Manipulator self provided with wafer edge-searching sensor

Abstract

The invention relates to a manipulator self provided with a wafer edge-searching sensor, which comprises a main arm (100), an edge-searching sensor (1103) and a mandrel assembly (140), wherein the edge-searching sensor (1103) can lift and rotate along with the main arm (100); the main arm (100) adopts a first hollow structure; the mandrel assembly (140) passes through the first hollow structure and is arranged in a state of not rotating relative to the main arm (100) but lifting relative to the main arm (100); the mandrel assembly (140) adopts a hollow shaft to form a second hollow structure, the second hollow structure keeps an extraction state constantly, a tray (1402) supports the back part of the wafer, certain space is kept between the tray and the wafer, the certain space is communicated with the air to generate negative pressure, and thus, the tray (1402) can stabilize and support the wafer when the wafer is taken and fed. The edge-searching sensor and the manipulator are combined into one, the wafer does not rotate and the main arm drives the sensor to rotate at a high speed during the edge searching process, defects brought by rotating the wafer currently can be effectively avoided, and due to the negative pressure structure of the tray supporting the wafer, defects of the existing sucker structure can be overcome effectively.

Description

[0001] priority statement [0002] This application claims priority based on No. 201610349537.8 filed on May 24, 2016. All content of this application is incorporated by reference in this specification. technical field [0003] The invention relates to a manipulator for taking and delivering wafers, in particular to a wafer manipulator with a wafer edge detection sensor. Background technique [0004] At present, most of the wafer transfer manipulators are separated from the wafer edge detection mechanism, and a few of them move in the horizontal direction with the wafer edge detection mechanism, such as the edge detection sensor in the four-box (loadport) Sorter produced by Japan RORZE company. Aligner (x2) is to fix the edge finding mechanism on both sides of the device. [0005] The working procedure of the existing wafer transfer manipulator is: first take out the wafer from the wafer cassette and transfer it to the tray of the wafer edge-seeking mechanism, start the ce...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0006] The existing technology of the wafer transfer manipulator has technical defects in the following aspects: (1) The existing edge-seeking mechanism is that the tray rotates at high speed with the wafer, and the sensor for detecting the gap and the special camera do not rotate. It is easy to cause vibration and displacement of the high-speed rotating wafer, which can easily cause nano-scale particles and scratches on the back of the wafer and damage to the characteristics of the wafer chip, and these tiny damages will cause the rate of defective products in the wafer manufacturing process The catastrophic rise, especially in the current period of rapid development of the chip industry, the current feature size of the wafer circuit has reached 19 nanometers, and the thickness of the wafer is also continuously decreasing. Any tiny vibration will produce nano-scale particles, so that Wafers cause secondary pollution; cause irreparable losses (2) The transfer time of wafers in the prior art is long, and the manipulator needs to be taken out of the cassette and placed on the edge-finding mechanism fixed on the side of the cabinet, waiting for the mechanism After edge finding, camera OCR, and repositioning are completed, the manipulator retrieves the wafer and continues to transfer it to the designated position, which prolongs the overall wafer transfer time, which will reduce chip production efficiency and increase chip manufacturing costs; (3) Semiconductor 12 Almost every process in the chip manufacturing industry is inseparable from the transfer of the manipulator, and the manipulator manufacturers provide multiple functions in one package (EFEM). One set (sometimes two sets) of independent edge-finding mechanisms greatly increases the overall system EFEM cost

However, this invention has the following technical defects: the invention can only move horizontally in a fixed plane with the traditional edge-seeking mechanism in the X direction and cannot be raised and lowered with the main arm. Unable to truly realize the combination of edge finding and camera (OCR) work and manipulator

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