JPH01258438A - Article information control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the contamination of a manufacturing process and to record detailed information in every processing unit by a method wherein production information generated in this manufacturing process and production information fed from the upper flow are transferred to the lower flow. CONSTITUTION:Such articles as wafers or lead frames are taken out one sheet by one sheet from a container 10a on the incoming side, are processed and processing- finished articles are stored in a container 10b on the outgoing side in a manufacturing process 14. A parent machine 16 makes a child machine 12a in the incoming side read out to transmit storage information in its storage part and receives this information to transmit the storage information and production information generated in this manufacturing process to a child machine 12b on the outgoing side. The child machine 12b receives these information and writes the received information in its storage part 36. The production information generated in this manufacturing process and production information fed from the upper flow are transferred to the lower flow. As storage is conducted by a semiconductor memory, the readout/writing of the contents of the storage become simple and rapid. Thereby, the contamination of the manufacturing process is eliminated and detailed information is recorded in every processing unit.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary of the Invention] Regarding the article information management method in the automated manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, there is no problem of contamination during recording, there is water resistance, chemical resistance,
The purpose is to provide a product information management method that has the advantages of being able to handle large amounts of data and being easy to handle. , a slave unit including an antenna, a control unit, and a storage unit is attached to a container that is placed on the entry side and an exit side of the manufacturing process and accommodates the item, and an antenna, A master unit that is equipped with a control unit and a storage unit and is capable of communicating with the slave unit is provided, and the production information generated in the manufacturing process is transmitted from the master unit to the production information sent from the slave unit of the entry side container. At the same time, it is configured to be sent to the child device of the outlet container and stored in the storage section of the child device.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an article information management method in an automated manufacturing process of semiconductor devices.

Semiconductor devices such as ICs or LSIs are manufactured by diffusing impurities on a semiconductor wafer, forming insulating layers and wiring layers, and then scribing into individual chips, mounting the chips on a lead frame, wire bonding, molding, and marking with a laser marker. It is manufactured through processes such as processing and making individual ICs. The present invention relates to a method for managing production information of articles such as wafers and lead frames in the manufacturing process.

[Conventional technology] There is a strong demand for automation in the semiconductor wafer process.

This is not only for the purpose of increasing work efficiency, but also because dust, ion (for example, Na ion) contamination, etc. affect the quality of semiconductor devices, and has the aspect of eliminating humans, who are the source of such contamination, from the manufacturing process.

Automation of the wafer process is first progressing from the technically relatively easy parts, such as various devices and mechanisms.
Data processing throughout the wafer process is insufficient.

In many automatic machines for the wafer processing process, a plastic holder containing multiple wafers is set on the input side of the machine, an empty holder is set on the output side, and the automatic machine removes one wafer from the holder. The wafers are taken out and processed one by one, and the processed wafers are discharged to a holder on the output side. In the semiconductor assembly process, a cartridge containing multiple lead frames is placed on the input side of the process, an empty holder is placed on the output side, and an automatic machine takes out the lead frames one by one from the cartridge and performs chip die bonding or chip bonding. Work such as wire bonding between the bonding pad and the lead is performed, and the completed lead frame is stored in the cartridge on the output side. While the wafer or lead frame moves from the input side to the output side of the processing or assembly process, there is no movement of the holder or package from the input side to the output side.

In such a manufacturing process, work information is generated, such as what kind of wafer process was performed in each process, whether the bonding was good or bad, etc., and it is necessary to record this information. Also, record information such as the type of IC, date of operation of the working equipment, and the operator. Records can be made in units of lofts and therefore in units of holders/cartridges, but the records are recorded on the holders/cartridges themselves, rather than moving through each process group from the beginning to the end.
There is a problem in this respect.

Furthermore, if the recording is done by a worker, there is the problem of contamination mentioned above.

In the wafer process, recording must: ■ not emit dust, moisture, or salt; paper cannot be used; ■ be environmentally resistant to water, organic solvents, etc.; ■ be able to handle large amounts of data; ■ be compatible with automatic machines. Applicability is required.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and is an article information management method that has advantages such as no problem of contamination during recording, water and chemical resistance, ability to handle large amounts of data, and ease of handling. The purpose is to provide the following.

[Means to solve the problem]

As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention includes an article storage container 10 such as a wafer holder or a lead frame package.
The handset 12, which includes an antenna 32, a control section 34, and a storage section 36, is attached to the terminal.

The subscripts a and b are used to distinguish between each other.
Those on the exit side are marked with b.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a master unit, which is disposed near the manufacturing process 14 and also includes an antenna 26, a control unit 24, and a storage unit 22, and is capable of communicating with slave units. The main unit is host interface 2
8゛, and can also communicate with the host. The handset is equipped with a battery (not shown), and power is supplied to the control section and storage section (semiconductor memory having a capacity of several bytes) from the battery.

The control unit 24.34 consists of a microcomputer, a transmitter/receiver, etc., and the storage unit 22.36 stores a program for controlling the microcomputer, a program for controlling the transmission/reception procedure, transmission/reception data, etc.

[Effect]

In the manufacturing process 14, articles such as wafers or lead frames are taken out one by one from the inlet container 10a, processed, and the processed articles are stored in the outlet container 10b, and this process is repeated until there are no more articles left in the container. When the container 10a is used up, the next container 10a containing the article is placed on the entry side of the manufacturing process, the empty container is placed on the exit side of the manufacturing process, and the above process is repeated.

During this manufacturing (processing) process, work information is generated, such as whether all processing was carried out as planned, some parts were not carried out as planned, or there was an interruption in work, and these are recorded, for example, in units of lofts. . In addition, since the manufacturing process usually involves a cascade of multiple items of various types, it is necessary to add work information generated in each process one after another, and the type and type of the IC entered at the beginning is not known until the end. In the present invention, this is done as follows.

That is, the master unit 16 causes the incoming slave unit 12a to read and transmit the information stored in its storage section, and upon receiving this information, the master unit 16 transmits this information and the production information generated in the main manufacturing process to the outgoing slave unit 12b. Send to. The output slave unit receives this and writes the received information into its storage unit.In this way, the production information generated in the main manufacturing process and the production information sent from the upstream can be transmitted to the downstream. .

Since the storage is performed by semiconductor memory, it is not possible to read/read the memory contents.
It is easy and quick to write, it can be small even with large capacity, it is easy to seal, it can be easily made water and chemical resistant, and there is no problem of environmental pollution.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 shows the external appearance of the wafer holder 50 with the handset 12 attached. A plurality of steps (projections) 52 are formed on the inner wall of the holder 50, and wafers 40 having diameters of 6, 8.12 inches, etc. are placed on the steps and held. To take out the wafer, for example, two parallel rods (not shown) are inserted below the wafer, the rods are raised, removed from the stage, and supported by the rods.
This is done by retracting the rod, etc. Storage is the opposite. The handset 12 is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the holder 50.

FIG. 3 shows an outline of the wafer processing process. Communication between the slave unit and the master unit is carried out using microwaves, and the antenna 32 and the like are constructed of a printed board with a dipole pattern formed on the substrate.

FIG. 4 shows an outline of an example of a semiconductor assembly process.

A cartridge 60 accommodates a plurality of lead frames. In work step 14, work such as attaching the chip to the lead frame and wire bonding the bonding pads and leads of the chip is performed.0 If there is an abnormality in the work, the lead frame itself may be discarded. The number of lead frames housed in the cartridge on the output side may be smaller than the number of lead frames housed in the cartridge on the input side. Such production information is also written into the storage section of the slave unit 12.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, with the article information management method of the present invention, there is no contamination to the process, detailed information can be easily recorded for each processing unit, and it is possible to record not only simple article identification but also various production management information. You can easily increase the available capacity. It can be easily adopted into existing automatic machine lines, and because of its high environmental resistance, containers can be cleaned while the slave unit is attached. By initializing the memory of the slave unit, the lifespan of the built-in energy source is reduced. It can be used repeatedly until the end of the day, and it can promote further unmanned operation in semiconductor factories.
Since it can be connected to a host computer, there are advantages such as ease of management and data statistics for the entire factory or production process.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the principle of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a wafer holder, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the wafer process, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the assembly process. In Figure 1, 14 is the manufacturing process, IO is the container, 12 is the slave unit, 1
6 is the parent device. (b) H-side Explanation of the principle of the present invention Ml Closed (b) Front partial view Explanation of the wafer holder (b) Plan view Figure 3 Explanation of the assembly process Figure jI4

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a method for managing production information of articles such as wafers or lead frames in an automated manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, said article is placed at the entrance and exit sides of said manufacturing process to accommodate said articles. A handset equipped with an antenna, a control unit, and a storage unit is attached to a container to which the product is manufactured, and a master unit that is equipped with an antenna, a control unit, and a storage unit and is capable of communicating with the handset is installed near the manufacturing process of the article. The production information generated in the manufacturing process is sent from the master machine to the slave machine of the outlet side container together with the production information sent from the slave machine of the input side container, and is stored in the storage section of the slave machine. 1. An article information management method in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, characterized by storing information in a semiconductor device.