TWI522182B - Automation vehicles washer - Google Patents

Description

Automated cleaning station

The invention relates to the technical field of an automatic cleaning station for a fab, in particular to an automatic material handling system (AMHS) distributed in a high-pitched room, designed to efficiently remove dust.

Semiconductor 12 吋 (300mm) fabs, because of the production of high-tech wafers, the requirements for the production environment of the wafer are very strict, the impact of dust and vibration on the wafer yield can not be ignored. In this type of fab, the Automated Material Handling System (AMHS) is used to generate the magnetic buoyancy of high-voltage to drive the operation of various types of trucks. The magnetic field generates a large amount of static electricity, which makes the dust in the environment easy to fly. It is attached to the truck, and the speed of the truck system is high. Because the track surrounds the clean room and there are many seams and turns, it is easy to make the truck vibrate. The truck runs for years, and it is zero. The components rub against the running track and produce a large amount of dust that will spread in the clean room as the truck runs and vibrates, which can have a serious impact on the yield of the wafer. Among them, the Overhead Hoist Transports (OHT) directly transports Wafer's Front Opening Unified Pod (FOUP) to the front opening interface machinery of the wafer production machine. The standard (Front-Opening Interface Mechanical Standard, FIMS) system, so it is the easiest to shake the dust on the truck and attach it to the FOUP. When the production machine opens the FOUP door, because the machine is in a vacuum state (negative pressure), the dust on the FOUP and the environment will be sucked into the production machine, causing dust to scatter on the wafer and causing defects in the wafer. .

The ideal solution is to periodically remove dust attached to the elevated crane carrier (OHT) and distributed on the track, especially the particles that are stored on the elevated crane carrier (OHT). However, the elevated crane carrier (OHT) is operated in a high-altitude orbit distributed in the fab. It is also inconvenient and practical to manually clean and clear the safety concerns. It takes time and reduces the production capacity, and the dust is scattered during the removal process. In view of this, the inventors have designed such an automated cleaning station.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide an automated cleaning station for use in a clean room of a fab, for the overhead lifting carrier (OHT) top surface of an automated material handling system (AMHS) that is susceptible to accumulation of particles. And the fuselage and the track, using static elimination, air blower and other procedures to clean, then inhale and collect the particles in the pipe and collect it, effectively remove the particles, reduce wafer production. There are potential hazards that may affect yield.

In order to achieve the above object, the structure of the present invention is formed in a body having a cleaning space for the passage of the rail and the overhead hoisting carrier, wherein the inner wall region of the cleaning space is provided with at least one suction disk, at least one air knife and At least one ion releasing rod; at least one suction joint is installed in the body, and is connected to the suction tray by an air suction line in the body; at least one air supply joint is installed in the body, and is a gas supply line is connected to the air knife; and at least one ion cloud generator, Installed in the body, the line is connected to the ion release rod by the internal body; thereby, when the elevated crane carrier enters the automatic cleaning station via the track, the automatic cleaning station is eliminated by static electricity, air blower, and air suction set. A program such as dust can efficiently remove the track and the particles on the overhead hoisting carrier.

The operation mode of the automatic cleaning station of the present invention is that the ion cloud generator generates a large amount of positive and negative ions to eliminate static electricity, and the high-pressure gas generated by the air knife blows off the particles attached to the surface of the object, and then A large area of the suction disk absorbs the particles floating in the cleaning space and finally collects and discharges.

Furthermore, in order to efficiently remove the particles, the present invention further includes at least one jet device mounted in the square corner of the top of the body, including a rotating mechanism and a jet tube, the jet tube The rotation of the gas supply line is caused by the rotation mechanism, and the air injection port of the air injection tube is moved into the rail by the rotation mechanism. In addition, the jet device can be mounted on a reciprocating transfer device which is a pneumatic cylinder. The reciprocating movement is generated by the transfer device during the jetting of the jet device to cause a gas turbulence phenomenon. This helps to further remove the accumulated particles in the orbit.

The implementation of the present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawings and component symbols, so that those skilled in the art can implement the present specification after studying the present specification.

A‧‧‧Automatic Cleaning Station

1‧‧‧ body

11‧‧‧Clean space

111‧‧‧First space

112‧‧‧Second space

13‧‧‧ side wall

131‧‧‧Air outlet

132‧‧‧ passage

14‧‧‧ inner wall

15‧‧‧ gas supply connector

151‧‧‧ gas supply line

16‧‧‧Intake connector

161‧‧‧Intake line

2‧‧‧ suction tray

3‧‧‧Air knife

4‧‧‧Ion release stick

41‧‧‧Ion Cloud Generator

5‧‧‧jet device

51‧‧‧Rotating mechanism

52‧‧‧jet tube

6‧‧‧Reciprocating transfer device

8‧‧‧ Track

81‧‧‧ inner rail

9‧‧‧Elevated lifting carrier

91‧‧‧guide wheel

The first figure is a schematic view of the track of the automated material handling system (AMHS) installed in the automated cleaning station of the present invention; The second drawing is a perspective view of the present invention; the third drawing is a schematic view of the internal structure of the present invention after removing the outer casing of the body; the fourth drawing is a side view of the present invention; and the fifth drawing is the operation of the present invention, the elevated lifting carrier has not yet been A schematic view of entering the middle position of the body; the sixth figure is a schematic view of the elevated crane carrier having entered the middle position of the body during the operation of the invention, and is intended to start the cleaning operation.

As shown in the first figure, the automated cleaning station A of the present invention is installed in a clean room of a fab, and can be cleaned on the elevated lifting of the track 8 in the position of the track 8 of the automated material handling system (AMHS). Carrier 9 (OHT). The detailed operation is described in the following paragraphs.

First, the structure of the present invention will be described in detail, as shown in the second and third figures, which are schematic views of the perspective view and the content structure of the present invention. The body 1 of the automatic cleaning station A of the present invention has a cleaning space 11 with an opening upward and a passage for the rail 8. The cleaning space 11 is divided into a first space 111 and a second space 112 from top to bottom, and the size is determined by the first space. 111 gradually expands toward the second space 112, the width of the first space 111 corresponds to the size of the track 8, and the second space 112 corresponds to the size of the overhead lifting carrier 9 (OHT), and the lateral length of the cleaning space 11 is greater than The overhead crane carrier 9 has a main dust removal work area in the middle section.

The body 1 is mounted with at least one air suction tray 2, at least one air knife 3 and at least one ion release rod 4 in the inner wall region of the cleaning space 11, wherein the air knife 3 and the ion release rod 4 are mounted on the body 1 a side wall adjacent to the area where the first space 111 and the second space 112 meet 13. The side wall 13 has an elongated air supply opening 131. The jet air flow generated by the air knife 3 and the positive and negative ions generated by the ion release rod 4 enter the cleaning space 11 through the air supply opening 131. The air outlet of the air knife 3 is a top surface position facing the overhead crane carrier 9. The suction tray 2 is an inner wall 14 mounted on the area of the second space 112. The inner wall 14 has a U-shaped longitudinal cross-sectional shape. In the embodiment, the suction tray 2 has three groups, which are distributed in two vertical directions. Face and bottom position.

The body 1 has at least one ion cloud generator 41 connected to the ion releasing rod 4 via a line, and a large amount of positive and negative ions are generated by the ion releasing rod 4, and the electrostatic cloud is eliminated by the ion cloud to make the powder particles (Particle) does not stick to objects. The air knife 3 is capable of compressing the dust-free air to increase the jet pressure, and in the aforementioned static elimination state, the particles are blown off the surface of the object. In this embodiment, the ion cloud generator 41 and the air knife 3 are provided with two groups, which are respectively disposed on both sides of the cleaning space 11. At least one air supply joint 15 is attached to the outer casing of the body 1, and the air suction joint 15 is connected to the air knife 3 by a gas supply line 151 in the body 1, and a high-pressure gas is supplied from the outside. In addition, at least one air suction connector 16 is also mounted on the outer casing of the body 1, and the air suction connector 16 is connected to the air suction disk 2 by the air suction pipe 161 in the body 1. Each of the gas supply line 151 and the suction line 161 has a switch valve (not shown) to timely control the opening and closing timing of the pipeline. Since the automatic cleaning station A of the present invention is installed in the clean room of the fab, the dust-free room is distributed with various special pipelines, including a gas supply line and an air suction line, and the present invention utilizes the gas supply joint of the body 1. 15. When the suction connection 16 is connected with the relevant pipeline, the high-pressure gas can be supplied from the clean room factory area when the equipment is in operation, and the particulate particles are collected and transported to the filtration system of the plant end for discharge.

In the above embodiment, the air knife 3 is mainly used to remove the particles of the overhead lifting carrier 9 (OHT) attached to the fuselage, but for the overhead lifting carrier 9 (OHT) operation. It is also easy to accumulate particles in the track 8 . Therefore the invention further includes at least A jet device 5 for blowing air into the rail 8 to remove particles that are attached to the rail 8. In this embodiment, the air jet device 5 has four sets, which are respectively mounted on the top corner of the body 1 and adjacent to the side wall 13, and includes a rotating mechanism 51 and a jet tube 52. The lance tube 52 has a three-dimensionally curved L-shape, is in contact with the air supply line 151, and is rotated by the rotating mechanism 51. The side wall 13 has at least one passage opening 132. When the rotating mechanism 51 is actuated, the air duct 52 can be driven to switch between the inside of the body 1 or the cleaning space 11 through the passage opening 132. In the third figure, the positions of the two jet tubes 52 on the right side of the drawing are relative to the inside of the body 1, and the positions of the two jet tubes 52 on the left side are in the state of aligning the rails, and the state of the jet tubes 52 in this state The air vent is located at the track 8.

In addition, in order to cause the airflow to generate a disturbed airflow, the particles are blown off, and each of the air jet devices 5 is mounted on a reciprocating transfer device 6, which in the embodiment is A pneumatic cylinder is connected to the gas supply line 151. During the jetting of the jet device 5, a reciprocating movement is generated by the transfer device 6, and a gas turbulence phenomenon occurs inside the cleaning space 11, which helps the particles to be blown off.

Next, a clear description will be given of the operation mode of the present invention: as shown in the first figure and the fourth figure, respectively, a schematic view and a side view of the operation of the authoring structure. The automatic cleaning station A of the invention is installed on the path of the track 8 of the automated material handling system (AMHS), and is also fixed in the workshop of the clean room, and has a gas supply line and an inhalation line in the factory (this part The parts are omitted from the air supply joint 15 and the suction joint 16 of the outer casing of the body 1, and provide high-pressure dust-free gas and suction required for the operation of the apparatus of the present invention. The rail 8 has a U-shaped cross section. The overhead hoist carrier 9 uses a high voltage to generate magnetic buoyancy on the rail 8, but the top has a guide pulley 91 that is in slight contact with the inner rail 81 in the rail 8. The automatic cleaning station A of the invention is mainly used to remove the top surface of the overhead lifting carrier 9 The body and the particles that are moved by the guide wheels 91 and hoarded on the inner rail 81 are particles.

As shown in the fifth figure, when the overhead hoisting carrier 9 has not moved to the intermediate portion in the body 1, the lance tube 52 of the jet device 5 is located inside the body 1. As shown in the sixth figure, after the elevated hoist carrier 9 is moved to the correct position, the front and rear squibs 52 are moved by the rotating mechanism 51 to move into the first space 111 of the cleaning space 11, and the outlet surface of the ejector 52 The inner guide rail 81. The cleaning operation flow is: first, the ion release rod 4 is activated by the ion generator 41 to generate a large amount of positive and negative ions. After a predetermined time, a large amount of positive and negative ions are distributed in the cleaning space 11 to achieve static elimination by the ion cloud. The effect is that the particles do not adhere to the elevated hoist carrier 9 and the surface of the track 8. Then, the air knife 3 and the air jet device 5 are simultaneously actuated to blow the particles from the surface of the overhead crane 9 and the rail 8. The reciprocating device 6 is also actuated synchronously to cause the jet device 5 to move back and forth slightly back and forth to allow the gas to achieve a spoiler effect, further blowing the particles of particles between the guide wheel 91 and the inner rail 81. During this process, the air suction tray 2 distributed in a large area in the second space 112 continuously inhales, absorbs the dust particles blown by the first space 11, and is discharged through the suction line in the clean room. The filtration system sent to the plant end. The air knife 3 is preferentially stopped during the cleaning process and then stopped by the jet device 5. The ion generator 41 is stopped when the overhead hoist carrier 9 leaves the body 1, and the particles are prevented from being adsorbed to the pipe wall due to re-generation of static electricity in the suction line. When the cleaning process is completed, the lance tube 52 is rotated by the rotating mechanism 51 to enter the inside of the body 1 again, so that the overhead hoisting carrier 9 is removed from the automatic cleaning station A. In addition, the body 1 can be additionally installed with an automatic door and an associated sensing mechanism (not shown) at the front and rear positions of the rail 8 to facilitate the lifting of the overhead crane 9 by the body 1 during the cleaning operation. Surrounded by, to avoid a small part of the particles falling off.

In summary, the automatic cleaning station of the present invention utilizes static elimination and blowing The procedures of dust removal, air collection and dust collection, etc., achieve the purpose of removing the particles of the overhead crane carrier 9 and the track 8. The ion generator 41 is filled with positive and negative ions in the cleaning space 11 to achieve the effect of eliminating static electricity, so that the particles cannot adhere to the surface of the object; then, the air knife 3 and the air jet device 5 are blown off. The heavy carriers 9 and the particles on the rails 8 are sucked and collected by the large-area blow disk 2. Therefore, by using the design of the invention, the dust collecting, cleaning and dust collecting effects can be achieved, and the automatic material handling system (AMHS) can be effectively cleaned, and the patent application requirements are met.

A‧‧‧Automatic Cleaning Station

1‧‧‧ body

11‧‧‧Clean space

111‧‧‧First space

112‧‧‧Second space

13‧‧‧ side wall

131‧‧‧Air outlet

132‧‧‧ passage

14‧‧‧ inner wall

15‧‧‧ gas supply connector

16‧‧‧Intake connector

2‧‧‧ suction tray

4‧‧‧Ion release stick

Claims (9)

An automatic cleaning station comprises: a body having a cleaning space for passing the rail and the overhead lifting carrier, wherein the body is provided with at least one suction disk, at least one air knife and at least one in the inner wall region of the cleaning space An ion releasing rod; at least one suction joint is installed in the body, and is connected to the suction tray by an air suction line in the body; at least one air supply joint is installed on the air body of the air supply pipe The road is connected to the air knife; at least one ion cloud generator is mounted on the body, and is connected to the ion release rod by the internal body line; at least one jet device is installed in the body, each jet The device includes a rotating mechanism and a gas pipe, the gas pipe is connected to the gas supply pipe and is rotated by the rotating mechanism, and the gas jet of the gas pipe is located in the track through the rotating mechanism; thereby, the elevated frame The lifting carrier enters the automatic cleaning station via the track, and the automatic cleaning station effectively removes the track and the elevated lifting and reloading by eliminating static electricity, blowing dust, and collecting dust. Surface adhered fines particles (Particle). The automatic cleaning station according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning space is divided into a first space and a second space from top to bottom, and the size is gradually expanded from the first space to the second space, and the first space is The track can be passed through, and the second space can be passed by the overhead hoisting carrier. The automated cleaning station of claim 2, wherein the air knife and the ion release rod are mounted in the body at a position adjacent to a sidewall of the first space and the second space, the side wall having a narrow air supply port, the jet air flow generated by the air knife and the ion The positive and negative ions generated by the release rod enter the cleaning space through the air supply opening. The automatic cleaning station of claim 3, wherein the air knife and the ion release rod have two sets of two opposite positions, the first space and the second space, respectively. Tracks and overhead hoisting carriers pass through the sides of the path. The automated cleaning station of claim 4, wherein the wind outlet is a top surface facing the elevated crane. The automatic cleaning station of claim 2, wherein the suction disc is mounted on the inner wall of the area where the second space is located. The automatic cleaning station of claim 6, wherein the inner wall of the second space is U-shaped in cross section, wherein the air suction tray has three groups and is distributed at two vertical and bottom positions. The automatic cleaning station of claim 1, wherein the number of the air jet devices is four, and the position is a side wall of the inner corner of the body and adjacent to a side wall of the first space and the second space. The side wall has at least one passage opening, and when the rotating mechanism is actuated, the air nozzle can be driven to move between the inside of the body or the cleaning space through the passage opening. The automatic cleaning station according to claim 1, wherein the jet device is mounted on a reciprocating transfer device, and the reciprocating movement is generated by the transfer device during the jetting of the jet device to cause a gas to turbulence phenomenon. .