TW202303818A - Wafer loading and unloading system and loading and unloading method - Google Patents

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a wafer feeding and discharging system and a wafer feeding and discharging method. The wafer feeding and discharging system comprises a feeding buffer area, a polishing buffer area and a feeding buffer area, wherein the feeding buffer area can temporarily store a plurality of wafers to be polished; the blanking buffer area can temporarily store a plurality of polished wafers; the swinging mechanical arm is used for simultaneously transferring the plurality of wafers to be polished, which are temporarily stored in the feeding buffer area, into the corresponding carriers; and the multiple polished wafers in each carrier are transferred to the discharging cache region at the same time.

Description

Wafer loading and unloading system and loading and unloading method

The embodiments of the present invention belong to the technical field of semiconductors, and in particular relate to a wafer loading and unloading system and a loading and unloading method.

At present, in the automatic loading and unloading system of wafer double-sided polishing equipment, the unloading buffer area is fixed, and a separate mechanical arm needs to be added to transfer the polished wafers in the unloading buffer area to the wafer cassette. The increase will correspondingly increase the equipment manufacturing cost, and the later maintenance cost will also increase.

On the other hand, in the automatic loading and unloading system of wafer double-sided polishing equipment in the related art, both the loading robot and the unloading robot can only complete the loading and unloading process by single-chip transmission, so the loading and unloading time of the wafer is relatively long. long, seriously affecting the production efficiency of the wafer.

In view of this, the embodiments of the present invention expect to provide a wafer loading and unloading system and a loading and unloading method, which can shorten the wafer loading and unloading time, improve production efficiency, and reduce equipment manufacturing costs and later maintenance costs.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the present invention is realized like this: In the first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a wafer loading and unloading system, the wafer loading and unloading system includes: A loading buffer area capable of temporarily storing multiple wafers to be polished; Unloading buffer area capable of temporarily storing multiple polished wafers; Swing the mechanical arm, the swinging mechanical arm is used to transfer the multiple wafers to be polished temporarily stored in the loading buffer area to the corresponding carrier at the same time; and, the multiple polished wafers in each carrier The wafers are transferred to the unloading buffer area at the same time.

In the second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a wafer loading and unloading method, the wafer loading and unloading method includes: After using the swinging robot arm to absorb multiple wafers to be polished in the loading buffer area, transfer the multiple wafers to be polished to the corresponding carrier at the same time; After the multiple wafers to be polished are polished on both sides, the swinging mechanical arm is used to sequentially absorb each polished wafer in the carrier, and the polished wafers are transferred to the unloading buffer area.

The embodiment of the present invention provides a wafer loading and unloading system and a loading and unloading method; the plurality of wafers to be polished temporarily stored in the loading buffer area can be transferred to any corresponding carrier by swinging the mechanical arm; and, By swinging the mechanical arm, multiple polished wafers in each carrier can also be transferred to the unloading buffer area at the same time, which shortens the loading and unloading time of wafers and improves production efficiency; at the same time, in the embodiment of the present invention In the wafer loading and unloading system, the swing robot arm is used to complete the wafer loading and unloading process, which reduces the number of robot equipment, reduces the manufacturing cost and later maintenance cost of robot equipment.

In order for Ligui examiners to understand the technical characteristics, content and advantages of the present invention and the effects it can achieve, the present invention is hereby combined with the accompanying drawings and appendices, and is described in detail in the form of embodiments as follows, and the drawings used therein , the purpose of which is only for illustration and auxiliary instructions, and not necessarily the true proportion and precise configuration of the present invention after implementation, so it should not be interpreted based on the proportion and configuration relationship of the attached drawings, and limit the application of the present invention in actual implementation The scope is described first.

In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "length", "width", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical" , "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer" and other indicated orientations or positional relationships are based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the embodiments of the present invention and simplifying the description , rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operate in a particular orientation, and thus should not be construed as limiting the invention.

In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only, and cannot be interpreted as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the quantity of indicated technical features. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of said features. In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, "plurality" means two or more, unless otherwise specifically defined.

In the embodiments of the present invention, terms such as "installation", "connection", "connection" and "fixation" should be interpreted in a broad sense unless otherwise clearly specified and limited. Disassembled connection, or integration; it can be mechanical connection or electrical connection; it can be direct connection or indirect connection through an intermediary, and it can be the internal communication of two components or the interaction relationship between two components. Those with ordinary knowledge in the art can understand the specific meanings of the above terms in the embodiments of the present invention according to specific situations.

The following will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 , it shows a wafer loading and unloading system 1A used when the wafer W is polished on both sides in a conventional technical solution. As shown in FIG. 1 , the wafer loading and unloading system 1A specifically includes: a carrying device 10, Material area 20 and blanking area 30; Wherein, The carrying device 10 includes a grinding disc 101, a plurality of carriers 102 and inner pin rings 103 arranged on the grinding disc 101; wherein, the grinding disc 101 is used to grind the wafer W (circular area filled with black in the figure), and the carrier 102 Used to fix the wafer W, the inner pin ring 103 is used to drive the carrier 102 to rotate, thereby polishing the wafer W through the rotation of the grinding disc 101 and the carrier 102; wherein, each carrier 102 is provided with a carrier identification hole 1021; The loading area 20 includes a first wafer cassette 201, a loading robot 202 and a loading buffer area 203A; wherein, the loading robot arm 2021 provided at the end of the loading robot 202 transfers the wafer W to be polished from the first wafer After being taken out from the cassette 201 and placed in the loading buffer area 203A, the wafer W to be polished in the loading buffer area 203A is transferred to the carrier 102 through the vacuum chuck 2022 provided at the end of the loading robot 202; What’s more, as shown in FIG. 1 , in the wafer loading and unloading system 1A, only a single wafer W to be polished can be temporarily stored in the loading buffer area 203A in sequence; and in order to stably absorb the wafer W, the loading A plurality of vacuum chucks 2022 may be provided at the end of the robot 202, for example, as shown in FIG. The wafer cassette 201 is provided with an opening, so as to take and place the wafer W to be polished; The unloading area 30 includes a second wafer cassette 301, an unloading robot 302, an unloading buffer area 303A and an unloading water tank 304; wherein, the unloading robotic arm 3021 provided at the end of the unloading robot 302 will place the polished wafer W After being taken out from the carrier 102 and placed in the unloading buffer area 303A, the wafer W in the unloading buffer area 303 is transferred to the second wafer cassette 301 by the unloading robot arm 3021; similarly, the first The wafer cassette 301 page is provided with an opening, so as to take and place the polished wafer W; it should be noted that a transport robot arm (not shown in the figure) is also provided in the wafer loading and unloading system 1A for placing The second wafer cassette 301 is transported to the unloading water tank 304 to prevent pollutants in the external environment from polluting the surface of the polished wafer W.

It can be understood that when the wafer W is loaded and unloaded by using the wafer loading and unloading system 1A, only a single wafer W can be transported, the transfer efficiency is low, and the loading robot 202 and the unloading robot 302 need to work simultaneously. At the same time, it is also necessary to add a transfer robot arm separately, resulting in high manufacturing costs and subsequent maintenance costs of the equipment. Therefore, the embodiments of the present invention expect to provide a wafer loading and unloading system, which can shorten the wafer loading and unloading time, improve production efficiency, and reduce equipment manufacturing costs and later maintenance costs.

Referring to FIG. 2, it shows a wafer loading and unloading system 1 provided by an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the wafer loading and unloading system 1 includes: A loading buffer area 203 capable of temporarily storing multiple wafers W to be polished; A blanking buffer area 303 capable of temporarily storing multiple polished wafers W; Swing the robot arm 40, the swing robot arm 40 is used to transfer the multiple wafers W to be polished temporarily stored in the loading buffer area 203 to the corresponding carrier 102 at the same time; and, each carrier 102 A plurality of polished wafers W are transferred to the unloading buffer area 303 at the same time.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, the embodiment of the present invention is described by taking the simultaneous transfer of three wafers W shown in FIG. It is limited to only transfer 3 wafers W at the same time.

For the wafer loading and unloading system 1 shown in FIG. The multiple wafers W temporarily stored in the loading buffer area 203 are transferred to any corresponding carrier 102; and, by swinging the mechanical arm 40, the multiple polished wafers W in each carrier 102 can At the same time, it is transferred to the unloading buffer area 303, which shortens the loading and unloading time of the wafer W and improves the production efficiency; at the same time, in the wafer loading and unloading system 1 provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the swing robot arm 40 is used to complete the loading and unloading of the wafer W. The loading and unloading process reduces the number of robot equipment, reduces the manufacturing cost and later maintenance cost of robot equipment.

As shown in FIG. 3 , it shows that after the loading and unloading operation of the wafer W is completed by using the swinging robot arm 40 , the swinging robot arm 40 returns to the original state to prepare for the next round of loading and unloading operations.

For the wafer loading and unloading system 1 shown in FIG. 2, as some possible implementations, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. It is used to respectively adsorb multiple wafers W to be polished in the loading buffer area 203 during the loading process; and respectively adsorb each polished wafer W of the carrier 102 during the unloading process, that is to say , in the embodiment of the present invention, during the loading and unloading process, each vacuum chuck 2022 provided at the end of the swing robot arm 40 is used to absorb a single wafer W. In order to ensure the adsorption effect, in the actual implementation process, the vacuum can be increased The adsorption force of the suction cup 2022 and the specific method are not described in detail in this embodiment of the present invention.

For the wafer loading and unloading system 1 shown in FIG. 2, optionally, as some possible implementations, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. The positioning device 401 may be a positioning camera. In a specific implementation process, the positioning device 401 is configured as: According to the collected image of the carrier identification hole 1021, determine the placement position of the plurality of wafers W to be polished in each carrier, so that the plurality of wafers to be polished W absorbed by the plurality of vacuum chucks 2022 W can be accurately placed in the carrier 102; And, according to the collected image of the carrier identification hole 1021, determine the positions of the plurality of polished wafers W in the carrier 102, so that the plurality of vacuum chucks 2022 can accurately absorb the carrier 102 Polished wafer W in .

It should be noted that, in the specific implementation process, if the positioning camera collects a complete image of any one of the carrier identification holes 1021, it is determined that the plurality of wafers to be polished W adsorbed by the vacuum chuck 2022 can be accurately placed on the carrier 102; and, a plurality of vacuum chucks 2022 can accurately absorb the polished wafer W in the carrier 102. Of course, in some examples, if the distance difference between the cross-shaped focusing point of the positioning camera and the image center position of the carrier identification hole 1021 satisfies the set threshold range, it can also be determined that the vacuum chuck 2022 has attracted multiple pieces to be polished. The wafer W can be accurately placed in the carrier 102 ; and the plurality of vacuum chucks 2022 can accurately absorb the polished wafer W in the carrier 102 .

For the wafer loading and unloading system 1 shown in FIG. 2 , as some possible implementations, the unloading buffer area 303 is provided with a plurality of water slide discs 402, which are used to carry and transfer from the carrier 102 to the unloading material respectively. A plurality of polished wafers W in the buffer area 303 .

For the above possible implementation manners, in some examples, as shown in FIG. 2 , each water slide plate 402 is provided with a water outlet hole 4021, and the water outlet hole 4021 is connected with a water supply device (not shown in the figure) for Spray deionized water to the corresponding water slide plate 402 .

For the above-mentioned possible implementation manners, in some examples, as shown in FIG. in a tilted state.

For the wafer loading and unloading system 1 shown in FIG. 2 , in some possible implementations, as shown in FIG. 4 , the wafer loading and unloading system 1 also includes a wafer cassette driving mechanism 50. 50 includes a wafer cassette supporting device 501, a second tilting device 502 and a wafer cassette lifting device 503; wherein,

The cassette supporting device 501 is connected to the second cassette 301 for fixing the second cassette 301; The second tilting device 502 is connected with the wafer cassette supporting device 501, and is used to drive the wafer cassette supporting device 501 to tilt so that the second wafer cassette 301 is in a tilted state, thereby making the second wafer cassette 301 The opening of the water slide plate 402 is aligned with the inclined state, so that the polished wafer W in the water slide plate 402 slides into the second wafer cassette 301, and the wafer cassette lifting device 503 is extended To abut against the cassette supporting device 501 in an inclined state to support the second cassette 301; And, as shown in FIG. 5, after the second wafer cassette 301 is filled with polished wafers W, the second tilting device 502 drives the wafer cassette support device 501 to be placed horizontally so that the second wafer cassette 301 is in a horizontal state, and the cassette elevating device 503 retracts to the original height position.

It can be understood that during the unloading process, when the polished wafer W is placed in the unloading buffer area 303, any water slide plate 402 can be driven by the first tilting device 403 to be in a tilted state, and at the same time, the second The tilting device 502 is extended along the axial direction to drive the second wafer cassette 301 to also be in a tilted state matching the water slide plate 402, and the second wafer cassette 301 is supported and fixed by the wafer cassette support device 501 to maintain the above-mentioned tilt state, so that the wafer W on the water slide plate 402 can slide into the second wafer cassette 301 . It can be understood that during the process of sliding the wafer W to the second wafer cassette 301, the water outlet hole 4021 continuously sprays deionized water into the corresponding water slide plate 402, so as to ensure that the wafer W is immersed in the deionized water and itself. Slide into the second wafer cassette 301 under the joint action of gravity. It can be understood that after the wafer W in the above-mentioned water slide tray 402 is slid into the second wafer cassette 301, the unloading buffer area 303 is rotated along the axis direction of the unloading buffer area 303, so that the next temporary storage The water slide plate 402 with the polished wafer W rotates to a position corresponding to the opening of the second wafer cassette 301, and the polished wafer W is transferred in the same manner as above. It should be noted that, in order to ensure that the wafer W in each water slide plate 402 is accurately slid to the corresponding position in the second cassette 301, in the specific implementation process, the cassette drive mechanism 50 can be used to properly Adjust the height position and tilt angle of the second wafer cassette 301 accurately to ensure that the opening of the second wafer cassette 301 is aligned with the water slide plate 402 .

It should be noted that the inclination angle of the water slide tray 402 is a preset angle, so that the wafer W in each water slide tray 402 can slide to the corresponding position in the second wafer cassette 301 accurately.

It can be understood that after the second wafer cassette 301 is filled with wafers W, the second tilting device 502 retracts along the axis direction so that the second wafer cassette 301 returns to the original horizontal state, and the wafer cassette support device 501 It also retracts to its original height position.

For the above possible implementation manners, in some examples, as shown in FIG. 2 , the cassette conveying device 305 is used to transport the second cassette 301 in a horizontal state to the unloading tank 304 .

Referring to FIG. 6, it shows a wafer loading and unloading method provided by an embodiment of the present invention. The wafer loading and unloading method can be applied to the wafer loading and unloading system 1 shown in FIG. 2. The wafer loading and unloading method includes : S601. After absorbing the multiple wafers to be polished in the loading buffer area by the swinging mechanical arm, transfer the multiple wafers to be polished to corresponding carriers at the same time; S602. After the double-sided polishing of the multiple wafers to be polished is completed, use the swinging mechanical arm to sequentially absorb each polished wafer in the carrier, and transfer the polished wafers to the unloading buffer area middle.

Understandably, since the wafer loading and unloading method shown in FIG. 6 can be applied to the wafer loading and unloading system 1 described in the aforementioned technical solution, for specific details of the wafer loading and unloading method, please refer to the wafer loading and unloading method in the aforementioned technical solution. The detailed description of each component in the circular loading and unloading system 1 will not be repeated here.

Exemplarily, for the wafer loading and unloading method shown in FIG. 6 , in some possible implementations, the wafer loading and unloading method further includes: Supply deionized water to the water slide plate through the water outlet hole, and sequentially drive each water slide plate in the unloading buffer area to be inclined, so that the polished wafer in the water slide plate slides to the inclined state. In the second wafer cassette; After the second wafer cassette is filled with the polished wafers, adjust the second wafer cassette to be in a horizontal state, so as to transfer the second wafer cassette to the unloading water tank by the wafer cassette transfer device.

It should be noted that: the technical solutions described in the embodiments of the present invention can be combined arbitrarily if there is no conflict.

It should be noted that: the technical solutions described in the embodiments of the present invention can be combined arbitrarily if there is no conflict. The above are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and are not used to limit the implementation scope of the present invention. If the present invention is modified or equivalently replaced without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, it shall be covered by the protection of the patent scope of the present invention. in the range.

1A: Wafer loading and unloading system 1: Wafer loading and unloading system 10: Carrying device 101: grinding disc 102: Vehicle 103: Domestic sales ring 1021: Carrier identification hole 20: Feeding area 201: The first wafer cassette 202: Loading robot 2021: Loading robotic arm 2022: Vacuum suction cups 203: Loading buffer area 203A: Loading buffer area 30:Unloading area 301: Second wafer cassette 302: Unloading robot 3021: Unloading robot arm 303: Unloading buffer area 303A: Unloading buffer area 304: Feed sink 305: Wafer Cassette Transfer Device 40: Swing the robotic arm 401: Positioning device 402: water slide disc 4021: outlet hole 403: The first tilting device 50:Wafer Cassette Drive Mechanism 501: Wafer cassette support device 502: second tilting device 503:Wafer Cassette Lifting Device W: Wafer S601-S602: Steps

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wafer loading and unloading system adopted in a conventional technical solution provided by an embodiment of the present invention; 2 is a schematic diagram of a wafer loading and unloading system provided by an embodiment of the present invention; 3 is a schematic diagram of the state of the swinging robot arm after the wafer loading and unloading process provided by the embodiment of the present invention is completed; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a wafer unloading process provided by an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of another wafer unloading process provided by an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a wafer loading and unloading method provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

1: Wafer loading and unloading system

10: Carrying device

20: Feeding area

30:Unloading area

40: Swing the robotic arm

101: grinding disc

102: Vehicle

103: Domestic sales ring

201: The first wafer cassette

202: Loading robot

203: Loading buffer area

301: Second wafer cassette

303: Unloading buffer area

304: Feed sink

305: Wafer Cassette Transfer Device

401: Positioning device

402: water slide disc

1021: Carrier identification hole

2021: Loading robotic arm

2022: Vacuum suction cups

4021: outlet hole

W: Wafer

Claims (10)

A wafer loading and unloading system, the wafer loading and unloading system includes: A loading buffer area capable of temporarily storing multiple wafers to be polished; Unloading buffer area capable of temporarily storing multiple polished wafers; Swing the mechanical arm, the swinging mechanical arm is used to transfer the multiple wafers to be polished temporarily stored in the loading buffer area to the corresponding carrier at the same time; and, the multiple polished wafers in each carrier The wafers are transferred to the unloading buffer area at the same time. The wafer loading and unloading system as described in Claim 1, wherein, the end of the swinging robot arm is provided with a plurality of vacuum chucks, and the plurality of vacuum chucks are used to respectively absorb multiple parts of the loading buffer area during the loading process. wafers to be polished; and, during the unloading process, absorb each polished wafer of the carrier. The wafer loading and unloading system as described in Claim 1, wherein the end of the swinging robot arm is provided with a positioning device, and the positioning device is configured as: determining the placement positions of the plurality of wafers to be polished in each of the carriers according to the collected images of the carrier identification holes; And, according to the collected image of the identification hole of the carrier, the positions of the plurality of polished wafers in the carrier are determined. The wafer loading and unloading system as described in claim 1, wherein a plurality of water slide trays are arranged in the unloading buffer area for respectively carrying a plurality of polished wafers transferred from the carrier to the unloading buffer area. wafer. The wafer loading and unloading system as described in Claim 4, wherein each water slide plate is provided with a water outlet for spraying deionized water to the corresponding water slide plate. The wafer loading and unloading system as described in Claim 4, wherein each of the water slide plates is connected with a first tilting device, and the first tilting device is used to drive the corresponding water slide plate to be in an inclined state. The wafer loading and unloading system as described in claim 4, the wafer loading and unloading system also includes a wafer cassette driving mechanism, and the wafer cassette driving mechanism includes a wafer cassette supporting device, a second tilting device and a wafer cassette lifting device; of which, The cassette supporting device is connected to the second cassette for fixing the second cassette; The second tilting device is connected with the wafer cassette supporting device, and is used to drive the wafer cassette supporting device to be tilted so that the second wafer cassette is in an inclined state, so that the opening of the second wafer cassette is inclined. The water slide tray is aligned so that the polished wafer in the water slide tray slides into the second wafer cassette, and the wafer cassette lifter extends to the wafer cassette in an inclined state the supporting device abuts against to fix the second wafer cassette; And, after the second wafer cassette is filled with polished wafers, the second tilting device drives the wafer cassette supporting device to place horizontally so that the second wafer cassette is in a horizontal state, and the wafer cassette is lifted The unit retracts to its original height position. The wafer loading and unloading system as described in claim 7, the wafer loading and unloading system also includes a wafer cassette transport device, and the wafer cassette transport device is used to transport the second wafer cassette in a horizontal state to the unloading water tank middle. A wafer loading and unloading method, the wafer loading and unloading method can be applied to the wafer loading and unloading system described in any one of claims 1 to 8, the wafer loading and unloading method includes: After using the swinging robot arm to absorb multiple wafers to be polished in the loading buffer area, transfer the multiple wafers to be polished to the corresponding carrier at the same time; After the multiple wafers to be polished are polished on both sides, the swinging mechanical arm is used to sequentially absorb each polished wafer in the carrier, and the polished wafers are transferred to the unloading buffer area. As the wafer loading and unloading method described in claim item 9, the wafer loading and unloading method also includes: Supply deionized water to the water slide plate through the water outlet hole, and sequentially drive each water slide plate in the unloading buffer area to be in a tilted state, so that the polished wafer in the water slide plate slides to the first tilted state In two wafer cassettes; After the second wafer cassette is filled with the polished wafers, the second wafer cassette is adjusted to be in a level state, so that the second wafer cassette is transferred to the unloading water tank by the wafer cassette transfer device.

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