Semiconductor processing device

Abstract

The purpose of this disclosure is to provide a semiconductor processing apparatus that can simultaneously achieve high-speed sample exchange and low-vibration wafer handling robot. The semiconductor processing apparatus disclosed herein performs: a first operation of unloading a sample from a platform; a second operation of loading a sample onto the platform; at least a portion of the first operation and at least a portion of the second operation are performed in parallel; the second operation ends before the first operation ends.

Claims

1. A semiconductor processing apparatus for processing semiconductor samples, comprising: a first robotic arm and a second robotic arm for transporting the sample; a sample platform for holding the sample; wherein the first robotic arm performs a first operation, moving from a first initial position to the sample platform and loading the first sample held on the sample platform onto the first robotic arm, and retrieving the first sample by moving from the sample platform to the first initial position; wherein the second robotic arm performs a second operation, starting from a second initial position where the second sample is loaded onto the second robotic arm, and transporting the second sample to the sample platform by moving to the sample platform; wherein at least a portion of the first operation and at least a portion of the second operation are performed in parallel; and wherein the second robotic arm terminates the second operation before the first operation ends.

2. The semiconductor processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein, The aforementioned first robotic arm moves with a first acceleration or a first speed when it has a sample on it, and moves with an acceleration greater than the first acceleration or a speed greater than the first speed when it does not have a sample on it. The aforementioned second robotic arm moves with a second acceleration or a second speed when it has a sample on it, and moves with an acceleration greater than the second acceleration or a speed greater than the second speed when it does not have a sample on it.

3. The semiconductor processing apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein, The aforementioned first acceleration or the aforementioned first velocity refers to the acceleration or velocity at which the sample mounted on the aforementioned first robotic arm will not slide on the aforementioned first robotic arm. The aforementioned second acceleration or the aforementioned second velocity refers to the acceleration or velocity at which the sample mounted on the aforementioned second robotic arm will not slide on the aforementioned second robotic arm.

4. The semiconductor processing apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein, When performing the second operation, the aforementioned second robotic arm moves from the aforementioned second initial position toward the aforementioned sample platform with an acceleration smaller than the aforementioned first acceleration or a speed smaller than the aforementioned first speed.

5. The semiconductor processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein, The aforementioned second robotic arm begins the aforementioned second operation at the same time as the aforementioned first robotic arm begins the aforementioned first operation, or within a specific time range before or after the aforementioned first operation begins, thereby ending the aforementioned second operation before the aforementioned first operation ends.

6. The semiconductor processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein, The aforementioned second robotic arm, after transporting the aforementioned second sample to the aforementioned sample platform through the aforementioned second operation, places the aforementioned second sample on the aforementioned sample platform, and moves from the aforementioned sample platform to the aforementioned second initial position with the acceleration or greater acceleration or speed when moving to the aforementioned sample platform from the aforementioned second initial position.

7. The semiconductor processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein, The aforementioned first robotic arm and the aforementioned second robotic arm are respectively equipped with a robotic hand for carrying samples and a viscoelastic body for fixing samples on the robotic hand.

8. The semiconductor processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein, The aforementioned sample platform is equipped with a lifting mechanism that can lift the sample placed on the aforementioned sample platform. The aforementioned first robotic arm receives the aforementioned first sample lifted by the aforementioned lifting mechanism from the aforementioned sample platform. The aforementioned second robotic arm places the aforementioned second sample carried by the aforementioned second robotic arm onto the aforementioned lifting mechanism. The aforementioned lifting mechanism places the aforementioned second sample received from the aforementioned second robotic arm onto the aforementioned sample platform by lowering it from above the aforementioned sample platform.

9. The semiconductor processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein, The aforementioned first initial position and the aforementioned second initial position are the same in the top view, but their vertical heights are different.

10. The semiconductor processing apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein, The aforementioned first initial position is located vertically below the aforementioned second initial position.

11. The semiconductor processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein, The aforementioned semiconductor processing device includes a transport mechanism that is driven by one degree of freedom for each of the aforementioned first robotic arm and the aforementioned second robotic arm. The transport mechanism has four degrees of freedom by being able to perform operations to move the entire transport mechanism up and down and to rotate the entire transport mechanism horizontally.

12. The semiconductor processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein, The aforementioned semiconductor processing apparatus further comprises: a sample chamber for housing the aforementioned sample platform; a first pre-exhaust chamber and a second pre-exhaust chamber, which can change the internal pressure from vacuum to atmospheric pressure when receiving or sending samples between the aforementioned sample chamber and the atmospheric environment; the aforementioned first sample is transported to the aforementioned sample platform via the aforementioned first pre-exhaust chamber, and the aforementioned second sample is transported to the aforementioned sample platform via the aforementioned second pre-exhaust chamber.

13. The semiconductor processing apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein, The aforementioned semiconductor processing device is equipped with a third robotic arm. The third robotic arm is used to transport the aforementioned second sample to the aforementioned second pre-exhaust chamber when the aforementioned first sample is processed in the aforementioned sample chamber. The aforementioned second pre-exhaust chamber is used to ventilate the interior of the aforementioned second pre-exhaust chamber when the aforementioned first sample is processed inside the aforementioned sample chamber. By performing the aforementioned first operation by the aforementioned first robotic arm and the aforementioned second operation by the aforementioned second robotic arm, the aforementioned first sample processed in the aforementioned sample chamber is exchanged with the aforementioned second sample in the aforementioned second pre-exhaust chamber. The aforementioned second pre-exhaust chamber returns to atmospheric pressure after the aforementioned second sample is moved out of the aforementioned sample platform. The aforementioned third robotic arm is used to move the aforementioned first sample recovered from the aforementioned sample platform out through the aforementioned second pre-exhaust chamber.

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