Wafer box opening system, clamping mechanism, and temporary storage device

Abstract

The present invention discloses a wafer box opening system, comprising: a wafer box switch, the wafer box switch comprising a loading platform and an opening mechanism, the loading platform is used to carry the wafer box, the opening mechanism is arranged on the side of the loading platform and is used to open and close the wafer box; and, a temporary storage device, the temporary storage device is arranged close to the loading platform and is used to lift the wafer box located on the loading platform to a temporary storage position, the temporary storage device comprises a clamping mechanism, the clamping mechanism comprises a mounting seat, a top claw arranged on the mounting seat and at least two lower claws arranged oppositely, the lower claws are arranged along the circumference of the top claws, and the lower claws include an inclined abutting surface for abutting against the bottom surface of the wafer box connector. The wafer box opening system of the present invention cooperates with the wafer box switch by arranging a temporary storage device, and uses the temporary storage device to lift the empty box or full box located on the wafer box switch, thereby shortening the idle time of the wafer box switch, thereby speeding up the wafer box conversion process.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of semiconductor technology, and in particular to a wafer box opening system, a clamping mechanism and a temporary storage device. Background Art

[0002] In the semiconductor industry, due to the expensive net house cost and maintenance costs, each process equipment is equipped with a limited number of wafer box switches. Therefore, when moving wafers in and out of the process equipment, the time spent on loading and unloading the wafer box carrying the wafers is also one of the important factors that respond to the capacity of the process equipment. Whether it is relying on automated mechanisms or manual handling, how to quickly remove the wafer box that has entered the process equipment (hereinafter referred to as the empty box) and then place the wafer box filled with wafers (hereinafter referred to as the full box) on the wafer box switch for continuous conversion is also an important issue to increase the capacity of the equipment. If it is handled by automation, according to the above process, the robot arm must first take away the empty box, and after it is properly placed, take out the full box from another storage position and place it on the wafer box switch to complete a conversion process (if the wafer is taken out from the process equipment, the wafer box conversion process is also a similar reverse process to the above). The wafer box conversion process takes a considerable amount of time, and the wafer loading and unloading robotic arms in the process equipment can only wait in the waiting area, which directly affects the production efficiency of the entire process equipment.

[0003] In the field of 12-inch wafer technology, high-capacity process equipment mostly uses self-contained wafer box storage devices to shorten the time required for wafer box conversion. Despite this, the wafer box robot arm still needs a certain amount of time to complete the wafer box conversion process. There are also double-chuck robot arms to speed up the wafer box conversion process, but the double-chuck robot arms take up too much expensive clean room space.

[0004] Therefore, it is necessary to propose further solutions to the above problems. Summary of the invention

[0005] The present invention aims to provide a wafer box opening system, a clamping mechanism and a temporary storage device to overcome the deficiencies in the prior art.

[0006] In order to solve the above technical problems, the technical solution of the present invention is:

[0007] A wafer box opening system, comprising:

[0008] A wafer box opener, the wafer box opener comprising a loading platform and a box opening mechanism, the loading platform is used to carry the wafer box, the box opening mechanism is arranged on the side of the loading platform and is used to open and close the wafer box; and,

[0009] A temporary storage device, which is arranged close to the loading platform and is used to lift the wafer box located on the loading platform to a temporary storage position, the temporary storage device includes a clamping mechanism, the clamping mechanism includes a mounting seat, a top claw arranged on the mounting seat and at least two oppositely arranged lower claws, the lower claws are arranged circumferentially along the top claws, the lower claws include an inclined abutting surface for abutting against the bottom surface of the wafer box connector, and the lower claws gradually decrease in the direction approaching the center of the top claws, the minimum distance between the abutting surface and the plane where the top claws are located is adapted to the thickness of the connector, the clamping mechanism also includes a driving member arranged on the mounting seat, the driving member is used to drive at least two oppositely arranged lower claws to move toward the center direction of the top claws, so as to clamp the connector between the lower claws and the top claws.

[0010] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a carrying plate and a driving mechanism are provided on the loading platform, the carrying plate is used to carry the wafer box, and the driving mechanism is used to drive the carrying plate to be located at an opening position to be close to the opening mechanism, or to be located at an avoidance position to be away from the opening mechanism.

[0011] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the clamping mechanism is located directly above the avoidance position.

[0012] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the supporting plate is provided with an avoidance groove 1, the avoidance groove 1 extends inwardly from a side of the supporting plate away from the box opening mechanism, and the avoidance groove 1 runs through the thickness direction of the supporting plate.

[0013] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a locking assembly is provided on the side of the box opening mechanism facing the loading platform, and the locking assembly is arranged opposite to the supporting plate. The locking assembly includes at least one rotatable abutment member, and the abutment member is adapted to the wafer box so as to rotate and abut against the protruding edge of the opening side of the wafer box when the wafer box is located in the box opening position.

[0014] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it also includes:

[0015] Multiple storage boards;

[0016] A wafer box transfer robot arm is used to transfer the wafer box located on the temporary storage device to the storage board.

[0017] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the storage plate is provided with a second avoidance groove, the second avoidance groove extends inward from the free side of the storage plate, and the second avoidance groove runs through the thickness direction of the storage plate.

[0018] Another technical solution is:

[0019] A clamping mechanism for clamping a connector at the top of a wafer box, comprising:

[0020] Mounting seat;

[0021] A top claw disposed on the mounting seat;

[0022] At least two lower claws are arranged opposite to each other, the lower claws are arranged along the circumference of the top claw, the lower claws include an inclined abutting surface for abutting against the bottom surface of the wafer box connector, and the lower claws gradually decrease in the direction close to the center of the top claw, and the minimum distance between the abutting surface and the plane where the top claw is located is adapted to the thickness of the connector; and

[0023] A driving member is arranged on the mounting seat, and is used for driving at least two oppositely arranged lower jaws to move toward the center direction of the top jaw, so as to clamp the connector between the lower jaws and the top jaw.

[0024] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the driving member is a slide rail type parallel mechanical claw, and two sliding blocks of the driving member are respectively connected to two oppositely arranged lower claws.

[0025] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a touch pressure sensor adapted to the notch of the connector is disposed on the lower claw and / or the top claw.

[0026] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the touch pressure sensor is arranged at one end of the top claw facing the connector, the distance a that the touch pressure sensor protrudes from the surface of the top claw is, the height of the abutting surface is b, and a=b.

[0027] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the touch pressure sensor is disposed on the inner side of the lower claw and is located above the abutting surface so as to face the recess of the connector.

[0028] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a groove for accommodating the touch pressure sensor is formed on the lower claw and / or the top claw.

[0029] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the size of the groove is larger than the size of the touch pressure sensor, so that the touch pressure sensor can adjust its position in the groove.

[0030] Another technical solution is:

[0031] A temporary storage device, used for lifting a wafer box located on a loading platform to a temporary storage position, comprising:

[0032] Any of the above clamping mechanisms; and,

[0033] A lifting mechanism is used to drive the clamping mechanism to move between the loading platform and the temporary storage position.

[0034] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the lifting mechanism includes a vertically arranged guide rail, and the clamping mechanism is lifted and lowered along the guide rail.

[0035] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0036] (1) The wafer box opening system of the present invention cooperates with the wafer box opener by setting a temporary storage device, and uses the temporary storage device to lift the empty box or full box on the wafer box opener, thereby shortening the idle time of the wafer box opener and speeding up the wafer box conversion process.

[0037] (2) The clamping mechanism of the present invention achieves stable clamping of the connector through the cooperation of the top claw and the lower claw, thereby clamping the wafer box; further, by providing an inclined abutment surface on the lower claw, gradual clamping of the connector is achieved to avoid direct jamming into the bottom of the connector and causing damage to the connector. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments recorded in the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0039] Figure 1 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a front-opening wafer transfer box in the prior art;

[0040] Figure 2 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a front-opening wafer transfer box in the prior art from another angle;

[0041] Figure 3 It is a top view schematic diagram of a front-opening wafer transfer box in the prior art;

[0042] Figure 4 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the wafer box opening system of the present invention in a use state;

[0043] Figure 5 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the wafer box opening system of the present invention in another angle when in use;

[0044] Figure 6 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the loading platform and the box opening mechanism in the present invention;

[0045] Figure 7 for Figure 6 A partial top view schematic diagram of FIG.

[0046] Figure 8 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the clamping mechanism in the present invention;

[0047] Fig. 9 for Figure 8 A partial front view schematic diagram of

[0048] Fig.10 for Figure 8 A partial bottom-up schematic diagram of

[0049] Fig.11 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the driving member in the present invention;

[0050] Fig.12 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the lower claw in the present invention;

[0051] Fig.13 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the top claw in the present invention;

[0052] Fig.14 is a schematic diagram of the clamping mechanism of the present invention in use;

[0053] Fig.15 It is a schematic top view of the storage board in the present invention.

[0054] Specifically, 3, wafer box; 31, box cover; 32, lock hole; 33, protruding edge; 34, connector; 35, notch;

[0055] 300, loading platform; 310, carrying plate; 311, avoidance groove 1; 312, positioning pin; 320, mounting back plate; 330, box opening plate; 331, unlocking assembly; 332, adsorption assembly; 340, abutment member;

[0056] 400, storage board; 410, avoidance slot 2;

[0057] 900, temporary storage device; 910, clamping mechanism; 911, mounting seat; 912, top claw; 913, lower claw; 9131, abutment surface; 914, driving member; 9141, slider; 915, touch pressure sensor; 9151, groove; 920, lifting mechanism; 921, guide rail. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0058] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0059] In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside" and the like indicate positions or positional relationships based on the positions or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the scope of protection of the present invention. In addition, the terms "first", "second", etc. are only used for descriptive purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, features defined as "first", "second", etc. may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present invention, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" means two or more.

[0060] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "installed", "connected", and "connected" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and it can be the internal communication of two components. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by specific circumstances.

[0061] like Figures 1 to 3 The figure shows a commonly used wafer box 3, namely a front opening unified pod (FOUP). The top of the wafer box 3 is provided with a connector 34, the box cover 31 is provided with two locking holes 32, and the opening edge and the bottom edge are provided with protruding edges 33.

[0062] like Figure 4 and Figure 5 As shown, the wafer box opening system includes a wafer box switch and the above temporary storage device 900. The temporary storage device 900 is used to lift the empty box or full box on the wafer box switch, shortening the idle time of the wafer box switch, thereby speeding up the wafer box 3 conversion process.

[0063] Specifically, Figure 6 and Figure 7 As shown, the wafer box opener includes a loading platform 300 and a box opening mechanism. The loading platform 300 is used to carry the wafer box 3 . The box opening mechanism is arranged on the side of the loading platform 300 and is used to open and close the wafer box 3 .

[0064] A carrying plate 310 and a driving mechanism are disposed on the loading platform 300 .

[0065] The carrier plate 310 is used to carry the wafer box 3. Generally, the wafer box 3 is transferred to the carrier plate 310 by the wafer box transfer robot. Preferably, the carrier plate 310 is provided with an avoidance groove 311. The avoidance groove 311 extends inward from the side of the carrier plate 310 facing away from the box mechanism, and the avoidance groove 311 runs through the thickness direction of the carrier plate 310, that is, the opening of the avoidance groove 311 faces away from the box mechanism and faces the wafer box transfer robot, so that the wafer box transfer robot can lift the wafer box 3 and place the wafer box 3 on the carrier plate 310. In this embodiment, the carrier plate 310 is set as a U-shaped plate, and the avoidance groove 311 is formed inside the two arms of the U-shaped plate. Of course, other shapes of plates can also be used to meet the above requirements.

[0066] The carrier plate 310 is provided with positioning pins 312 matched with the positioning grooves at the bottom of the wafer box 3 to prevent the wafer box 3 placed thereon from moving horizontally.

[0067] Sensors may also be provided on the carrier plate 310 to detect the position or state of the carrier plate 310 or the wafer box 3, such as detecting whether the wafer box 3 is placed, detecting whether the carrier plate 310 is moved to a specified position, and so on.

[0068] The driving mechanism is used to drive the carrier plate 310 to be located at the box opening position so as to be close to the box opening mechanism, or to be located at the avoidance position so as to be away from the box opening mechanism. That is, the driving mechanism is configured to drive the carrier plate 310 to be close to or away from the box opening mechanism so that the wafer box 3 can dock with the box opening mechanism in a set state to realize the door opening and closing operation. In this embodiment, the driving mechanism is arranged in a housing below the carrier plate 310, and the housing has a shape similar to that of the carrier plate 310 to avoid the wafer box transfer robot arm.

[0069] In this embodiment, a mounting back plate 320 is provided between the loading platform 300 and the box opening mechanism, and an opening is provided on the mounting back plate 320 so that the wafer transfer robot arm can extend into the wafer box 3 to take and place the wafer. The box opening mechanism is provided on the mounting back plate 320, and the box cover 31 of the wafer box 3 located on the carrier plate 310 is opened by the box opening mechanism. The box opening mechanism may also include a mapping sensor and a mapping drive component. After the box is opened, the mapping drive component drives the mapping sensor to enter the wafer box 3 and scan the wafers inside it in the vertical direction to detect the internal wafer conditions.

[0070] The box opening mechanism is selected according to the type of wafer box 3 so that the wafer box 3 can be opened smoothly to expose the wafer inside. Generally speaking, the box opening mechanism specifically includes a box opening plate 330, an unlocking component 331, an adsorption component 332 and a driving component. The box opening plate 330 matches the opening of the mounting back plate 320 to cover the opening, the unlocking component 331 and the adsorption component 332 are arranged on the side of the box opening plate 330 facing the opening to realize the door opening operation of the wafer box 3, the adsorption component 332 adsorbs the cover 31 of the wafer box 3, and the unlocking component 331 cooperates with the lock hole 32 on the cover 31 of the wafer box 3 to unlock. After the unlocking is completed, the box opening plate 330 drives the cover 31 of the wafer box 3 to move a distance away from the wafer box 3 and then move down under the drive of the driving component. It can be understood that the closing process can be operated in the opposite way to the opening process.

[0071] The opening mechanism is preferably provided with a locking assembly on one side of the loading platform 300, and the locking assembly is arranged opposite to the carrier plate 310 to limit the vertical movement of the wafer box 3 through the cooperation of the two, and also to prevent the carrier plate 310 from accidentally moving backward when the opening mechanism is in operation, causing the wafer box 3 to be far away from the opening mechanism. Figure 6 As shown, the locking assembly includes at least one rotatable abutment member 340 , which is matched with the wafer box 3 so as to be rotatably abutted against the protruding edge 33 of the opening side of the wafer box 3 when the wafer box 3 is located at the open box position.

[0072] The temporary storage device 900 in the system is arranged near the loading platform 300 and is used to lift the wafer box 3 on the loading platform 300 to the temporary storage position. Preferably, the clamping mechanism 910 is located just above the avoidance position, so as to facilitate the rapid lifting of the wafer box 3.

[0073] The system may further include a plurality of storage boards 400 and a wafer box transfer robot arm. The wafer box transfer robot arm is used to transfer the wafer box on the temporary storage device 900 to the storage board 400.

[0074] like Fig.15 As shown, preferably, the storage plate 400 is provided with a second avoidance groove 410, which extends inward from the free side of the storage plate 400 and runs through the thickness direction of the storage plate 400, so as to facilitate the wafer box transfer robot arm to lift the wafer box 3 from below for transfer operation. Similarly, the storage plate 400 is provided with a positioning pin 312 adapted to the positioning groove at the bottom of the wafer box 3 to prevent the wafer box 3 from moving horizontally.

[0075] The clamping mechanism 910 used in this system is as follows Figure 8 and Fig.14As shown, it is used to clamp the connector 34 at the top of the wafer box 3. The clamping mechanism 910 includes a mounting seat 911, a top claw 912 and a lower claw 913, so that the top claw 912 and the lower claw 913 cooperate to achieve stable clamping of the connector 34, thereby clamping the wafer box 3.

[0076] Specifically, the top claw 912 is disposed on the mounting seat 911 and faces downward to abut against the top surface of the connector 34. The lower claw 913 is disposed circumferentially along the top claw 912, and at least two lower claws 913 are disposed opposite to each other to stably clamp the opposite sides of the connector 34. The mounting seat 911 is also provided with a driving member 914, which is used to drive at least two oppositely disposed lower claws 913 to move toward the center direction of the top claw 912 to clamp the connector 34 between the lower claw 913 and the top claw 912.

[0077] like Fig. 9 and Fig.12 As shown, the lower claw 913 includes abutting surface 9131 for abutting against the bottom surface of the connector 34. The abutting surface 9131 is an inclined surface, and it gradually decreases in the direction close to the center of the top claw 912, that is, the side of the abutting surface 9131 close to the top claw 912 is lower than the side away from the top claw 912. Through this arrangement, when the lower claw 913 moves toward the top claw 912, the connector 34 is gradually lifted by the abutting surface 9131 until it abuts against the top claw 912, thereby achieving progressive clamping of the connector 34, avoiding direct insertion into the bottom of the connector 34 and causing damage to the connector 34, and also ensuring that the connector 34 is tightly clamped between the top claw 912 and the lower claw 913, avoiding a gap between the connector 34 and the top claw 912.

[0078] Preferably, the minimum distance between the abutment surface 9131 and the plane where the top claw 912 is located is adapted to the thickness of the connecting head 34, so that the connecting head 34 contacts the side wall of the lower claw 913, thereby not only restricting the connecting head 34 between the top claw 912 and the lower claw 913, but also restricting the connecting head 34 between the side walls of the two opposite lower claws 913, avoiding restricting the connecting head 34 only by the cooperation between the abutment surface 9131 and the top claw 912, causing serious wear of the abutment surface 9131.

[0079] like Fig.11 As shown, preferably, the driving member 914 is a slide rail type parallel mechanical claw, and the two sliders 9141 of the driving member 914 are respectively connected to the two lower claws 913 arranged opposite to each other. The slide rail type parallel mechanical claw is small in size, has its own linear guide, and has precise moving direction. At the same time, the pistons on both sides of it are synchronously moved, and the clamping force is greater than other mechanical clamps with the same cylinder diameter. The slide rail type parallel mechanical claw also contains an induction magnet, which can be conveniently set up with a sensor for precise control.

[0080] like Fig. 9 and Fig.10As shown, preferably, a touch pressure sensor 915 adapted to the notch 35 of the connector 34 is provided on the lower claw 913 and / or the top claw 912 to determine whether the connector 34 is clamped. In this embodiment, the clamping mechanism is provided with two lower claws 913 arranged opposite to each other, and a total of four touch pressure sensors 915 are provided to correspond to the four notches 35 of the connector 34. Two of the four touch pressure sensors 915 are respectively provided on the two lower claws 913, and the other two are respectively provided at both ends of the top claw 912.

[0081] The pressure sensor 915 on the top claw 912 is disposed at one end of the top claw 912 facing the connector 34, and the pressure sensor 915 protrudes from the surface of the top claw 912 by a distance a, so as to be embedded in the recess 35 and contact the inner wall thereof. Furthermore, the height of the abutting surface 9131 is b, and a=b, so that when the connector 34 contacts the surface of the top claw 912, the pressure sensor 915 is embedded in the recess 35 and triggered.

[0082] like Fig.12 As shown, the touch pressure sensor 915 on the lower claw 913 is arranged on the inner side of the lower claw 913 and is located above the abutting surface 9131 to face the notch 35 of the connector 34. At the same time, the trigger end of the touch pressure sensor 915 is located at the same horizontal plane as the high side of the abutting surface 9131, so that when the connector 34 is tightly clamped between the top claw 912 and the lower claw 913, the four touch pressure sensors 915 are triggered at the same time.

[0083] Preferably, a groove 9151 for accommodating the touch pressure sensor 915 is provided on the lower claw 913 and / or the top claw 912, so that the surface of the lower claw 913 and the surface of the top claw 912 can contact the surface of the connector 34, and the connector 34 can be tightly clamped by the lower claw 913 and the top claw 912 to prevent the touch pressure sensor 915 from being over-extruded and damaged. Furthermore, the size of the groove 9151 is larger than the size of the touch pressure sensor 915, so that the touch pressure sensor 915 can adjust its position in the groove 9151, thereby adapting to connectors 34 of different sizes.

[0084] Preferably, the clamping mechanism 910 further comprises an outer cover plate arranged outside the mounting seat 911 , so as to cover all the internal components and prevent the particle contamination generated by the back and forth movement of the driving member 914 from leaking out.

[0085] The present invention also provides a temporary storage device 900 for lifting the wafer box 3 on the loading platform 300 to a temporary storage position, including the above clamping mechanism 910 and the lifting mechanism 920, and the lifting mechanism 920 is used to drive the clamping mechanism 910 to move between the loading platform 300 and the temporary storage position.

[0086] Furthermore, the lifting mechanism 920 includes a vertically arranged guide rail 921 , and the clamping mechanism 910 is lifted and lowered along the guide rail 921 , so that the clamping mechanism 910 can be arranged directly above the loading platform 300 to improve space utilization.

[0087] A counterweight is provided on one side of the lifting mechanism 920 to achieve stable lifting of the wafer box 3. Furthermore, the positioning accuracy of the lifting mechanism 920 is not less than 0.01 mm.

[0088] When the system is loading, when the wafer transfer robot of the process equipment moves the wafer out of the wafer box 3 and continues to move the wafer into the process equipment, the carrier plate 310 retreats from the box opening position to the avoidance position, and the temporary storage device 900 vertically lifts the empty box by clamping the connector 34 above the wafer box 3, and lets the carrier plate 310 out, allowing the wafer box transfer robot with a full box to immediately place the full box on the carrier plate 310, and the carrier plate 310 moves to the box opening position. While the box opening mechanism is opening the box and the wafer transfer robot is performing the wafer transfer action, the wafer box transfer robot can retrieve the empty box above the loading platform 300 from the temporary storage device 900 and place it back to the empty box storage station. That is, the system allows the wafer box transfer robot to synchronously move the full box from the storage position to the carrier plate 310 to wait while the process equipment is transferring the wafer, and put the full box first and then take the empty box, which effectively shortens the time for loading and unloading the wafer box 3. It is understandable that, when unloading, the temporary storage device 900 is used to temporarily store full boxes.

[0089] In summary, the clamping mechanism of the present invention realizes stable clamping of the connector through the cooperation of the top claw and the lower claw, thereby clamping the wafer box. The wafer box opening system of the present invention cooperates with the wafer box switch by setting a temporary storage device, and uses the temporary storage device to lift the empty box or full box on the wafer box switch, shortening the idle time of the wafer box switch, thereby speeding up the wafer box conversion process.

[0090] In addition, it should be understood that although the present specification is described according to implementation modes, not every implementation mode contains only one independent technical solution. This description of the specification is only for the sake of clarity. Those skilled in the art should regard the specification as a whole. The technical solutions in each embodiment may also be appropriately combined to form other implementation modes that can be understood by those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A wafer box opening system, characterized in that: include: A wafer box opener, the wafer box opener comprising a loading platform and a box opening mechanism, the loading platform is used to carry the wafer box, the box opening mechanism is arranged on the side of the loading platform and is used to open and close the wafer box; and, A temporary storage device, the temporary storage device is arranged near the loading platform and is used to lift the wafer box located on the loading platform to a temporary storage position, the temporary storage position is located directly above the loading platform, the temporary storage device includes a clamping mechanism and a lifting mechanism, the lifting mechanism is arranged on the other side of the loading platform, one side of the clamping mechanism is connected to the lifting mechanism, and the clamping mechanism can move between the loading platform and the temporary storage position under the drive of the lifting mechanism, the clamping mechanism includes a mounting seat, a top claw arranged on the mounting seat and at least two lower claws arranged opposite to each other, the lower claws being arranged circumferentially along the top claw, the lower claws comprising an inclined abutting surface for abutting against the bottom surface of the wafer box connector, and gradually lowering in the direction approaching the center of the top claw, the minimum distance between the abutting surface and the plane where the top claw is located is adapted to the thickness of the connector, the clamping mechanism also comprising a driving member arranged on the mounting seat, the driving member being used to drive at least two lower claws arranged opposite to each other to move toward the center direction of the top claw, so as to clamp the connector between the lower claw and the top claw.

2. The wafer box opening system according to claim 1, characterized in that: A carrying plate and a driving mechanism are provided on the loading platform, wherein the carrying plate is used to carry the wafer box, and the driving mechanism is used to drive the carrying plate to be located at a box opening position to be close to the box opening mechanism, or to be located at an avoidance position to be away from the box opening mechanism.

3. The wafer box opening system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The clamping mechanism is located directly above the avoidance position.

4. The wafer box opening system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The supporting plate is provided with an avoidance groove 1, which extends inward from a side of the supporting plate away from the box opening mechanism, and the avoidance groove 1 runs through the thickness direction of the supporting plate.

5. The wafer box opening system according to claim 2, characterized in that: A locking assembly is provided on the side of the box opening mechanism facing the loading platform, and the locking assembly is arranged opposite to the supporting plate. The locking assembly includes at least one rotatable abutment member, and the abutment member is adapted to the wafer box so as to rotate and abut against the protruding edge of the opening side of the wafer box when the wafer box is located in the box opening position.

6. The wafer box opening system according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: Multiple storage boards; A wafer box transfer robot arm is used to transfer the wafer box located on the temporary storage device to the storage board.

7. The wafer box opening system according to claim 6, characterized in that: The storage plate is provided with a second avoidance groove, the second avoidance groove extends inward from the free side of the storage plate, and the second avoidance groove runs through the thickness direction of the storage plate.

8. A temporary storage device, used to lift a wafer box located on a loading platform to a temporary storage position, characterized in that: include: Clamping mechanism; and, A lifting mechanism, the lifting mechanism is used to drive the clamping mechanism to move between the loading platform and the temporary storage position, the temporary storage position is located directly above the loading platform, and the lifting mechanism is arranged on the side of the loading platform; A clamping mechanism is used to clamp the connector at the top of the wafer box, one side of the clamping mechanism is connected to the lifting mechanism, and the clamping mechanism includes: Mounting seat; A top claw disposed on the mounting seat; At least two lower claws are arranged opposite to each other, the lower claws are arranged along the circumference of the top claw, the lower claws include an inclined abutting surface for abutting against the bottom surface of the wafer box connector, and the lower claws gradually decrease in the direction close to the center of the top claw, and the minimum distance between the abutting surface and the plane where the top claw is located is adapted to the thickness of the connector; and A driving member is arranged on the mounting seat, and is used for driving at least two oppositely arranged lower jaws to move toward the center direction of the top jaw, so as to clamp the connector between the lower jaws and the top jaw.

9. The temporary storage device according to claim 8, characterized in that: The lifting mechanism comprises a vertically arranged guide rail, and the clamping mechanism is lifted and lowered along the guide rail.

10. The temporary storage device according to claim 8, characterized in that: The driving member is a slide rail type parallel mechanical claw, and the two sliding blocks of the driving member are respectively connected to the two lower claws arranged opposite to each other.

11. The temporary storage device according to claim 8, characterized in that: The lower claw and / or the top claw are provided with a touch pressure sensor matched with the notch of the connector.

12. The temporary storage device according to claim 11, characterized in that: The pressure sensor is arranged at one end of the top claw facing the connector, the distance a that the pressure sensor protrudes from the surface of the top claw is, the height of the abutting surface is b, and a=b.

13. The temporary storage device according to claim 11, characterized in that: The touch pressure sensor is arranged on the inner side of the lower claw and is located above the abutting surface so as to face the notch of the connector.

14. The temporary storage device according to claim 11, characterized in that: The lower claw and / or the top claw is provided with a groove for accommodating the touch pressure sensor.

15. The temporary storage device according to claim 14, characterized in that: The size of the groove is larger than that of the touch pressure sensor, so that the touch pressure sensor can adjust its position in the groove.

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