A wafer sorting device and a wafer sorting method

Abstract

The present invention provides a wafer sorting device and a wafer sorting method. The wafer sorting device includes: a first sorting area, the first sorting area including a wafer input interface and a first wafer collection interface; a transfer area adjacent to the first sorting area; a first manipulator disposed in the first sorting area and configured to move the wafers input to the wafer input interface to at least one of the first wafer collection interface and the transfer area; a second sorting area adjacent to the transfer area, the second sorting area including a plurality of second wafer collection interfaces; and a second manipulator disposed in the second sorting area and configured to move the wafers in the transfer area to at least one of the plurality of second wafer collection interfaces. The embodiments of the present invention reduce the occupation of the defective wafers on the wafer carrier and improve the convenience of wafer sorting.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of semiconductor processing technology, and in particular, to a wafer sorting device and a wafer sorting method. Background Art

[0002] During the production process of wafers, the wafers need to be sorted according to whether they are qualified. Among them, the qualified wafers enter the subsequent processes, and the unqualified wafers usually include wafers in various different states. Different wafers need to be processed in different ways. Therefore, it is necessary to further package the unqualified wafers separately. The existing wafer sorting methods usually sort the qualified and unqualified wafers in the same area, and package them into two types: qualified and unqualified. For unqualified wafers, unqualified wafers in different states need to be packaged separately. However, the carriers for holding wafers only support single-way transfer, which causes a large number of carriers to be occupied when packaging unqualified wafers in different states, and it is inconvenient to use. Summary of the Invention

[0003] Embodiments of the present invention provide a wafer sorting device and a wafer sorting method to solve the problem that a large number of carriers are occupied by unqualified wafers during wafer packaging.

[0004] Embodiments of the present invention provide a wafer sorting device, including:

[0005] A first sorting area, the first sorting area includes a wafer input interface and a first wafer collection interface;

[0006] A transfer area, adjacent to the first sorting area;

[0007] A first manipulator, disposed in the first sorting area, configured to move the wafers input to the wafer input interface to at least one of the first wafer collection interface and the transfer area;

[0008] A second sorting area, adjacent to the transfer area, the second sorting area includes a plurality of second wafer collection interfaces;

[0009] A second manipulator, disposed in the second sorting area, configured to move the wafers in the transfer area to at least one of the plurality of second wafer collection interfaces.

[0010] In some embodiments, the first sorting area further includes a sampling wafer collection interface, and the first manipulator is further configured to move the wafers input to the wafer input interface to the sampling wafer collection interface.

[0011] In some embodiments, the plurality of second wafer collection interfaces include one or more of a cleaning wafer interface, a polishing wafer interface, a grinding wafer interface, and a scrap wafer interface.

[0012] In some embodiments, the wafer sorting device further includes a cleaning component. The first sorting area is also provided with a cleaning component, and the cleaning component is configured to clean the first manipulator after the first manipulator moves the wafer to the transfer area.

[0013] In some embodiments, the wafer sorting device further includes an isolation component. The isolation component is disposed between the transfer area and the first sorting area, and the isolation component is configured to be opened when the first manipulator moves the wafer to the transfer area and closed after the first manipulator moves the wafer to the transfer area.

[0014] An embodiment of the present invention further provides a wafer sorting method, which is applied to the wafer sorting device described in any one of the above. The method includes the following steps:

[0015] Obtain the state of the target wafer input to the wafer input interface;

[0016] If the target wafer is a qualified wafer, move the target wafer to the first wafer collection interface through the first manipulator;

[0017] If the target wafer is an unqualified wafer, move the target wafer to the transfer area through the first manipulator.

[0018] In some embodiments, the unqualified wafers include at least one of wafers to be cleaned, wafers to be polished, wafers to be ground, and scrapped wafers;

[0019] After moving the target wafer to the transfer area through the first manipulator, the method further includes:

[0020] If the target wafer is a wafer to be cleaned, move the target wafer located in the transfer area to the cleaning wafer interface through the second manipulator;

[0021] If the target wafer is a wafer to be polished, move the target wafer located in the transfer area to the polishing wafer interface through the second manipulator;

[0022] If the target wafer is a wafer to be ground, move the target wafer located in the transfer area to the grinding wafer interface through the second manipulator;

[0023] If the target wafer is a scrapped wafer, move the target wafer located in the transfer area to the scrapped wafer interface through the second manipulator.

[0024] In some embodiments, after moving the target wafer to the transfer area through the first manipulator, the method further includes:

[0025] Control the first manipulator to move to the cleaning component;

[0026] Clean the first manipulator through the cleaning component.

[0027] In some embodiments, before the target wafer is moved to the first wafer collection interface by the first manipulator, it includes:

[0028] Determine the sampled wafers among the qualified wafers according to the preset sampled wafers;

[0029] If the target wafer is a sampled wafer, move the target wafer to the sampled wafer collection interface.

[0030] The wafer sorting device according to the embodiment of the present invention can move the unqualified wafers to the transfer area by setting the transfer area, and further sort the wafers in the second sorting area. In this process, the occupation of the wafer carrier by the unqualified wafers is reduced, and the convenience of wafer sorting is improved. Description of the Drawings

[0031] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings required for the description of the embodiments of the present invention will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative efforts.

[0032] Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer sorting device provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a carrier in an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Embodiments

[0034] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present invention. Without conflict, the features in the following embodiments and the embodiments can be combined with each other. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts belong to the protection scope of the present invention.

[0035] In the later process of wafer production, it is mainly divided into pre-cleaning, measurement, final cleaning, sorting, and packaging steps. Among them, the wafer sorting device sorts the wafers according to the results determined by the measurement device. That is, after a whole box of wafers are placed on the sorter, according to the different quality grades of the wafers, they will be divided into different carriers (the carriers are FOUP or FOSB) for different treatments.

[0036] The sorted wafers mainly include qualified wafers (wafers that can be directly used for subsequent production and processing), scrapped wafers (wafers that do not meet the standards and are directly scrapped), and reworked wafers (wafers that have the opportunity to become qualified products through rework processing).

[0037] Among them, the reworked wafers are further divided into 3 major categories: reworked cleaning wafers, reworked polishing wafers, and reworked grinding wafers. Therefore, there are many download ports (Unloader) for the wafer sorting equipment, and a large number of carriers need to be prepared each time the sorting starts to receive different types of reworked wafers.

[0038] Since reworked wafers of different part numbers cannot be mixed loaded, even if a carrier is not filled, it cannot be used to continue loading reworked wafers of the next part number. A new carrier must be loaded. In this way, the reworked products occupy a large number of carriers, and most of the carriers are not fully loaded.

[0039] At the same time, currently, the wafer sorting equipment completes the sorting process on the same equipment and in the same internal environment. When the equipment is running, the robotic arm will move to different carrier positions for transfer according to the different grades of the products. The reciprocating mechanical movement will bring the risk of quality contamination to the products with good quality.

[0040] The embodiment of the present invention provides a wafer sorting equipment and a wafer sorting method applied to the wafer sorting equipment.

[0041] As Figure 1 shown, in one embodiment, the wafer sorting equipment includes a first sorting area 100, a transfer area 200, and a second sorting area 300. The wafer sorting equipment further includes a first robotic arm 101 and a second robotic arm 301.

[0042] The first sorting area 100 includes a wafer input interface and a first wafer collection interface. Among them, the wafer input interface is used to input the wafers to be sorted. The number of wafer input interfaces can be one or more. Multiple wafer input interfaces can correspond to wafers of different part numbers or the same part number to improve the wafer loading speed.

[0043] Exemplarily, in this embodiment, interface 1 and interface 2 can be wafer input interfaces, and interface 3 can be the first wafer collection interface.

[0044] The transfer area 200 is adjacent to the first sorting area 100. The first robotic arm 101 is arranged in the first sorting area 100. The first robotic arm 101 is configured to move the wafers input to the wafer input interface to at least one of the first wafer collection interface and the transfer area 200.

[0045] The second sub-selection area 300 is adjacent to the transfer area 200, and the second sub-selection area 300 includes a plurality of second wafer collection interfaces. In some embodiments, the plurality of second wafer collection interfaces include one or more of a cleaning wafer interface, a polishing wafer interface, a grinding wafer interface, and a scrap wafer interface, respectively for recovering wafers to be cleaned, wafers to be polished, wafers to be ground, and scrap wafers. Further, the number of cleaning wafer interfaces, polishing wafer interfaces, and grinding wafer interfaces can all be set to a plurality, respectively corresponding to wafers of different part numbers. The number of scrap wafer interfaces can be one or more, and scrap wafers of different part numbers can be recovered separately or collectively.

[0046] Exemplarily, interface A and interface B serve as cleaning wafer interfaces, interface C and interface D serve as polishing wafer interfaces, interface E and interface F serve as grinding wafer interfaces, and interface G and interface H serve as scrap wafer interfaces.

[0047] The second manipulator 301 is disposed in the second sub-selection area 300, and the second manipulator 301 is configured to move the wafers in the transfer area 200 to at least one of the plurality of second wafer collection interfaces.

[0048] In some embodiments of the present invention, the provided wafer sorting method includes the following steps:

[0049] Obtain the state of the target wafer input to the wafer input interface;

[0050] If the target wafer is a qualified wafer, move the target wafer to the first wafer collection interface through the first manipulator;

[0051] If the target wafer is an unqualified wafer, move the target wafer to the transfer area through the first manipulator.

[0052] In this embodiment, first, the wafers to be sorted are input (or uploaded) to the wafer input interface, and then the first manipulator 101 sorts the input wafers, moves the qualified wafers to the first wafer collection interface for collection and packaging, and moves the unqualified wafers to the transfer area 200.

[0053] Further, for the unqualified wafers moved to the transfer area 200, the following methods are also used for processing:

[0054] If the target wafer is a wafer to be cleaned, move the target wafer located in the transfer area to the cleaning wafer interface through the second manipulator;

[0055] If the target wafer is a wafer to be polished, move the target wafer located in the transfer area to the polishing wafer interface through the second manipulator;

[0056] If the target wafer is a wafer to be polished, the second manipulator moves the target wafer located in the transfer area to the polished wafer interface.

[0057] If the target wafer is a scrap wafer, the second manipulator moves the target wafer located in the transfer area to the scrap wafer interface.

[0058] In this embodiment, a plurality of second wafer collection interfaces for different non-conforming wafers are provided to separately recycle different non-conforming wafers. In this way, the carrier located at each second wafer collection interface can be replaced after being filled, improving the utilization rate of the carrier and reducing the occupation of the carrier.

[0059] In some embodiments, the first sorting area 100 further includes a sampling wafer collection interface, and the first manipulator 101 is further configured to move the wafer input to the wafer input interface to the sampling wafer collection interface. Exemplarily, interface 4 can be used as the sampling wafer collection interface.

[0060] In some embodiments, before moving the target wafer to the first wafer collection interface by the first manipulator 101, it includes:

[0061] Determine the sampling wafers among the qualified wafers according to the preset sampling wafers;

[0062] If the target wafer is a sampling wafer, move the target wafer to the sampling wafer collection interface.

[0063] In this embodiment, sampling inspection also needs to be performed on the qualified wafers. For the qualified wafers, in this embodiment, the sampling wafers to be detected are further determined and moved to the sampling wafer collection interface for sampling inspection.

[0064] In some embodiments, the wafer sorting device further includes a cleaning component, and the first sorting area 100 is also provided with a cleaning component, which is configured to clean the first manipulator 101 after the first manipulator 101 moves the wafer to the transfer area 200.

[0065] In some embodiments, after moving the target wafer to the transfer area 200 by the first manipulator 101, the method further includes:

[0066] Control the first manipulator 101 to move to the cleaning component;

[0067] Clean the first manipulator 101 through the cleaning component.

[0068] In this embodiment, after each time a non-conforming wafer is moved to the transfer area 200, the first manipulator 101 is cleaned, so as to prevent contaminants such as particles falling off the non-conforming wafer from contaminating the conforming wafers subsequently held by the first manipulator 101.

[0069] In some embodiments, the wafer sorting device further includes an isolation component, which is disposed between the transfer area 200 and the first sorting area 100. The isolation component is configured to be opened when the first manipulator 101 moves the wafer to the transfer area 200, and closed after the first manipulator 101 moves the wafer to the transfer area 200.

[0070] Furthermore, in some embodiments, an isolation component may also be provided between the transfer area 200 and the second sorting area 300, so as to further reduce the possibility of wafer cross-contamination.

[0071] In some embodiments, as Figure 2 shown, a cleaning component may also be provided on the carrier. Specifically, the carrier includes a plurality of compartments 22 for accommodating wafers 23. The cleaning component includes a blowing pipe 20, and the blowing pipe 20 is provided with blowing holes 21 at positions corresponding to each compartment 22. The cooperation between the blowing pipe 20 and the blowing holes 21 is used to clean the wafers 23.

[0072] A base may be provided at each wafer collection interface. A joint matching the blowing pipe is provided on the base. When the base is set at the wafer collection interface, the blowing pipe 20 is connected to the joint, and each joint is connected to an air pump, so that when the carrier is set on the base, the air pump can supply air to the blowing pipe 20 to clean the wafers 23 located on the carrier and remove the moisture and contaminants on the wafers 23.

[0073] Here, the wafer collection interface may refer to the above-mentioned first wafer collection interface, second wafer collection interface, sampling wafer collection interface, etc.

[0074] The above is only the specific implementation manner of the present invention, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention can easily think of changes or substitutions, which should all be covered by the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A wafer sorting device, characterized in that, Comprising: A first sub-selection area, the first sub-selection area including a wafer input interface and a first wafer collection interface; A transfer area, adjacent to the first sub-selection area; A first manipulator, disposed in the first sub-selection area, configured to move the wafers input to the wafer input interface to at least one of the first wafer collection interface and the transfer area; Sort the input wafers through the first manipulator, move the qualified wafers to the first wafer collection interface for collection and packaging, and move the unqualified wafers to the transfer area; A second sub-selection area, adjacent to the transfer area, the second sub-selection area including a plurality of second wafer collection interfaces; A second manipulator, disposed in the second sub-selection area, configured to move the wafers in the transfer area to at least one of the plurality of second wafer collection interfaces; Wherein, the plurality of second wafer collection interfaces include one or more of a wafer cleaning interface, a wafer polishing interface, a wafer grinding interface, and a wafer scrapping interface.

2. The wafer sorting device according to claim 1, wherein The first sub-selection area further includes a sampling wafer collection interface, and the first manipulator is further configured to move the wafers input to the wafer input interface to the sampling wafer collection interface.

3. The wafer sorting device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The wafer sorting device further includes a cleaning component, and the cleaning component is also disposed in the first sub-selection area, and the cleaning component is configured to clean the first manipulator after the first manipulator moves the wafers to the transfer area.

4. The wafer sorting device according to claim 1, wherein, The wafer sorting device further includes an isolation component, the isolation component is disposed between the transfer area and the first sub-selection area, and the isolation component is configured to be opened when the first manipulator moves the wafers to the transfer area and closed after the first manipulator moves the wafers to the transfer area.

5. A wafer sorting method, characterized in that, Applied to the wafer sorting device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, the method includes the following steps: Obtain the status of the target wafer input to the wafer input interface; If the target wafer is a qualified wafer, move the target wafer to the first wafer collection interface through the first manipulator; If the target wafer is an unqualified wafer, move the target wafer to the transfer area through the first manipulator; Wherein, the unqualified wafers include at least one of wafers to be cleaned, wafers to be polished, wafers to be ground, and scrapped wafers; After moving the target wafer to the transfer area through the first manipulator, the method further includes: If the target wafer is a wafer to be cleaned, move the target wafer located in the transfer area to the wafer cleaning interface through the second manipulator; If the target wafer is a wafer to be polished, move the target wafer located in the transfer area to the wafer polishing interface through the second manipulator; If the target wafer is a wafer to be ground, move the target wafer located in the transfer area to the wafer grinding interface through the second manipulator; If the target wafer is a scrapped wafer, move the target wafer located in the transfer area to the wafer scrapping interface through the second manipulator.

6. The wafer sorting method according to claim 5, characterized in that, After moving the target wafer to the transfer area through the first manipulator, the method further includes: Control the first manipulator to move to the cleaning component; Clean the first manipulator through the cleaning component.

7. The wafer sorting method according to claim 5, characterized in that Before the target wafer is moved to the first wafer collection interface by the first manipulator, it includes: Determine the sampled wafers among the qualified wafers according to the preset sampled wafers; If the target wafer is a sampled wafer, move the target wafer to the sampled wafer collection interface.

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