CN115723128A

CN115723128A - Control method of manipulator, manipulator and semiconductor processing system

Info

Publication number: CN115723128A
Application number: CN202211435249.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 于成辉; 李慧
Original assignee: Piotech Inc
Current assignee: Piotech Inc
Priority date: 2022-11-16
Filing date: 2022-11-16
Publication date: 2023-03-03

Abstract

The invention discloses a control method of a manipulator, the manipulator and a semiconductor processing system. The control method comprises the following steps: controlling the manipulator to drive the operating end of the manipulator to move towards the wafer tray; acquiring position deviation data of the operating end and the wafer tray; determining a deviation rectifying instruction according to the position deviation data so as to rectify the position of the operation end; and controlling the operation end to complete the operation of placing the wafer or picking up the wafer. Through executing the steps of the control method of the manipulator, the left and right operation ends of the manipulator can be respectively or simultaneously accurately adjusted in position to accurately correspond to the center of the wafer tray, so that the wafer placing/picking position is more accurate, the subsequent wafer processing is prevented from being uneven, and the processing result of the wafer is ensured.

Description

Control method of manipulator, manipulator and semiconductor processing system

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor manufacturing, in particular to a control method of a manipulator, a semiconductor processing system and a computer readable storage medium.

Background

At present, a machine of a Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) method cannot respectively adjust the positions of a left-hand piece and a right-hand piece by using a U-shaped arm vacuum manipulator. When the center distance between the wafer trays on the two sides of the reaction cavity is larger than or smaller than the center distance between the U-shaped arms of the manipulator, the wafers cannot be accurately placed at the centers of the wafer trays on the two sides of the reaction cavity respectively, and the wafers can fall to the centers of the wafer trays only by adjusting the center distances of the wafer trays. The method for adjusting the wafer tray is not easy to operate and wastes working hours.

In addition, in the prior art, the distance between the left hand and the right hand of the U-shaped arm vacuum manipulator is fixed and cannot be adjusted. In the process of placing and/or taking the wafer, the left-hand and right-hand simultaneous placing and/or taking operation cannot be performed by simultaneously adjusting the left-hand and right-hand placing/taking positions. In addition, the robot cannot perform the left-hand and right-hand operations for placing and taking the film, respectively.

In order to solve the above problems in the prior art, there is a need in the art for a control technique for a robot, which can perform precise position adjustment on the left and right operation ends of the robot respectively or simultaneously, so that the left and right operation ends of the robot accurately correspond to the center of a wafer tray, thereby achieving more precise placement/pickup positions of wafers, avoiding non-uniform subsequent wafer processing, and ensuring the processing results of the wafers.

Disclosure of Invention

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In order to solve the above technical problems in the prior art, a first aspect of the present invention provides a method for controlling a manipulator, including: controlling the manipulator to drive the operation end of the manipulator to move towards the wafer tray; acquiring position deviation data of the operating end and the wafer tray; determining a deviation rectifying instruction according to the position deviation data so as to rectify the position of the operation end; and controlling the operation end to complete the operation of placing the wafer or picking up the wafer. By implementing the control method of the manipulator, the left and right operation ends of the manipulator can be accurately adjusted respectively or simultaneously to accurately correspond to the center of the wafer tray, so that the wafer placing/picking position is more accurate, the subsequent wafer treatment is prevented from being uneven, and the wafer treatment result is ensured.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the handling end corresponds to at least one sensor, and the step of acquiring the positional deviation data of the handling end and the wafer tray includes: acquiring initial position data of the operating end through the at least one sensor; and obtaining the position deviation data of the initial position data of the operation end and the position data of the wafer tray according to the deviation value between the initial position data of the operation end and the position data of the wafer tray.

Optionally, further, the step of determining a deviation rectifying instruction according to the position deviation data to rectify the position of the operation end includes: judging the size of the position deviation data and the preset position deviation data; and determining a position deviation compensation value of the operation end according to the position judgment values of the two to obtain position deviation correction data corresponding to the operation end, wherein the position deviation correction data at least comprises the sum of the position deviation data and the position deviation compensation value.

Optionally, the manipulator further includes a plurality of the operation ends, and the step of determining a deviation rectifying instruction according to the position deviation data to rectify the position of the operation end includes: acquiring first position deviation data of a first operating end and a first wafer tray and second position deviation data of a second operating end and a second wafer tray; determining a first deviation rectifying instruction to the first operation end according to the first position deviation data; and determining a second deviation rectifying instruction to the second operation end according to the first position deviation data and the second position deviation data.

Optionally, further, the step of determining a first deviation rectifying command for the first operating end according to the first position deviation data includes: judging the magnitude of the first position deviation data and the first preset position deviation data; and determining a first position deviation compensation value of the first operating end according to the judgment value of the first position so as to obtain the first position deviation rectifying data corresponding to the first operating end, wherein the first position deviation rectifying data is the sum of the first position deviation data and the first position deviation compensation value.

Optionally, further, the step of determining a second deviation rectifying command for the second operating end according to the first position deviation data and the second position deviation data includes: judging the size of the position data of the two ends and the preset position data of the two ends according to the position data of the two ends between the first operating end and the second operating end and the preset position data of the two ends of the first wafer tray and the second wafer tray; and determining a second position deviation compensation value of the second operating end according to the judgment values of the two end positions to obtain second position deviation correcting data corresponding to the second operating end, wherein the second position deviation correcting data is the sum of the second position deviation data, the two end position deviation data of the first operating end and the second operating end, and the second position deviation compensation value.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the step of controlling the operation end to complete the operation of placing the wafer includes: and responding to the command of issuing the deviation correction command to the corresponding operation end of the manipulator, adjusting the operation end to the target position for placing the wafer, and lifting the ejector pin in the wafer tray on the side corresponding to the operation end to prepare for receiving the wafer placed by the operation end.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the step of controlling the handling end to complete the operation of picking up the wafer further includes: responding to the deviation correcting command sent to the corresponding operation end of the manipulator, adjusting the operation end to the target position of the picked wafer, and after the operation of picking the wafer is finished, enabling the thimble in the wafer tray on the corresponding side of the operation end to descend.

Another aspect of the present invention further provides a robot including at least one handling end, a memory, and a processor, wherein the processor is connected to the memory and configured to implement the control method of the robot described in any one of the above embodiments, so as to control the at least one handling end to perform operations of placing a wafer or picking a wafer. By implementing the control method of the manipulator provided by the aspect of the invention, the left and right operation ends of the manipulator can be respectively or simultaneously accurately adjusted in position, so that the left and right operation ends can accurately correspond to the center of the wafer tray, the wafer placing/picking position is more accurate, the subsequent wafer treatment is prevented from being uneven, and the wafer treatment result is ensured.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a semiconductor processing system comprising a robot as described above. By implementing the control method of the manipulator provided by the aspect, the left and right operation ends of the manipulator can be accurately adjusted respectively or simultaneously to accurately correspond to the center of the wafer tray, so that the wafer placing/picking position is more accurate, the subsequent wafer treatment is prevented from being uneven, and the wafer treatment result is ensured.

In addition, another aspect of the present invention also provides a computer-readable storage medium having computer instructions stored thereon. The computer instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the method of controlling a robot as set forth in any one of the above. By implementing the control method of the manipulator, the computer readable storage medium can respectively or simultaneously carry out accurate position adjustment on the left and right operation ends of the manipulator, so that the left and right operation ends accurately correspond to the center of the wafer tray, the wafer placing/picking position is more accurate, the non-uniform subsequent wafer processing is avoided, and the wafer processing result is ensured.

Drawings

The above features and advantages of the present disclosure will be better understood upon reading the detailed description of embodiments of the disclosure in conjunction with the following drawings. In the drawings, components are not necessarily drawn to scale, and components having similar associated characteristics or features may have the same or similar reference numerals.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a semiconductor processing system provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a robot in the semiconductor processing system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a semiconductor processing system provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention;

fig. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a method of controlling a manipulator according to some embodiments of the present invention; and

fig. 5A and 5B are schematic diagrams illustrating that the wafer does not fall to the center of the wafer tray.

Reference numerals:

100. a semiconductor processing system;

110. 310 a reaction chamber;

111. 311 a thimble lifting structure;

120. 320 a vacuum transmission mechanism;

121. 321 a manipulator;

3211. a first operation terminal;

3212. a second operation terminal;

130. 330 atmospheric vacuum transfer load chamber;

140. 340 atmosphere transmission mechanism;

300. a wafer processing system of vacuum coating equipment;

341. an atmospheric manipulator;

3121. a first wafer tray;

3122. a second wafer tray;

1211. a memory;

1212. a processor;

s410 to S440.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present invention is provided for illustrative purposes, and other advantages and effects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the present disclosure. While the invention will be described in connection with the preferred embodiments, there is no intent to limit the features of the invention to those embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is described in connection with the embodiments for the purpose of covering alternatives or modifications that may be extended based on the claims of the present invention. In the following description, numerous specific details are included to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. The invention may be practiced without these particulars. Moreover, some of the specific details have been left out of the description in order to avoid obscuring or obscuring the focus of the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood in specific cases to those skilled in the art.

Additionally, the terms "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "top," "bottom," "horizontal," "vertical" and the like as used in the following description are to be understood as referring to the segment and the associated drawings in the illustrated orientation. The relative terms are used for convenience of description and do not imply that the described apparatus should be constructed or operated in the specific orientation and therefore should not be construed as limiting the invention.

It will be understood that, although the terms "first", "second", "third", etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms, but rather should be used to distinguish one element, region, layer and/or section from another. Thus, a first component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second component, region, layer or section without departing from some embodiments of the present invention.

As described above, in the conventional PECVD (Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition) tool, the positions of the left and right hand-held sheets cannot be adjusted by the U-arm vacuum robot. When the center distance between the wafer trays on the two sides of the reaction cavity is larger than or smaller than the center distance between the U-shaped arms of the manipulator, the wafers cannot be accurately placed at the centers of the wafer trays on the two sides of the reaction cavity respectively, and the wafers can fall to the center of the heating plate only by adjusting the center distance between the wafer trays. The method for adjusting the wafer tray is not easy to operate and wastes working hours.

In addition, in the prior art, the distance between the left hand and the right hand of the U-shaped arm vacuum manipulator is fixed and cannot be adjusted. In the process of putting and/or taking the wafer, the left-hand and right-hand simultaneous putting and/or taking operation cannot be performed by simultaneously adjusting the left-hand and right-hand putting/taking positions. In addition, the robot cannot perform the left-hand and right-hand operations for placing and taking the film, respectively.

In order to solve the above problems in the prior art, the present invention provides a method for controlling a robot, a semiconductor processing system, and a computer readable storage medium, which can perform precise position adjustment on the left and right operation ends of the robot, respectively or simultaneously, so that the positions of the left and right operation ends correspond to the center of a wafer tray, thereby achieving more precise placement/pickup of a wafer, avoiding non-uniform subsequent wafer processing, and ensuring the wafer processing result.

In some non-limiting embodiments, the method for controlling the robot provided by one aspect of the present invention may be implemented by the robot provided by another aspect of the present invention. Further, another aspect of the present invention provides a semiconductor processing system including the robot of the above aspect, so that the control method of the above first aspect may also be implemented.

The operation of the robot and/or semiconductor processing system described above will be described with reference to some embodiments of a method for controlling a robot. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that these examples of robot control methods are but a few non-limiting embodiments provided by the present invention in order to clearly illustrate the broad concepts of the present invention and to provide specific details which are convenient to the public for implementation and not to limit the overall operation or the overall functionality of the robot and/or semiconductor processing system. Similarly, the robot and/or semiconductor processing system are only one non-limiting embodiment provided by the present invention, and do not limit the main implementation of the steps in the control method for these robots.

Specifically, please refer to fig. 1. Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a semiconductor processing system provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 1, in some non-limiting embodiments of the present invention, the semiconductor processing system 100 generally comprises an atmospheric actuator 140, an atmospheric vacuum transfer load lock 130, a vacuum actuator 120, and a reaction chamber 110. The atmospheric transfer mechanism 140 is used to transfer wafers from a Front Opening Unified Pod (FOUP) to the atmospheric vacuum transfer load chamber 130. The wafer is brought into a transfer chamber state by the atmospheric vacuum transfer load lock 130 and transferred between the atmospheric environment and the vacuum environment. The wafer is then transferred to the vacuum transfer mechanism 120. A U-arm (vacuum) robot 121, for example a qudrafil type robot, is provided in the vacuum actuator 120. The robot 121 includes two layers of U-shaped arms, each having an operating end at the left and right ends for holding or pinching a wafer, i.e. a wafer carrier. The wafer is transferred from the atmospheric vacuum transfer load lock 130 to the reaction chamber 110 by the robot 121 in the vacuum transfer mechanism 120. In the reaction chamber 110, a lift pin structure 111 is disposed for receiving and transferring the wafer to the wafer tray.

Further, referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic view of a robot in the semiconductor processing system shown in fig. 1.

As shown in fig. 2, the robot 121 of the semiconductor processing system 100 includes the at least one operation terminal, a memory 1211 and a processor 1212, wherein the processor 1212 is connected to the memory 1211. The memory 1211 includes, but is not limited to, a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions provided by another aspect of the present invention. The processor 1212 is connected to the memory 1211 and configured to execute the computer instructions stored in the memory 1211, so as to implement the method for controlling a manipulator according to the first aspect of the present invention.

Referring specifically to fig. 3, fig. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of a semiconductor processing system provided in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

In some non-limiting embodiments of the present invention as illustrated in fig. 3, the semiconductor processing system 100 may be a dual chamber vacuum wafer coating processing system 300. The dual reaction chamber vacuum wafer coating processing system 300 can adjust the two operation ends of the robot in the process of placing or picking up the wafer in the left and right chambers respectively.

The dual-chamber vacuum wafer coating processing system 300 includes an atmospheric actuator 340, an atmospheric vacuum transfer load lock 330, a vacuum actuator 320, and a reaction chamber 310. A (vacuum) robot 321 is provided inside the vacuum transmission mechanism 320. The reaction chamber 310 includes a lift pin structure 311 and two wafer trays, a first wafer tray 3121 and a second wafer tray 3122, wherein the wafer trays may be specifically selected as heating plates.

The working process of the dual-reaction-chamber vacuum wafer coating processing system 300 mainly comprises: two wafers are transferred from the FOUP into the atmospheric vacuum transfer load chamber 330 by the atmospheric robot 341 in the atmospheric transfer mechanism 340. The first and

second handler ports

3211 and 3212 of the (vacuum) robot 321 in the vacuum transfer mechanism 320 may remove two wafers from the atmospheric vacuum transfer load chamber 330, and then the robot 321 may extend into the reaction chamber 310. The first handling end 3211 at the left side of the robot 321 may correspond to a first wafer tray 3121 also at the left side within the reaction chamber 310, and the second handling end 3212 at the right side of the robot 321 may correspond to a second wafer tray 3122 also at the right side within the reaction chamber 310. If the first handling end 3211 of the robot 321 is left-side corrected, the ejector pins in the left-side first wafer tray 3121 are lifted up to receive the wafer placed on the first handling end 3211 after the correction. If the second handling end 3212 of the robot 321 is corrected on the right side, the ejector pin on the second wafer tray 3122 on the right side is lifted up to receive the wafer placed on the second handling end 3212 after the correction is completed. After the wafers are placed completely, the manipulator 321 retracts, the thimble lifting structures 311 in the two chambers descend, and the two wafers fall onto the corresponding first wafer tray 3121 and second wafer tray 3122 respectively.

For a more clear description of the control method of the manipulator to be protected according to the present invention, please refer to fig. 4, where fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart illustrating a control method of a manipulator according to some embodiments of the present invention. The control method of the robot 321 will be described below by taking the dual chamber vacuum wafer coating processing system 300 of fig. 3 as an example. The control method of the manipulator 321 mainly includes the steps of:

step S410: the manipulator is controlled to drive the operation end to move towards the wafer tray.

Depending on the number of wafers placed or picked, at least one of the handling ends of the robot 321 may be controlled to perform the wafer placing or picking action.

Specifically, in some alternative embodiments, the two handling ends of the robot 321 may be controlled simultaneously, and the first handling end 3211 and the second handling end 3212 may respectively transfer the two wafers in the atmospheric vacuum transfer load chamber 330 to the first wafer tray 3121 and the second wafer tray 3122 in the reaction chamber 310 for a two-hand wafer placing operation, or the first handling end 3211 and the second handling end 3212 of the robot 321 may also be controlled simultaneously to take out the two wafers from the first wafer tray 3121 and the second wafer tray 3122 in the reaction chamber 310 for a two-hand wafer taking operation.

In other alternative embodiments, the first handle 3211 or the second handle 3212 of the robot 321 may be controlled to transfer a wafer in the atmospheric vacuum conversion load chamber 330 to the first wafer tray 3121 or the second wafer tray 3122 in the reaction chamber 310 for one-hand wafer placing operation, or the first handle 3211 or the second handle 3212 of the robot 321 may be controlled to take out a wafer from the first wafer tray 3121 or the second wafer tray 3122 in the reaction chamber 310 for one-hand wafer taking operation.

Step S420: and acquiring position deviation data of the operation end and the wafer tray.

At least one sensor, such as an AWC (Active Wafer Centering) sensor, may be disposed at the handling end of the robot 321 or in the reaction chamber 310. The at least one sensor is used to collect initial position data of an operating end performing a wafer placing or picking operation, such as initial position data (i.e., AWC data) of the first operating end 3211, and compare the collected initial position data of the first operating end 3211 with position data of the corresponding first wafer tray 3121 in the reaction chamber 310 to obtain first position deviation data d1 therebetween.

Step S430: and determining a deviation rectifying instruction according to the position deviation data so as to rectify the position of the operation end.

Specifically, the preset positional deviation data d' between the handling end of the robot 321 and the corresponding wafer tray may be input in advance in a robot interface (UI interface). For example, first preset position deviation data d1 'between the first handling end 3211 and the first wafer tray 3121 and second preset position deviation data d2' between the second handling end 3212 and the second wafer tray 3122 are provided.

According to the first position deviation data d1, a first deviation rectifying instruction for the first operating end 3211 is determined, and according to the first position deviation data d1 and the second position deviation data d2, a second deviation rectifying instruction for the second operating end 3122 is determined.

Specifically, the magnitude of the position deviation data and the preset position deviation data is judged, and the position deviation compensation value of the operation end is determined according to the position judgment values of the position deviation data and the preset position deviation data, so as to obtain the position deviation correction data corresponding to the operation end, wherein the position deviation correction data at least comprises the sum of the position deviation data and the position deviation compensation value. Referring to fig. 5A and 5B, fig. 5A and 5B are schematic diagrams illustrating that the wafer does not fall to the center of the wafer tray.

In some embodiments of one-hand film placing or taking, for example, when the first manipulating end 3211 of the manipulator 321 is controlled independently to perform a film placing or taking operation, the first manipulating end 3211 may be positionally adjusted.

First, as shown in fig. 5A or 5B, the magnitude of the current first position deviation data d1 and the preset first preset position deviation data d1' is determined, and a position deviation compensation value for the first operating end 3211 is determined according to the position determination value therebetween, so as to obtain first position deviation-correcting data corresponding to the first operating end 3211. The first position deviation correcting data mainly includes the sum of the first position deviation data d1 (i.e., the deviation of the AWC data) and the first position deviation compensation value.

In some embodiments of placing or taking the film with both hands, for example, when the first manipulating end 3211 and the second manipulating end 3212 of the manipulator 321 are controlled to perform the film placing or taking operation simultaneously or separately, the deviation of both the first manipulating end 3211 and the second manipulating end 3212 may be corrected. In this embodiment, as for the deviation rectifying control of the first operating end 3211, as described above, the description thereof is omitted here.

After the position of the first operating end 3211 is corrected, the position of the second operating end 3212 is corrected.

As shown in fig. 5A or 5B, first, the size of the two end position data δ and the two end preset position data δ 'between the first handling end 3211 and the second handling end 3212 and the two end preset position data δ' of the first wafer tray 3121 and the second wafer tray 3122 are determined. According to the judgment values of the two end positions, a second position deviation compensation value of the second operating end 3212 is determined, so as to obtain second position deviation correction data corresponding to the second operating end 3212. The second position deviation correcting data mainly includes a sum of second position deviation data d2 (i.e., a deviation of the AWC data), position deviation data (i.e., δ - δ 'or δ' - δ) at both ends of the first manipulation terminal 3211 and the second manipulation terminal 3212, and a second position deviation compensation value.

Step S440: and controlling the operation end to complete the operation of placing the wafer or picking up the wafer.

Specifically, in response to issuing the first deviation correcting command and/or the second deviation correcting command to the corresponding operation end of the robot 321, i.e., the first operation end 3211 and/or the second operation end 3212 are adjusted to the target position where the wafer is placed. The ejector pins in the first wafer tray 3121 and/or the second wafer tray 3122 on the side corresponding to the first handling end 3211 and/or the second handling end 3212 are raised to prepare for receiving the wafers placed by the first handling end 3211 and/or the second handling end 3212.

Optionally, in response to issuing the first deviation correcting command and/or the second deviation correcting command to the corresponding handling end of the robot, that is, the first handling end 3211 and/or the second handling end 3212 are adjusted to the target position for picking up the wafer, so that after the operation of picking up the wafer is completed, the pins in the first wafer tray 3121 and/or the second wafer tray 3122 at the corresponding side of the first handling end 3211 and/or the second handling end 3212 are lowered.

For a more detailed and clear description of the robot control method, please refer to the following several embodiments of the wafer placing and wafer picking process.

A virtual station method can be introduced, physical positions of the first operating end 3211 (station 2) on the left side and the second operating end 3212 (station 5) on the right side of the manipulator 321 are respectively determined, the physical position of the first operating end 3211 on the left side is determined when the machine station transfers the film, and the second operating end 3212 on the right side realizes the film release and the film taking after the position deviation correction in a deviation (stn 5-stn 2) manner.

Specifically, the first handling end 3211 and the corresponding first wafer tray 3121 may be set to side a on the UI interface on the left side. The second handling end 3212 and the corresponding second wafer tray 3122 may be set to side B on the UI interface on the right side. When placing or taking the wafer, a preset positional deviation between the operation end and the wafer tray, such as the first preset positional deviation data d1 'and the second preset positional deviation data d2', may be set on the interface of the corresponding side, respectively. The first wafer tray 3121 on the left side corresponds to the command PAN L, and the second wafer tray 3122 on the right side corresponds to the command PAN R.

In the first embodiment, the robot 321 is controlled to adjust the positions of the two-hand wafer placing so as to place two wafers on the centers of the corresponding first wafer tray 3121 and second wafer tray 3122. The specific control process is shown in the following table 1:

TABLE 1

In the second embodiment, the robot 321 is subjected to position adjustment control for one-hand placement of wafers in order to place one wafer at the center of a corresponding wafer tray.

A specific control process of placing the wafer into the center of the first wafer tray 3121 through the first handling end 3211 is as follows in table 2.1:

TABLE 2.1

Then, after the first handling end 3211 finishes placing the wafer, the specific control process of placing the wafer into the center of the second wafer tray 3122 through the second handling end 3212 is as follows in table 2.2:

TABLE 2.2

In the third embodiment, the robot 321 is controlled to adjust the position of the two-hand wafer picking in order to pick two wafers from the centers of the corresponding first wafer tray 3121 and second wafer tray 3122. In this embodiment, the two situations can be also divided, one is that the ejector pins in the wafer trays on the Side of Side a and the Side of Side B drop simultaneously, and the other is that the ejector pins in the wafer trays on the Side of Side a and the Side of Side B drop respectively.

Specifically, the specific control process of picking up the wafer by both hands when the ejector pins in the wafer trays on the Side of Side a and the Side of Side B drop simultaneously is shown in the following table 3.1:

TABLE 3.1

The specific control process of taking the wafer by two hands when the thimbles in the wafer trays at the Side A Side and the Side B Side respectively fall is shown in the following table 3.2:

TABLE 3.2

In the fourth embodiment, the robot 321 is subjected to position adjustment control for one-handed sheet taking in order to place one wafer at the center of the corresponding wafer tray.

The specific control process for placing the wafer into the center of the first wafer tray 3121 through the first handling end 3211 is as follows:

TABLE 4.1

Then, after the first handling end 3211 finishes the wafer picking, the specific control process of picking up the wafer from the center of the second wafer tray 3122 through the second handling end 3212 is as follows in table 4.2:

TABLE 4.2

In summary, the present invention provides a method for controlling a robot, a robot capable of implementing the method, and a semiconductor processing system using the robot, which can perform precise position adjustment on the left and right operation ends of the robot respectively or simultaneously, so as to accurately correspond to the center of a wafer tray, thereby achieving more precise wafer placement/pickup positions, avoiding non-uniform subsequent wafer processing, and ensuring the wafer processing results.

While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown and described as a series of acts, it is to be understood and appreciated that the methodologies are not limited by the order of acts, as some acts may, in accordance with one or more embodiments, occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other acts from that shown and described herein or not shown and described herein, as would be understood by one skilled in the art.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information, signals, and data may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits (bits), symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

The various illustrative logical modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

In one or more exemplary embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software as a computer program product, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium.

The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a manipulator, comprising the steps of:

controlling the manipulator to drive the operating end of the manipulator to move towards the wafer tray;

acquiring position deviation data of the operating end and the wafer tray;

determining a deviation rectifying instruction according to the position deviation data so as to rectify the position of the operation end; and

and controlling the operation end to complete the operation of placing the wafer or picking up the wafer.

2. The control method of claim 1, wherein the handling end corresponds to at least one sensor, and the step of acquiring positional deviation data of the handling end and the wafer tray comprises:

acquiring initial position data of the operating end through the at least one sensor; and

and obtaining position deviation data of the initial position data of the operating end and the position data of the wafer tray according to the deviation value between the initial position data of the operating end and the position data of the wafer tray.

3. The control method according to claim 2, wherein the step of determining a deviation rectifying command according to the position deviation data to rectify the position of the operation end comprises:

judging the size of the position deviation data and preset position deviation data;

and determining a position deviation compensation value of the operation end according to the position judgment values of the two to obtain position deviation correction data corresponding to the operation end, wherein the position deviation correction data at least comprises the sum of the position deviation data and the position deviation compensation value.

4. The control method of claim 2, wherein the robot comprises a plurality of the operation ends, and the step of determining a deviation correction command according to the position deviation data to correct the position of the operation ends comprises:

acquiring first position deviation data of a first operating end and a first wafer tray and second position deviation data of a second operating end and a second wafer tray;

determining a first deviation rectifying instruction for the first operation end according to the first position deviation data; and

and determining a second deviation rectifying instruction for the second operation end according to the first position deviation data and the second position deviation data.

5. The control method of claim 4, wherein the step of determining a first deskewing instruction for the first operator based on the first position deviation data comprises:

judging the magnitude of the first position deviation data and first preset position deviation data;

determining a first position deviation compensation value of the first operating end according to the judgment value of the first position to obtain the first position deviation rectifying data corresponding to the first operating end, wherein the first position deviation rectifying data is the sum of the first position deviation data and the first position deviation compensation value.

6. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the step of determining a second deviation rectifying command for the second operation end according to the first position deviation data and the second position deviation data comprises:

judging the size of the position data of the two ends and the preset position data of the two ends according to the position data of the two ends between the first operating end and the second operating end and the preset position data of the two ends of the first wafer tray and the second wafer tray;

and determining a second position deviation compensation value of the second operation end according to the judgment values of the two end positions to obtain second position deviation correction data corresponding to the second operation end, wherein the second position deviation correction data is the sum of the second position deviation data, the two end position deviation data of the first operation end and the second operation end, and the second position deviation compensation value.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of controlling the handling end to perform the operation of placing the wafer comprises:

and responding to the fact that the deviation correcting instruction is issued to the corresponding operation end of the mechanical arm, adjusting the operation end to a target position for placing the wafer, and lifting an ejector pin in the wafer tray on the side corresponding to the operation end to prepare for receiving the wafer placed by the operation end.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of controlling the handling end to complete the operation of picking up the wafer further comprises:

and responding to the fact that the deviation correcting instruction is issued to the corresponding operation end of the mechanical arm, adjusting the operation end to the target position of the picked wafer, and after the operation of picking the wafer is completed, enabling the ejector pin in the wafer tray on the corresponding side of the operation end to descend.

9. A robot comprising at least one handling end, a memory and a processor, wherein the processor is connected to the memory and configured to implement the method of controlling the robot according to any one of claims 1 to 8, so as to control the at least one handling end to perform a wafer placing operation or a wafer picking operation.

10. A semiconductor processing system comprising a robot as claimed in claim 9.

11. A computer-readable storage medium having computer instructions stored thereon, wherein the computer instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the method of controlling a manipulator according to any one of claims 1 to 8.