CN115799139B

CN115799139B - Wafer transmission device with buffer memory function

Info

Publication number: CN115799139B
Application number: CN202310061925.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 洪成都; 任中辛
Original assignee: Suzhou Juyun Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Suzhou Juyun Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2023-01-17
Filing date: 2023-01-17
Publication date: 2023-05-12
Anticipated expiration: 2043-01-17
Also published as: CN115799139A

Abstract

The invention relates to a wafer transmission device with a buffer function, which comprises: the conveying track comprises a plurality of conveying rollers which are equal in interval and are arranged in parallel; an aisle is formed between any two adjacent conveying rollers; the buffer mechanism comprises a lifting driving component and a buffer component; the lifting driving component is arranged at one side of the transmission track; the buffer assembly is arranged between the two side walls of the transmission track; the buffer storage assembly comprises at least two support assemblies which are vertically arranged in parallel, each support assembly comprises at least two support parts which are sequentially arranged along the vertical direction, the at least two support parts are parallel to the extending direction of the passageway, and the support parts between different support assemblies are arranged in parallel in a one-to-one correspondence manner in the horizontal direction; each bracket assembly is arranged corresponding to one aisle. The cache mechanism and the transmission track are compactly distributed, so that the cache efficiency of the wafer can be improved; the support assembly can buffer the wafer in the ascending process, can unload the wafer in the descending process, and the buffering operation is simple and quick.

Description

Wafer transmission device with buffer memory function

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of wafer transmission equipment, in particular to a wafer transmission device with a buffer function.

Background

In the wafer manufacturing process, the wafer is generally transported by a wafer transport device. In the wafer transmission process, if the blanking machine fails, the wafers transported on the transmission device are required to be transferred in time. In the existing wafer manufacturing process, the buffer device is arranged for buffering the wafer, the matched mechanical arm is also required to be arranged for transferring the wafer on the transmission device to the buffer device, the whole structure is relatively complex, in addition, the buffer step comprises two steps of grabbing the wafer from the transmission device by the mechanical arm and transferring the wafer to the buffer device, and the buffer efficiency is low.

Disclosure of Invention

Based on the above-mentioned defects in the prior art, the present invention aims to provide a wafer transmission device with a buffer function, which has a simple structure and high transmission efficiency.

Therefore, the invention provides the following technical scheme.

The invention provides a wafer transmission device with a buffer function, which comprises:

the conveying track comprises a plurality of conveying rollers which are equal in distance and are arranged in parallel with each other and used for conveying the wafer; an aisle is formed between any two adjacent conveying rollers;

the buffer mechanism comprises a lifting driving component and a buffer component; the lifting driving assembly is arranged on one side of the transmission track; the buffer assembly is arranged between two side walls of the transmission track and is fixed at the driving end of the lifting driving assembly;

the buffer storage assembly comprises at least two support assemblies which are vertically arranged in parallel, each support assembly comprises at least two support parts which are sequentially arranged along the vertical direction, the at least two support parts are parallel to the extending direction of the passageway, and the support parts between different support assemblies are arranged in parallel in a one-to-one correspondence manner in the horizontal direction;

each bracket component is arranged corresponding to one aisle, and the lifting driving component can drive the buffer component to move up and down so that each bracket component moves up and down in the corresponding aisle.

Preferably, the buffer assembly comprises a vertically arranged mounting plate, the mounting plate is connected with the driving end of the lifting driving assembly, all the bracket assemblies are fixedly mounted on the mounting plate, and the bracket assemblies and the lifting driving assembly are respectively positioned on the front side and the rear side of the mounting plate.

Preferably, each of the bracket assemblies includes a front mounting frame and a rear mounting frame which are disposed in a front-rear opposite direction, each of the supporting parts includes a front strut and a rear strut, the front strut is mounted on the front mounting frame, and the rear strut is mounted on the rear mounting frame.

Preferably, the front strut and the rear strut are equal in length.

Preferably, the front strut and the rear strut are both cylindrical and of the same diameter.

Preferably, the at least two supporting parts are disposed at equal intervals in the vertical direction and are located in the same vertical plane.

Preferably, the bracket assembly has at least four.

Preferably, the buffer assembly further comprises a fixing plate horizontally arranged, and the top of the front mounting frame and the top of the rear mounting frame are fixedly mounted on the fixing plate.

Preferably, the system further comprises a first position detection component for acquiring the height position information of the buffer component.

Preferably, the wafer processing device further comprises a second position detection component, and the second position detection component is triggered when the wafer reaches a cache position.

The invention has the following technical effects:

the invention provides a wafer transmission device with a buffer function, wherein a lifting driving component is arranged on one side of a transmission track, a buffer component is arranged between two side walls of the transmission track, the buffer component and the lifting driving component are connected and form a buffer mechanism for buffering wafers on the transmission track, the buffer mechanism and the transmission track are compactly distributed, and the buffer efficiency of the wafers can be improved. In addition, the buffer memory subassembly includes two at least vertical support subassemblies that set up side by side, and support subassembly can accomplish the buffer memory to the wafer in the ascending process, can accomplish the uninstallation to the wafer in the decline in-process, and buffer memory operation is simple swift.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a buffer mechanism according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a wafer transfer apparatus according to the present invention in a transfer state;

fig. 3 is an enlarged view at a in fig. 2.

Description of the reference numerals

100. A wafer transfer device;

1. a transmission track; 11. a conveying roller; 111. a rotating shaft; 112. a guide roller; 12. an aisle; 13. a sidewall; 14. a first baffle; 141. a first relief notch; 15. a second baffle; 151. a second relief notch;

2. a buffer mechanism; 21. a lifting driving assembly; 22. a cache component; 221. a bracket assembly; 2211. a support part; 22111. a front strut; 22112. a rear strut; 2212. a front mounting rack; 2213. a rear mounting rack; 222. a mounting plate; 223. a fixing plate; 2231. a hollowed-out part; 224. reinforcing ribs; 23. a first position detection component; 231. an optical coupler; 232. a baffle; 24. a base;

200. and (3) a wafer.

Detailed Description

In order to make the technical scheme and the beneficial effects of the invention more obvious and understandable, the following detailed description is given by way of example. Unless defined otherwise, technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as technical and scientific terms in the technical field to which this application belongs.

In the description of the present invention, unless explicitly defined otherwise, terms such as "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "height", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", etc., refer to an orientation or positional relationship based on that shown in the drawings, and are merely for convenience of simplifying the description of the present invention, and do not indicate that the apparatus or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, i.e., are not to be construed as limiting the present invention.

In the present invention, the terms "first", "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as relative importance of the features indicated or the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defining "first", "second" may explicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of the present invention, "plurality" means at least two; "plurality" means at least one; unless otherwise specifically defined.

In the present invention, the terms "mounted," "connected," "secured," "disposed," and the like are to be construed broadly, unless otherwise specifically limited. For example, "connected" may be fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally formed; can be mechanically or electrically connected; can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or can be communicated between two elements or the interaction relationship between the two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art according to the specific circumstances.

In the present invention, unless explicitly defined otherwise, a first feature "on", "above", "over" and "above", "below" or "under" a second feature may be that the first feature and the second feature are in direct contact, or that the first feature and the second feature are in indirect contact via an intermediary. Moreover, a first feature "above," "over" and "on" a second feature may be that the first feature is directly above or obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicates that the level of the first feature is higher than the level of the second feature. The first feature being "under", "below" and "beneath" the second feature may be the first feature being directly under or obliquely below the second feature, or simply indicating that the level of the first feature is less than the level of the second feature.

All references to "front", "back", "upper" and "lower" in this invention are made to the designation in fig. 1.

The wafer transfer apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to fig. 1 to 3.

In this embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, the wafer conveying apparatus 100 includes a conveying track 1 and a buffer mechanism 2, where the conveying track 1 includes a plurality of conveying rollers 11 with equal intervals and arranged parallel to each other, so as to convey a wafer 200, and a passageway 12 is formed between any two adjacent conveying rollers 11. The wafer 200 is placed on a supporting platform formed by a plurality of transfer rollers 11, and when the wafer transfer apparatus 100 is operated, the transfer rollers 11 rotate to generate an urging force in a transfer direction for the wafer 200, thereby realizing transfer.

In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the buffer mechanism 2 includes a lift drive unit 21 and a buffer unit 22; the lifting driving assembly 21 is arranged on one side of the transmission track 1; the buffer assembly 22 is arranged between the two side walls 13 of the transmission track 1 and fixed at the driving end of the lifting driving assembly 21, and the buffer mechanism 2 and the transmission track 1 are compactly distributed, so that buffer efficiency can be improved.

In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the buffer assembly 22 includes at least two vertically juxtaposed bracket assemblies 221, each bracket assembly 221 includes at least two support portions 2211 sequentially disposed along a vertical direction, all support portions 2211 of each bracket assembly 221 are parallel to an extending direction of the aisle 12, and the support portions 2211 between different bracket assemblies 221 are juxtaposed in a one-to-one correspondence in a horizontal direction. Each of the rack assemblies 221 is provided corresponding to one aisle, and the elevation driving assembly 21 can drive the buffer assembly 22 to move up and down so that each of the rack assemblies 221 moves up and down in its corresponding aisle.

By arranging the bracket assemblies 221 vertically and arranging all the bracket assemblies 221 in parallel, different bracket assemblies 221 arranged in parallel can pass through different corresponding passages 12 in the lifting movement process of the buffer assembly 22, so that the buffer assembly 22 can smoothly perform lifting movement between the two side walls 13 of the transmission track 1. In addition, the supporting portions 2211 between the different support assemblies 221 are arranged in parallel in a one-to-one correspondence in the horizontal direction, so that the buffer assemblies 22 can support different portions of the bottom wall of the wafer 200 in a one-to-one correspondence in the horizontal direction during the lifting motion, so as to stably support the wafer 200, and further stably store the wafer 200 on the corresponding support assemblies 221. The whole structure of the buffer mechanism 2 is simple, the buffer can be realized by controlling the lifting motion of the bracket component 221, and the buffer operation is simple and quick.

In an embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the buffer assembly 22 includes a vertically disposed mounting plate 222, the mounting plate 222 is connected with the driving end of the lifting driving assembly 21, all the bracket assemblies 221 are fixedly mounted on the mounting plate 222, and the bracket assemblies 221 and the lifting driving assembly 21 are respectively located at the front side and the rear side of the mounting plate 222, so as to simplify the assembly between the buffer assembly 22 and the lifting driving assembly 21.

Further, as shown in fig. 1, the buffer mechanism 2 includes a base 24, and the lifting driving assembly 21 is fixed to the base 24, where the base 24 is used to be mounted on a mounting platform (such as a floor or a machine tool of a wafer conveying device) on one side of the conveying track 1. The lifting drive assembly 21 comprises a guide rail and a slider, the guide rail is fixed on the base 24, the slider is in sliding fit with the guide rail, and the slider is respectively connected with the mounting plate 222 and the driving end of the lifting drive assembly 21. When the lifting driving assembly 21 operates, the driving end drives the sliding block to slide relative to the guide rail, so that the mounting plate 222 drives the buffer assembly 22 to perform lifting movement.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, each bracket assembly 221 includes a front mounting frame 2212 and a rear mounting frame 2213 disposed opposite each other front and rear, each support portion 2211 includes a front support rod 22111 and a rear support rod 22112, the front support rod 22111 is mounted on the front mounting frame 2212, and the rear support rod 22112 is mounted on the rear mounting frame 2213. By providing the two front struts 22111 and the rear struts 22112 to form a supporting portion 2211, the two side-by-side bracket assemblies 221 include two front struts 22111 and two rear struts 22112, the two front struts 22111 are used for supporting two portions of the front portion of the lower surface of the wafer 200, the two rear struts 22112 are used for supporting two portions of the rear portion of the lower surface of the wafer 200, and therefore the wafer 200 can be stably supported, and in addition, when the wafer 200 is warped, the arrangement of the two front struts 22111 and the two rear struts 22112 can ensure that the bracket assemblies 221 stably support the warped wafer 200.

It should be appreciated that when there are more than two support assemblies 221 in parallel, the buffer assembly 22 can support a plurality of portions of the front and rear of the lower surface of the wafer 200, and the support is more stable.

Further, as shown in fig. 2, the transfer roller 11 includes a rotating shaft 111 and a plurality of guide rollers 112, the plurality of guide rollers 112 are sequentially sleeved on the periphery of the rotating shaft 111, two ends of the rotating shaft 111 are respectively connected to the two side walls 13 in a rotating manner, the rotating shaft 111 drives the plurality of guide rollers 112 to rotate, and the rotating plurality of guide rollers 112 generate an pushing force along the transfer direction for the wafer 200 on the transfer roller 11, so as to realize wafer transfer. The conveying track 1 comprises a first baffle 14 and a second baffle 15 which are horizontally arranged, the first baffle 14 and the second baffle 15 are respectively connected with the tops of the two side walls 13, and the first baffle 14 and the second baffle 15 are used for limiting the movement position of the wafers 200 in conveying.

Further, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, the first baffle 14 is provided with a first yielding gap 141 corresponding to the front mounting frame 2212 for the front mounting frame 2212 to move up and down to pass through, and the second baffle 15 is provided with a second yielding gap 151 corresponding to the rear mounting frame 2213 for the rear mounting frame 2213 to move up and down to pass through.

Further, as shown in fig. 1, the front strut 22111 and the rear strut 22112 have equal lengths, and the supporting parts have symmetrical structures, so that the assembly is convenient.

Further, as shown in fig. 1, the front strut 22111 and the rear strut 22112 are both cylindrical and have the same diameter. The struts are cylindrical and smooth in surface to avoid scratching the wafer 200. The diameters of the front and rear struts 22111, 22112 are the same to simplify the fitting of the assembled heights of the front and rear struts 22111, 22112 when assembled.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, all the support parts 2211 of each rack assembly 221 are disposed at equal intervals in the vertical direction. When the plurality of wafers 200 are buffered, the buffer assembly 22 needs to be lifted up multiple times in order to sequentially buffer the plurality of wafers 200 on different supporting portions 2211, and when the buffered plurality of wafers 200 are unloaded, the buffer assembly 22 needs to be lifted down in order to sequentially unload the plurality of wafers 200 on the transmission track 1, and by limiting the intervals between all the supporting portions 2211 on each support assembly 221, the control of the single operation of the buffer assembly 22 by the lifting driving assembly 21 can be simplified when the buffer assembly 22 is buffered or unloaded, that is, the control procedure of the lifting driving assembly 21 is facilitated to be simplified.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 and 2, all of the support portions 2211 of each bracket assembly 221 are located in the same vertical plane, which is advantageous in simplifying alignment of all of the support portions 2211 of the bracket assembly 221 with the aisle 12 during assembly.

In one embodiment, the rack assembly 221 has at least four, and may be four, five, six or more. When the support assembly 221 is four or more, it is possible to more stably support the wafer 200 on the one hand and to buffer wafers 200 of different sizes on the other hand. When the wafer transfer apparatus 100 is used to transfer 8 inch wafers, at least two of the support assemblies 221 can be matched to stably support the 8 inch wafers; when the wafer transfer apparatus 100 is used to transfer 12 inch wafers (see wafer 200 in fig. 2), at least four of the support assemblies 221 can cooperate to stably hold up 12 inch wafers.

Further, when the wafer transfer apparatus 100 is provided with a limiting mechanism (not shown) for limiting the wafer 200 to the area to be buffered, the spacing between the front and rear support rods 22111 and 22112 is set and limited by the arrangement of the front and rear support rods, so as to avoid the interference of the limiting mechanism with the supporting portion 2211 when limiting the small-sized wafer.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the buffer assembly 22 further includes a fixing plate 223 horizontally disposed, and the top portions of the front and rear mounting

frames

2212 and 2213 are fixedly mounted to the fixing plate 223 to stably fix the front and rear mounting

frames

2212 and 2213.

Further, as shown in fig. 1, the fixing plate 223 is provided with a plurality of hollow parts 2231, so as to reduce the dead weight of the fixing plate 223, and further reduce the overall weight of the buffer assembly 22, so as to facilitate the driving of the lifting driving assembly 21.

Further, as shown in fig. 1, the fixing plate 223 is connected with the mounting plate 222 to enhance the firmness of the connection between the bracket assembly 221 and the mounting plate 222.

Further, as shown in fig. 1, a reinforcing rib 224 is provided between the fixing plate 223 and the mounting plate 222 to enhance the firmness of the connection between the fixing plate 223 and the mounting plate 222.

In an embodiment, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the apparatus further includes a first position detecting component 23 for obtaining height position information of the buffer component 22, so as to control the lifting position in cooperation with the lifting driving component 21.

Further, the first position detecting component 23 is configured to initially position the buffer component 22, so as to precisely control the stroke of the buffer component 22.

Further, the first position detecting assembly 23 includes an optical coupler 231 and a blocking piece 232, the optical coupler 231 is fixed on the housing of the lifting driving assembly 21, the blocking piece 232 is fixed on one of the rear mounting frames 2213 of the bracket assembly 221, and the optical coupler 231 cooperates with the blocking piece 232 to realize the initial positioning of the buffer assembly 22.

It should be understood that the first position detecting component 23 is not limited to the position detecting component formed by the optocoupler and the blocking piece, and may be any other component capable of performing position detection, such as a micro switch.

In an embodiment, the wafer processing apparatus further includes a second position detecting component (not shown in the figure), and the second position detecting component is triggered when the wafer 200 reaches the buffer position, so as to trigger the buffer operation of the buffer mechanism 2, thereby avoiding the dislocation of the wafer 200 relative to the buffer component 22 during buffer, and preventing the buffer component 22 from being able to support the wafer 200 or the unstable placement of the supported wafer 200, which is unfavorable for the buffer component 22 to stably support the wafer 200.

Further, the second position detection assembly includes, but is not limited to, a photosensor or a micro switch.

In one embodiment, the lift drive assembly 21 includes, but is not limited to, a cylinder, a belt drive assembly, or a lead screw nut drive assembly, or a rack and pinion drive assembly.

It should be understood that the above examples are illustrative and are not intended to encompass all possible implementations encompassed by the claims. Various modifications and changes may be made in the above embodiments without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Likewise, the individual features of the above embodiments can also be combined arbitrarily to form further embodiments of the invention which may not be explicitly described. Therefore, the above examples merely represent several embodiments of the present invention and do not limit the scope of protection of the patent of the present invention.

Claims

1. A wafer transfer apparatus having a buffering function, comprising:

a transfer rail (1) including a plurality of transfer rollers (11) disposed in parallel with each other at equal intervals for transferring the wafer (200); an aisle (12) is formed between any two adjacent conveying rollers (11);

a buffer mechanism (2) comprising a lifting drive assembly (21) and a buffer assembly (22); the lifting driving assembly (21) is arranged on one side of the transmission track (1); the buffer assembly (22) is arranged between the two side walls (13) of the transmission track (1) and is fixed at the driving end of the lifting driving assembly (21);

the buffer assembly (22) comprises at least two support assemblies (221) which are vertically arranged in parallel, each support assembly (221) comprises at least two support portions (2211) which are sequentially arranged along the vertical direction, the at least two support portions (2211) are parallel to the extending direction of the aisle (12), and the support portions (2211) between different support assemblies (221) are correspondingly arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction one by one;

each bracket assembly (221) is arranged corresponding to one passageway, and the lifting driving assembly (21) can drive the buffer assembly (22) to move up and down so that each bracket assembly (221) moves up and down in the corresponding passageway.

2. The wafer transmission device with the buffer function according to claim 1, wherein the buffer assembly (22) comprises a vertically arranged mounting plate (222), the mounting plate (222) is connected with the driving end of the lifting driving assembly (21), all support assemblies (221) are fixedly mounted on the mounting plate (222), and the support assemblies (221) and the lifting driving assembly (21) are respectively located on the front side and the rear side of the mounting plate.

3. The wafer transfer device with buffering function according to claim 1, wherein each of the bracket assemblies (221) comprises a front mounting frame (2212) and a rear mounting frame (2213) which are arranged in a front-rear opposite manner, each of the supporting parts (2211) comprises a front supporting rod (22111) and a rear supporting rod (22112), the front supporting rod (22111) is mounted on the front mounting frame, and the rear supporting rod (22112) is mounted on the rear mounting frame.

4. The wafer transfer device with buffering function according to claim 3, wherein the front support rod and the rear support rod are equal in length.

5. The wafer transfer device with buffering capacity of claim 3, wherein the front and rear struts are both cylindrical and have the same diameter.

6. A wafer transfer device with a buffer function according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that the at least two support parts (2211) are arranged equally spaced in the vertical direction and in the same vertical plane.

7. A wafer transfer device with buffer function according to any of claims 1-3, characterized in that the support assembly (221) has at least four.

8. The wafer transfer device with buffering function according to claim 3, wherein the buffering assembly (22) further comprises a fixing plate (223) horizontally arranged, and the tops of the front mounting frame (2212) and the rear mounting frame (2213) are fixedly mounted on the fixing plate (223).

9. The wafer transfer apparatus with cache function according to claim 1, further comprising a first position detection unit (23) for acquiring height position information of the cache unit (22).

10. The wafer transfer device with buffering function according to claim 1, further comprising a second position detection component that is triggered when the wafer (200) reaches a buffering position.