TWM610401U - Substrate transfer system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a substrate transfer system, which includes a main body, a tray cassette base, a tray aligner, a tray robot, a substrate cassette base, a substrate aligner, a substrate robot and a Bernoulli robot. The tray can be transferred to the tray aligner by the tray robot. The substrate can be transferred to the substrate aligner by the substrate robot. By the Bernoulli robot, the substrate can be transferred from the substrate aligner to the tray on the tray aligner.

Description

Substrate transfer system

The present invention relates to a substrate conveying system, in particular to a substrate conveying system that transfers a substrate to a carrier through a tray robot arm, a substrate robot arm, and a white effort arm in an automated manner.

In the integrated circuit industry, 4-inch or 6-inch wafers are often used as substrates. In some 4-inch or 6-inch wafer fabs, semi-automated processes are adopted. For example, before the main process of the substrate is performed, the operator usually manually places the substrate on the carrier, and then the carrier carrying the substrate is fed into the cavity of the machine for subsequent processes. However, the semi-automated manufacturing process is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, the substrate is also prone to misalignment, contamination or even fragmentation, resulting in poor product yield or incurring excess costs. Furthermore, the manual transmission behavior cannot record the transmission information (event log), so when it is necessary to track the historical process of the substrate, it is difficult to obtain information, thereby increasing the difficulty of detecting the historical process of the substrate.

Therefore, in order to overcome the shortcomings of the conventional technology, an embodiment of the present invention provides a substrate conveying system, which replaces the manual substrate conveying process through an automated manufacturing process.

The substrate transfer system can transfer the tray from the tray loading box to the tray alignment device through the tray robot arm, and transfer the substrate from the substrate loading box to the substrate alignment device through the substrate robot arm. Furthermore, the base material rotated to a predetermined angle can be transferred to the carrier plate rotated to a specific angle through the white effort arm. In this way, the manual process can be replaced by an automated process, which reduces the incidence of errors during transmission and reduces the probability of substrate contamination or fragmentation.

Based on at least one of the foregoing objectives, the substrate transfer system provided by the embodiment of the present invention includes a main body, a tray loading box base, a tray aligning device, a tray robot arm, a substrate loading box base, and a substrate. Alignment device, substrate robotic arm and Baili Lili arm. The main body includes a base material pick-and-place area and a transfer area. The base of the disk loading box is connected to the transfer area and used to fix the disk loading box. The disk aligning device is located in the transfer area, and rotates the disk to a first specific angle according to the first positioning block on the disk. The disk loading robot arm is located in the transfer area and is used to transfer the disk from the disk loading box to the disk aligning device, and to transfer the disk from the disk aligning device to the disk loading box. The base of the substrate loading box is located in the substrate taking-out area, and is used to fix the substrate loading box. The substrate alignment device is located in the transfer area and rotates the substrate to a predetermined angle according to the second positioning block on the substrate. The substrate robot arm is located in the transfer area and is used to transfer the substrate from the substrate loading box to the substrate aligning device, and to transfer the substrate from the substrate aligning device to the substrate loading box. The white effort arm is located in the transfer area, and is used to transfer the substrate from the substrate alignment device to the tray on the tray alignment device, and transfer the substrate from the tray on the tray alignment device to the substrate Align the device. After the white effort arm transfers the substrate from the substrate aligning device to the carrier plate on the carrier aligning device, the carrier aligning device rotates the carrier plate to a second specific angle.

Optionally, the substrate transfer system further includes a substrate placement sensor and a tray placement sensor. The substrate loading box sensor is located in the substrate taking and placing area, and is used to detect whether the substrate loading box is correctly placed on the base of the substrate loading box. The disc loading box sensor is connected to the transfer area and used to detect whether the disc loading box is correctly placed on the base of the disc loading box.

Optionally, the substrate transfer system further includes a substrate displacement sensor (slide sensor) and a tray displacement sensor (slide sensor). The substrate displacement sensor is located in the substrate taking and placing area, and is used to detect whether the substrate in the substrate loading box protrudes from the substrate loading box. The disc carrier displacement sensor is located in the transfer area and is used to detect whether the disc in the disc carrier box protrudes from the disc carrier box.

Optionally, the substrate conveying system further includes a barcode reader located in the substrate pick-up area and used for reading the barcode on the substrate loading box to identify the type of the substrate loading box.

Optionally, the substrate robotic arm has a substrate inspection function (mapping), wherein before the substrate is transferred from the substrate loading box to the substrate alignment device, the substrate robotic arm is vertically displaced corresponding to the substrate loading box to Know the number and location of the substrate through the substrate inspection function.

Optionally, the disk loading robot has a disk loading check function (mapping), wherein before the disk is transferred from the disk loading box to the disk aligning device, the disk loading robot moves vertically corresponding to the disk loading box to Know the number and position of the carrier through the carrier check function.

Optionally, when the substrate transport system has a plurality of substrate loading box bases, the plurality of substrate loading box bases are arranged adjacent to each other or vertically.

Optionally, the substrate transfer system further includes a load lock chamber (load lock) connected to the transfer area, wherein the tray robot arm transfers the tray from the tray alignment device to the load lock chamber, and transfers the tray from the tray alignment device to the load lock chamber. The carrier plate is transferred from the load lock cavity to the carrier plate alignment device.

Optionally, the substrate transfer system further includes a cooling zone connected to the transfer zone, wherein the tray loading robot arm transfers the tray from the load lock cavity to the cooling zone to cool the substrate on the tray, and the tray loading machine The arm transfers the tray from the cooling zone to the tray alignment device.

Optionally, the substrate conveying system further includes a disc-carrying optical character recognition (OCR, Optical Character Recognition) and a substrate optical character recognition (OCR, Optical Character Recognition). The disc-carrying optical character recognizer is connected to the transfer area and used to discriminate the serial number on the disc-carrying disc. The substrate optical character recognizer is connected to the transfer area or the substrate pick-and-place area, and is used to identify the number on the substrate.

Optionally, the substrate conveying system further includes a lens, connected to the conveying area, and used to obtain an image of the carrier plate.

In short, the substrate transfer system provided by the embodiment of the present invention can be used with the tray robot arm, the substrate robot arm and the white effort arm to transfer the substrate in an automated manner, so as to improve production efficiency and reduce the error rate. Markets that require automated transmission (for example, integrated circuits) have advantages.

In order to make the above and other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and understandable, detailed descriptions are made as follows in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In order to fully understand the purpose, features and effects of the present invention, a detailed description of the present invention is given with the following specific embodiments and accompanying drawings. The description is as follows.

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are schematic diagrams of the substrate conveying system according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the present invention provides a substrate transfer system 1, which includes a main body 11, a tray loading box base 13, a tray alignment device 15, a substrate loading box base 17, a substrate alignment device 19, The tray robot arm R1, the substrate robot arm R2, and the white effort arm R3, including the tray loading box base 13, the tray alignment device 15, the substrate loading box base 17, and the substrate provided by the substrate transfer system 1 The alignment device 19, the plate-carrying robot R1, the substrate robot R2, or the white effort arm R3 can be singular or plural, respectively, and there are no restrictions on the positions of the same components, which are, for example, two-by-two symmetrical or There is no specific arrangement.

Specifically, the main body 11 includes a substrate pick-and-place area 12 and a transfer area 14 that are connected to each other. The tray loading box base 13 is connected to the transfer area 14, and the tray alignment device 15, the substrate alignment device 19, the tray robot arm R1, the substrate robot arm R2, and the white effort arm R3 are located in the transfer area 14. . The substrate loading box base 17 is located in the substrate taking and placing area 12.

The disk loading box base 13 is used to fix the disk loading box 131. When the disk loading box base 13 is plural, each disk loading box base 13 can fix one disk loading box 131 respectively.

Specifically, the substrate conveying system 1 further includes a placement sensor (not shown) and is connected to the base 13 of the base 13 to detect whether the placement 131 is correctly placed In the disc loading box base 13. For example, when the detection result shows that the disk loading box 131 is correctly placed on the disk loading box base 13, the substrate transfer system 1 can obtain the information, and the disk loading box base 13 and the disk loading box 131 can be locked to each other so that the disc loading box 131 will not fall off. Alternatively, when the detection result shows that the disc loading box 131 is not properly placed on the disc loading box base 13, the substrate transfer system 1 may send a warning message to remind the user.

The substrate conveying system 1 may also include a slide sensor (not shown) and located in the conveying area 14. After the disk loading box 131 is placed on the disk loading box base 13, the disk displacement sensor can detect whether the disk in the disk loading box 131 protrudes from the disk loading box 131. For example, if the tray displacement sensor detects that the tray protrudes from the tray loading box 131, the substrate transfer system 1 can issue a warning message to remind the user, so as to prevent the tray from falling or being hit.

The substrate conveying system 1 may also include a disc-carrying optical character recognition (OCR, Optical Character Recognition) and a lens (CCD) (not shown), and the disc-carrying optical character recognition and the lens are both connected to the conveying area 14 . The optical character identifier of the carrier is used to read and identify the serial number on the carrier to avoid using the wrong carrier, and when event log tracing is required, choose to match or not match SECS/GEM (SEMI Equipment Communication Standard/Generic Equipment Model), and query the historical information of the carrier according to the number of the carrier to be tracked, so that it is conducive to the follow-up tracking and debugging of the previous process. The lens is used to obtain an image of the carrier plate to detect defects on the carrier plate (for example, whether the carrier plate has a back-plating condition), so as to help understand whether the carrier plate can be reused.

The substrate loading box base 17 is used to fix the substrate loading box 171. When the substrate loading box base 17 is plural, each substrate loading box base 17 can fix one substrate loading box 171, and The plurality of substrate loading box bases 17 may be arranged adjacently or vertically, or a plurality of substrate loading box bases 17 may be arranged adjacently and vertically at the same time.

Specifically, the substrate conveying system 1 may also include a substrate placement sensor (not shown) located in the substrate pick-and-place area 12 (for example, connected to the substrate loading box base 17), It is used to detect whether the substrate loading box 171 is correctly placed on the substrate loading box base 17. For example, when the detection result shows that the substrate loading box 171 is correctly placed on the substrate loading box base 17, the substrate transfer system 1 can obtain the information, and the substrate loading box base 17 and the substrate loading box 171 can be locked to each other so that the substrate loading box 171 will not fall off. Alternatively, when the detection result shows that the substrate loading box 171 is not properly placed on the substrate loading box base 17, the substrate conveying system 1 may issue a warning message to remind the user.

The substrate conveying system 1 may also include a barcode reader (not shown), located in the substrate pick-and-place area 12, and used to read the barcode on the substrate loading box 171 to determine whether the substrate is loaded. Box 171 category. For example, the substrate loading box 171 can be divided into different types according to different process attributes. When the barcode reading device determines that the barcode on the substrate loading box 171 is the target category, the substrate loading box base 17 and the substrate loading The boxes 171 can be locked to each other. Alternatively, when the barcode reading device determines that the barcode on the substrate loading box 171 is not the target category, the substrate conveying system 1 can issue a warning message to remind the user. In this way, the wrong substrate can be prevented from being misused.

The substrate conveying system 1 may also include a substrate slide sensor (not shown) and located in the substrate pick-and-place area 12. After the substrate loading box 171 is placed on the substrate loading box base 17, the substrate displacement sensor can detect whether the substrate in the substrate loading box 171 protrudes from the substrate loading box 171. For example, if the substrate displacement sensor detects that the substrate protrudes from the substrate loading box 171, the substrate conveying system 1 can issue a warning message to remind the user, so as to prevent the substrate from falling or being hit.

The substrate transfer system 1 may also include a substrate optical character recognition (OCR, Optical Character Recognition) (not shown), and the substrate optical character recognition and the lens are both connected to the transfer area 14, or the substrate The optical character recognizer can also be connected to the base material access area 12. The substrate optical character recognizer is used to read and recognize the number on the substrate to avoid using the wrong substrate, and when historical event tracking is required, it can be used with or without SECS/GEM, and according to The number of the substrate to be tracked can be used to query the historical information of the substrate, which is beneficial to the follow-up tracking and debugging of the previous process.

Please continue to refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 to understand the transfer process of the substrate before entering the manufacturing process. After the target disk loading box 131 is placed on the disk loading box base 13, the disk loading box 131 and the disk loading box base 13 are locked to each other, and the disk loading box is detected by the disk displacement sensor Whether the disc loading box 131 protrudes from the disc loading box 131. Then, the disk loading robot R1 can move vertically corresponding to the disk loading box 131 to know the number and position of the disks through its disk loading check function (mapping), and to confirm whether the disks are placed incorrectly (for example, whether the disks are tilted or not). Insert), and read and recognize the serial number on the carrier through the optical character recognizer on the carrier. Furthermore, the disk loading robot R1 transfers the disk from the disk loading box 131 to the disk aligning device 15.

When the target substrate loading box 171 is placed on the substrate loading box base 17, the substrate loading box 171 and the substrate loading box base 17 are locked to each other, and the substrate loading box is detected by the substrate displacement sensor Whether the substrate in 171 protrudes from the substrate loading box 171. Then, the substrate robot R2 can vertically move corresponding to the substrate loading box 171 to know the number and position of the substrate through its substrate inspection function (mapping), and to confirm whether the substrate is placed incorrectly (for example, whether the substrate is inclined Insert), that is, to read and identify the number on the substrate through the optical character recognizer of the substrate. Further, the substrate robot R2 transfers the substrate from the substrate loading box 171 to the substrate alignment device 19.

Then, the tray aligning device 15 can rotate the tray to a first specific angle according to the first positioning block (for example, the notch or flat edge of the tray) (not shown) on the tray, and the substrate is aligned The device 19 can rotate the substrate to a predetermined angle according to a second positioning block (for example, a notch or a flat edge of the substrate) (not shown) on the substrate.

Further, the white effort arm R3 transfers the substrate from the substrate alignment device 19 to the tray on the tray alignment device 15. Please note that one carrier tray can carry multiple substrates, and the process of sending multiple substrates to the same carrier tray can repeat the above-mentioned substrate transfer steps.

Specifically, when the white effort arm R3 transfers the first substrate from the substrate aligning device 19 to the carrier on the carrier aligning device 15, the carrier aligning device 15 will cause the carrier to carry the first substrate. The carrier plate of the material rotates to a second specific angle. Then, the next substrate that has been rotated by the substrate alignment device 19 is transferred by the white effort arm R3 to the tray on the tray alignment device 15, and the first substrate and the next substrate are placed opposite each other. In the same position of the substrate conveying system 1 (for example, but not limited to, without considering the position of the first positioning block of the carrier, the first substrate and the next substrate are placed on the carrier 12 o'clock direction). The process of sending other substrates to the same carrier tray can repeat the above-mentioned substrate transfer step. Furthermore, different substrates are not restricted to be placed at the same position relative to the substrate conveying system 1 (for example, but not limited to, the last substrate is placed in the middle of the carrier tray).

For example, if the carrier plate can carry a total of seven substrates, after the white effort arm R3 transfers the first substrate to the carrier plate, the carrier aligning device 15 will make the carrier plate carrying the first substrate Rotate 60 degrees. Then, the next substrate that has been rotated by the substrate alignment device 19 is transferred to the carrier tray by the white effort arm R3, so that the first substrate and the second substrate are placed relative to the substrate transfer system 1 The same location. Next, the tray aligning device 15 will rotate the tray carrying the two substrates by 60 degrees again, and continue to place the next substrate through the white effort arm R3. After placing the first six substrates in sequence, the seventh substrate is transferred to the middle of the tray by the white effort arm R3. Of course, it is also possible that the first substrate is transferred to the middle of the tray first.

Please continue to refer to Figures 1 and 2, the substrate transfer system 1 also includes a singular or plural load lock cavity 16 (load lock) and is connected to the transfer area 14, and the carrier plate carrying the target number of substrates can be loaded through The disk robot arm R1 is transferred from the disk carrier alignment device 15 to the load lock chamber 16 to perform preprocessing of the manufacturing process (for example, vacuuming).

Next, please continue to refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 to understand the transfer process of the substrate after the process is completed. After the substrate is completed in the cavity, the disk loading robot R1 can transfer the disk from the load lock cavity 16 to the disk alignment device 15.

Alternatively, after the process is completed, the carrier tray carrying the substrate can be selected to be transferred to the cooling zone 18 connected to the transfer zone 14 for cooling according to the process requirements. The cooling zone 18 is, for example, but not limited to, another tray loading box 131 for providing a cooling environment.

When cooling is required, the tray carrying the substrate can be transferred from the load lock cavity 16 to the cooling zone 18 through the tray robot arm R1 to cool the substrate. After the cooling is completed, the carrier plate carrying the substrate is transferred from the cooling zone 18 back to the carrier plate aligning device 15 through the carrier robot arm R1.

When cooling is not required or the cooling is completed, the white effort arm R3 transfers the substrate from the tray on the tray aligning device 15 back to the substrate aligning device 19.

Specifically, after the white effort arm R3 transfers the first substrate from the carrier on the carrier aligning device 15 back to the substrate aligning device 19, the carrier aligning device 15 can allow the carrier to carry other substrates. The disk rotates to a third specific angle. Then, after the first substrate leaves the substrate alignment device 19, the next substrate is transferred to the substrate alignment device 19 by the white effort arm R3, and the first substrate and the next substrate can be located opposite to each other. The same position of the substrate conveying system 1 is removed by the white effort arm R3 (for example, but not limited to, regardless of the position of the first positioning block of the carrier, the first substrate and the next substrate The material was taken away by Bailili arm R3 at the 12 o'clock direction of the tray). The transfer process of other substrates can repeat the above transfer steps. Furthermore, different substrates are not restricted to be located at the same position relative to the substrate conveying system 1 to be taken away (for example, but not limited to, the first or last substrate is in the middle of the carrier plate and is used for nothing. Arm R3 Take it away).

Next, the substrate robot R2 transfers the substrate from the substrate alignment device 19 to the substrate loading box 171. The flow of the plural substrates being transferred from the tray back to the substrate loading box 171 is the same as described above.

After all the substrates are transferred from the tray back to the substrate loading box 171, the tray robot arm R1 transfers the tray from the tray alignment device 15 to the tray loading box 131 and completes the substrate transfer process before and after the process.

Please refer to Table 1 and Table 2 to understand the advantages of the substrate conveying system 1 in this case (compared to manual conveying). Table 1 is a comparison table of substrate quality and production efficiency, and Table 2 is a comparison table of transmission accuracy and function. As shown in the table, the substrate conveying system 1 described in this case can achieve better particle control of the substrate, and achieve a lower substrate fragmentation rate and better performance. The number of dies can be increased, and production efficiency can be improved. Furthermore, the accuracy of substrate placement can also be improved. The substrate conveying system 1 also has the function of substrate inspection, historical event tracking, remote operation and support for SECS/GEM, which can reduce the transmission error rate, or facilitate the subsequent debugging of the previous process, and improve the convenience of operation .

project Substrate transfer system Manual transmission Particle control good no Fragmentation rate of substrate low high Number of good dies many less Production per hour high low Table 1

project Substrate transfer system Manual transmission Substrate placement accuracy high low Substrate inspection function (mapping) Have no Event log tracing Have no Remote operation Have no Support SECS/GEM Have no Table 2

In summary, compared with the prior art, the technical effects of the embodiments of the present invention are described as follows.

In the conventional technology, the transfer of some substrates still adopts manual operations, which is easy to cause operation errors and is difficult to control, and may cause problems such as product quality degradation or even fragmentation. On the other hand, the substrate conveying system of the present invention adopts an automated process to convey the substrate, which can not only reduce the contamination rate and fragmentation rate of the substrate, but also accelerate the production efficiency, and the history of the previous process must be tracked in the follow-up. Information can be easily obtained during the process.

The present invention has been disclosed in preferred embodiments above. However, those familiar with the art should understand that the above-mentioned embodiments are only used to describe the present invention and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that all changes and substitutions equivalent to the foregoing embodiments should be included in the scope of the present invention.

1: Substrate conveying system 11: body 12: Substrate pick-and-place area 13: Base of the disc loading box 131: Disc loading box 14: Teleportation area 15: Disk alignment device 16: load interlock cavity 17: Base of substrate loading box 171: Substrate loading box 18: cooling zone 19: Substrate alignment device R1: Disk loading robot arm R2: Substrate robotic arm R3: White hard arm

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a substrate conveying system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a substrate conveying system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

1: Substrate conveying system

11: body

12: Substrate pick-and-place area

13: Base of the disc loading box

131: Disc loading box

14: Teleportation area

15: Disk alignment device

16: load interlock cavity

17: Base of substrate loading box

171: Substrate loading box

19: Substrate alignment device

R1: Disk loading robot arm

R2: Substrate robotic arm

R3: White hard arm

Claims (10)

A substrate conveying system, including: A body, including a base material pick-and-place area and a transfer area; At least one disc loading box base connected to the transfer area and used for fixing a disc loading box; At least one disk aligning device is located in the transfer area, and rotates the disk to a first specific angle according to a first positioning block on the disk; At least one disk loading robot arm is located in the transfer area and used to transfer the disk from the disk loading box to the disk aligning device, and to transfer the disk from the disk aligning device to the disk Loading box At least one substrate loading box base is located in the substrate taking-out area and used for fixing at least one substrate loading box; At least one substrate alignment device is located in the transfer area and rotates the substrate to a predetermined angle according to a second positioning block on the substrate; At least one substrate robot arm is located in the transfer area and used to transfer the substrate from the substrate loading box to the substrate alignment device, and transfer the substrate from the substrate alignment device to the substrate Loading box; and At least one white effort arm is located in the transfer area and used to transfer the substrate from the substrate alignment device to the carrier on the carrier alignment device, and the substrate from the carrier alignment device The carrier plate is transferred to the substrate alignment device. The substrate transfer system according to claim 1, further comprising a substrate loading box sensor and a disc loading box sensor, the substrate loading box sensor is located in the substrate pick-and-place area, and is used for Detect whether the substrate loading box is correctly placed on the base of the substrate loading box, and the disk loading box sensor is connected to the transfer area, and is used to detect whether the disk loading box is correctly placed on the carrier Disk loading box base. The substrate conveying system according to claim 1, further comprising a substrate displacement sensor and a carrier displacement sensor, the substrate displacement sensor being located in the substrate pick-and-place area and used for detecting the Whether the substrate in the substrate loading box protrudes from the substrate loading box, and the carrier displacement sensor is located in the transfer area, and is used to detect whether the carrier disk in the carrier loading box protrudes from the carrier Disk loading box. The substrate conveying system according to claim 1, further comprising a code reading device located in the substrate pick-and-place area, and used to read a code on the substrate loading box to determine the size of the substrate loading box category. The substrate transfer system according to claim 1, wherein the substrate robot has a substrate inspection function (mapping), wherein before the substrate is transferred from the substrate loading box to the substrate alignment device, the substrate The material robot arm corresponds to the vertical displacement of the substrate loading box to know the number and position of the substrate through the substrate inspection function, and the tray robot arm has a tray inspection function (mapping), wherein Before the disk loading box is transferred to the disk aligning device, the disk loading robot arm is vertically displaced corresponding to the disk loading box, so as to know the number and position of the disk through the disk check function. The substrate transfer system according to claim 1, wherein when the substrate transfer system has a plurality of substrate loading box bases, the plurality of substrate loading box bases are arranged adjacent to each other or vertically. The substrate transfer system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one load lock cavity (load lock) connected to the transfer area, wherein the tray robot arm transfers the tray from the tray alignment device to The load lock cavity, and the carrier plate is transferred from the load lock cavity to the carrier plate alignment device. The substrate transfer system according to claim 7, further comprising a cooling zone connected to the transfer zone, wherein the tray loading robot arm transfers the tray from the load lock cavity to the cooling zone to cool the tray On the substrate, and the disk loading robot arm transfers the loading disk from the cooling zone to the loading disk alignment device. The substrate transfer system according to claim 1, further comprising an optical character recognition device (OCR, Optical Character Recognition) and a substrate optical character recognition device (OCR, Optical Character Recognition). The character identifier is connected to the transfer area and is used to identify the number on the carrier plate, and the substrate optical character identifier is connected to the transfer area or the substrate pick-and-place area and is used to identify the number on the substrate. The substrate conveying system according to claim 1, further comprising a lens connected to the conveying area and used to obtain an image of the carrier plate.

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