Wafer storage device with adjustable layer distance

Abstract

A kind of wafer storage equipment with adjustable layer distance, including skeleton unit, power drive unit, link unit and wafer bearing unit;Skeleton unit includes bottom plate, two height adjusting blocks and left and right interlayer sliding support shafts;Wafer bearing unit includes N wafer bearing tables, each wafer bearing table includes a pair of left and right slots SLOT, which are symmetrically and parallelly arranged, for placing a wafer on the left and right slots SLOT;The left and right slots SLOT are stacked together by being fixed on the left and right interlayer sliding support shafts;The bottom surface of the slot SLOT located at the lowermost part of the wafer bearing unit is fixed on the upper surface of the bottom plate directly or indirectly by the two height adjusting blocks;When taking and placing a wafer on a certain slot SLOT, the power drive unit lifts the slot SLOT, and the robot performs wafer taking and placing operation on the slot SLOT;After taking and placing the wafer, the servo module drives the horizontal telescopic cylinder to descend until the distance between the adjacent two slots SLOT is shortened to the minimum.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of semiconductor wafer transmission and storage equipment, and particularly relates to a space-saving wafer storage equipment with adjustable layer distance. BACKGROUND

[0002] The development level of the semiconductor industry is an important embodiment of the national scientific and technological strength, and the wafer manufacturing field is the focus of global technological competition. Improving the competitiveness of China's semiconductor industry has become one of the important tasks of manufacturing upgrading. Semiconductor chips usually need to go through a series of processing steps in the manufacturing process, including cleaning, coating, exposure and etching.

[0003] In order to ensure that wafers can be transferred between different process equipment and meet the requirements of clean, temperature and humidity and oxygen content of the storage environment, a dedicated wafer storage equipment is needed. Wafer storage equipment is a carrier used to store and transport these semiconductor chips.

[0004] In traditional manufacturing FAB factories, wafers are usually stored in FOUP (a standard storage box for storing 300mm wafers), and then stored in Stoker (FOUP storage warehouse) through automatic material handling system (AMHS).

[0005] In some new manufacturing FAB factories, in order to improve the space utilization, wafer storage warehouses are usually used instead of Stoker. Because the additional space occupied by FOUP is reduced, the space utilization of wafer storage has been greatly improved.

[0006] The wafer slots of the current wafer warehouse use fixed storage layer distance. However, in order to facilitate the taking and placing of wafers in the wafer warehouse, the layer distance for storing wafers needs to be kept at a relatively large distance to ensure that the robot end finger can take out the wafer from the gap. Usually, each wafer storage library can store dozens or even hundreds of wafers, so the large storage layer distance causes a great waste of space. SUMMARY

[0007] The present application aims to at least solve one of the problems in the related art. To this end, the purpose of the present application is to provide a wafer storage equipment with adjustable layer distance, which automatically adjusts the distance between the layers for taking and placing wafers when needed, to ensure the normal taking and placing gap of wafers; for other layer distances without the need for wafer taking and placing, a smaller storage distance is used, which can effectively improve the space utilization.

[0008] In order to achieve the above object, the application adopts the following technical scheme: a wafer storage device with adjustable layer distance, comprising a framework unit, a power driving unit, a linking unit and a wafer bearing unit; wherein the framework unit comprises a bottom plate, two height adjusting blocks and left and right interlayer sliding support shafts; the left and right interlayer sliding support shafts are vertically fixed on the bottom plate; the wafer bearing unit comprises N wafer bearing tables, each wafer bearing table comprises a pair of left and right slots symmetrically arranged in parallel, for placing a wafer on the left and right slots; the left and right slots are stacked together by being fixed on the left and right interlayer sliding support shafts, and the directions of the slots at the left and right ends are symmetrical; wherein N is greater than or equal to 3; the bottom surfaces of the slots at the bottom of the wafer bearing unit are directly or indirectly fixed on the upper surface of the bottom plate through the two height adjusting blocks; the body of the slot comprises a wafer receiving table, a driving force receiving end and two columnar protrusions horizontally extending from the wafer receiving table; the wafer receiving table and the driving force receiving end are oppositely arranged; the linking unit comprises N-1 right end slot connectors and N-1 left end slot connectors, one end of the slot connector is a through hole, the other end is a slot, the through hole passes through the two columnar protrusions on the upper slot of the two adjacent stacked slots, the slot passes through the two columnar protrusions on the lower slot of the two adjacent slots, and when the two adjacent slots are in a stacked state, the columnar structure of the lower slot is at the upper limit position of the slot; the slot connector is connected to the two ends of the same group of slots stacked on the interlayer sliding support shaft in an interleaved manner; the power driving unit comprises two servo modules vertically lifting, a telescopic rod, a lifting block and two horizontal telescopic cylinders horizontally moving on the servo module, and the servo modules are symmetrically arranged on the upper surface of the bottom plate; wherein when a wafer is taken out or placed in a certain slot, the telescopic rod of the horizontal telescopic cylinder is fixed with a lifting block for lifting the driving force receiving end of the wafer to be taken out or placed, and the telescopic rod of the horizontal telescopic cylinder is extended to make the lifting block just between the two adjacent slots when the horizontal telescopic cylinder works; then the servo module drives the horizontal telescopic cylinder to rise, so that the slot is lifted, the distance between the two adjacent slots is increased, and the manipulator takes out or places the wafer in the slot; after the wafer is taken out or placed, the servo module drives the horizontal telescopic cylinder to descend, the slot slides downward along the left and right interlayer sliding support shafts under the influence of its own gravity, and finally is stacked together, so that the distance between the two adjacent slots is shortened to the minimum.

[0009] Further, the SLOT connectors are connected in an interlaced manner:

[0010] On one side of the same group of the cylindrical protrusions of the SLOT, starting from the bottom layer, the through hole is extended from the cylindrical protrusion on the upper SLOT, and the slot is extended from the cylindrical protrusion on the lower SLOT, and the top SLOT is not connected with the SLOT connector.

[0011] On the other side of the same group of the cylindrical protrusions of the SLOT, the bottom SLOT is not connected with the SLOT connector, the through hole is extended from the two same side cylindrical protrusions on the upper SLOT, and the slot is extended from the cylindrical protrusion on the lower SLOT, and the top SLOT is connected with the SLOT connector.

[0012] Further, the slot of the link unit has upper and lower two semicircles which are matched with the cylindrical protrusions of the SLOT, and the distance L between the centers of the two semicircles is the layer spacing of the adjacent two SLOTs after rising.

[0013] Further, the servo module (3) is a lifting mechanism.

[0014] Further, the left interlayer sliding support shaft is two cylinders which are vertically fixed on the bottom plate, and the right interlayer sliding support shaft is two cylinders which are vertically fixed on the bottom plate.

[0015] Further, from the direction of the right interlayer sliding support shaft, the bottom of each SLOT has a protruding part, and the top of the SLOT has a recessed part, and when the left and right SLOTs are stacked by being fixed on the left and right interlayer sliding support shafts, the protruding part is matched with the recessed part.

[0016] Further, the protruding part is a square, a rectangle, a trapezoid or a circular arc.

[0017] Compared with the prior art, the above technical solution provided by the embodiment of the application has the following advantages: compared with common storage devices, flexibility is increased, the slot spacing of the stored wafer can be automatically adjusted, so that the number of stored wafers is increased without changing the size of the device, and the wafer can be put in and taken out. When the wafer is stored, the positions of the two SLOTs (6) are adjusted by servo movement, so that the spacing between the two SLOTs is increased and decreased to realize clamping and storage of the wafer. Attached Figure Description

[0018] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

[0019] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0020] Figure 1 This is an isometric structural diagram of the storage state of the wafer memory device in an embodiment of the adjustable layer pitch of the present invention.

[0021] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the staggered installation of SLOT connectors in an embodiment of the adjustable-spacing wafer memory device of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 3 This is a front view of the SLOT connector in an embodiment of the adjustable-spacing wafer memory device of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 4 This is a front view of the device in storage state in an embodiment of the adjustable-layer-pitch wafer memory device of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the device in the cylinder working state in an embodiment of the adjustable layer pitch wafer memory device of the present invention.

[0025] Reference numerals: 1. Base plate; 2. Interlayer sliding support shaft; 3. Servo module; 4. Cylinder; 5. SLOT connector; 6. Slot SLOT; 7. Wafer; 8. Lifting block; Detailed Implementation

[0026] To provide a clearer understanding of the technical features, objectives, and effects of this invention, specific embodiments are now described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, it should be understood that the orientations or positional relationships indicated by terms such as "front," "rear," "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "longitudinal," "horizontal," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "head," and "tail" are based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are constructed and operated in a specific orientation. They are only for the convenience of describing this technical solution and do not indicate that the referred mechanism or element must have a specific orientation; therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on this invention.

[0027] It should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "mount", "connect", "connection", "fix", "set", and the like should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be fixed connection, or detachable connection, or integrated; it can be mechanical connection, or electrical connection; it can be directly connected, or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal communication of two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements. When an element is referred to as "on" or "below" another element, the element can be "directly" or "indirectly" above the other element, or there can be one or more intervening elements. The terms "first", "second", "third", etc. are only for the convenience of describing the technical solutions, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying the relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features with "first", "second", "third", etc. can be explicitly or implicitly included one or more of the features. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0028] In the following description, specific details are set forth such as specific system structures, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the present application. However, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present application can be implemented in other embodiments without these specific details. In other cases, detailed descriptions of well-known systems, mechanisms, circuits, and methods are omitted in order not to obscure the description of the present application with unnecessary details.

[0029] Please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 1 is a schematic view of the axial structure of the device storage state in the embodiment of the wafer storage device with adjustable layer distance of the present application. As shown in Figure 1 , the wafer storage device with adjustable layer distance comprises a skeleton unit, a power driving unit, a linking unit, and a wafer bearing unit.

[0030] The skeleton unit comprises a bottom plate 1 and left and right interlayer sliding support shafts 2; the left and right interlayer sliding support shafts 2 are vertically fixed on the bottom plate 1; the wafer bearing unit comprises N wafer bearing tables, each wafer bearing table comprises a pair of left and right slots SLOT6 arranged in opposite symmetry, for placing a wafer in parallel on the left and right slots SLOT6; the left and right slots SLOT6 are stacked together by being fixed through the left and right interlayer sliding support shafts 2, and the directions of the slots SLOT6 at the left and right ends are symmetrical; wherein N is greater than or equal to 3. Figure 1 As shown in the figure, the wafer bearing group comprises 8 wafer bearing tables. The bottom surfaces of the slots SLOT6 located at the lowermost part of the wafer bearing unit are fixed directly or indirectly to the upper surface of the bottom plate 1 through 2 height adjustment blocks.

[0031] From the direction of the right interlayer sliding support shaft 4, the bottom of each of the slots SLOT 6 has a protrusion, and the top of each of the slots SLOT 6 has a recess, and when the left and right slots SLOT 6 are stacked together by being fixed through the left and right interlayer sliding support shafts 4, the protrusion is adaptively inserted into the recess. Preferably, the protrusion can be square, rectangular, trapezoidal, or circular arc-shaped.

[0032] The body of the slot SLOT 6 includes a wafer receiving table, a driving force receiving end, and two columnar protrusions extending horizontally perpendicular to the wafer receiving table; the wafer receiving table and the driving force receiving end are oppositely arranged;

[0033] The left interlayer sliding support shaft 4 is two cylinders fixed vertically on the bottom plate 1, and the right interlayer sliding support shaft 4 is two cylinders fixed vertically on the bottom plate 1.

[0034] In the embodiment of the present application, the height adjusting block 8 can be an extension of the interlayer sliding support shaft 4, and the top end and the bottom end of the interlayer sliding support shaft 4 can be directly or indirectly fixed to the upper surface of the bottom plate 1, the upper and lower surfaces of the middle plate, and the lower surface of the top plate.

[0035] The link unit includes N-1 right end SLOT connectors 5 and N-1 left end SLOT connectors 5, one end of the SLOT connector 5 is a through hole, and the other end is a slot, the through hole is passed through by the two columnar protrusions on the upper slot SLOT 6 of the two adjacent stacked slots SLOT 6, the slot is passed through by the two columnar protrusions on the lower slot SLOT 6 of the two adjacent slots SLOT 6, and when the two adjacent slots SLOT 6 are in a stacked state, the columnar structure of the lower slot SLOT 6 is at the upper limit position of the slot; the SLOT connector 5 is connected to the two ends of the same group of slots SLOT 6 stacked on the interlayer sliding support shaft 4 in an interleaved manner.

[0036] Please refer to Figure 2 and Figure 3 , Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the SLOT connector 5 interleaved installation in the embodiment of the wafer storage device of the present application for adjusting the overall layer distance. Figure 3 is a front view of the SLOT connector 5 in the embodiment of the wafer storage device of the present application for adjusting the overall layer distance.

[0037] As Figure 2 shown, the slot SLOT 6 includes a wafer receiving table side and two columnar protrusions extending horizontally perpendicular to the wafer receiving table.

[0038] AsFigure 3 As shown, one end of the SLOT connector 5 is a through hole, and the other end is a notch. The notch of the linking unit can be two semicircles on the top and bottom, which are adapted to the cylindrical protrusions of the slot SLOT 6. The distance L between the centers of the two semicircles is the layer spacing of the two adjacent slots SLOT 6 after rising.

[0039] The through hole is extended from the two cylindrical protrusions on the upper slot SLOT 6 of the two adjacent stacked slots SLOT 6. The notch is extended from the two cylindrical protrusions on the lower slot SLOT 6 of the two adjacent slots SLOT 6. When the two adjacent slots SLOT 6 are in a stacked state, the cylindrical structure of the lower slot SLOT 6 is in the upper limit position of the notch.

[0040] The SLOT connector 5 can be connected in an interleaved manner as follows:

[0041] On one side of the cylindrical protrusions of the same group of slots SLOT 6 stacked on the interlayer sliding support shaft 4, starting from the bottom slot SLOT 6, the through hole is extended from the cylindrical protrusions on the upper slot SLOT 6 of the two adjacent stacked slots SLOT 6. The notch is extended from the cylindrical protrusions on the lower slot SLOT 6 of the two adjacent slots SLOT 6. The top slot SLOT 6 is not connected to the SLOT connector 5.

[0042] On the other side of the cylindrical protrusions of the same group of slots SLOT 6 described above, the bottom slot SLOT 6 is not connected to the SLOT connector 5. The through hole is extended from the two same side cylindrical protrusions on the upper slot SLOT 6 of the two adjacent stacked slots SLOT 6. The notch is extended from the cylindrical protrusions on the lower slot SLOT 6 of the two adjacent slots SLOT 6. The top slot SLOT 6 is connected to the SLOT connector 5.

[0043] It should be noted that the above method is only an example. As long as the same group of slots SLOT 6 satisfies the interleaved connection of the SLOT connector 5, it is acceptable.

[0044] The power driving unit includes two servo modules 3 that rise and fall in the vertical direction, a telescopic rod, a lifting block 8, and two horizontal telescopic cylinders 4 that can move horizontally on the servo module 3. The servo modules 3 are symmetrically arranged on the upper surface of the bottom plate 1.

[0045] Please refer to Figure 4 , Figure 4 This is a front view of the device cylinder 4 in a relaxed state in the wafer storage device embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 4As shown, when a wafer is taken or placed in a slot SLOT6, a lifting block 8 for lifting the drive force receiving end of the wafer to be taken or placed is fixed on the telescopic rod of the transverse telescopic cylinder 4, and the telescopic rod of the transverse telescopic cylinder 4 is extended to make the lifting block 8 just between two adjacent slots SLOT6 when the transverse telescopic cylinder 4 works; then the servo module 3 drives the transverse telescopic cylinder 4 to rise so that the slot SLOT6 is lifted, the distance between the two adjacent slots SLOT6 is increased, and the manipulator takes or places the wafer in the slot SLOT6.

[0046] Please refer to Figure 5 , Figure 5 The figure is a front view of the device cylinder 4 in the working state in the embodiment of the wafer storage device with adjustable layer distance of the present application. After the wafer is taken or placed, the servo module 3 drives the transverse telescopic cylinder 4 to descend, the slot SLOT6 slides downward along the left and right interlayer sliding support shaft 2 under the influence of its own gravity, and finally is stacked together, so that the distance between the two adjacent slots SLOT6 is shortened to the minimum.

[0047] It can be understood that the above embodiment only expresses the preferred embodiment of the present application, and the description is more specific and detailed, but it cannot be understood as the limitation of the patent scope of the present application; it should be pointed out that the above technical features can be freely combined without departing from the concept of the present application for ordinary skilled in the art, and several modifications and improvements can be made, which all belong to the protection scope of the present application; therefore, any equivalent transformation and modification within the scope of the claims of the present application should belong to the coverage of the claims of the present application.

Claims

1. A wafer memory device with adjustable layer pitch, characterized in that, It includes skeleton units, power drive units, link units, and wafer carrier units; among which, The skeleton unit includes a base plate (1), two height adjustment blocks, and left and right interlayer sliding support shafts (2); the left and right interlayer sliding support shafts (2) are vertically fixed on the base plate (1); the wafer carrier unit includes N wafer carrier stages, each wafer carrier stage including a pair of relatively symmetrical and parallel left and right slots (6), used to place a wafer parallel on the left and right slots (6); the left and right slots (6) are stacked together by means of being fixed through the left and right interlayer sliding support shafts (2), and the directions of the slots (6) at the left and right ends are symmetrical; wherein, N is greater than or equal to 3; The bottom surface of the slot (6) located at the bottom of the wafer carrier unit is directly or indirectly fixed to the upper surface of the base plate (1) by two height adjustment blocks; The main body of the slot SLOT (6) includes a wafer receiving stage, a driving force receiving end, and two columnar protrusions extending horizontally perpendicular to the wafer receiving stage; the wafer receiving stage and the driving force receiving end are arranged in opposite directions. The link unit includes N-1 right-end SLOT connectors (5) and N-1 left-end SLOT connectors (5). One end of each SLOT connector (5) is a through hole, and the other end is a slot. The through hole is passed through two columnar protrusions on the upper SLOT (6) of two adjacent stacked SLOTs (6). The slot is passed through two columnar protrusions on the lower SLOT (6) of two adjacent SLOTs (6). When the two adjacent SLOTs (6) are stacked, the columnar structure of the lower SLOT (6) is at the upper limit position of the slot. The SLOT connectors (5) are connected to the two ends of the same set of SLOTs (6) stacked on the interlayer sliding support shaft (2) in an interleaved manner. The power drive unit comprises two servo modules (3) that move vertically in the left and right directions, a telescopic rod, a lifting block (8), and two laterally telescopic cylinders (4) that can move horizontally on the servo modules (3). The servo modules (3) are symmetrically arranged on the upper surface of the base plate (1). When a wafer is picked up or placed in a slot (6), a lifting block (8) is fixed on the telescopic rod of the horizontal telescopic cylinder (4) to lift the driving force receiving end of the wafer to be picked up or placed. When the horizontal telescopic cylinder (4) is working, the telescopic rod extends so that the lifting block (8) is just between two adjacent slots (6); then the servo module (3) drives the horizontal telescopic cylinder (4) to rise, thereby lifting the slot (6) and increasing the distance between two adjacent slots (6), and the robot performs wafer picking and placing operations on the slot (6); After the wafer is picked up and placed, the servo module (3) drives the horizontal telescopic cylinder (4) to descend. The slot (6) slides down along the left and right interlayer sliding support axis (2) under its own gravity and finally stacks together, so that the distance between two adjacent slots (6) is shortened to the minimum.

2. The wafer memory device with adjustable layer spacing according to claim 1, characterized in that, The SLOT connector (5) is connected in an interlaced manner as follows: On one side of the columnar protrusion of the same set of slots (6) stacked on the interlayer sliding support shaft (2), starting from the bottom slot (6), the through hole extends from the columnar protrusion on the upper slot (6) of the two adjacent stacked slots (6), and the slot extends from the columnar protrusion on the lower slot (6) of the two adjacent slots (6). The top slot (6) is not connected to the slot connector (5). On the other side of the columnar protrusion of the same set of slots (6), the bottom slot (6) is not connected to the slot connector (5), the through hole extends from the two same-side columnar protrusions on the upper slot (6) of the two adjacent stacked slots (6), the slot extends from the columnar protrusion on the lower slot (6) of the two adjacent slots (6), and the top slot (6) is connected to the slot connector (5).

3. The wafer memory device with adjustable layer spacing according to claim 2, characterized in that, The two ends of the slot of the link unit are two upper and lower semicircles that are adapted to the columnar protrusion of the slot SLOT (6). The distance L between the centers of the two semicircles is the layer spacing between two adjacent slots SLOT (6) after the rise.

4. The wafer memory device with adjustable layer spacing according to claim 3, characterized in that, The servo module (3) is a lifting mechanism.

5. The wafer memory device with adjustable layer spacing according to claim 3, characterized in that, The left interlayer sliding support shaft (2) consists of two cylinders that are vertically fixed on the base plate (1), and the right interlayer sliding support shaft (2) consists of two cylinders that are vertically fixed on the base plate (1).

6. The wafer memory device with adjustable layer pitch according to claim 1, characterized in that, Viewed from the direction extending from the right interlayer sliding support shaft (2), each of the slots (6) has a protrusion at the bottom and a recess at the top. When the left and right slots (6) are stacked together by means of being fixed through the left and right interlayer sliding support shafts (2), the protrusion is adapted to be inserted into the recess.

7. The wafer memory device with adjustable layer pitch according to claim 6, characterized in that, The protrusion can be square, rectangular, trapezoidal, or arc-shaped.

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