A wafer transport robot

Abstract

The present invention discloses a wafer transport robot, a main body; two adsorption arms, which are arranged on the main body at intervals, and the two adsorption arms are each provided with two or more vacuum holes at intervals; two or more negative pressure pipelines, each of which is connected to at least two of the vacuum holes to form an adsorption system; the maximum vacuum hole spacing of each adsorption system is different. It can be applied to the grabbing and handling of wafers of more than two sizes at the same time, which improves the compatibility of the wafer transport robot and can greatly improve the production efficiency of the wafer. At least two vacuum holes in the adsorption system serve as adsorption fulcrums to stably grab and transport wafers through at least two adsorption fulcrums. And the maximum vacuum hole spacing of each adsorption system is different, so that the wafer transport robot can grab and transport wafers of different sizes through more than two adsorption systems, such as at least two wafers of four inches, six inches, eight inches and twelve inches.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor manufacturing, and in particular to a wafer transport robot. Background Art

[0002] Currently in the field of semiconductor manufacturing technology, robotic wafer transport manipulators have been widely used to transfer wafers from one working stage to another. For example, in the transfer of wafers from an etching machine, the atmospheric wafer transport manipulator grabs the wafer from the wafer box in the atmospheric environment and places it in the area where the atmosphere and vacuum are exchanged. Then the vacuum wafer transport manipulator grabs the wafer from the area where the atmosphere and vacuum are exchanged and places it in the cavity of the vacuum environment for etching reaction. Each step of the wafer transfer here is achieved by the wafer transport manipulator. There are three main ways for existing wafer transport manipulators to fix wafers when grabbing wafers, namely vacuum adsorption of wafers, bayonet fixing of wafers, and sealing of wafers with rubber rings.

[0003] However, the wafer transport robot in the prior art has limitations in practical application and is costly when used in a production line, which is not conducive to improving wafer production efficiency. Summary of the invention

[0004] In order to solve the above technical problems and achieve the purpose of the present invention, the present invention provides a wafer transport robot that can be used for grasping and transporting wafers of two or more sizes at the same time, thereby improving the compatibility of the wafer transport robot and greatly improving the production efficiency of wafers.

[0005] The technical solution to achieve the purpose of the present invention is a wafer transport robot, comprising:

[0006] main body;

[0007] Two adsorption arms are arranged on the main body at intervals, and at least two vacuum holes are arranged on the two adsorption arms at intervals;

[0008] There are more than two negative pressure pipelines, each of which is connected to at least two of the vacuum holes to form an adsorption system; the maximum vacuum hole spacing of each adsorption system is different.

[0009] Furthermore, along the direction from the main body to the adsorption arms, the distance between the two adsorption arms tends to increase.

[0010] Furthermore, the wafer transport robot is Y-shaped, and the two adsorption arms are symmetrically arranged on the main body.

[0011] Furthermore, the number of the vacuum holes arranged on the two adsorption arms is the same, and the positions thereof correspond one to one.

[0012] Furthermore, the vacuum holes on the two adsorption arms are coplanar; a support arm is also provided on the main body, and a working surface of the support arm for contacting the wafer is coplanar with the vacuum hole.

[0013] Furthermore, the support arm is provided with more than one auxiliary adsorption hole; each of the adsorption systems is connected to at least one of the auxiliary adsorption holes.

[0014] Furthermore, each of the negative pressure pipelines includes a main pipe, a first branch pipe for one-to-one communication with the vacuum holes, a second branch pipe for one-to-one communication with the auxiliary adsorption holes, and a control valve arranged on the main pipe; the main pipe simultaneously connects or cuts off each of the first branch pipe and the second branch pipe through the control valve.

[0015] Furthermore, the wafer transport robot also includes at least one negative pressure device, and the negative pressure device is connected to the inlet end of the main pipe.

[0016] Furthermore, the wafer transport robot includes two of the negative pressure pipelines, the number of the negative pressure device is one, and the number of the auxiliary adsorption hole is one; both of the two negative pressure pipelines are connected to the negative pressure device, and both of the two negative pressure pipelines are connected to the auxiliary adsorption hole.

[0017] Furthermore, each of the vacuum holes in the adsorption system is located on the two adsorption arms respectively; the robotic arm has a positioning base point, and the positioning base point is located between the two adsorption arms.

[0018] It can be seen from the above technical solution that the wafer transport robot provided by the present invention includes a main body, two adsorption arms and more than two negative pressure pipelines. The two adsorption arms are arranged on the main body at intervals, and two or more vacuum holes are arranged on the two adsorption arms at intervals. Each negative pressure pipeline is connected to at least two vacuum holes to form an adsorption system, and at least two vacuum holes in the adsorption system serve as adsorption fulcrums to smoothly grab and transport wafers through at least two adsorption fulcrums. And the maximum vacuum hole spacing of each adsorption system is different, so that the wafer transport robot can grab, transport and transport wafers of different sizes through more than two adsorption systems, such as at least two of four-inch, six-inch, eight-inch and twelve-inch wafers.

[0019] In the prior art, wafer transport robots with different gripping parameters are often used for wafer production lines of different sizes. A wafer transport robot with certain parameters cannot be used to grip wafers of two or more sizes. On the one hand, the present invention designs at least two adsorption systems with different gripping ranges, so that the wafer transport robot can be used to grip and transport wafers of at least two sizes at the same time, thereby improving the compatibility of the wafer transport robot. On the other hand, when the wafer transport robot is applied to a wafer production plant that produces eight-inch and twelve-inch wafers at the same time, the production efficiency of the wafer can also be greatly improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the overall structure of a wafer transport robot provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 2 for Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the use of wafer transport robot;

[0022] Figure 3 for Figure 2 Side view of.

[0023] Figure markings: 1-main body; 2-adsorption arm, 3-vacuum hole; 4-negative pressure pipeline, 41-main pipe, 42-first branch pipe, 43-second branch pipe; 5-support arm; 6-auxiliary adsorption hole; 7-control valve; 8-adsorption boss; 9-auxiliary boss; 10-eight-inch wafer; 11-twelve-inch wafer. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] In order to enable technicians in the technical field to which the present application belongs to understand the present application more clearly, the technical solution of the present application is described in detail below through specific embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0025] At present, the wafer transport robots involved in the semiconductor field mainly include wafer transport robots for grabbing four-inch, six-inch, eight-inch, and twelve-inch wafers. The mainstream and most widely used ones are wafer transport robots for grabbing eight-inch and twelve-inch wafers. When the wafer transport robot grabs eight-inch and twelve-inch wafers, due to the large area of ​​the wafers, the wafer transport robot is prone to slipping on the wafer transport robot during the rotation process due to various reasons. The wafer may fall from the arm and be damaged, which may cause wafer contamination, further causing the machine transmission to stop, thereby affecting the machine's output. On the other hand, on the production line that produces eight-inch wafers and twelve-inch wafers at the same time, the wafer transport robot for grabbing eight-inch wafers and the wafer transport robot for grabbing twelve-inch wafers are independent, which is costly and not conducive to improving production efficiency.

[0026] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides a wafer transport robot, which can be designed to be suitable for grabbing and transporting wafers of two or more sizes at the same time, thereby improving the compatibility of the wafer transport robot and greatly improving the production efficiency of the wafers. The following takes the simultaneous transportation of eight-inch wafers and twelve-inch wafers as an example, and describes the content of the present invention in detail through a specific embodiment:

[0027] A wafer transport robot provided by an embodiment of the present invention includes a main body 1, two adsorption arms 2 and more than two negative pressure pipelines 4. The two adsorption arms 2 are spaced apart on the main body 1, and two or more vacuum holes 3 are spaced apart on the two adsorption arms 2. Each vacuum hole 3 is respectively connected to any one of the negative pressure devices, and each negative pressure pipeline 4 is connected to at least two vacuum holes 3 to form an adsorption system, and at least two vacuum holes 3 in the adsorption system serve as adsorption fulcrums to stably grasp and transport wafers through at least two adsorption fulcrums. And the maximum vacuum hole spacing of each adsorption system is different, so that the wafer transport robot can grasp, carry and transport wafers of different sizes through more than two adsorption systems, such as at least two of four-inch, six-inch, eight-inch and twelve-inch wafers. The above-mentioned "maximum vacuum hole spacing" refers to the maximum grasping spacing in an adsorption system. When an adsorption system includes 3 or more vacuum holes 3, as long as the maximum vacuum hole spacing is different,

[0028] In the prior art, wafer transport robots with different gripping parameters are often used for wafer production lines of different sizes. A wafer transport robot with certain parameters cannot be used for gripping wafers of two or more sizes. On the one hand, the present invention designs at least two adsorption systems with different gripping spacings, so that the wafer transport robot can be used for gripping and handling of at least two sizes of wafers at the same time, thereby improving the compatibility of the wafer transport robot. On the other hand, when the wafer transport robot is applied to a wafer production plant that simultaneously produces eight-inch wafers 10 and twelve-inch wafers 11, the production efficiency of the wafers can also be greatly improved.

[0029] The wafer transport robot provided in this embodiment is preferably configured such that the vacuum holes 3 on the two adsorption arms 2 are coplanar in order to facilitate multi-angle and multi-directional adsorption and transportation. This can improve the practicality of the wafer transport robot, simplify the working conditions, and at this time the layout of the adsorption system is more unrestricted, and the adsorption system can even be arranged in a "cross" layout.

[0030] In order to reduce the contact area between the robot and the wafer surface and avoid wear on the wafer surface, in this embodiment, both adsorption arms 2 are provided with adsorption bosses 8 which are connected to the vacuum holes 3 one by one. The adsorption bosses 8 have through holes, and the top surfaces of the adsorption bosses 8 are coplanar to form the working surface of the wafer transport robot and realize multi-point support at the same time.

[0031] By setting at least two vacuum holes 3, i.e., adsorption points, in the adsorption system on two opposite semicircular surfaces of the wafer, the wafer can be transported more stably. However, the wafer cannot be effectively supported on the tip side and the root side of the two adsorption arms 2 of the wafer transport robot. At the same time, when the wafer is subjected to external impact or the operator's erroneous operation causes the wafer to tilt toward the tip side or the root side before being adsorbed, vacuum leakage may occur, which may further cause the wafer to fall from the arm and be damaged, which may eventually lead to wafer contamination. In this embodiment, a support arm 5 is also provided on the main body 1. The working surface of the support arm 5 for contacting the wafer is coplanar with the vacuum hole 3, so that during the transportation process, the support arm 5 supports the wafer at the root of the robot, and supports the wafer at the same time as the two adsorption arms 2. Compared with the prior art, the tilting of the wafer can be avoided to a large extent.

[0032] While providing positioning support, in order to increase the functional role of the support arm 5 and improve the practicality and functionality of the wafer transport robot, in this embodiment, one or more auxiliary adsorption holes 6 are provided on the support arm 5; each adsorption system is connected to at least one auxiliary adsorption hole 6, so that adsorption systems of each size can stably adsorb and transport the wafer through the auxiliary adsorption holes 6 on the support arm 5.

[0033] This embodiment does not limit the structure of the support arm 5: the auxiliary adsorption hole 6 can be directly used as the working surface; in order to reduce the contact area with the wafer, an auxiliary boss 9 that is connected to the auxiliary adsorption hole 6 in a one-to-one correspondence can also be set on the support arm 5. The auxiliary boss 9 also has a through hole, and the top surface of the auxiliary boss 9 is used as the working surface of the support arm 5. The top surface of the auxiliary boss 9 is coplanar with the top surface of the adsorption boss 8. The adsorption boss 8 corresponding to the vacuum hole 3 in the working adsorption system plays the role of adsorption and support, and the other adsorption bosses 8 and auxiliary bosses 9 play the role of supporting the wafer, that is, all the adsorption bosses 8 and auxiliary bosses 9 contact the wafer at the same time, which ensures that the wafer will not tilt to the greatest extent, thereby solving the problem of wafer sliding of the traditional vacuum adsorption wafer transport robot. In this embodiment, it is preferred that the structure and height of the adsorption boss 8 and the auxiliary boss 9 are exactly the same.

[0034] This embodiment does not limit the number of auxiliary adsorption holes 6 and the number of auxiliary adsorption holes 6 connected to each adsorption system. As an implementation method, when the number of auxiliary adsorption holes 6 is the same as that of negative pressure pipelines 4 and the auxiliary adsorption holes 6 are connected to the negative pressure pipelines 4 one by one, each adsorption system is independent, avoiding the optimization design derived from mutual connection, and the structure is simple and easier to design.

[0035] As another embodiment, when two or more adsorption systems are connected to the same auxiliary adsorption hole 6, there is a problem of the adsorption system running empty. Manual assistance can be used to use a plugging piece to plug the adsorption hole running empty. In the simplest way, under the action of high-pressure adsorption, a paper piece with sealing performance can be used to ensure normal operation. In order to achieve full automation of transportation, ensure stable adsorption and reduce unnecessary waste of resources, it is necessary to separate the adsorption systems. In this embodiment, each negative pressure pipeline 4 includes a main pipe 41, a first branch pipe 42 for one-to-one connection with the vacuum hole 3, a second branch pipe 43 for one-to-one connection with the auxiliary adsorption hole 6, and a control valve 7 arranged on the main pipe 41; the main pipe 41 simultaneously conducts or cuts off each first branch pipe 42 and the second branch pipe 43 through the control valve 7, and each adsorption system is interlocked through the internal control valve 7 to ensure that only one adsorption system is in a working adsorption state at the same time.

[0036] The present invention does not limit the connection points of each first branch pipe 42 / second branch pipe 43 and the main pipe 41. Multiple branches can be converged at one point, or the connection points can be different from each other and arranged at intervals on the main pipe 41. The control valve 7 only needs to be arranged at or before the connection point closest to the inlet end of the main pipe 41. In this embodiment, the main pipe 41, the first branch pipe 42 and the second branch pipe 43 converge at one point, and the control valve 7 is arranged at the intersection.

[0037] In order to achieve adsorption, the wafer transport robot provided in this embodiment also includes at least one negative pressure device, which is connected to the inlet end of the main pipe 41. The present invention does not limit the number of negative pressure devices, as long as it is less than or equal to the number of negative pressure pipes, that is, one negative pressure device can correspond to one adsorption system alone, or two or more adsorption systems can share one negative pressure device, and it only needs to ensure that the control valve 7 can switch the working state of the adsorption system and only one adsorption system is working. In this embodiment, the negative pressure device can select a vacuum pump.

[0038] The present invention does not limit the number of negative pressure devices and the specific distribution of the adsorption system, and can be optimally configured according to actual needs. In order to adapt to the current production situation and control costs at the same time, in this embodiment, the wafer transport robot includes two negative pressure pipelines 4, the number of negative pressure devices is one, the number of auxiliary adsorption holes 6 is one, and the two negative pressure pipelines 4 are both connected to the negative pressure devices, and the two negative pressure pipelines 4 are both connected to the auxiliary adsorption holes 6, that is, the adsorption system formed by the two negative pressure pipelines 4 shares the negative pressure device and the auxiliary adsorption holes 6 at the same time. The wafer transport robot provided in this embodiment is particularly suitable for production lines that simultaneously produce eight-inch wafers 10 and twelve-inch wafers 11, and can effectively solve the technical problem that traditional wafer transport robots in the prior art cannot be simultaneously applied to the transmission of eight-inch and twelve-inch wafers.

[0039] During the process of transporting or rotating the wafer transport robot, the wafer may easily slip on the wafer transport robot due to various reasons, and the wafer may fall from the arm and be damaged, which may cause wafer contamination, further causing the machine transmission to stop, thereby affecting the output of the machine. The wafer transport robot provided in this embodiment can grab and transport wafers of different sizes, and the wafer transport robot has a positioning base point. In order to further prevent the wafer from slipping on the wafer transport robot and ensure the stability of transportation, in this embodiment, preferably, each vacuum hole 3 in the adsorption system is respectively located on the two adsorption arms 2, and the positioning base point is located between the two adsorption arms 2, so that the two adsorption arms 2 can respectively support different semicircular surfaces of the wafer, so as to ensure the stability of vacuum grasping through the two adsorption arms 2 at the same time.

[0040] The present invention does not specifically limit the working design parameters of the wafer transport robot. When the adsorption system is switched to carry wafers of different sizes, the positioning base points of the wafer transport robots corresponding to different adsorption systems can be the same or different, that is, the positioning base point can be a fixed one or change with the change of the adsorption system, and it only needs to meet the different maximum vacuum hole spacings. Preferably, after the wafer transport robot successfully grabs the wafer, the positioning base point coincides with the center of the wafer.

[0041] In this embodiment, the positioning base point is a fixed set point. Since only one auxiliary adsorption hole 6 is provided, and the spacing between the auxiliary adsorption hole 6 and the positioning base point is also fixed, it will not affect the standards of different handling sizes of the adsorption system, and it is still only necessary to ensure that the maximum vacuum hole spacing of the adsorption system is different.

[0042] Due to the handling of wafers of different sizes, it is preferred that the distance between the adsorption point of the adsorption system corresponding to the larger wafer size and the center of the wafer is larger, that is, the adsorption point is located radially further outward of the wafer. In order to achieve the above effect, in this embodiment, along the direction from the main body 1 to the adsorption arm 2, the distance between the two adsorption arms 2 tends to increase. The vacuum hole 3 located on the outside of the adsorption arm 2, that is, away from the main body 1, is located radially further outward of the wafer relative to the vacuum hole 3 located on the inside of the adsorption arm 2, which is conducive to grasping wafers with larger diameters. The design can also be used to grasp the periphery of the wafer, which is conducive to the stability of grasping and avoids tilting. The present invention does not limit the specific increasing method of the increasing trend, such as a stepped multi-segment structure, a linear proportional increase, nonlinearity, etc., and the shape can be a straight line segment, a curved segment, and a combination of a straight line segment and a curved segment.

[0043] The present invention does not limit the specific structure of the two adsorption arms 2, as long as the opening distance gradually increases, for example, the two adsorption arms 2 have an angle, and the distance between the tips is greater than the distance between the roots. In this embodiment, the wafer transport robot is Y-shaped, and the two adsorption arms 2 are symmetrically arranged on the main body 1.

[0044] The present invention does not limit the position, layout and number of the vacuum holes 3 on each adsorption arm 2, and can be designed according to actual needs. Preferably, the number of vacuum holes 3 arranged on the two adsorption arms 2 is the same, and the positions correspond to each other, that is, if the symmetry axis of the two adsorption arms 2 is the X axis, the Y coordinates of the two vacuum holes 3 with the same X coordinate value on the two adsorption arms 2 are opposite numbers. Figure 1 As shown, in this embodiment, the number of vacuum holes 3 on the two adsorption arms 2 is two, and on the two adsorption arms 2, one of the vacuum holes 3 close to the auxiliary adsorption hole 6 is located in the same adsorption system, and the other vacuum hole 3 far away from the auxiliary adsorption hole 6 is located in another adsorption system.

[0045] This embodiment does not limit the location of the support arm 5. Preferably, the axis of the support arm 5 is collinear with the symmetry axes of the two adsorption arms 2, that is, the two adsorption arms 2 are symmetrical with respect to the mechanical arm.

[0046] The use method and working principle of the wafer transport robot provided in this embodiment are as follows:

[0047] like Figure 1 As shown, the wafer transport robot has two adsorption systems, which are composed of two negative pressure pipelines 4, four vacuum holes 3 and one auxiliary adsorption hole 6. Two control valves 7 realize the interlocking of the two adsorption systems. In one adsorption system, two adsorption bosses 8 and auxiliary bosses 9 in a small triangle shape are used for adsorption and conveying eight-inch wafers 10, and two adsorption bosses 8 and auxiliary bosses 9 in a large triangle shape are used for adsorption and conveying twelve-inch wafers 11. Figure 3 As shown, a total of five bosses contact the wafer at the same time, and the wafer will not tilt, thus solving the problem of wafer sliding in traditional vacuum adsorption wafer transport robots.

[0048] Through the above embodiments, the present invention has the following beneficial effects or advantages:

[0049] The wafer transport robot provided by the present invention is compatible with grasping wafers of two different sizes, and is particularly suitable for transporting eight-inch wafers and twelve-inch wafers. The present invention not only increases the diversity of the functions of the vacuum adsorption wafer transport robot, but also greatly improves the stability during the grasping and transmission process, reduces the slip rate of the wafer on the arm, thereby further improving the output and production efficiency of the wafer during the production and manufacturing process.

[0050] Although the preferred embodiments of the present application have been described, those skilled in the art may make other changes and modifications to these embodiments once they have learned the basic creative concept. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be interpreted as including the preferred embodiments and all changes and modifications that fall within the scope of the present application.

[0051] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A wafer transport robot, characterized in that: include: main body; Two adsorption arms are arranged on the main body at intervals, and at least two vacuum holes are arranged on the two adsorption arms at intervals; Along the direction from the main body to the adsorption arm, the distance between the two adsorption arms and the distance between the vacuum holes arranged on different adsorption arms tend to increase; There are more than two negative pressure pipelines, each of which is connected to at least two of the vacuum holes to form an adsorption system; the maximum vacuum hole spacing of each adsorption system is different.

2. The wafer transport robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The wafer transport robot is Y-shaped, and the two adsorption arms are symmetrically arranged on the main body.

3. The wafer transport robot according to claim 2, characterized in that: The number of the vacuum holes arranged on the two adsorption arms is the same, and the positions thereof correspond one to one.

4. The wafer transport robot according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The vacuum holes on the two adsorption arms are coplanar; a support arm is also provided on the main body, and a working surface of the support arm for contacting the wafer is coplanar with the vacuum hole.

5. The wafer transport robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The support arm is provided with more than one auxiliary adsorption hole; each of the adsorption systems is connected to at least one of the auxiliary adsorption holes.

6. The wafer transport robot according to claim 5, characterized in that: Each of the negative pressure pipelines includes a main pipe, a first branch pipe for one-to-one communication with the vacuum holes, a second branch pipe for one-to-one communication with the auxiliary adsorption holes, and a control valve arranged on the main pipe; the main pipe simultaneously connects or cuts off each of the first branch pipe and the second branch pipe through the control valve.

7. The wafer transport robot according to claim 6, characterized in that: The wafer transport robot further includes at least one negative pressure device, and the negative pressure device is connected to the inlet end of the main pipe.

8. The wafer transport robot according to claim 7, characterized in that: The wafer transport robot includes two negative pressure pipelines, the number of the negative pressure device is one, and the number of the auxiliary adsorption hole is one; the two negative pressure pipelines are both connected to the negative pressure device, and the two negative pressure pipelines are both connected to the auxiliary adsorption hole.

9. The wafer transport robot according to any one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that: The vacuum holes in the adsorption system are respectively located on the two adsorption arms; the manipulator has a positioning base point, and the positioning base point is located between the two adsorption arms.

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