JPH03248523A - Wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To recognize a wafer in a state that the wafer is contained in a carrier by providing an identification mark on the outer periphery of the wafer. CONSTITUTION:An identification mark 2 is provided on the outer periphery 1a of a wafer. For example, a bar code 2 is provided on the outer periphery of an orientation flat part 1a of a semiconductor wafer 1. Accordingly, the code 2 provided on the outer periphery 1a of the wafer is read by an optical method in a state that the wafer 1 is contained in a carrier 3, thereby recognizing it. Thus, the wafer 1 can be recognized in a state that the wafer 1 is contained in the carrier 3 without removing the wafers 1 one by one from the carrier 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to wafers, and is suitable for application to, for example, semiconductor wafers used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.

[Summary of the invention]

In the present invention, an identification mark is provided on the outer periphery of the wafer. This allows the wafer to be recognized while it is housed in the carrier.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art In semiconductor device manufacturing processes, carriers are used to set semiconductor wafers in various types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and to transport semiconductor wafers between processes. In this case, semiconductor wafers are generally managed for each loft. Traditionally, semiconductor wafers have been recognized by visually reading alphanumeric characters attached to the surface of the semiconductor wafer using laser or lithography technology. I needed to take it out.

Incidentally, in recent years, management of semiconductor wafers has been transitioning from lot management to single wafer management.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, when automating the single-wafer management of semiconductor wafers, it is necessary to take out the semiconductor wafers one by one from the carrier in order to recognize the semiconductor wafers.

Therefore, not only is a dedicated wafer handling device required for this purpose, but the time required to recognize the semiconductor wafer for each device operation, which has become extremely large in recent years (for example, about 500 devices), is extremely large. The problem is that it becomes something.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a wafer that can be recognized while the wafer is housed in a carrier.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a wafer with an identification mark (2) provided on its outer circumference (1a).

Here, the wafer is not limited to a circular one, but may be, for example, a square one.

(Function) According to the wafer of the present invention configured as described above, since the identification mark (2) is provided on the outer periphery (1a), it is easy to store the wafer (1) in the carrier (3). In this state, the identification mark (2) provided on the outer periphery of the wafer (1) can be read and recognized using, for example, an optical method.This allows the wafer (1) to be removed from the carrier (3). The wafer (1) is stored in the carrier (3) without taking out one wafer (1).
) can be recognized.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This example is an example in which the present invention is applied to a semiconductor wafer.

FIG. 1 shows a semiconductor wafer according to one embodiment of the invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, a bar code 2 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of an orientation flat portion 1a of a semiconductor wafer 1. As shown in FIG.

The barcode 2 allows the semiconductor wafer 1 to be recognized.

Here, the semiconductor wafer 1 is made of silicon (Si), for example.
) wafer, or a wafer of gallium arsenide (GaAs) or other compound semiconductor.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which the above-described semiconductor wafer 1 with a barcode 2 attached thereto is housed in a carrier 3 made of, for example, Teflon. As can be seen from FIG. 2, in this case, by aligning the orientation flat portion 1a of the semiconductor wafer 1 housed in the carrier 3 upward, the bar provided on the outer peripheral surface of the orientation flat portion 1a The code 2 can be easily recognized from the outside without removing the semiconductor wafer 1 from the carrier 3. Specifically, for example, a laser beam for barcode reading is connected to the orientation flat section 1.
The barcode 2 can be read by scanning the outer peripheral surface of the semiconductor wafer 1 in the in-plane direction of the semiconductor wafer 1, and thereby the semiconductor wafer 1 can be recognized.

Next, an example of a laser marking device used to form a barcode 2 on a semiconductor wafer 1 is shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 4 indicates the main body of the device, 5 indicates a support section for the laser oscillation section, 6 indicates the laser oscillation section, 7 indicates an input section for inputting barcode numerical data, etc., 8 indicates a part of the loader, and 9 indicates a part of the loader. indicates part of the unloader.

In order to form a barcode 2 on a semiconductor wafer 1 using the laser marking device shown in FIG. . When the carrier 3 is placed on the loader section 8 in this way, the semiconductor wafers 1 in the carrier 3 are rotated around its central axis by a mechanism (not shown), so that the orientation of all the semiconductor wafers 1 in the carrier 3 is flat. The portion 1a is aligned on the upper side. Next, the carrier 3 containing the semiconductor wafer 1 is transported to the lower side of the laser oscillation section 6 by a transport mechanism (not shown). Then, a laser beam (not shown) from a laser oscillation unit 6 is irradiated onto the outer peripheral surface of the orientation flat portion 1a of the semiconductor wafer 1 in the carrier 3 on the right side in FIG. It is formed. In this way, all the semiconductor wafers 1 in the carrier 3 are given the barcode 2.
After forming the carrier 3, the carrier 3 is conveyed to the unloader part 9, and the carrier 3 is removed from the unloader part 9.

The above-mentioned barcode 2 is formed, for example, before the semiconductor wafer 1 is loaded, or after the semiconductor wafer 1 is cleaned after the semiconductor wafer 1 is loaded.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the semiconductor wafer 1
Since the barcode 2 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the orientation flat portion 1a, the semiconductor wafer 1 can be recognized while it is housed in the carrier 3.

This makes it possible to easily automatically recognize the semiconductor wafer 1 while the semiconductor wafer 1 is stored in the carrier 3, which is extremely effective when automating the single-wafer management of the semiconductor wafer 1.

Furthermore, there is no need to provide semiconductor manufacturing equipment or expensive wafer handling equipment for each process, and as a result, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost of semiconductor devices. Furthermore, since it is no longer necessary to take out and recognize the semiconductor wafers 1 one by one from the carrier 3 for each semiconductor manufacturing device or process, the time required from loading the semiconductor wafers 1 to completing the semiconductor device can be significantly shortened. can.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been specifically described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the case where the barcode 2 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the orientation flat portion 1a of the semiconductor wafer 1 has been described. It is also possible to provide 2. Also,
Instead of the barcode 2, it is also possible to use letters, figures, symbols, or any combination of these as the identification mark. Furthermore, recognition of these identification marks can also be performed using, for example, a CCD image sensor.

Furthermore, in the above embodiments, the case where the present invention is applied to a semiconductor wafer has been described, but the present invention can be applied to various kinds of wafers other than semiconductor wafers. For example, the present invention can be applied to glass wafers used as substrates for liquid crystal displays, optical disk masters, photomask substrates, etc., wafers made of gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG), etc., which serve as substrates on which magnetic layers are formed, and resin wafers for the substrates. It can be applied to wafers, etc.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, since the identification mark is provided on the outer periphery of the wafer, the wafer can be recognized while it is housed in the carrier.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a semiconductor wafer 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a semiconductor wafer 1- accommodated in a carrier, and FIG. It is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an example of a laser marking device used for forming a code. Explanation of main symbols in the drawings 1: Semiconductor wafer 1a: Orientation flyer 2: High code, 3: Carrier, 6: Laser oscillation section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A wafer characterized in that an identification mark is provided on its outer periphery.