System for managing waffle boxes

Abstract

The utility model discloses a system for managing a waffle box. The waffle box is configured to store semiconductor crystal grains of the same category or BIN category after the semiconductor crystal grains are sorted from a crystal grain sorting machine. The system includes at least one waffle box arrangement mechanism including at least one waffle box movement mechanism configured to transfer the waffle boxes from a placement station of a die sorter to a number of waffle box stacks. According to the utility model, the problem of insufficient wafer box types of crystal grains sorted from a semiconductor wafer can be solved, which affects the output yield in the crystal grain sorting process. The utility model also relates to a system comprising at least one identification label scanner, and the identification label scanner is configured to identify at least one identification label on the waffle box so as to ensure that the waffle box is identified and tracked and the correct waffle box is used.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model provides a system for managing waffle boxes. After semiconductor dies are sorted from a die sorter, the waffle boxes are configured to store semiconductor dies of the same category or BIN category. On the one hand, the utility model aims to solve the problem of insufficient waffle box categories for dies sorted from a semiconductor wafer, which will affect the yield of the die sorting process; on the other hand, the utility model aims to ensure the identification and tracking of the waffle boxes to ensure the use of the correct waffle boxes. Background Art

[0002] Semiconductor wafers are usually mapped after the semiconductor dies are tested in wafer form. The purpose of the mapping process is to classify the semiconductor dies into their respective categories or BIN categories. For example, the categories or BIN categories can be open circuits, short circuits, and different speed performances of the dies. After the semiconductor wafer is cut into small squares, the die sorter picks up the dies and transfers them to the corresponding waffle boxes, so that each waffle box contains dies of the same category or BIN category. The waffle box or waffle tray is a carrier for several dies, usually rectangular, and includes a plurality of grooves or pockets to receive the semiconductor dies.

[0003] At the current state of the art, problems arise when the number of classes exceeds the number of available output waffle boxes, thus problems may arise in applications where known good die, i.e. good bare die, are performed, where the die are pre-tested and qualified before being sorted by the machine into different output waffle boxes. For example, if a wafer consists of 40 classes or BIN classes, but there are only 10 output waffle box classes available to receive semiconductor die of 10 classes or BIN classes, in this case, after picking up the dies of the 10 classes and placing them into the respective 10 waffle boxes, the stack of 10 waffle boxes will not be filled due to the small number of dies per class, and the remaining 30 classes or BIN classes of wafers will be returned to the wafer box, as the equipment can only accept dies of 10 classes (by default). The stack of 10 waffle boxes is collected by the user only after it is filled. The equipment needs to complete sorting of 10 classes or BIN categories per wafer box before switching to the next 10 classes or BIN categories, repeating this process until all 40 classes or BIN categories are sorted into their respective waffle boxes. This creates a very inefficient process, resulting in low output per hour (UPH) or production. Since the configuration of the existing technology does not allow expansion into output groups, it is not possible to increase the number of waffle boxes at the output end.

[0004] Due to the large number of wafers that need to be loaded and unloaded, several cases of wafer tape expansion increase the probability of die misalignment on the polyester film tape, which puts the die at high risk of explosion of adjacent dies and causes defects on the die, such as corner edge chipping. Die misalignment on the polyester film tape can also cause the repositioning of the reference die on the edge of the wafer after multiple loading and unloading of the wafer, resulting in unnecessary accidents in which the die handler alarms due to detection that the wafer stage exceeds its working range limit.

[0005] Zhuang Hanyu et al. disclosed a multi-channel chip sorting machine in Chinese patent CN218517228U. However, the prior art only includes a four-station tray assembly.

[0006] Li Ling et al. disclosed an automatic sorting device for high-voltage power electronic chips in Chinese patent CN112222016A. However, the prior art only includes a small number of waffle boxes.

[0007] Therefore, it is beneficial to alleviate the above-mentioned disadvantages through a system and method capable of managing a large and scalable number of waffle boxes on an output sorting processing module to accommodate a large number of die types selected from the semiconductor wafer. In addition, the system and method can also identify and track the waffle boxes to ensure that the correct waffle box is used. Utility Model Content

[0008] Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for managing a waffle box, which has good throughput per hour (UPH) or yield because the system does not need to frequently load and unload a large number of wafers.

[0009] Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for managing waffle boxes, wherein as the number of waffle boxes increases, in the case of a large number of categories or BIN categories, the waffle boxes can be filled with semiconductor grains of their respective corresponding categories without changing to another wafer (by changing the wafer box or other means).

[0010] Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for managing multiple waffle box stacks, wherein a single batch of semiconductor wafer boxes can completely sort each wafer into a larger number of waffle box groups, wherein each waffle box stack is represented by a waffle box group.

[0011] Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for managing waffle boxes, wherein by means of the intelligent BIN classification function in the processing software, the user can increase the number of the same BIN category so as to unload the waffle boxes onto several waffle box stackers. The user can collect multiple stacks of the same BIN category.

[0012] Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for managing waffle boxes, wherein the throughput of a die sorter is increased as wafers are unloaded and the polyester film residence process time is reduced.

[0013] Other objects of the present invention will become more apparent through understanding the following detailed description of the present invention or practical applications of the present invention.

[0014] According to the preferred implementation scheme of this utility model, the following technical solutions are provided:

[0015] A system for managing waffle boxes, comprising at least one waffle box arrangement mechanism, the waffle box arrangement mechanism comprising at least one waffle box moving mechanism, the waffle box moving mechanism being configured to transfer waffle boxes from a placement station of a die sorter to a plurality of waffle box stacks. The waffle box stacks are configured to accommodate waffle boxes to be stacked. The waffle box stacks include a transfer mechanism, the transfer mechanism being configured to transfer waffle boxes to the waffle box stacks for stacking.

[0016] In another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided:

[0017] A method for managing a waffle box, comprising the steps of:

[0018] Step 1, picking up at least one semiconductor die of a first category from at least one wafer;

[0019] Step 2, performing any suitable test on the semiconductor grains by at least one grain sorter;

[0020] Step 3, placing the semiconductor die on at least one waffle box by the die sorting machine, wherein each waffle box receives one category of the semiconductor die;

[0021] Step 4, transferring waffle boxes containing an appropriate number of semiconductor dies of the same type by at least one waffle box moving mechanism, and transferring the waffle boxes from a placement station of the die sorter to a plurality of waffle box stacks;

[0022] Step 5, transferring the waffle box to the waffle box stack for stacking by a transfer mechanism;

[0023] Step 6, for other categories of dies, repeat the above steps 1-5, wherein, if the current waffle box arrangement mechanism does not include the desired category of waffle box stacks, at least one first actuator moves the waffle box arrangement mechanism to align another output linear guide having the desired category of stacks aligned with the first linear guide. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will be understood after studying the specific embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0025] Figure 1 A top view of the system of the present invention configured to operate in conjunction with a die sorter;

[0026] Figure 2 A perspective view of a system of the present invention configured to operate in conjunction with a die sorter;

[0027] Figure 3 The utility model is a flow chart of the method disclosed in the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] In the following detailed description, many specific details are provided to provide a comprehensive understanding of the present invention. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other cases, well-known methods, processes and / or components are not described in detail to avoid confusing the present invention.

[0029] The present invention will be more clearly understood through the following description of embodiments of the invention, which are given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings which are not drawn to scale.

[0030] like Figure 1 as well as Figure 2 As shown, this embodiment provides a system 101 for managing waffle boxes 107 , including at least one waffle box arrangement mechanism 102 , wherein the waffle box arrangement mechanism 102 includes at least one waffle box moving mechanism 103 .

[0031] The waffle box moving mechanism 103 is configured to transfer the waffle box 107 from the placement station 117 of the die sorter 401 to a plurality of waffle box stacks 105; the waffle box stacks 105 are configured to accommodate the waffle boxes 107 to be stacked; the waffle box stacks 105 include a transfer mechanism 109, which is configured to transfer the waffle box 107 to the waffle box stacks 105 for stacking. The waffle box moving mechanism 103 can be a crane, a hoist crane, or any suitable machine capable of transferring, picking up, and placing the waffle box 107. The transfer mechanism 109 can be a cylinder, a conveyor belt, a motor with a ball screw, or a linear motor.

[0032] The system 101 further includes at least one first actuator 111, which is configured to move the waffle box arrangement mechanism 102 to align the waffle box arrangement mechanism 102 so that the waffle box moving mechanism 103 can move the waffle box 107 from the placement station 117 of the die sorter 401 to the plurality of waffle box stacks 105. The first actuator 111 can move the waffle box arrangement mechanism 102 in any suitable direction and orientation, such as moving along a plane substantially similar to the placement station 117, moving or sliding toward the placement station 117 at a specific angle, or rotating toward the placement station 117, or any other suitable movement, as long as the plurality of output linear guides 113 of the waffle box arrangement mechanism 102 are finally aligned with the linear guides 409 of the placement station 117. The first actuator 111 can be a motor with a ball screw, a linear motor, a gear mechanism, a conveyor belt, a turret motor, a sliding mechanism, or a pull-down mechanism.

[0033] The waffle box moving mechanism 103 can also be configured to transfer the waffle box 107 along at least one output linear guide 113; wherein the output linear guide 113 is configured to receive the waffle box 107 from the placement station 117. The waffle box stack 105 is located above the output linear guide 113. In this configuration, the first actuator 111 is configured to move the waffle box arrangement mechanism 102 to align the output linear guide 113 with the at least one first linear guide 409 of the placement station 117. If the system 101 includes a plurality of output linear guides 113, the plurality of output linear guides 113 are substantially parallel to each other. The waffle box moving mechanism 103 can be a conveyor, a ball screw, a cylinder, or any suitable mechanism configured to move the waffle box 107 along the output linear guide 113. Generally, the output linear guide 113 has sufficient length and space to store a desired number of different types of waffle boxes. For example, if the wafer has 38 types of semiconductor dies, the output linear guide 113 should have 20 consecutive waffle box stacks / waffle box groups (ie, 19 waffle box groups and 1 empty waffle box group).

[0034] A plurality of stacks 105 are placed above the waffle box moving mechanism 103, wherein each stack is used to store at least one waffle box containing semiconductor dies of the same category. The number of stacks 105 located above the waffle box moving mechanism 103 is at least the same as the number of categories of semiconductor dies that need to be sorted and stored in the waffle boxes 107. For example, if the wafer has 38 categories of semiconductor dies, at least 38 stacks are required. The transfer mechanism 109 is configured to transfer the waffle box 107 from the waffle box moving mechanism 103 to the plurality of stacks 105 to be stacked. For example, the waffle box 107 can be transferred from the waffle box moving mechanism 103 to the stack 105 along the Z axis so as to be stacked with other waffle boxes 107 of the same category.

[0035] Each waffle box 107 also includes at least one identification tag 118. The system 101 further includes at least one identification tag scanner 119 configured to identify the identification tag 118. The at least one identification tag scanner 119 is disposed in or around the die sorter 401 and is configured to check the identification tag 118 on the waffle box 107 when the waffle box 107 is in the die sorter 401 before the semiconductor die 403 is placed into the waffle box 107. The at least one identification tag scanner 119 is disposed in or around the waffle box arrangement mechanism 102 and is configured to check the identification tag 118 on the waffle box 107 before the waffle box 107 containing the corresponding semiconductor die 403 is transferred to a position below its respective stack 105 by the waffle box moving mechanism. The identification tag 118 may be any suitable two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) tag, such as a barcode, a QR code (QR) or a combination thereof.

[0036] like Figure 3 As shown, the utility model also discloses a method for managing waffle boxes, which includes the following steps.

[0037] Step 1: Pick up at least one semiconductor die 403 of a first category from at least one wafer 405. The wafer 405 may be manually loaded by a user or obtained from a wafer box.

[0038] Step 2: Perform any appropriate test on the semiconductor die 403 by at least one die sorter 401. The test may be verification, sorting or a combination thereof.

[0039] Step 3: Place the semiconductor die 403 on at least one waffle box 107 by the die sorter 401, wherein each waffle box 107 receives the semiconductor die 403 of the same category, which is a BIN category.

[0040] Step 4 : Transferring the waffle box 107 containing an appropriate number of semiconductor dies 403 of the same type from the placement station 117 on the die sorter 401 to a plurality of waffle box stacks 105 by at least one waffle box moving mechanism 103 .

[0041] Step 5: The waffle box 107 is transferred to the waffle box stack 105 by the transfer mechanism 109 for stacking.

[0042] Step 6: For other types of grains 403, repeat the above steps 1-5.

[0043] Optionally, if the current waffle box arrangement mechanism 102 does not contain a stack 105 of waffle boxes 107 of the desired category, at least one first actuator 111 moves the waffle box arrangement mechanism 102 to align with another output linear guide 113 having a stack 105 of the desired category aligned with the first linear guide 409 .

[0044] The waffle box moving mechanism 103 is further configured to transfer the waffle boxes 107 along at least one output linear guide 113 , wherein the output linear guide 113 is configured to receive the waffle boxes 107 from the placement station 117 , wherein the waffle box stack 105 is located above the output linear guide 113 .

[0045] The method for managing waffle boxes disclosed in the present invention further includes: scanning at least one identification tag 118 located on the waffle box 107 before the waffle box 107 is transferred to at least one placement station 117 of the die sorter 401. This is to ensure that the correct type of waffle box 107 is in place before the corresponding type of semiconductor die is placed in the waffle box 107 by the die sorter. This operation also ensures that if the user can add a new waffle box 107 to the first linear guide 409 before placing the waffle box 107 with the semiconductor die, the die sorter will not place the semiconductor die on the wrong waffle box 107. The method for managing waffle boxes of the present invention also includes identifying the correct waffle box 107 by scanning the identification tag 118 before step 4. This ensures that the correct waffle box 107 will be brought to its corresponding stack 105.

[0046] By using the system of the present invention and executing the method disclosed in the present invention, the waffle box arrangement mechanism 102 can accommodate waffle boxes 107 carrying more categories of semiconductor dies 403. For example, if the wafer contains 38 categories or BIN categories or groups, the waffle box management system described in the present invention can contain 38 categories of waffle boxes, so there is no need to load new wafers for sorting before all the dies of the wafer are unloaded.

[0047] Although the present invention is considered to be shown and described in the preferred embodiments herein, illustrating the results obtained by the present invention and the advantages over the prior art, the present invention is not limited to those specific embodiments. Therefore, the forms of the present invention shown and described herein are only illustrative, and other embodiments may be selected without departing from the scope of the present invention, as described in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A system (101) for managing waffle boxes, comprising at least one waffle box arrangement mechanism (102), characterized in that: The waffle box arrangement mechanism (102) comprises: at least one waffle box moving mechanism (103), the waffle box moving mechanism (103) being configured to move a waffle box (107) from a placement station (117) of a die sorting machine (401) to a plurality of waffle box stacks (105); The waffle box stack (105) is configured to accommodate waffle boxes (107) to be stacked; the waffle box stack (105) includes a transfer mechanism (109) configured to transfer the waffle boxes (107) into the waffle box stack (105) for stacking.

2. The system (101) for managing waffle boxes according to claim 1, characterized in that: The system (101) further comprises at least one first actuator (111) configured to move the waffle box arrangement mechanism (102) to align the waffle box arrangement mechanism (102), so that the waffle box moving mechanism (103) can move the waffle box (107) from the placement station (117) of the die sorting machine (401) to a plurality of waffle box stacks (105).

3. The system (101) for managing waffle boxes according to claim 1, characterized in that: The waffle box moving mechanism (103) is configured to transfer the waffle box (107) along at least one output linear guide (113); wherein the output linear guide (113) is configured to receive the waffle box (107) from the placement station (117); wherein the waffle box stack (105) is located above the output linear guide (113).

4. The system (101) for managing waffle boxes according to claim 2, characterized in that: The first actuator (111) is configured to move the waffle box arrangement mechanism (102) so that at least one output linear guide (113) of the waffle box arrangement mechanism (102) is aligned with at least one first linear guide (409) of the placement station (117).

5. The system (101) for managing waffle boxes according to claim 3, characterized in that: The output linear guide rails (113) are parallel to each other.

6. The system (101) for managing waffle boxes according to claim 1, characterized in that: The waffle box moving mechanism (103) is a crane or a hoist crane.

7. The system (101) for managing waffle boxes according to claim 1, characterized in that: The transfer mechanism (109) is a cylinder, a conveyor belt, a motor with a ball screw, or a linear motor.

8. The system (101) for managing waffle boxes according to claim 3, characterized in that: The waffle box moving mechanism (103) is a conveyor, a ball screw or a cylinder.

9. The system (101) for managing waffle boxes according to claim 2, characterized in that: The first actuator (111) is a motor with a ball screw, a linear motor, a gear mechanism, a conveyor belt, a turret motor, a sliding mechanism or a pull-down mechanism.

10. The system (101) for managing waffle boxes according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The waffle box (107) also includes at least one identification label (118).

11. The system (101) for managing waffle boxes according to claim 10, characterized in that: The system (101) further includes at least one identification tag scanner (119) configured to identify the identification tag (118).

12. The system (101) for managing waffle boxes according to claim 10, characterized in that: The identification label (118) is a two-dimensional or three-dimensional label.

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