CN216213317U

CN216213317U - Wafer cassette handling device, equipment and system

Info

Publication number: CN216213317U
Application number: CN202121839294.9U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 潘心宇; 张弢; 罗邵丹; 陈炜越
Original assignee: Shenzhen Youibot Robotics Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Youibot Robotics Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2021-08-06
Filing date: 2021-08-06
Publication date: 2022-04-05
Anticipated expiration: 2031-08-06

Abstract

The utility model discloses a wafer box carrying device, equipment and a system, wherein the wafer box carrying device comprises a base, a material taking mechanism and a lifting mechanism; the base comprises a material storage platform for bearing materials; the material taking mechanism comprises a mechanical arm and a material taking assembly, and the mechanical arm is connected with the material taking assembly and used for driving the material taking assembly to take materials or place materials; the lifting mechanism is arranged on the base and connected with the mechanical arm, and is used for driving the mechanical arm to vertically lift so as to increase the stroke of the mechanical arm in the vertical direction, and therefore the condition that the height difference of the picking and placing stations in each processing device for wafers is large is met.

Description

Wafer cassette handling device, equipment and system

Technical Field

The utility model relates to the technical field of wafer carrying, in particular to a wafer box carrying device, equipment and system.

Background

In the field of electronic semiconductor, wafers are the basic material for manufacturing integrated circuits, and all the designs and manufacture of integrated circuits are based on wafers as carriers, which are called wafers because of their circular shapes. The thickness of the wafer is generally less than 1 mm, the weight is light, the brittleness is large, the requirement of surface cleanliness is high, and the wafer is usually placed in a wafer box to complete the transportation and transportation work.

In the conventional technology, the wafer box is mainly taken and placed in each processing device in a manual mode, and then the transportation of the wafer box between each production line and the processing device is completed by means of a manual cart, so that more manpower is consumed.

At present, a mechanical arm is arranged on an Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV) in a part of Automated workshops to complete the grabbing and transporting work of materials, and a manual operation mode is gradually replaced.

However, when the height difference of the pick-and-place stations in each processing device for wafers is large, the application range can be expanded only by replacing the mechanical arm with a larger stroke in the prior art, and the stroke for lifting in the manner is limited, so that the working requirement under the larger height difference cannot be met.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

In view of the above, the present invention provides a wafer cassette handling apparatus, a wafer cassette handling apparatus and a wafer cassette handling system.

The wafer cassette handling device provided by the utility model comprises:

the device comprises a base, a material storage platform and a material conveying device, wherein the base comprises the material storage platform for bearing materials;

the material taking mechanism comprises a mechanical arm and a material taking assembly, and the mechanical arm is connected with the material taking assembly and is used for driving the material taking assembly to take materials or place materials;

and the lifting mechanism is arranged on the base and connected with the mechanical arm, and is used for driving the mechanical arm to vertically lift so as to increase the stroke of the mechanical arm in the vertical direction.

Further, the wafer cassette handling device further includes:

the dustproof cover capable of vertically stretching is covered outside the lifting mechanism, one end of the dustproof cover in the vertical direction is connected with the base, and the other end of the dustproof cover in the vertical direction is connected with the mechanical arm and used for preventing pollutants in the base and on the lifting mechanism from being exposed.

Further, the mechanical arm comprises a mounting plate connected with the lifting mechanism;

the base is provided with an accommodating cavity and a window communicated with the accommodating cavity, the lifting mechanism is installed in the accommodating cavity, the lifting mechanism extends out of or retracts into the accommodating cavity through the window, one end of the dust cover in the vertical direction is connected to the inner wall of the accommodating cavity or the edge of the window and used for shielding a gap between the lifting mechanism and the base, and the other end of the dust cover in the vertical direction is connected to the mounting plate; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the lifting mechanism is installed outside the base, the outer wall of the base is provided with an installation surface for installing the lifting mechanism, one end of the dust cover in the vertical direction is connected to the installation surface, and the other end of the dust cover in the vertical direction is connected to the installation plate.

Furthermore, the lifting mechanism comprises a driving assembly and a telescopic assembly, and the driving assembly is connected with the telescopic assembly and is used for driving the telescopic assembly to vertically extend and retract; the telescopic assembly comprises a plurality of sleeve-joint pieces, the diameters of the sleeve-joint pieces are gradually reduced or increased along the ascending direction of the telescopic assembly, in two adjacent sleeve-joint pieces, the sleeve-joint piece with a smaller diameter is telescopically connected to the sleeve-joint piece with a larger diameter, and the sleeve-joint piece positioned at the top of the telescopic assembly is connected with the mounting plate.

Further, the robot arm further includes:

a base mounted to the mounting plate;

the first support arm is rotatably connected to the base;

the first driving piece is arranged on the base, is connected with the first supporting arm and is used for driving the first supporting arm to rotate along the horizontal direction;

the second support arm is rotatably connected to the first support arm, the material taking assembly is connected to the second support arm, the second support arm comprises a plurality of sub support arms which are sequentially connected, and every two of the plurality of sub support arms are rotatably connected with each other;

the second driving piece comprises a plurality of branch driving pieces which are respectively connected with the plurality of sub support arms and used for driving the sub support arms to rotate along the vertical direction.

Further, wafer box handling device still includes the protecting crust, the protecting crust cover is located the mounting panel forms the guard space, the base is located the guard space, the opening has been seted up at the protecting crust top, first arm passes the opening connect in the base.

Further, the bottom edge of protective housing is equipped with first buckle structure, the edge of mounting panel is equipped with second buckle structure, first buckle structure with second buckle structure buckle is connected.

Furthermore, the material taking assembly comprises a fixed seat, a first material taking part and a second material taking part, the first material taking part and the second material taking part are respectively connected to two sides of the fixed seat, a first supporting clamping groove is formed in one side, opposite to the second material taking part, of the first material taking part, a second supporting clamping groove is formed in one side, opposite to the first material taking part, of the second material taking part, and the first supporting clamping groove and the second supporting clamping groove are enclosed to form a supporting platform for supporting materials.

Furthermore, a first detector for detecting whether the supporting platform supports the material or not is arranged on the fixing seat and/or the first material taking part and/or the second material taking part.

Further, the base includes vertical extension, elevating system install in vertical extension, vertical extension transversely extends has first side and second side, first side with the second side sets up back of the body mutually, first side with the second side is equipped with at least one respectively the storage platform.

Further, be equipped with the determine module who is used for detecting the material on the storage platform, determine module is including locating the second detector on storage platform surface and/or locate the third detector of storage platform side, the second detector is used for surveying whether the storage platform surface has supported the material, the third detector is used for surveying whether the last loading of storage platform has the material.

The utility model further provides wafer box carrying equipment which comprises an automatic guide vehicle and the wafer box carrying device, wherein a base of the wafer box carrying device is installed on the automatic guide vehicle, and the automatic guide vehicle is used for transporting the wafer box carrying device.

The utility model further provides a wafer box carrying system which comprises dispatching equipment and the wafer box carrying equipment, wherein the wafer box carrying equipment further comprises a control device, the control device is used for controlling the driving of the automatic guide vehicle, the mechanical arm and the lifting mechanism, the dispatching equipment is used for sending a goods taking instruction or a goods placing instruction to the control device, the goods taking instruction comprises space coordinate information of the material at the first specified position, and the goods placing instruction comprises space coordinate information of the second specified position where the material is to be stored.

The utility model has the beneficial effects that:

according to the wafer box carrying equipment and the wafer box carrying system, the stroke of the mechanical arm in the vertical direction is increased through the lifting mechanism so as to meet the condition that the height difference of the picking and placing stations in each processing equipment for wafers is large.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments are briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of a wafer cassette handling device according to an embodiment of the present invention when the wafer cassette handling device is fully loaded.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of the exposed accommodating chamber of the pod-carrying apparatus of fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of the wafer cassette transfer apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention when the wafer cassette is not loaded.

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of a connection structure between the material taking mechanism and the lifting mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of a connection structure between the lifting mechanism and the mounting plate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a material taking mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a protective shell according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a mounting plate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural view of a dust cover according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural view of a pod transfer robot to which a lift mechanism and a dust cover are added according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, a wafer cassette handling apparatus 100; a automated guided vehicle 10; a wafer cassette transfer device 20; a base 21; a storage platform 211; a housing cavity 212; a window 213; a vertical extension 214; a first lateral end 215; a second side end 216; a second detector 217; a third detector 218; the identifying means 219; a material taking mechanism 22; a robot arm 221; a mounting plate 2211; mounting card slots 22111; a base 2212; first leg 2213; a second support arm 2214; sub-arm 22141; a take-off assembly 222; a fixed seat 2221; a first take off member 2222; a second take off 2223; a first holding card slot 2224; a second holding card slot 2225; a first detector 2226; a lifting mechanism 23; a servo motor 231; a telescoping assembly 232; a socket 2321; a dust cover 24; a protective shell 25; an opening 251; a mounting boss 252; a wafer cassette 200; a convex plate 201; the pod transfer robot 300.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, not all, embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

It is also to be understood that the terminology used in the description of the utility model herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the utility model. As used in the specification of the present invention and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

It should be further understood that the term "and/or" as used in this specification and the appended claims refers to and includes any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

As shown in fig. 1 to 10, an embodiment of the present invention provides a wafer cassette handling device 20, which includes a base 21, a material taking mechanism 22 and a lifting mechanism 23, wherein the base 21 is mounted on an automatic guided vehicle 10, and the base 21 includes a material storage platform 211 for carrying materials; the material taking mechanism 22 comprises a mechanical arm 221 and a material taking assembly 222, wherein the mechanical arm 221 is connected with the material taking assembly 222 and is used for driving the material taking assembly 222 to take materials or place materials; the lifting mechanism 23 is mounted on the base 21 and connected to the robot arm 221, and the lifting mechanism 23 is configured to drive the robot arm 221 to vertically lift, so as to increase a stroke of the robot arm 221 in a vertical direction.

Optionally, the wafer cassette handling device 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention further includes a vertically retractable dust cover 24, the vertically retractable dust cover 24 covers the lifting mechanism 23, one end of the dust cover 24 in the vertical direction is connected to the base 21, and the other end of the dust cover 24 in the vertical direction is connected to the robot arm 221, so as to prevent contaminants in the base 21 and on the lifting mechanism 23 from being exposed.

The utility model further provides a wafer cassette handling device 100, which comprises an automatic guided vehicle 10 and a wafer cassette handling device 20 arranged on the automatic guided vehicle 10, wherein a base 21 is mounted on the automatic guided vehicle 10, and the automatic guided vehicle 10 is used for transporting the wafer cassette handling device 20. The automated guided vehicle 10 may travel to a specified position according to a preset path, or may autonomously plan a route according to a field environment and then travel to a specified position.

When the automatic guided vehicle 10 is used, the automatic guided vehicle 10 drives the wafer cassette handling device 20 to move to the vicinity of the material, and the robot arm 221 drives the material taking assembly 222 to take or discharge the material, specifically, the robot arm 221 can drive the material taking assembly 222 to move the material at the designated position to the material storage platform 211, or move the material of the material storage platform 211 to the designated position, or move the material at the designated position to another place; when the height of the material is higher than the height of the mechanical arm 221 for driving the material taking assembly 222 to move to the highest position or lower than the height of the mechanical arm 221 for driving the material taking assembly 222 to move to the lowest position, the lifting mechanism 23 is used for controlling the lifting of the mechanical arm 221 so as to improve the stroke of the mechanical arm 221 in the vertical direction; when taking materials, firstly judging whether the height of the materials exceeds the maximum stroke of the mechanical arm 221 in the vertical direction, if so, lifting the mechanical arm 221 through the lifting mechanism 23, and then taking the materials; during discharging, whether the height of the material exceeds the maximum stroke of the mechanical arm 221 in the vertical direction is judged, if the height of the material exceeds the maximum stroke of the mechanical arm 221, the material taking assembly 222 is driven by the mechanical arm 221 to take out the material of the material storage platform 211, and then the mechanical arm 221 is driven by the lifting mechanism 23 to lift and discharge.

Illustratively, one of the uses of the pod-handling apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention is in a clean production shop, in which the lift mechanism 23 increases the stroke of the robot 221 in the vertical direction to meet the use requirement of the wafer processing apparatus when the height difference between the pick-and-place stations is large. After the lifting mechanism 23 is added, gaps can appear at the joints between the lifting mechanism 23 and the mechanical arm 221 and between the lifting mechanism 23 and the base 21, so that the situation that dust and impurities in the base 21 and on the lifting mechanism 23 are limited in the wafer box carrying equipment 100 cannot be guaranteed, the influence on the dustless production environment of the wafer is easily interfered, and therefore, the vertically telescopic dust cover 24 is added to avoid the influence on the dustless production environment of the wafer caused by the flying of pollutants such as dust and impurities.

Alternatively, the dust cover 24 may be a foldable elastic telescopic cover, such as an accordion cover shown in fig. 9, but other telescopic protective structures may be adopted.

Wherein the mechanical arm 221 includes a mounting plate 2211 connected to the lifting mechanism 23;

in an alternative embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, the base 21 is provided with a containing cavity 212 and a window 213 communicating with the containing cavity 212, the lifting mechanism 23 is installed in the containing cavity 212 and extends out of or retracts into the containing cavity 212 through the window 213, one end of the dust cover 24 in the vertical direction is connected to the inner wall of the containing cavity 212 for shielding the gap between the lifting mechanism 23 and the base 21, so that when the lifting platform retracts into the containing cavity 212, the dust cover 24 can retract into the containing cavity 212 to avoid increasing the volume of the wafer cassette handling device 20, and the other end of the dust cover 24 in the vertical direction is connected to the mounting plate 2211; it is understood that the end of the dust cover 24 facing the base 21 can also be connected to the edge of the window 213 of the base 21 and cover the window 213.

In another optional embodiment (not shown in the figures), the lifting mechanism is installed outside the base, the outer wall of the base is provided with an installation surface for installing the lifting mechanism, one end of the dust cover in the vertical direction is connected to the installation surface, and the other end of the dust cover in the vertical direction is connected to the installation plate, so that the communication between the inside of the cavity and the external environment can be better prevented, and the pollution to the external environment is avoided.

In an alternative embodiment, as shown in fig. 2, 4-5, the lifting mechanism 23 includes a driving assembly and a telescopic assembly 232, the driving assembly is connected to the telescopic assembly 232 for driving the telescopic assembly 232 to vertically extend and retract; the telescopic assembly 232 comprises a plurality of sleeving parts 2321, the diameters of the sleeving parts 2321 are gradually reduced along the ascending direction of the telescopic assembly 232, in two adjacent sleeving parts 2321, the sleeving part 2321 with the smaller diameter is telescopically connected to the sleeving part 2321 with the larger diameter, and the sleeving part 2321 at the top of the telescopic assembly 232 is connected with the mounting plate 2211; it is understood that the diameter of the plurality of sockets 2321 may be configured to increase gradually along the ascending direction of the telescopic assembly 232.

In this embodiment, drive assembly includes integrated servo motor 231 and multistage electric jar, and servo motor 231 and multistage electric jar are all installed on base 21, and multistage electric jar is located flexible subassembly 232, and the top of multistage electric jar is through the piece 2321 fixed connection that cup joints at floating joint and flexible subassembly 232 top, and servo motor 231 drives multistage electric jar and goes up and down, and multistage electric jar drives flexible subassembly 232 and carries out vertical flexible.

It will be appreciated that the lifting mechanism 23 may be replaced by other linear driving means, such as linear modules, hydraulic cylinders and pneumatic cylinders, and the lifting mechanism 23 needs to bear a certain end transverse load to ensure the accuracy of the robot arm 221.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 6, robot arm 221 further comprises a base 2212, a first arm 2213, a first actuator, a second arm 2214, and a second actuator, base 2212 being mounted to mounting plate 2211; first arm 2213 is rotatably coupled to base 2212; the first driving member is disposed on the base 2212 and connected to the first arm 2213, for driving the first arm 2213 to rotate in the horizontal direction; the second arm 2214 is rotatably connected to the first arm 2213, the material taking assembly 222 is connected to the second arm 2214, the second arm 2214 comprises a plurality of sub-arms 22141 which are sequentially connected, and every two sub-arms 22141 are mutually rotatably connected; the second driving member comprises a plurality of branch driving members respectively connected to the plurality of sub-support arms 22141, and is used for driving each sub-support arm 22141 to rotate, and each sub-support arm can rotate at an angle with the vertical direction; in this embodiment, two sub-support arms 22141 are provided, and the two sub-support arms 22141 and the first support arm 2213 form three degrees of freedom rotation, so that the robot arm 221 can drive the material taking assembly 222 to take materials conveniently, and it can be understood that the sub-support arms 22141 can also be provided with one, three or more than one, thereby implementing multiple degrees of freedom motion.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 1, fig. 3, and fig. 7, the wafer cassette handling apparatus 20 further includes a protective housing 25, the protective housing 25 is covered on the mounting plate 2211 to form a protective space, the base 2212 is located in the protective space, an opening 251 is formed at the top of the protective housing 25, the first arm 2213 passes through the opening 251 and is connected to the base 2212, in this embodiment, the base 2212 of the robot arm 221 can be protected by the protective housing 25, and the connection between the robot arm 221 and the lifting mechanism 23 is shielded.

Optionally, the bottom edge of the protective shell 25 is provided with a first buckle structure, the edge of the mounting plate 2211 is provided with a second buckle structure, and the first buckle structure is connected with the second buckle structure in a buckle manner.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 7-8, the first fastening structure is a mounting protrusion 252 disposed at the peripheral edge of the protective shell 25, the second fastening structure is disposed in a mounting slot 22111 disposed at the peripheral edge of the mounting plate 2211 and adapted to the mounting protrusion 252, and the mounting of the protective shell 25 and the mounting plate 2211 is facilitated by the cooperation between the mounting protrusion 252 and the mounting slot 22111.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 6, the material taking assembly 222 includes a fixing base 2221, a first material taking part 2222 and a second material taking part 2223, the first material taking part 2222 and the second material taking part 2223 are respectively connected to two sides of the fixing base 2221, one side of the first material taking part 2222 opposite to the second material taking part 2223 is provided with a first supporting slot 2224, one side of the second material taking part 2223 opposite to the first material taking part 2222 is provided with a second supporting slot 2225, the first supporting slot 2224 and the second supporting slot 2225 enclose to form a supporting platform for supporting materials, as shown in fig. 1-2, the convex plate 201 matched with the supporting platform is arranged at the top of the corresponding wafer box 200, and a gap is formed between the convex plate 201 and the top of the wafer box 200, so that the first supporting clamping groove 2224 and the second supporting clamping groove 2225 are respectively positioned at the bottoms of two sides of the convex plate 201 to support, and the wafer box 200 with a large size, such as 12 inches, can be conveniently carried.

In some embodiments of the present invention (not shown in the figures), the material taking assembly may also include a fixing seat, a first clamping member and a second clamping member, the first clamping member and the second clamping member are respectively connected to two sides of the fixing seat, and a clamping position for clamping the material with adjustable size is formed between the first clamping member and the second clamping member, so that the material taking and placing are performed in the manner of clamping the material.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 6, a first detector 2226, which may be an ultrasonic sensor or a photoelectric sensor, for detecting whether the material is held by the holding platform is disposed on the fixing base 2221, and when the first detector 2226 detects that the material is held by the holding platform, a feedback signal is sent to the control device.

It is understood that the first detector 2226 may be separately disposed on the first retrieving member 2222 or the second retrieving member 2223, so that the first detector 2226 can be easily removed and replaced when disposed on the first retrieving member 2222 or the second retrieving member 2223. Also can set up a plurality ofly to be located fixing base 2221, first material piece 2222 and second material piece 2223 of getting respectively on to carry out more accurate location to the material.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 1 to fig. 3, the base 21 includes a vertical extending portion 214, the lifting mechanism 23 is mounted on the vertical extending portion 214, the vertical extending portion 214 transversely extends to form a first side end 215 and a second side end 216, the first side end 215 and the second side end 216 are disposed opposite to each other, at least one storage platform 211 is disposed on each of the first side end 215 and the second side end 216, it can be understood that one storage platform 211 may be disposed on each of the first side end 215 and the second side end 216, and two or more storage platforms 211 may be disposed on each of the first side end 215 and the second side end 216 to conveniently carry more materials.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 3, a detection assembly for detecting materials is arranged on the material storage platform 211, the detection assembly includes a second detector 217 arranged on the surface of the material storage platform 211 and a third detector 218 arranged on the side of the material storage platform 211, the second detector 217 is used for detecting whether materials are supported on the surface of the material storage platform 211, a micro switch or a pressure sensor and the like can be adopted, the reaction is sensitive, the volume is small, the third detector 218 is used for detecting whether materials are loaded on the material storage platform 211, the third detector 218 can adopt a diffuse reflection type photoelectric sensor, an optical coupler or an ultrasonic sensor, the characteristics of quick reaction, accurate detection and the like are achieved, when the second detector 217 detects that the material is supported on the surface of the material storage platform 211 or when the third detector 218 detects that the material storage platform 211 is loaded with the material, a feedback signal is sent to the control device; it is understood that only the second detector 217 or only the third detector 218 may be disposed on the storage platform 211, so as to reduce the use cost while detecting the material.

Alternatively, the storage platform 211 may be provided with an identification device 219, and the identification device 219 may be any one of a radio frequency card reader, a barcode scanner, or a two-dimensional code scanner, where the radio frequency card reader is used to identify a radio frequency identification tag on the wafer cassette 200, the barcode scanner is used to identify a barcode on the wafer cassette 200, and the two-dimensional code scanner is used to identify a two-dimensional code on the wafer cassette 200.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 10, the pod carrier apparatus 100 according to the present invention may be implemented by adding the lift mechanism 23 and the vertically extendable dust cover 24 to the pod carrier robot 300 disclosed in publication No. CN 112936217A.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a wafer cassette handling system, which includes a dispatching device and the wafer cassette handling device 100 as shown in fig. 1 to 10, where the wafer cassette handling device 100 further includes a control device, the control device is electrically connected to the automated guided vehicle 10 and the lifting mechanism 23, and is configured to control driving of the automated guided vehicle 10, the robot arm 221, and the lifting mechanism 23, the dispatching device is in communication connection with the control device, and is configured to send a pick-up command or a put-off command to the control device, the pick-up command includes spatial coordinate information of a material at a first designated position, and the put-off command includes spatial coordinate information of a second designated position where the material is to be stored.

Illustratively, the scheduling apparatus includes a memory and a wireless communication module. AGV dispatching software is stored in the memory, and the control device executes the AGV dispatching software in the memory to realize the dispatching of the automatic guided vehicle 10; wherein the control device may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or other form of processing unit having data processing capabilities and/or instruction execution capabilities, and may control other components in the pod-handling apparatus, such as the robot arm and lift mechanism, to perform desired functions.

The memory may include one or more computer program products that may include various forms of computer-readable storage media, such as volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory. The volatile memory may include, for example, Random Access Memory (RAM), cache memory (cache), and/or the like. The non-volatile memory may include, for example, Read Only Memory (ROM), hard disk, flash memory, etc. One or more computer program instructions, such as AGV dispatch software, may be stored on the computer readable storage medium and executed by the control device to implement the dispatch functions of the automated guided vehicle 10. Various application programs and various data can be stored in the computer readable storage medium, for example, the space coordinate information of the material at the first designated position and the space coordinate information of the second designated position where the material is to be stored are stored in advance and the like.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a transportation method of the above wafer cassette transportation system, including:

the dispatching equipment sends a goods taking instruction to the control device;

after the control device controls the automated guided vehicle 10 to move to the material near the first designated position, the control device controls the robot arm 221 to drive the material taking assembly 222 to move the material at the first designated position to the material storage platform 211;

the dispatching equipment sends a goods placing instruction to the control device;

after the control device controls the automated guided vehicle 10 to move to the second designated position close to the material to be stored, the robot arm 221 is controlled to drive the material taking assembly 222 to move the material on the material storage platform 211 to the second designated position.

In the transporting method of the wafer cassette transporting system of the present invention, the dispatching device can control the driving of the automatic guided vehicle 10, the robot arm 221 and the lifting mechanism 23 through the control device, precisely butt-joint the wafer cassette 200 at the designated position, and realize the automatic transporting of the wafer cassette 200.

Optionally, the carrying method further includes:

when the height of the material at the first designated position in the vertical direction is higher than the height of the mechanical arm 221 for driving the material taking assembly 222 to move to the highest position, the control device controls the lifting mechanism 23 to drive the mechanical arm 221 to ascend, so that the mechanical arm 221 drives the material taking assembly 222 to move to the first designated position for taking the material;

when the height of the second designated position at which the material is to be stored in the vertical direction is lower than the height at which the mechanical arm 221 drives the material taking assembly 222 to move to the lowest position, the control device controls the mechanical arm 221 to take the material out of the material storage platform 211 first, and then controls the lifting mechanism 23 to drive the mechanical arm 221 to descend, so that the mechanical arm 221 drives the material taking assembly 222 to move the material to the second designated position for material taking.

In the carrying method of the wafer cassette carrying system, when the vertical stroke of the mechanical arm 221 cannot be matched with the height of the material, the lifting mechanism 23 can drive the mechanical arm 221 to lift so as to increase the vertical stroke of the mechanical arm 221, thereby meeting the use requirement under the condition that the height difference of the picking and placing stations in each wafer processing device is large.

While the utility model has been described with reference to specific embodiments, the utility model is not limited thereto, and various equivalent modifications and substitutions can be easily made by those skilled in the art within the technical scope of the utility model. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A wafer cassette transfer device, comprising:

2. The wafer cassette handling device of claim 1, further comprising:

3. The wafer cassette handling device of claim 2, wherein the robotic arm comprises a mounting plate coupled to the lift mechanism;

4. The wafer cassette handling device of claim 3, wherein the lifting mechanism comprises a driving assembly and a telescoping assembly, the driving assembly being connected to the telescoping assembly for driving the telescoping assembly to vertically telescope; the telescopic assembly comprises a plurality of sleeve-joint pieces, the diameters of the sleeve-joint pieces are gradually reduced or increased along the ascending direction of the telescopic assembly, in two adjacent sleeve-joint pieces, the sleeve-joint piece with a smaller diameter is telescopically connected to the sleeve-joint piece with a larger diameter, and the sleeve-joint piece positioned at the top of the telescopic assembly is connected with the mounting plate.

5. The wafer cassette handling device of claim 3, wherein the robotic arm further comprises:

a base mounted to the mounting plate;

the first support arm is rotatably connected to the base;

the second driving piece comprises a plurality of branch driving pieces which are respectively connected with the plurality of sub support arms and used for driving the sub support arms to rotate.

6. The wafer cassette handling device of claim 5, further comprising a protective enclosure, wherein the protective enclosure covers the mounting plate to form a protective space, the susceptor is located in the protective space, an opening is formed in a top portion of the protective enclosure, and the first arm is connected to the susceptor through the opening.

7. The wafer cassette handling device of claim 6, wherein a first snap feature is provided at a bottom edge of the protective shell, and a second snap feature is provided at an edge of the mounting plate, the first snap feature snap-engaging with the second snap feature.

8. The wafer cassette handling device of claim 1, wherein the material taking assembly comprises a fixed seat, a first material taking part and a second material taking part, the first material taking part and the second material taking part are respectively connected to two sides of the fixed seat, a first supporting clamping groove is formed in one side of the first material taking part opposite to the second material taking part, a second supporting clamping groove is formed in one side of the second material taking part opposite to the first material taking part, and the first supporting clamping groove and the second supporting clamping groove enclose to form a supporting platform for supporting materials.

9. The wafer cassette handler of claim 8, wherein the fixing base and/or the first retrieving member and/or the second retrieving member are provided with a first detector for detecting whether the supporting platform supports the material.

10. The wafer cassette handler of claim 1, wherein the base includes a vertical extension, the lift mechanism is mounted to the vertical extension, the vertical extension extends laterally with a first side end and a second side end, the first side end and the second side end are disposed opposite to each other, and the first side end and the second side end are respectively provided with at least one of the storage platforms.

11. The wafer cassette handling device according to claim 1, wherein the storage platform is provided with a detection assembly for detecting the material, the detection assembly comprises a second detector arranged on the surface of the storage platform and/or a third detector arranged on a side of the storage platform, the second detector is used for detecting whether the material is supported on the surface of the storage platform, and the third detector is used for detecting whether the material is loaded on the storage platform.

12. A wafer cassette handling apparatus comprising an automated guided vehicle to which a base of the wafer cassette handling apparatus is mounted and a wafer cassette handling device according to any one of claims 1 to 11 for transporting the wafer cassette handling apparatus.

13. A wafer cassette handling system comprising the wafer cassette handling apparatus of claim 12 and a dispatching apparatus, the wafer cassette handling apparatus further comprising a control device for controlling driving of the automated guided vehicle, the robot arm, and the lifting mechanism, the dispatching apparatus for sending a pick command or a put command to the control device, the pick command comprising spatial coordinate information of a material at a first designated location, the put command comprising spatial coordinate information of a second designated location where the material is to be stored.