3) judging whether the wafer arrangement in the wafer box is normal or not according to the obtained arrangement real image of the wafer and the space between the adjacent wafers;
4) and if the wafers in the wafer box are normally arranged, the mechanical arm is used for grabbing the wafers and transmitting the wafers into the reaction chamber for processing.
The invention also provides a semiconductor process method, which comprises the following steps:
1) loading a wafer cassette containing wafers to be processed on the semiconductor production equipment in any one of the above schemes;
2) using the camera detection device to take a picture of the wafers in the wafer box from top to bottom so as to obtain the arrangement real images of the wafers in the wafer box, counting the wafers in the wafer box according to the obtained arrangement real images of the wafers, and obtaining the distance between the adjacent wafers according to the counting time interval;
3) judging whether the wafer arrangement in the wafer box is normal or not according to the obtained arrangement real image of the wafer and the space between the adjacent wafers;
4) and if the wafers in the wafer box are normally arranged, the mechanical arm is used for grabbing and transmitting the wafers into the wafer boat in the wafer loading area, and the wafer boat loaded with the wafers is sent into the batch type diffusion processing chamber for processing.
As a preferable scheme of the invention, the method further comprises the following steps after the step 4):
5) after the process treatment is finished, the wafer boat is conveyed back to the wafer loading area;
6) using the camera detection device to take a picture of the wafers in the wafer boat from top to bottom so as to obtain the arrangement real images of the wafers in the wafer boat, counting the wafers in the wafer boat according to the obtained arrangement real images of the wafers, and obtaining the distance between the adjacent wafers according to the counting time interval;
7) judging whether the wafer arrangement in the wafer boat is normal or not according to the obtained arrangement real image of the wafer and the distance between the adjacent wafers;
8) and if the wafers in the wafer boat are normally arranged, the wafers are grabbed and transferred back to the wafer box by using the mechanical arm.
As described above, the camera detection device, the manipulator arm assembly with the camera detection device and the semiconductor production equipment provided by the invention have the following beneficial effects: the camera detection device is arranged on the mechanical arm assembly, the camera module is used for acquiring the arrangement real images of the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat, the counting module is used for counting the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat, and the distance between the adjacent wafers is acquired according to the counting time interval; meanwhile, detection in the wafer conveying process can be realized.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a schematic top view of a robot for gripping a wafer in the prior art.
Fig. 2 to 3 are schematic diagrams illustrating the wafer boat tilting caused by the wafer being grabbed by the robot arm when there is a broken wafer in the wafer boat.
Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a robot arm assembly provided in the first embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 5 to 9 are block diagrams illustrating structures of a camera detection device according to a first embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 10 to 12 are schematic diagrams showing different arrangements of the wafers in the wafer cassette, wherein the wafers in fig. 10 are normally arranged, the wafers in fig. 11 are abnormally arranged by the stacked wafers, and the wafers in fig. 12 are abnormally arranged by the broken wafers.
Fig. 13 is a schematic partial structure diagram of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 14 is a schematic partial structure diagram of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a semiconductor processing method according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a semiconductor method according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.
Description of component reference numerals
11 mechanical arm
12 luminous sensor
13 receiving sensor
14 wafer boat
15 wafer
2 pick-up detection device
21 camera module
22 counting module
221 counting unit
222 processing unit
23 casing
231 opening
232 air inlet through hole
233 exhaust through hole
24 cooling water pipeline
25 accommodating cavity
26 pick-up terminal
3 display module
4 mechanical arm
41 conveyor base
42 fixed mount
43 insertion sheet
51 loading platform
52 vacuum transfer chamber
53 reaction chamber
61 wafer loading zone
62 load-lock vacuum device
63 batch type diffusion processing chamber
64 wafer boat
65 boat elevator
7 wafer
8 wafer box
Detailed Description
The embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to specific embodiments, and other advantages and effects of the present invention will be easily understood by those skilled in the art from the disclosure of the present specification. The invention is capable of other and different embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways, and its several details are capable of modification in various respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Please refer to fig. 4 to fig. 16. It should be noted that the drawings provided in the present embodiment are only schematic and illustrate the basic idea of the present invention, and although the drawings only show the components related to the present invention and are not drawn according to the number, shape and size of the components in actual implementation, the form, quantity and proportion of the components in actual implementation may be changed arbitrarily, and the layout of the components may be more complicated.
Example one
Referring to fig. 4 and 5, the present invention further provides a robot arm assembly, including: a robot arm 4, the robot arm 4 comprising: a transfer base 41, a holder 42, and an insert 43; the fixing frame 42 is fixed on one side of the upper surface of the conveying base 41; one end of the insert 43 is fixed on the fixing frame 42, and the insert 43 is parallel to the upper surface of the conveying base 41 and is used for grabbing wafers in a wafer cassette or a wafer boat; the conveying base 41 is used for driving the fixing frame 42 and the inserting sheet 43 to rotate and move so as to transfer the wafer; the camera shooting detection device 2 is used for detecting the arrangement condition of wafers in a wafer box or a wafer boat, and the camera shooting detection device 2 comprises: the system comprises a camera module 21 and a counting module 22, wherein the camera module 21 is used for shooting wafers in a wafer box or a wafer boat to obtain arrangement real images of the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat; the counting module 22 is connected to the camera module 21, and is configured to count wafers in the wafer cassette or the wafer boat according to the arrangement of the wafers obtained by the camera module 21, and obtain a distance between adjacent wafers according to a counting time interval; the camera shooting detection device 2 is fixed at the top of the fixing frame 42, and the camera shooting end 26 of the camera shooting module 21 faces the side of the fixing frame 42 where the inserting sheet 43 is arranged; please refer to the first embodiment for the specific structure of the image capturing and detecting device 2, which will not be described herein.
As an example, the camera module 21 may be, but is not limited to, an optical camera module; preferably, in this embodiment, the camera module 21 is an optical camera.
As an example, as shown in fig. 6, the counting module 22 includes: the counting unit 221 is connected to the camera module 21, and is configured to count wafers in the wafer cassette or the wafer boat in real time according to the arrangement of the wafers obtained by the camera module 21; and the processing unit 222 is connected with the counting unit 221, and is configured to calculate a distance between the adjacent wafers according to a time interval between two adjacent counts of the counting unit 221.
For example, the counting unit 221 may count the wafers in the wafer cassette or the wafer boat in real time while the camera module 21 obtains the real arrangement images of the wafers in the wafer cassette or the wafer boat, or count the wafers in the wafer cassette or the wafer boat in real time according to the real arrangement images of the wafers in the wafer cassette or the wafer boat obtained by the camera module 21 after the camera module 21 obtains the real arrangement images of the wafers in the wafer cassette or the wafer boat.
The camera detection device 2 of the invention obtains the arrangement real images of the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat through the camera module 21, counts the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat through the counting module 22, and obtains the distance between the adjacent wafers according to the counting time interval.
In an example, as shown in fig. 7, the image capturing and detecting device 2 further includes: a housing 23, wherein an accommodating cavity 25 is provided in the housing 23, the camera module 21 and the counting module 22 are both located in the accommodating cavity 25, and an opening 231 for exposing the camera module 21 is provided at one end of the housing 23, so as to ensure that the camera module 21 can take a picture of a wafer in a wafer cassette or a wafer boat; and a cooling water pipe 24, where the cooling water pipe 24 surrounds the periphery of the housing 23, and one end of the cooling water pipe is connected to a cooling water source (not shown), and is used for introducing cooling water to cool the camera module 21 and the counting module 22 when the camera module 21 and the counting module 22 work. Since the image capturing and detecting device 2 is generally located on a robot arm inside a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the temperature of the working environment is high, and the high temperature will affect the working accuracy of the image capturing module 21 and the counting module 22, a cooling water pipeline 24 is disposed outside the housing 23 of the image capturing and detecting device 2 to cool the image capturing module 21 and the counting module 22, so that the image capturing and detecting device 2 can maintain high accuracy.
In another example, as shown in fig. 8, the image capturing and detecting device further includes: the camera shooting device comprises a shell 23, wherein an accommodating cavity 25 is arranged in the shell 23, and the camera shooting module 21 and the counting module 22 are both positioned in the accommodating cavity 25 and have a distance with the shell 23; an opening 231 for exposing the camera module 21 is formed at one end of the housing 23 to ensure that the camera module 21 can take a picture of a wafer in a wafer cassette or a wafer boat, and an air inlet through hole 232 and an air outlet through hole 233 are formed in the housing 23; the air inlet hole 232 is communicated with an air inlet pipeline (not shown) and is used for introducing cooling gas into the shell 23 when the camera module 21 and the counting module 22 work so as to cool the camera module 21 and the counting module 22; the exhaust through hole 233 communicates with an exhaust line (not shown). The air inlet hole 232 and the air outlet hole 233 of the accommodating cavity 25 are arranged in the housing 23, and can cool the camera module 21 and the counting module 22 by introducing cooling gas (such as cooling nitrogen gas) so as to ensure that the camera detection device 2 has higher accuracy, and meanwhile, compared with water cooling, the camera detection device has the advantages of simple structure, convenience in implementation, low cost and the like.
As an example, as shown in fig. 9, the image capturing and detecting device further includes a display module 3, and the display module 3 is connected to the image capturing module 21 and the counting module 22, and is configured to display at least one of the real arrangement image of the wafer acquired by the image capturing module 21, the counting result of the counting module 22, and the distance between adjacent wafers acquired by the counting module 22.
As an example, the display module 3 may simultaneously display the arrangement real image of the wafer acquired by the camera module 21, the counting result of the counting module 22, and the pitch between adjacent wafers acquired by the counting module 22 in the same display unit; the arrangement real image of the wafers acquired by the camera module 21, the counting result of the counting module 22 and the pitch between adjacent wafers acquired by the counting module 22 may be selectively distributed in different display units for display.
Through the arrangement of the display module 3, a worker can more intuitively know the arrangement real images of the wafers acquired by the camera module 21, the counting result of the counting module 22, the distance between adjacent wafers acquired by the counting module 22 and other information.
As an example, the number of the inserting pieces 43 on the robot arm 4 may be set according to actual needs, and the number of the inserting pieces 43 may be one piece, two pieces, three pieces, four pieces, five pieces, or more pieces. Preferably, when the robot arm 4 is used for grabbing a single wafer, the number of the inserting pieces 43 on the robot arm 4 is one; when the mechanical arm 4 is used for grabbing a plurality of wafers simultaneously, the number of the inserting pieces 43 on the mechanical arm 4 is five. It should be noted that no matter how many the inserting sheets 43 are arranged on the robot arm 4, all the inserting sheets 43 are perpendicular to the side wall of the fixing frame 42, and when the number of the inserting sheets 43 is five, the five inserting sheets 43 are arranged in parallel at intervals along the height direction of the fixing frame 42.
Taking the robot arm 4 to grab the wafer 7 from the wafer cassette 8 as an example, the robot arm assembly of the present embodiment has the following working principle: mechanical arm 4 follows snatch in the wafer box 8 before wafer 7, mechanical arm 4 moves to earlier wafer box 8 opening part upper portion one side, then from last to moving down, at this moment, be located on mechanical arm 4 in the detection device 2 of making a video recording camera module 21 acquires in proper order in the wafer box 8 the condition of arranging of wafer 7, simultaneously, count module 22 basis camera module 21 acquires the wafer 7 arrange the real image pair in the wafer box 8 wafer 7 counts to it is adjacent to acquire according to count time interval wafer 7 between the interval. When any abnormality occurs in the wafer 7 in the wafer cassette 8, the camera detection device 2 can accurately detect the abnormality in time. Fig. 10 is a schematic view of the normal arrangement of the wafers 7 in the wafer box 8; fig. 11 is a schematic view of the wafer 7 having an abnormal arrangement of stacked plates in the wafer box 8, wherein a region a in fig. 11 is a vacant region without the wafer 7, and a region b is a stacked plate region with two wafers 7 stacked together; fig. 12 is a schematic view of the wafer 7 having the abnormal arrangement of the broken pieces in the wafer box 8, and in the section c in fig. 12, the broken piece area having the broken pieces is the broken piece area.
Example two
Referring to fig. 13, the present invention further provides a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, which is a single wafer processing apparatus, that is, an apparatus for processing one wafer at a time, the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including: a loading table 51, wherein the loading table 51 is used for loading the wafer box 8; a vacuum transfer chamber 52, the vacuum transfer chamber 52 being connected to the loading table 51; the robot arm assembly according to the first embodiment is located in the vacuum transfer chamber 52, and the specific structure of the robot arm assembly is described with reference to the first embodiment, which will not be repeated herein; a reaction chamber 53, the reaction chamber 53 being connected to the vacuum transfer chamber 52.
The working principle of the semiconductor production equipment described in this embodiment is as follows: before the wafer cassette 8 is loaded on the loading table 51, the loading table 51 is isolated from the vacuum transfer chamber 52 and the isolation doors (not shown) are arranged between the vacuum transfer chamber 52 and the reaction chamber 53; after the wafer cassette 8 is loaded on the loading platform 51, the lid of the wafer cassette 8 and the isolation door between the loading body 51 and the vacuum transfer chamber 52 are opened, the robot arm 4 moves to one side of the upper part of the wafer cassette 8 and moves from top to bottom, at this time, the camera module 21 in the camera detection device 2 on the robot arm 4 sequentially obtains the arrangement condition of the wafers 7 in the wafer cassette 8, and meanwhile, the counting module 22 counts the wafers 7 in the wafer cassette 8 according to the arrangement reality of the wafers 7 obtained by the camera module 21 and obtains the distance between the adjacent wafers 7 according to the counting time interval; when it is ensured that the wafers 7 in the wafer box 8 are not abnormally arranged, the mechanical arm 4 grabs the wafer 7 to be processed and transfers the wafer to the reaction chamber 53 for processing; finally, after the wafer 7 is processed outside, the robot arm 4 grabs the wafer 7 and transfers it back into the wafer box 8. It should be noted that, during the process of transferring the wafer 7 captured by the robot arm 4, the isolation door between the reaction chamber 53 and the vacuum transfer chamber 52 is opened, and during the process of processing the wafer 7, the isolation door between the reaction chamber 53 and the vacuum transfer chamber 52 is closed. In the process of transferring the wafer 7 by using the robot arm 4, the image pickup detection device 2 detects the wafer 7 on the robot arm 4, so as to ensure that the wafer 7 is found in time when an abnormality occurs in the transfer process.
EXAMPLE III
Referring to fig. 14, the present invention further provides a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, which is a batch processing apparatus, preferably, in this embodiment, the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is a batch processing apparatus of a diffusion process, and the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes: a loading table 51, wherein the loading table 51 is used for loading the wafer box 8; a wafer loading zone 61, the wafer loading zone 61 having a load lock vacuum 62; the wafer loading area 61 is connected to the loading table 51; the robot arm assembly as described in the first embodiment above, which is located in the wafer loading zone 61 and between the load lock vacuum 62 and the load station 51; a batch-type diffusion processing chamber 63, the batch-type diffusion processing chamber 63 being connected to the wafer loading zone 61; a wafer boat 64, wherein the wafer boat 64 is located in the wafer loading area 61 and is used for loading wafers; the boat 64 may be transferred back and forth between the wafer loading zone 61 and the batch-type diffusion processing chamber 63.
The working principle of the semiconductor production equipment described in this embodiment is as follows: after the wafer cassette 8 is loaded on the loading platform 51, the robot arm 4 moves to one side of the upper portion of the wafer cassette 8, and moves from top to bottom, at this time, the camera module 21 in the camera detection device 2 on the robot arm 4 sequentially obtains the arrangement condition of the wafers 7 in the wafer cassette 8, and meanwhile, the counting module 22 counts the wafers 7 in the wafer cassette 8 according to the arrangement real image of the wafers 7 obtained by the camera module 21, and obtains the distance between the adjacent wafers 7 according to the counting time interval; when the wafers 7 in the wafer box 8 are ensured not to be arranged abnormally, the mechanical arm 4 grabs the wafers 7 to be processed and transmits the wafers to the wafer boat 64; after all the wafers 7 to be processed are transferred into the boat 64, the boat 64 is driven by the boat elevator 65 to move into the batch-type diffusion processing chamber 63 to process the wafers 7; after the wafers 7 are processed, the boat 64 is driven by the boat elevator 65 to move back to the wafer loading area 61; at this time, the robot arm 4 moves to one side of the upper part of the boat 64 and moves from top to bottom, at this time, the camera module 21 in the camera detection device 2 on the robot arm 4 sequentially obtains the arrangement condition of the wafers 7 on the boat 64, and at the same time, the counting module 22 counts the wafers 7 on the boat 64 according to the arrangement real image of the wafers 7 obtained by the camera module 21, and obtains the distance between adjacent wafers 7 according to the counting time interval; when it is ensured that the wafers 7 on the wafer boat 64 are not abnormally arranged, the robot arm 4 sequentially transfers the wafers 7 on the wafer boat 64 back into the wafer boat box 8. In the process of transferring the wafer 7 by using the robot arm 4, the image pickup detection device 2 detects the wafer 7 on the robot arm 4, so as to ensure that the wafer 7 is found in time when an abnormality occurs in the transfer process.
Example four
Referring to fig. 15 in conjunction with fig. 13, the present invention further provides a semiconductor processing method, wherein the semiconductor processing is a process of processing a single wafer, the semiconductor processing method in this embodiment is implemented based on the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in the second embodiment, and the semiconductor processing method includes the following steps:
1) loading the wafer cassette 8 containing the wafer 7 to be processed on the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus as described in the second embodiment;
2) using the camera detection device 2 to take a picture of the wafers 7 in the wafer box 8 from top to bottom to obtain an arrangement real image of the wafers 7 in the wafer box 8, counting the wafers 7 in the wafer box 8 according to the obtained arrangement real image of the wafers 7, and obtaining a distance between every two adjacent wafers 7 according to a counting time interval;
3) judging whether the arrangement of the wafers 7 in the wafer box 8 is normal or not according to the obtained arrangement real images of the wafers 7 and the space between the adjacent wafers 7;
4) if the wafers 7 in the wafer box 8 are arranged normally, the robot arm 4 is used to grab and transfer the wafers 7 into the reaction chamber 53 for processing.
EXAMPLE five
Referring to fig. 16 in conjunction with fig. 14, the present invention further provides a semiconductor processing method, wherein the semiconductor processing is a batch processing of a plurality of wafers, the semiconductor processing method in this embodiment is implemented based on the semiconductor manufacturing equipment in the third embodiment, and the semiconductor processing method comprises the following steps:
1) loading the wafer cassette 8 containing the wafer 7 to be processed on the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus as described in the third embodiment;
2) using the camera detection device 2 to take a picture of the wafers 7 in the wafer box 8 from top to bottom to obtain an arrangement real image of the wafers 7 in the wafer box 8, counting the wafers 7 in the wafer box 8 according to the obtained arrangement real image of the wafers 7, and obtaining a distance between every two adjacent wafers 7 according to a counting time interval;
3) judging whether the arrangement of the wafers 7 in the wafer box 8 is normal or not according to the obtained arrangement real images of the wafers 7 and the space between the adjacent wafers 7;
4) if the wafers 7 in the wafer box 8 are arranged normally, the robot arm 4 is used to grab and transfer the wafers 7 into the boat 64 in the wafer loading area 61, and the boat 64 loaded with the wafers 7 is sent into the batch-type diffusion processing chamber 63 for processing.
As an example, the following steps are also included after the step 4):
5) after the process is completed, the wafer boat 64 is transported back to the wafer loading area 61;
6) using the camera detection device 2 to take a picture of the wafers 7 in the wafer boat 64 from top to bottom to obtain an arrangement real image of the wafers 7 in the wafer boat 64, counting the wafers 7 in the wafer boat 64 according to the obtained arrangement real image of the wafers, and obtaining a distance between every two adjacent wafers 7 according to a counting time interval;
7) judging whether the arrangement of the wafers 7 in the wafer boat 64 is normal or not according to the obtained arrangement real image of the wafers 7 and the distance between the adjacent wafers 7;
8) if the wafers 7 in the wafer boat 64 are arranged normally, the robot arm 4 is used to grab and transfer the wafers 7 back to the wafer box 8.
In summary, the present invention provides a robot arm assembly with a camera detection device and a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, wherein the robot arm assembly includes: a robotic arm, the robotic arm comprising: the conveying base, the fixing frame and the inserting sheet; the fixed frame is fixed on one side of the upper surface of the conveying base; one end of the insert is fixed on the fixing frame, and the insert is parallel to the upper surface of the conveying base and used for grabbing wafers in a wafer box or a wafer boat; the conveying base is used for driving the fixing frame and the inserting pieces to rotate and move so as to realize the transfer of the wafer; the camera shooting detection device is used for detecting the arrangement condition of wafers in a wafer box or a wafer boat, and comprises: the camera module is used for shooting the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat to obtain the arrangement real images of the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat; the counting module is connected with the camera module and used for counting the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat according to the arrangement real image of the wafers acquired by the camera module and acquiring the distance between the adjacent wafers according to the counting time interval; the camera shooting detection device is also provided with a cooling device; the camera shooting detection device is fixed at the top of the fixing frame, and the camera shooting end of the camera shooting module faces towards one side of the fixing frame, where the inserting pieces are arranged. The camera detection device is arranged on the mechanical arm assembly, the camera module is used for acquiring the arrangement real images of the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat, the counting module is used for counting the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat, and the distance between the adjacent wafers is acquired according to the counting time interval; meanwhile, detection in the wafer conveying process can be realized.
The foregoing embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and utilities of the present invention and are not intended to limit the invention. Any person skilled in the art can modify or change the above-mentioned embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it is intended that all equivalent modifications or changes which can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and technical spirit of the present invention be covered by the claims of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. A mechanical arm assembly, characterized in that the mechanical arm assembly comprises:
a robotic arm, the robotic arm comprising: the conveying base, the fixing frame and the inserting sheet; the fixed frame is fixed on one side of the upper surface of the conveying base; one end of the insert is fixed on the fixing frame, and the insert is parallel to the upper surface of the conveying base and used for grabbing wafers in a wafer box or a wafer boat; the conveying base is used for driving the fixing frame and the inserting pieces to rotate and move so as to realize the transfer of the wafer;
the camera shooting detection device is used for detecting the arrangement condition of wafers in a wafer box or a wafer boat, and comprises:
the camera module is used for shooting the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat to obtain the arrangement real images of the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat;
the counting module is connected with the camera module and used for counting the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat according to the arrangement real image of the wafers acquired by the camera module and acquiring the distance between the adjacent wafers according to the counting time interval;
the camera shooting detection device further comprises:
the camera shooting module and the counting module are both positioned in the accommodating cavity and have a distance with the shell; an opening which exposes the camera module is arranged at one end of the shell, and an air inlet through hole and an air outlet through hole are formed in the shell; the air inlet through hole is communicated with an air inlet pipeline and is used for introducing cooling gas into the shell when the camera module and the counting module work so as to cool the camera module and the counting module; the exhaust through hole is communicated with an exhaust pipeline;
the camera shooting detection device is fixed at the top of the fixing frame, and the camera shooting end of the camera shooting module faces towards one side of the fixing frame, where the inserting pieces are arranged.
2. The robot arm assembly of claim 1, wherein the camera module is an optical camera module.
3. The robot arm assembly of claim 1, wherein the counting module comprises:
the counting unit is connected with the camera module and used for counting the wafers in the wafer box or the wafer boat in real time according to the arrangement real image of the wafers acquired by the camera module;
and the processing unit is connected with the counting unit and used for calculating the distance between the adjacent wafers according to the time interval between the two adjacent times of counting of the counting unit.
4. The robot arm assembly of claim 1, wherein the camera detection device further comprises a display module, and the display module is connected to the camera module and the counting module and configured to display at least one of the real arrangement image of the wafer acquired by the camera module, the counting result of the counting module, and the distance between adjacent wafers acquired by the counting module.
5. The mechanical arm assembly of claim 1, wherein the mechanical arm comprises five insertion sheets, and the five insertion sheets are arranged in parallel at intervals along the height direction of the fixing frame.
6. A semiconductor production apparatus, characterized in that the semiconductor production apparatus comprises:
a loading table for loading a wafer cassette;
a vacuum transfer chamber connected to the loading station;
the robot arm assembly of claim 1, located within the vacuum transfer chamber;
a reaction chamber connected to the vacuum transfer chamber.
7. A semiconductor production apparatus, characterized in that the semiconductor production apparatus comprises:
a loading table for loading a wafer cassette;
a wafer loading zone having a load-lock vacuum; the wafer loading area is connected to the loading platform;
the robot arm assembly of claim 1, located within the wafer loading zone and between the load lock vacuum and the load station;
a batch-type diffusion processing chamber connected to the wafer loading region;
the wafer boat is positioned in the wafer loading area and used for loading wafers; the wafer boat may be transferred back and forth between the wafer loading zone and the batch-type diffusion processing chamber.
8. A semiconductor processing method is characterized by comprising the following steps:
1) loading a cassette containing wafers to be processed on the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus as claimed in claim 6;
2) using the camera detection device to take a picture of the wafers in the wafer box from top to bottom so as to obtain the arrangement real images of the wafers in the wafer box, counting the wafers in the wafer box according to the obtained arrangement real images of the wafers, and obtaining the distance between the adjacent wafers according to the counting time interval;
3) judging whether the wafer arrangement in the wafer box is normal or not according to the obtained arrangement real image of the wafer and the space between the adjacent wafers;
4) and if the wafers in the wafer box are normally arranged, the mechanical arm is used for grabbing the wafers and transmitting the wafers into the reaction chamber for processing.
9. A semiconductor processing method is characterized by comprising the following steps:
1) loading a cassette containing wafers to be processed on the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus as claimed in claim 7;
2) using the camera detection device to take a picture of the wafers in the wafer box from top to bottom so as to obtain the arrangement real images of the wafers in the wafer box, counting the wafers in the wafer box according to the obtained arrangement real images of the wafers, and obtaining the distance between the adjacent wafers according to the counting time interval;
3) judging whether the wafer arrangement in the wafer box is normal or not according to the obtained arrangement real image of the wafer and the space between the adjacent wafers;
4) and if the wafers in the wafer box are normally arranged, the mechanical arm is used for grabbing and transmitting the wafers into the wafer boat in the wafer loading area, and the wafer boat loaded with the wafers is sent into the batch type diffusion processing chamber for processing.
10. The semiconductor processing method according to claim 9, further comprising, after the step 4), the steps of:
5) after the process treatment is finished, the wafer boat is conveyed back to the wafer loading area;
6) using the camera detection device to take a picture of the wafers in the wafer boat from top to bottom so as to obtain the arrangement real images of the wafers in the wafer boat, counting the wafers in the wafer boat according to the obtained arrangement real images of the wafers, and obtaining the distance between the adjacent wafers according to the counting time interval;
7) judging whether the wafer arrangement in the wafer boat is normal or not according to the obtained arrangement real image of the wafer and the distance between the adjacent wafers;
8) and if the wafers in the wafer boat are normally arranged, the wafers are grabbed and transferred back to the wafer box by using the mechanical arm.
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