Chip sorting method and semiconductor processing equipment

Abstract

The present invention discloses a chip sorting method and semiconductor processing equipment, and is designed in the field of wafer preparation technology, wherein the chip sorting method includes the following steps: obtaining different types of core particles on each wafer ring and the number of core particles of each type; selecting X wafer rings; calculating and obtaining the total transfer time of all core particles on each wafer ring; dividing all core particles on each wafer ring into X partitions, and marking the partition with the most types of core particles as a service partition; placing each wafer ring on each station, so that each station sorts the wafer ring located thereon X times, and controlling the robot to be set corresponding to the service station. The present application divides different types of core particles into partitions, and concentrates the core particles of the type that require less manipulators in one partition, so that the partition does not need a manipulator for a long time, avoids the frequent movement of the manipulator in each partition, and improves the sorting efficiency.

Description

Technical Field

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

[0002] In the current semiconductor sorting process, the chips on the wafer (wafer ring) after cutting are tested and classified (BIN). After the tested chips are sorted, the chips of the same type are transferred to the same bin ring. Usually, one machine can only transfer one type of chip. In this way, if there are more types of chips, the chip transfer process will be more troublesome.

[0003] In the prior art, the core particles are usually sorted by semiconductor processing equipment with multiple stations to improve the sorting efficiency. It can be understood that each station has a wafer ring and a bin ring, and the core particles are transferred from the wafer ring to the bin ring through the semiconductor processing equipment. Multiple wafer rings are usually prepared in the same batch. The number of core particles that each wafer ring and each bin ring can carry is limited. Therefore, during the sorting process, the wafer ring and the bin ring need to be frequently replaced by a robot. There is usually only one robot, which causes the robot to frequently switch between the three stations, resulting in a long time spent on the movement of the robot, thereby reducing the overall sorting efficiency of the semiconductor processing equipment. Summary of the invention

[0004] The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a chip sorting method and semiconductor processing equipment, aiming to solve the technical problem in the prior art that the robot needs to frequently switch between three workstations, resulting in a long time spent on the movement of the robot and reducing the overall sorting efficiency of the semiconductor processing equipment.

[0005] To achieve the above object, the present invention proposes a chip sorting method, which is applied to semiconductor processing equipment, wherein the semiconductor processing equipment includes X workstations, and the semiconductor processing equipment transfers a wafer ring and a bin ring to or takes them out from each of the workstations through a manipulator, and each of the wafer rings is provided with a plurality of different types of core particles, and the semiconductor processing equipment is used to transfer the core particles located at the workstations from the wafer ring to the bin ring, and each of the bin rings is configured to carry any type of core particles, wherein X≥3;

[0006] The chip sorting method comprises the following steps:

[0007] Acquire the different types of the core particles on each of the wafer rings and the quantity of the core particles of each type, and sort the different types of the core particles on each of the wafer rings according to their quantity;

[0008] Select X wafer rings;

[0009] Divide all the cores on each wafer ring into X partitions so that the time required for the transfer of all the cores in each partition is close, and mark the partition with the most types of cores as a service partition;

[0010] Placing each wafer ring on each station, so that each station sorts the wafer ring thereon for X times, and marking the station whose sorted partition is the service partition as a service station during each sorting, and controlling the manipulator to be set corresponding to the service station, wherein the partitions sorted by each station are different, and the partitions sorted by any station each time are different;

[0011] Return to the step of selecting X wafer rings until all wafer rings are sorted.

[0012] In one embodiment, the step of calculating and obtaining the total transfer time of all the core grains on each wafer ring includes:

[0013] Calculate and obtain the first transfer time for all the core particles of each wafer ring to be transferred to each bin ring;

[0014] Calculate and obtain the second transfer time of the bin ring required to transfer all the core particles on the same wafer ring to each bin ring;

[0015] The total transfer duration of each wafer ring is obtained by summing the first transfer duration and the second transfer duration of each wafer ring.

[0016] In one embodiment, the step of calculating and obtaining the first transfer time for all the core particles of each wafer ring to be transferred to each bin ring includes:

[0017] The first transfer duration is calculated according to the following formula:

[0018]

[0019] in, is the number of core particles of the jth type in the kth wafer ring, and t0 is the transfer time of a single core particle.

[0020] In one embodiment, before the step of calculating and obtaining the first transfer time for all the core particles of each wafer ring to be transferred to each bin ring, the step further includes:

[0021] A quantity distribution table and a presence / absence distribution table are prepared, wherein the horizontal axes of the quantity distribution table and the presence / absence distribution table represent the types of core particles, and the vertical axes represent the numbers of wafer rings. The table content of the quantity distribution table is the number of core particles of each type in each wafer ring, and the table content of the presence / absence distribution table represents whether the core particles of the corresponding vertical axis type exist in the wafer ring, which is 1 if there are core particles, and 0 if not.

[0022] In one embodiment, the step of calculating and obtaining the second transfer time required for transferring all the core particles on the same wafer ring to each bin ring includes:

[0023] The second transfer duration is calculated according to the following formula:

[0024] ;

[0025] in, Whether the j-th type of core particle exists in the k-th wafer ring, if yes, it is 1, otherwise it is 0, and t2 is the replacement time of the single-wafer bin ring.

[0026] In one embodiment, the step of obtaining the total transfer duration of each wafer ring according to the sum of the first transfer duration and the second transfer duration of each wafer ring includes:

[0027] The total transfer time is calculated according to the following formula:

[0028]

[0029] in, is the first transfer duration of the Kth wafer ring, is the second transfer duration of the Kth wafer ring, is the total transfer duration.

[0030] In one embodiment, the number of the workstations and the partitions are both 3, and the steps of dividing all the core particles on each wafer ring into X partitions so that the time required for the transfer of all the core particles in each partition is closest, and marking the partition with the most types of core particles as a service partition include:

[0031] Calculate the values ​​of n and m according to the following formula:

[0032] ;

[0033] ;

[0034] ;

[0035] in, is the sum of the total transfer durations of the core particles of the 0th to nth types in the Wth wafer ring, is the sum of the total transfer durations of the core particles of the n+1th to mth types in the Wth wafer ring, is the sum of the total transfer durations of the core particles of the m+1th to ith types in the Wth wafer ring, is the sum of the total transfer time of all the core particles, and i is the number of types of all the core particles;

[0036] Divide each type of the core particles into three partitions according to n and m, the first partition includes n types of the core particles, the second partition includes (mn-1) types of the core particles, and the third partition includes (im-1) types of the core particles;

[0037] Compare the sizes of n, (mn-1) and (im-1), and mark the partition corresponding to the largest value as the service partition.

[0038] In one embodiment, each wafer ring is placed on each station, so that each station sorts the wafer ring thereon X times, and each time the sorting is performed, the station whose sorted partition is the service partition is marked as a service station, and the manipulator is controlled to be set corresponding to the service station, wherein the partitions sorted by each station are different, and the steps of sorting the partitions by any station each time are different include:

[0039] Placing the plurality of wafer rings on the respective workstations one by one;

[0040] Each of the workstations selects a different partition, marks the workstation whose partition is selected as the service partition as a service workstation, and controls the manipulator to be set corresponding to the service workstation;

[0041] Each of the workstations completes the sorting of the core particles in the corresponding partition;

[0042] Each station changes the partition, and the partition selected by each station after the change is also different, and returns to execute the step of each station completing the sorting of the core particles in the corresponding partition until all the partitions of the wafer ring on each station are sorted.

[0043] In one embodiment, each wafer ring is placed on each station, so that each station sorts the wafer ring thereon for X times, and each time the sorting is performed, the station whose sorted partition is the service partition is marked as a service station, and the manipulator is controlled to be set corresponding to the service station, wherein the partitions sorted by each station are different, and the steps of sorting different partitions at each time by any station further include:

[0044] The priority weight of the robot is improved according to the number of types of the core particles in each partition so that the priority weight of the robot in the partition with a small number of types of the core particles is higher than that in the partition with a large number of types of the core particles.

[0045] The present invention also provides a semiconductor processing equipment, which includes a manipulator, a transfer component, a controller and multiple workstations, wherein the manipulator is used to transfer a wafer ring and a bin ring to each of the workstations or take them out from each of the workstations, and the transfer component is used to transfer the core particles located at the workstations from the wafer ring to the bin ring. A computer program is stored in the controller, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the steps of the above-mentioned chip sorting method are implemented.

[0046] In the technical solution of the present application, different types of core particles and the number of core particles of each type on each wafer ring are first obtained, the data are counted and recorded, and the different types of core particles on each wafer ring are sorted from high to low or from low to high according to their number, and then wafer rings with the same number of wafers as the number of workstations are selected so that the wafer rings can be placed on the workstations one by one, and then the total transfer time of each type of core particles is calculated. It can be understood that the total transfer time is composed of the time to transfer the core particles from the wafer ring to the bin ring and the time to replace the bin ring. Therefore, according to the number of core particles and the number of bin rings required for each wafer ring, the total transfer time of each wafer ring is calculated, and the wafer ring is divided into X partitions so that the transfer time of the core particles in each partition is closest, that is, the X transfer time is basically equal, and according to the transfer time of each partition The partitions are sorted by time. It should be noted that a bin ring can only carry one type of core particles, and the sum of the transfer time of all types of core particles in each partition is similar, which makes some partitions have fewer types of core particles, but the number of each type of core particles is large. In this partition, there are fewer types of core particles and the bin ring needs to be replaced less frequently, so there is less demand for manipulators. There are also some partitions with more types of core particles, but the number of each type of core particles is small. There are many types of core particles and the bin ring needs to be replaced more frequently, so there is more demand for manipulators. Therefore, the manipulator is placed close to the workstation corresponding to the partition with the largest number of core particle types, so that the manipulator can stay at the workstation most of the time and replace the bin ring at the workstation, and go to other workstations less frequently, thereby reducing the switching frequency of the manipulator and improving the overall sorting efficiency of semiconductor processing equipment.

[0047] The present application divides different types of core particles on the same wafer ring into partitions so that the transfer time of each partition is the same. Some partitions have fewer types of core particles and a larger number of single core particles. The time interval for replacing the bin ring during sorting is longer, and the demand for a robot is less; some partitions have more types of core particles and a shorter time interval for replacing the bin ring during sorting, and the demand for a robot is greater. The robot is then placed close to the partition that has a greater demand for the robot. On the one hand, the robot can quickly replace the bin ring in the area, thereby improving the sorting efficiency. On the other hand, the core particles of the type that require less manipulators are concentrated in one partition, so that the partition does not require the robot for a long time, avoiding frequent movement of the robot within each partition, thereby reducing the time spent by the robot during the movement process and further improving the sorting efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0048] 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 of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on the structures shown in these drawings without paying creative work.

[0049] Figure 1 It is a flowchart of a core particle sorting method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0050] Figure 2 This is a detailed flowchart of step S300 of the core particle sorting method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0051] Figure 3 A diagram showing the division of sorting regions in a core particle sorting method according to a specific embodiment of the present invention;

[0052] Figure 4 It is a structural schematic diagram of a semiconductor processing equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0053] Description of Figure Numbers:

[0054] 100. Semiconductor processing equipment; 10. Work station; 20. Robot.

[0055] The realization of the purpose, functional features and advantages of the present invention will be further explained in conjunction with embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0056] 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.

[0057] It should be noted that all directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, back, etc.) in the embodiments of the present invention are only used to explain the relative position relationship, movement status, etc. between the components under a certain specific posture (as shown in the accompanying drawings). If the specific posture changes, the directional indication will also change accordingly.

[0058] In the present invention, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "connection", "fixation", etc. should be understood in a broad sense. For example, "fixation" 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 a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, it can be the internal connection of two elements or the interaction relationship between two elements, unless otherwise clearly defined. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0059] In addition, if there are descriptions involving "first", "second", etc. in the embodiments of the present invention, the descriptions of "first", "second", etc. are only used for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In addition, the meaning of "and / or" appearing in the full text includes three parallel schemes. Taking "A and / or B" as an example, it includes scheme A, or scheme B, or a scheme that satisfies both A and B. In addition, the technical solutions between the various embodiments can be combined with each other, but it must be based on the ability of ordinary technicians in the field to implement. When the combination of technical solutions is contradictory or cannot be implemented, it should be deemed that such a combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the scope of protection required by the present invention.

[0060] In the prior art, the core particles are usually sorted by semiconductor processing equipment with multiple stations to improve the sorting efficiency. It can be understood that each station has a wafer ring and a bin ring, and the core particles are transferred from the wafer ring to the bin ring through the semiconductor processing equipment. Multiple wafer rings are usually prepared in the same batch. The number of core particles that each wafer ring and each bin ring can carry is limited. Therefore, during the sorting process, the wafer ring and the bin ring need to be frequently replaced by a robot. There is usually only one robot, which causes the robot to frequently switch between the three stations, resulting in a long time spent on the movement of the robot, thereby reducing the overall sorting efficiency of the semiconductor processing equipment.

[0061] In order to solve the above problems, the present application proposes a chip sorting method.

[0062] Please combine Figure 1 and Figure 4The present invention proposes a chip sorting method, which is applied to a semiconductor processing device 100, wherein the semiconductor processing device 100 includes X workstations 10, and the semiconductor processing device 100 transfers a wafer ring and a bin ring to or takes out a wafer ring from each of the workstations 10 through a manipulator 20, and each of the wafer rings is provided with a plurality of different types of core particles, and the semiconductor processing device 100 is used to transfer the core particles located on the workstation 10 from the wafer ring to the bin ring, and each of the bin rings is configured to carry any type of core particles, wherein X≥3;

[0063] The chip sorting method comprises the following steps:

[0064] S100: acquiring different types of the core particles on each wafer ring and the number of the core particles of each type, and sorting the different types of the core particles on each wafer ring according to their number;

[0065] It should be noted that the wafer ring is packed in a material box when it leaves the factory. The total number of wafer rings in the material box and the type and quantity of each type of core particles in the wafer ring can be obtained by scanning the barcode or QR code of the material box. Different types of core particles can be sorted from high to low or from low to high according to their quantity, so that core particles of similar types can be divided into the same partition when partitioning is performed later.

[0066] S200: Select X wafer rings;

[0067] Select wafer rings with the same number of wafers as the number of workstations, so that the wafer rings can be placed on the workstations one by one;

[0068] S300: Calculate and obtain the total transfer time of all the core particles on each wafer ring;

[0069] It can be understood that the total transfer time is composed of the time to transfer the core particles from the wafer ring to the bin ring and the time to replace the bin ring. Specifically, since a bin ring can only carry one type of core particles, when all the core particles of the same type on the same wafer ring are sorted and transferred, the bin ring needs to be replaced to sort another type of core particles. Therefore, the total transfer time includes the time to replace the bin ring. Therefore, the total transfer time of each wafer ring is calculated according to the number of core particles and the number of required bin rings.

[0070] S400: Divide all the cores on each wafer ring into X partitions so that the time required for the transfer of all the cores in each partition is close to each other, and mark the partition with the most types of cores as a service partition;

[0071] It should be noted that, since the number of core particles carried on the wafer ring is generally less than the number of core particles that can be carried by the bin ring, and there are usually multiple types of core particles on the wafer ring, the same type of core particles on the same wafer ring will not exceed the upper limit of the bin ring, that is, the transfer time of the same type of core particles on the same wafer ring is completely positively correlated with the number thereof. The partitioning in this process is based on sorting the different types of core particles in step S100 and then partitioning, so that the core particles with a large number and a long transfer time are located in the same partition, and the core particles with a small number and a short transfer time are located in the same partition, thereby forming a situation in which the total partition time is closest, that is, basically the same, and some partitions have fewer types of core particles and some partitions have more types of core particles;

[0072] S500: placing each wafer ring on each station, so that each station sorts the wafer ring thereon for X times, and during each sorting, marking the station whose sorted partition is the service partition as a service station, and controlling the manipulator to be set corresponding to the service station, wherein the partitions sorted by each station are different, and the partitions sorted by any station each time are different;

[0073] Each time you sort, the sorting areas between different stations are different, please refer to Figure 3 , where the first column is the first sorting, the second column is the second sorting, and the third column is the third sorting. The boxed area is the partition, TA (0) is partition 1, TA (1) is partition 2, and TA (2) is partition 3. The horizontal axis represents the type of core particles, and the vertical axis represents the time required for the transfer of a type of core particles. Each bar chart represents a type of core particle. As a specific example, assuming that the number of partitions is three, in the first sorting process, station 0 sorts partition 1, station 1 sorts partition 2, and station 2 sorts partition 3, so that the partitions of each station are different. In the second sorting process, station 0 sorts partition 2, station 1 sorts partition 3, and station 2 sorts partition 1. At the same time, the partitions sorted by each station are different from the partitions sorted in the first sorting. The third sorting is similar, so that the partitions sorted by each station each time are different, and the partitions between each station are also different during each sorting, such as Figure 3 As shown, during the first sorting, the partition sorted by station 2 has the most core particle types, so the partition sorted by station 2 is the service partition, and station 2 is the service station. During the second sorting, station 0 is the service station, and during the third sorting, station 1 is the service station. In other words, the service station will change with the change of the number of sorting times.

[0074] S600: Return to step S200 until all wafer rings are sorted.

[0075] There are multiple wafer rings. Due to the limitation of the number of workstations, only X wafer rings can be sorted at one time. Therefore, the process returns to step S200 until all wafer rings are sorted.

[0076] In the technical solution of the present application, different types of core particles and the number of core particles of each type on each wafer ring are first obtained, the data are counted and recorded, and the different types of core particles on each wafer ring are sorted from high to low or from low to high according to their number, and then a wafer ring with the same number of wafers as the number of stations 10 is selected so that the wafer rings can be placed on the station 10 one by one, and then the total transfer time of each type of core particles is calculated. It can be understood that the total transfer time is composed of the time to transfer the core particles from the wafer ring to the bin ring and the time to replace the bin ring. Therefore, according to the number of core particles and the number of bin rings required for each wafer ring, the total transfer time of each wafer ring is calculated, and the wafer ring is divided into X partitions so that the transfer time of the core particles in each partition is closest, that is, the X transfer times are basically equal, and the partitions are sorted according to the transfer time of each partition. It should be noted that a bin ring can only carry one type of core particles, and the sum of the transfer times of all types of core particles in each partition is similar, so that some partitions have fewer types of core particles, but the number of each type of core particles is large. In this partition, there are fewer types of core particles, and the bin ring needs to be replaced less frequently, so there is less demand for the robot 20. There are also some partitions with more types of core particles, but the number of each type of core particles is small. There are many types of core particles, and the bin ring needs to be replaced more frequently, so there is more demand for the robot 20. Therefore, the robot 20 is placed close to the workstation 10 corresponding to the partition with the largest number of core particle types, so that the robot 20 can stay at the workstation 10 most of the time and replace the bin ring for the workstation 10, and go to other workstations 10 less frequently, thereby reducing the switching frequency of the robot 20 and improving the overall sorting efficiency of the semiconductor processing equipment 100.

[0077] The present application divides different types of core particles on the same wafer ring into partitions so that the transfer time of each partition is the same. Some partitions have fewer types of core particles and a larger number of single core particles. The time interval for replacing the bin ring during sorting is longer, and the demand for the robot 20 is less; some partitions have more types of core particles and a shorter time interval for replacing the bin ring during sorting, and the demand for the robot 20 is greater. The robot 20 is then placed close to the partition where the demand for the robot 20 is greater. On the one hand, the robot 20 can quickly replace the bin ring in the area, thereby improving the sorting efficiency. On the other hand, the types of core particles that require less manipulator 20 are concentrated in one partition, so that the partition does not need the manipulator 20 for a long time, avoiding frequent movement of the manipulator 20 within each partition, thereby reducing the time spent by the manipulator 20 during the movement process and further improving the sorting efficiency.

[0078] See also Figure 2 In one embodiment, step S300 includes:

[0079] S310: Calculate and obtain the first transfer time for all the core particles of each wafer ring to be transferred to each bin ring;

[0080] The first transfer duration of each type of core particle includes the duration of the transfer of the core particle of this type from the wafer ring to the bin ring;

[0081] S320: Calculate and obtain the second transfer time of the bin ring required to transfer all the core particles on the same wafer ring to each bin ring;

[0082] When all the core particles of the same type on the same wafer ring are transferred, the bin ring needs to be replaced by the robot to transfer another type of core particles on the wafer ring;

[0083] S330: Obtain the total transfer duration of each wafer ring according to the sum of the first transfer duration and the second transfer duration of each wafer ring.

[0084] The total transfer time of each type of core particle is obtained by summing the first transfer time and the second transfer time. The first transfer time of each type of core particle, including the time for the core particle of this type to be transferred from the wafer ring to the bin ring and the time for replacing the bin ring, is included in the total transfer time, thereby improving the calculation accuracy of the total transfer time and thus improving the rationality of subsequent partition planning based on the total transfer time.

[0085] In one embodiment, step S310 includes:

[0086] S3101: Calculate the first transfer duration according to the following formula:

[0087]

[0088] in, is the number of core particles of the jth type in the kth wafer ring, and t0 is the transfer time of a single core particle.

[0089] It can be understood that by substituting the j-th type of core particles of each wafer ring (k-th) into the above formula, and then calculating the time required for all types of core particles on each wafer ring to be transferred to the bin ring, After entering the program, the first transfer duration corresponding to each wafer ring can be quickly calculated. The calculation result is accurate and the calculation process is simple and fast.

[0090] In one implementation, before step S309, the method further includes:

[0091] A quantity distribution table and a presence / absence distribution table are prepared, wherein the horizontal axes of the quantity distribution table and the presence / absence distribution table represent the types of core particles, and the vertical axes represent the numbers of wafer rings. The table content of the quantity distribution table is the number of core particles of each type in each wafer ring, and the table content of the presence / absence distribution table represents whether the core particles of the corresponding vertical axis type exist in the wafer ring, which is 1 if there are core particles, and 0 if not.

[0092] By providing an ordered structure through data distribution tables and distribution tables, the program can easily read data by rows and columns. Commonly used data processing tools or database formats can be directly read and processed by most programming languages, which significantly improves computing efficiency. Especially when the amount of data is large, automatic calculation can save a lot of time and effort.

[0093] In one embodiment, step S320 includes:

[0094] S3201: Calculate and obtain the second transfer duration according to the following formula:

[0095] ;

[0096] in, Whether the j-th type of core particle exists in the k-th wafer ring, if yes, it is 1, otherwise it is 0, and t2 is the replacement time of the single-wafer bin ring.

[0097] It should be noted that due to It can only be 0 or 1, so That is, the number of types of core particles on the kth wafer ring * t2. After entering the program, the second transfer time corresponding to each type of core particle can be quickly calculated. The calculation result is accurate and the calculation process is simple and fast.

[0098] In one embodiment, the step S330 of obtaining the total transfer duration of each wafer ring according to the sum of the first transfer duration and the second transfer duration of each wafer ring includes:

[0099] S3301: Calculate and obtain the total transfer duration according to the following formula:

[0100]

[0101] in, is the first transfer duration of the Kth wafer ring, is the second transfer duration of the Kth wafer ring, is the total transfer duration.

[0102] The total transfer time of each type of core particle is calculated by summing the first transfer time and the second transfer time. The total transfer time of each type of core particle can be automatically and quickly calculated through the formula. There is no need to re-enter the calculation for each type of core particle. The total transfer time corresponding to each type of core particle can be quickly calculated. The calculation result is accurate and the calculation process is simple and fast.

[0103] In one embodiment, the number of the workstations and the number of the partitions are both 3, and step S400 includes:

[0104] S410: Calculate the values ​​of n and m according to the following formula:

[0105] ;

[0106] ;

[0107] ;

[0108] in, is the sum of the total transfer durations of the core particles of the 0th to nth types in the Wth wafer ring, is the sum of the total transfer durations of the core particles of the n+1th to mth types in the Wth wafer ring, is the sum of the total transfer durations of the core particles of the m+1th to ith types in the Wth wafer ring, is the sum of the total transfer time of all the core particles, and i is the number of types of all the core particles;

[0109] It can be understood that i is the total number of all core particle types, It can be calculated through the previous steps, that is, substitute W into , replace k with W and divide it by 3 to obtain , The aforementioned formula for calculating the first transfer duration can be used to change the integral range from 0~i to 0-n, that is, to obtain the value by calculating the number of core particles of the 0th to nth types * t0 (the 0th to nth types are calculated in the order after sorting in step S100), i is the total number of core particle types on a single wafer ring, and the value can be calculated in the same way and , so only n and m are unknowns, and the values ​​of n and m are obtained by substitution;

[0110] S420: Divide the core particles of each type into three partitions according to n and m, wherein the first partition includes n types of core particles, the second partition includes (mn-1) types of core particles, and the third partition includes (im-1) types of core particles;

[0111] Different types of core particles are divided into zones according to the values ​​of n and m, so that the core particles with the least types are divided into one zone, the core particles with the most types are divided into one zone, and the core particles with a medium number of core particle types are divided into one zone, so that the requirements of the three zones for the manipulator 20 are gradually reduced, so that the manipulator 20 can be mainly used to transfer the zone with the most types of core particles, avoiding the manipulator 20 from frequently switching between different zones, thereby reducing the time spent by the manipulator 20 in the moving process, and further improving the sorting efficiency;

[0112] S430: Compare the values ​​of n, (mn-1), and (im-1), and mark the partition corresponding to the largest value as the service partition.

[0113] The largest value among the three values ​​means that the corresponding partition has the most core particle types, so that the robot can be mainly used to transfer the partition with the most core particle types, avoiding the robot from frequently switching between different partitions, thereby reducing the time spent by the robot during the movement process and further improving the sorting efficiency.

[0114] In one embodiment, step S500 includes:

[0115] S510: placing the plurality of wafer rings on the respective workstations one by one;

[0116] S520: each of the workstations selects a different partition, marks the workstations whose partitions are selected as the service partitions as service workstations, and controls the manipulator to be set corresponding to the service workstations;

[0117] S530: Each of the workstations completes the sorting of the core particles in the corresponding partition;

[0118] S540: each workstation changes the partition, and the partition selected by each workstation after the change is also different, and the process returns to step S520 until all the partitions of the wafer ring on each workstation are selected.

[0119] During the first sorting, station 1 selects the first partition for sorting, station 2 selects the second partition for sorting, and station n selects the nth partition for sorting (n is 1-X). During the second sorting, station 1 selects the second partition for sorting, station 2 selects the third partition for sorting, and station n selects the n+1th partition for sorting. And so on. During the pth sorting, station 1 selects the 1+pth partition for sorting, station 2 selects the 2+pth partition for sorting, and station n selects the n+pth partition for sorting (when n+p is greater than X, n+pX is taken). This makes the partitions sorted by each station different each time, and the partitions between the stations are also different each time sorting, so that there is only one service station each time sorting, and the robot will not conflict, which improves the sorting efficiency. In addition, the wafer ring of each station will sort each partition to avoid missing selection and improve the sorting accuracy.

[0120] In one embodiment, after step S500, the method further includes:

[0121] S550: improving the priority weight of the manipulator according to the number of types of the core particles in each partition, so that the priority weight of the manipulator in the partition with a small number of types of the core particles is higher than that in the partition with a large number of types of the core particles.

[0122] It can be understood that for the partition with few types of core particles, the number of core particles of a single type is large, so there is a long period of time without using the manipulator 20 to replace the bin ring, while for the partition with many types of core particles, the number of core particles of a single type is small, and all the sorting is completed very quickly, and the bin ring needs to be replaced frequently, so the manipulator 20 needs to be used frequently. In other words, for the partition with few types of core particles, only one use of the manipulator 20 can be exchanged for a long stable period, while for the partition with many types of core particles, one use of the manipulator 20 can only be exchanged for a few minutes of stable period, so the priority weight of the manipulator 20 of the partition with a small number of types of core particles is higher than that of the partition with a large number of types of core particles, which can improve the rationality of the allocation of the manipulator 20 and make the sorting process smoother. Improve the sorting efficiency.

[0123] The present invention also provides a semiconductor processing equipment 100, the semiconductor processing equipment 100 includes a manipulator 20, a transfer component, a controller and a plurality of workstations 10, the manipulator 20 is used to transfer a wafer ring and a bin ring to each of the workstations 10 or take them out from each of the workstations 10, the transfer component is used to transfer the core particles located on the workstation 10 from the wafer ring to the bin ring, and the controller stores a computer program, and the computer program implements the steps of the above-mentioned chip sorting method when executed by the processor. The specific steps of the chip sorting method refer to the above-mentioned embodiments. Since the semiconductor processing equipment 100 adopts all the technical solutions of all the above-mentioned embodiments, it has at least all the beneficial effects brought by the technical solutions of the above-mentioned embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0124] The above descriptions are only optional embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the patent scope of the present invention. All equivalent structural changes made using the contents of the present invention's specification and drawings, or directly / indirectly applied in other related technical fields, are included in the patent protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A chip sorting method, characterized in that: Applied to semiconductor processing equipment, the semiconductor processing equipment includes X workstations, the semiconductor processing equipment transfers wafer rings and bin rings to or takes them out from each of the workstations by a manipulator, each of the wafer rings is provided with a plurality of different types of core particles, the semiconductor processing equipment is used to transfer the core particles located at the workstations from the wafer rings to the bin rings, each of the bin rings is configured to carry any type of the core particles, wherein X≥3; The chip sorting method comprises the following steps: Acquire the different types of the core particles on each of the wafer rings and the quantity of the core particles of each type, and sort the different types of the core particles on each of the wafer rings according to their quantity; Select X wafer rings; Calculate and obtain the total transfer time of all the core particles on each wafer ring; Divide all the cores on each wafer ring into X partitions so that the time required for the transfer of all the cores in each partition is close, and mark the partition with the most types of cores as a service partition; Placing each wafer ring on each station, so that each station sorts the wafer ring thereon for X times, and marking the station whose sorted partition is the service partition as a service station during each sorting, and controlling the manipulator to be set corresponding to the service station, wherein the partitions sorted by each station are different, and the partitions sorted by any station each time are different; Return to the step of selecting X wafer rings until all wafer rings are sorted.

2. The chip sorting method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The step of calculating and obtaining the total transfer time of all the core grains on each wafer ring includes: Calculate and obtain the first transfer time for all the core particles of each wafer ring to be transferred to each bin ring; Calculate and obtain the second transfer time of the bin ring required to transfer all the core particles on the same wafer ring to each bin ring; The total transfer duration of each wafer ring is obtained by summing the first transfer duration and the second transfer duration of each wafer ring.

3. The chip sorting method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The step of calculating and obtaining the first transfer time for all the core particles of each wafer ring to be transferred to each bin ring includes: The first transfer duration is calculated according to the following formula: in, is the number of core particles of the jth type in the kth wafer ring, and t0 is the transfer time of a single core particle.

4. The chip sorting method according to claim 3, characterized in that: Before the step of calculating and obtaining the first transfer time for all the core particles of each wafer ring to be transferred to each bin ring, the step further includes: A quantity distribution table and a presence / absence distribution table are prepared, wherein the horizontal axes of the quantity distribution table and the presence / absence distribution table represent the types of core particles, and the vertical axes represent the numbers of wafer rings. The table content of the quantity distribution table is the number of core particles of each type in each wafer ring, and the table content of the presence / absence distribution table represents whether the core particles of the corresponding vertical axis type exist in the wafer ring, which is 1 if there are core particles, and 0 if not.

5. The chip sorting method according to claim 3, characterized in that: The step of calculating and obtaining the second transfer time required for transferring all the core particles on the same wafer ring to each bin ring includes: The second transfer duration is calculated according to the following formula: ； in, Whether the j-th type of core particle exists in the k-th wafer ring, if yes, it is 1, otherwise it is 0, and t2 is the replacement time of the single-wafer bin ring.

6. The chip sorting method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The step of obtaining the total transfer duration of each wafer ring by summing the first transfer duration and the second transfer duration of each wafer ring comprises: The total transfer time is calculated according to the following formula: in, is the first transfer duration of the Kth wafer ring, is the second transfer duration of the Kth wafer ring, is the total transfer time.

7. The chip sorting method according to claim 6, characterized in that: The number of the workstations and the number of the partitions are both 3, and the steps of dividing all the core particles on each wafer ring into X partitions so that the time required for completing the transfer of all the core particles in each partition is closest, and marking the partition with the most types of core particles as a service partition include: Calculate the values ​​of n and m according to the following formula: ； ； ； in, is the sum of the total transfer durations of the core particles of the 0th to nth types in the Wth wafer ring, is the sum of the total transfer durations of the core particles of the n+1th to mth types in the Wth wafer ring, is the sum of the total transfer durations of the core particles of the m+1th to ith types in the Wth wafer ring, is the sum of the total transfer time of all the core particles, and i is the number of types of all the core particles; Divide each type of the core particles into three partitions according to n and m, the first partition includes n types of the core particles, the second partition includes (mn-1) types of the core particles, and the third partition includes (im-1) types of the core particles; Compare the sizes of n, (mn-1) and (im-1), and mark the partition corresponding to the largest value as the service partition.

8. The chip sorting method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: Placing each wafer ring on each station, so that each station sorts the wafer ring thereon for X times, marking the station whose sorted partition is the service partition as a service station during each sorting, and controlling the manipulator to be set corresponding to the service station, wherein the partitions sorted by each station are different, and the steps of sorting the partitions by any station each time are different include: Placing the plurality of wafer rings on the respective workstations one by one; Each of the workstations selects a different partition, marks the workstation whose partition is selected as the service partition as a service workstation, and controls the manipulator to be set corresponding to the service workstation; Each of the workstations completes the sorting of the core particles in the corresponding partition; Each station changes the partition, and the partition selected by each station after the change is also different, and returns to execute the step of each station completing the sorting of the core particles in the corresponding partition until all the partitions of the wafer ring on each station are sorted.

9. The chip sorting method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: Placing each wafer ring on each station, so that each station sorts the wafer ring thereon for X times, marking the station whose sorted partition is the service partition as a service station during each sorting, and controlling the manipulator to be set corresponding to the service station, wherein the partitions sorted by each station are different, and the steps of sorting different partitions at each station further include: The priority weight of the robot is improved according to the number of types of the core particles in each partition so that the priority weight of the robot in the partition with a small number of types of the core particles is higher than that in the partition with a large number of types of the core particles.

10. A semiconductor processing equipment, characterized in that: The semiconductor processing equipment includes a manipulator, a transfer component, a controller and multiple workstations, the manipulator is used to transfer the wafer ring and the bin ring to each of the workstations or take them out from each of the workstations, the transfer component is used to transfer the core particles located at the workstations from the wafer ring to the bin ring, and the controller stores a computer program, which, when executed by the processor, implements the steps of the chip sorting method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9.

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