Silicon wafer conveying device and method

Abstract

The invention discloses a silicon wafer conveying device and method.The silicon wafer conveying device comprises a silicon wafer transferring module for moving silicon wafers between a first station and a second station, and the silicon wafer transferring module moves above the first station and the second station; the second station comprises a carrying plate module for carrying the silicon wafer and a position detection device for detecting the position of the carrying module, the carrying module is provided with a silicon wafer carrying position for placing the silicon wafer, and the silicon wafer transferring module comprises a downward suction cup for adsorbing the silicon wafer and an adjusting mechanism for adjusting the position of the suction cup. The silicon wafer conveying accuracy can be achieved through the simple detection device, the carrier plate and the silicon wafer adsorption device are designed in a modular mode, compared with a conventional single silicon wafer deviation rectifying mode, the investment, debugging and operation cost is reduced, the structure of a heavy-load type linear motor module is optimized, and operation clamping stagnation caused by parallelism machining deviation can be avoided.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of silicon wafer production, and in particular to a silicon wafer conveying device and method. Background Art

[0002] The existing automatic loading and unloading of plate-type silicon wafers uses vision to read the position information of each silicon wafer carrier on the silicon wafer carrier. The silicon wafer carrier is also called a pocket. The relative offset of each pocket is calculated through a specified algorithm. The first step is to obtain the XYθ axis data of each pocket, and send the offset data to the PLC through the specified format data information, and then perform correction, finally achieving the effect of correcting the deviation and placing it in each pocket.

[0003] Since the pocket position of each silicon wafer carrier needs to be detected and located during the silicon wafer transmission process, the equipment uses a large number of visual CCDs and a large number of correction mechanisms, which are costly and have a complicated structure. Due to the complexity of the circuit and the complexity of the mechanical visual system, the failure rate also increases, and the cost also increases accordingly. Summary of the invention

[0004] In order to solve the problem of complexity of the visual inspection and positioning device used in the silicon wafer transmission process, the present invention proposes a silicon wafer transmission device and method, which can achieve the accuracy of silicon wafer transmission using a simple detection device, reduce investment, debugging, and operating costs, and also reduce the size of the equipment.

[0005] The technical solution adopted by the present invention is to design a silicon wafer conveying device, including a silicon wafer transfer module for moving silicon wafers between a first workstation and a second workstation, the silicon wafer transfer module moves above the first workstation and the second workstation, the second workstation includes a carrier module for carrying the silicon wafer and a position detection device for detecting the position of the carrier module, the carrier module is provided with a silicon wafer carrying position for placing the silicon wafer, the silicon wafer transfer module includes a downward suction cup for adsorbing silicon wafers and an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the position of the suction cup, the adjustment mechanism adjusts the position of the suction cup according to the position information detected by the position detection device so that the adsorbed silicon wafer corresponds to the silicon wafer carrying position up and down.

[0006] In some embodiments, the adjustment mechanism includes a translation mechanism for spatially controlling the suction cup to translate in three degrees of freedom in space and a rotation mechanism for controlling the suction cup to rotate around a vertical axis.

[0007] In some embodiments, the translation mechanism includes a multi-motor linear motor, and the suction cup is disposed on each mover of the multi-motor linear motor.

[0008] In certain embodiments, the carrier module includes a silicon wafer carrier, on which silicon wafer carrying positions for carrying the silicon wafer are distributed, and the position detection device is a visual sensor, which is used to detect the position of the carrier.

[0009] In some embodiments, the carrier module includes a plurality of silicon wafer carriers arranged in parallel.

[0010] In some embodiments, the silicon wafer carrier is a rectangular plate, and the visual sensor detects diagonal position information of the silicon wafer carrier.

[0011] In some embodiments, the silicon wafer transfer module is slidably arranged on a movable guide rail above the first station and the second station, and the second station also includes a carrier conveying mechanism, which conveys the carrier to the bottom of the movable guide rail.

[0012] In some embodiments, two first workstations are included, and the two first workstations are respectively located on two opposite sides of the second workstation, and a silicon wafer transfer module is provided corresponding to each of the first workstations.

[0013] In some embodiments, it also includes a gantry transfer mechanism and a heavy-load linear motor module, the silicon wafer transfer module is fixed on the gantry transfer mechanism, the gantry transfer mechanism is installed on the heavy-load linear motor module, and the heavy-load linear motor module drives the gantry transfer mechanism to drive the silicon wafer transfer module to move between the first workstation and the second workstation respectively.

[0014] In some embodiments, the heavy-load linear motor module includes a sliding rail and a slider that are slidably matched, and the width of the rail is greater than the width of the slider.

[0015] A silicon wafer conveying method is used for the silicon wafer conveying device. If the coordinate deviation of the carrier module relative to the ideal position detected by the visual sensor is (X1 deviation, Y1 deviation, θ1 deviation), and the distance from the wafer picking center of the silicon wafer transfer module to the rotation axis of the rotating mechanism is R, and the rotation angle from the wafer picking center of the silicon wafer transfer module to the center of the silicon wafer transfer module relative to the rotation axis is α, then the adjustment mechanism makes the movement parameters of each coordinate of the silicon wafer transfer module be (X1 deviation -R / cosα+R, Y1 deviation -R·tanα, θ1 deviation).

[0016] In some embodiments, the carrier module includes a silicon wafer carrier, the visual sensor detects the diagonal position coordinates of the silicon wafer carrier, and calculates the center position of the silicon wafer carrier based on the diagonal position coordinates of the silicon wafer carrier.

[0017] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0018] The present invention designs the carrier and the silicon wafer adsorption device module. Compared with the conventional single-chip silicon wafer correction method, the method of overall correction using a set of data for multiple silicon wafers is adopted. Compared with the existing single-point correction, the use of visual CCD is greatly reduced, the circuit control is simplified, the investment, debugging and operation costs are reduced, and the equipment volume is also reduced. The layout of the visual device is optimized and designed, and the same detection results are achieved with fewer visual devices, saving investment costs. The structure of the heavy-duty linear motor module is optimized to avoid operation jams caused by parallelism processing deviations. The silicon wafer carrier is divided into various areas through modularization, and each area is easier to ensure its processing accuracy in the design and manufacture of the carrier, and the cost will not be increased due to the length and width of the carrier exceeding the limit. Through the controllable modular precision assembly of the carrier, the visual capture image can be divided into several areas, and the gantry correction mechanism also realizes correction through the whole module of the visual reading area, so that the silicon wafer can be loaded within the expected accuracy range to complete the loading work. The multi-motor linear motor can not only complete the closing of silicon wafers after taking out the materials, but also correct the position of the materials on the carrier. The three movers can be combined together to move forward or backward in one direction at the same time, fulfilling the role of the X-axis. The layout of this mechanism is simplified and eliminates the X-axis, which reduces the weight and cost of the equipment, simplifies the control, and reduces the failure rate of the equipment. The structure of the heavy-duty linear motor module is optimized to avoid operation jams caused by parallelism processing deviations. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] The present invention is described in detail below in conjunction with specific embodiments and drawings. In order to show details and facilitate understanding of its principles, it is not necessarily drawn to scale, and similar reference numerals may describe similar components in different views. The drawings generally illustrate the embodiments discussed herein by way of example and not limitation. Among them:

[0020] Figure 1 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a silicon wafer conveying device.

[0021] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of a silicon wafer transfer module being arranged on a gantry transfer mechanism.

[0022] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the silicon wafer transfer module.

[0023] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the multi-actuator linear motor separating the suction cup modules.

[0024] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the multi-actuator linear motor closing the suction cup module.

[0025] Figure 6is a schematic diagram of the carrier module.

[0026] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the end side of the silicon wafer conveyor.

[0027] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram when the silicon wafer carrier and the silicon wafer transfer module are not aligned up and down.

[0028] Fig. 9 yes Figure 8 Schematic diagram of the silicon wafer transfer module after rotation.

[0029] Fig.10 It is a schematic diagram of the coordinate changes caused by the rotation of the silicon wafer transfer module.

[0030] Fig.11 yes Figure 1 Schematic diagram of a top view of a silicon wafer conveying device.

[0031] In the figure, 1. first workstation; 2. second workstation; 3. silicon wafer; 4. silicon wafer transfer module; 5. silicon wafer carrier; 6. pocket; 7. gantry transfer mechanism; 8. heavy-duty linear motor module; 81. slider; 9. frame; 10. moving guide rail; 11. Z-direction lifting motor; 12. Y-direction driving motor; 13. suction cup module; 131. suction cup; 14. multi-motor linear motor; 15. rotating mechanism; 16. visual sensor; 17. rectangular wireframe; 18. center position of silicon wafer carrier module. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] The following are specific embodiments of the present invention, and the technical solutions of the present invention are further described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and the following embodiments do not limit the invention involved in the claims. In addition, all combinations of the features described in the embodiments are not necessarily required for the solutions of the invention.

[0033] The principle and structure of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0034] Example

[0035] like Figure 1 , 2As shown in Figure 3, a silicon wafer conveying device includes a silicon wafer transfer module 4 for moving silicon wafer 3 between a first station 1 and a second station 2, the silicon wafer transfer module 4 moves above the first station 1 and the second station 2, the second station 2 includes a carrier module for carrying the silicon wafer and a position detection device for detecting the position of the carrier module, the carrier module is provided with a silicon wafer carrying position for placing the silicon wafer, the silicon wafer transfer module 4 includes a downward suction cup 131 for adsorbing silicon wafers and an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the position of the suction cup 131, the adjustment mechanism adjusts the position of the suction cup 131 according to the position information detected by the position detection device so that the adsorbed silicon wafer corresponds to the silicon wafer carrying position up and down.

[0036] like Figure 6 , 7 As shown, the carrier module includes a plurality of parallel silicon wafer carriers 5, the silicon wafer carrier 5 is a rectangular plate, and silicon wafer carrying positions for carrying the silicon wafers are distributed on the silicon wafer carrier 5. The silicon wafer carrying positions are also called pockets 6.

[0037] The silicon wafer transfer module 4 is slidably arranged on a movable guide rail 10 above the first station 1 and the second station 2. The second station 2 also includes a carrier conveying mechanism, which conveys the carrier to the bottom of the movable guide rail 10. The carrier conveying mechanism can be, for example, a conveying device such as a belt conveying mechanism.

[0038] The two first workstations 1 are respectively located on opposite sides of the second workstation 2, and a silicon wafer transfer module 4 is provided for each of the first workstations 1, that is, two relatively movable silicon wafer transfer modules 4 are provided. In actual production, the specifications, arrangement and quantity of the silicon wafer carrier 5 of each silicon wafer transfer module 4 can be adjusted according to actual needs.

[0039] The first workstation 1 is a silicon wafer loading area, and is provided with two groups of gantry transfer mechanisms 7 corresponding to two silicon wafer loading areas; each group of gantry transfer mechanisms 7 includes three silicon wafer transfer modules 4 .

[0040] The silicon wafer transfer module 4 is arranged on the gantry transfer mechanism 7, the gantry transfer mechanism 7 is installed on the heavy-load linear motor module 8, the heavy-load linear motor module 8 is installed on the frame 9, the movable guide rail 10 is the stator of the heavy-load linear motor module 8, and the heavy-load linear motor module 8 is used to drive the gantry transfer mechanism 7 to move between the first workstation 1 and the second workstation 2 respectively to complete the transfer of the silicon wafer.

[0041] like Figure 7 , 11As shown, the heavy-duty linear motor module 8 includes a slide rail and slider mechanism. The gantry transfer mechanism 7 is installed on a slider 81 of the slide rail and slider mechanism, and the slider 81 is set on the linear motor. The slider 81 can slide relative to the linear motor in a direction perpendicular to the linear motor. The width of the slide rail of the slide rail and slider mechanism is slightly larger than the width of the slider, so that the gantry can still operate normally without jamming when there is a small deviation in the parallelism processing of the mounting surface on the opposite side of the large-volume gantry.

[0042] The number of the gantry transfer mechanisms 7 and the silicon wafer adjustment mechanisms included therein are adapted to the silicon wafer carrier 5 , so that the silicon wafer loading of all pockets 6 on the silicon wafer carrier 5 can be completed in one round trip operation.

[0043] The adjustment mechanism includes a translation mechanism for spatially controlling the suction cup 131 to translate in three degrees of freedom in space and a rotation mechanism 15 for controlling the suction cup 131 to rotate around a vertical axis.

[0044] like Figure 4 , 5 As shown, the translation mechanism includes a Z-direction lifting motor 11, a Y-direction driving motor 12, and a suction cup module 13. The suction cup module 13 is provided with a suction cup 131 for adsorbing the silicon wafer. The suction cup module 13 includes a multi-motor linear motor 14, and each mover of the multi-motor linear motor 14 is provided with the suction cup 131. It also includes a rotating mechanism 15 for controlling the suction cup 131 to rotate around a vertical axis, such as a rotating motor. Of course, it is not limited to this mechanism, as long as the adjustment of the suction cup 131 to take the silicon wafer module in the XYZθ dimension can be achieved.

[0045] The spacing between the pockets 6 of the wafer carrier 5 and the horizontal spacing between the wafers on the wafer loading area are not consistent. The multi-actuator linear motor 14 can realize the horizontal motion control of multiple suction cups 131, thereby adjusting the spacing and realizing the coincidence control of the X-direction drive and the wafer closing action.

[0046] When the carrier conveying mechanism conveys the silicon wafer carrier 5, the position of each stop is slightly different, so the gantry transfer mechanism 7 directly loads the material above the silicon wafer carrier 5, and there is an error, and it cannot be accurately placed in the pocket 6 of the silicon wafer carrier 5 at one time. Therefore, it is necessary to combine the visual inspection device to obtain the actual position of the silicon wafer carrier 5, and then calculate the deviation of the silicon wafer carrier 5 from the actual ideal position through the host computer, and send the deviation data to the PLC module, and the PLC will send the deviation data to the drive motor responsible for the movement of each axis on the adjustment mechanism, so as to ensure that the silicon wafer sucked by the suction cup 131 silicon wafer module is accurately placed in the pocket 6 of the silicon wafer carrier 5. For easy installation, the visual inspection device is set below the silicon wafer carrier 5.

[0047] Because of the modular design of the silicon wafer carrier 5, multiple silicon wafer carriers 5 are loaded at the same time each time, and there are gaps between each silicon wafer carrier 5, resulting in a deviation between the actual stop position of the silicon wafer carrier 5 and the ideal position. The ideal position is directly below the gantry transfer mechanism 7 when it moves to the top of the silicon wafer carrier 5 transmission mechanism. The gantry transfer mechanism 7 can be lowered to load the silicon wafer into the pocket 6 without other adjustments. The visual inspection device obtains the actual position of the silicon wafer carrier 5 and transmits it to the PLC. The PLC compares the deviation between the actual position and the ideal position, thereby calculating the parameters that need to be adjusted by the adjustment mechanism, and sends the data to the drive motors responsible for the movement of each axis of the adjustment mechanism to complete the position angle adjustment, and then the Z-direction lifting motor 11 causes the suction cup 131 to descend so that the silicon wafer is accurately placed in the pocket 6.

[0048] The position detection device is a visual sensor, and the visual sensor 16 is located below the silicon wafer carrier 5. The visual sensor 16 is used to detect the position of the carrier. The visual sensor 16 detects the diagonal position information of the silicon wafer carrier 5 and calculates the center position of the silicon wafer carrier 5 based on the diagonal position coordinates of the silicon wafer carrier 5.

[0049] The rectangular wireframe 17 in the figure is the detection range of the visual sensor 16. By detecting the coordinates of the diagonal vertices of the silicon wafer carrier 5 module, the center position and offset angle of the silicon wafer carrier 5 module can be inferred. Therefore, when there are multiple silicon wafer carriers 5, adjacent silicon wafer carriers 5 can share one visual sensor 16 for detection.

[0050] The wafer transfer method is as follows:

[0051] When the silicon wafer transfer module 4 moves to above the silicon wafer carrier 5, the visual sensor 16 captures the posture information of the carrier, that is, the box area shown in the figure. This area is calculated based on the actual position of the silicon wafer carrier 5 and represents the silicon wafer carrier 5. The offsets are on the three axes X, Y, and θ. Therefore, when the gantry moves to the position directly above the actual silicon wafer carrier 5, it is also necessary to correct the deviation of the sucked silicon wafer, and the correction data are on the three axes X, Y, and θ.

[0052] After obtaining the box area information, the center point of the box area is calculated by the host computer. When the rotation center of the adjustment mechanism is the same as the center of the silicon wafer transfer module 4, it is only necessary to move the offset Y in the Y direction through the Y-direction drive motor 12 and move the offset X in the X direction through the multi-motor linear motor 14. The silicon wafer transfer module and the silicon wafer carrier can be accurately corresponded up and down, and then the silicon wafer transfer module can be lowered by the Z-direction lifting motor to place the silicon wafer on the silicon wafer carrier.

[0053] like Figure 8 , 9As shown in 10, in actual use, the rotation center of the adjustment mechanism is often different from the center of the silicon wafer transfer module 4 due to the layout of the mechanism or the assembly of the equipment. In this case, when the rotation axis of the rotating mechanism 15 is corrected by θ, the original X, Y will also be offset because the rotation center of the mechanism is not in the actual module center. Therefore, assuming that the distance between the actual rotation center and the center of the silicon wafer suction is R, it is calculated that the distance between point B (B is the position from the actual silicon wafer suction module to the position after rotation correction) and point A (A is the correct module center point position read by the original silicon wafer carrier 5 through vision) is the coordinate (R / cosα-R, R·tanα,). If the offset from the material taking position to the loading position is (X offset, Y offset, θ offset), then the data executed by the actual gantry mechanism from the silicon wafer taking position to the silicon wafer carrier 5 loading position is (X offset-R / cosα+R, Y offset-R·tanα, θ offset).

[0054] The specific embodiments described herein are merely examples of the spirit of the present invention. Those skilled in the art may make various modifications or additions to the specific embodiments described, or replace them in similar ways, without departing from the spirit of the present invention or exceeding the scope defined by the appended claims.

[0055] Although some terms are used more frequently in this article, the possibility of using other terms is not excluded. These terms are used only to more conveniently describe and explain the essence of the present invention; interpreting them as any additional restrictions is contrary to the spirit of the present invention. The execution order of actions, steps, etc. in the devices and methods shown in the specification and the drawings can be implemented in any order as long as there is no special explicit limitation on the order and the output of the previous processing is not used in the subsequent processing. Similar sequential terms (for example, "first", "next", "secondly", "again", "then", etc.) used for the convenience of description do not mean that they must be implemented in such an order.

[0056] It should be understood by those skilled in the art that all directional references (for example, above, below, upward, up, downward, down, top, bottom, left, right, vertical, horizontal, etc.) are used descriptively in the drawings to facilitate the reader's understanding, and do not represent limitations (for example, on position, orientation or use, etc.) on the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. They are only for the convenience of describing the present application and simplifying the description. Unless otherwise specified, these directional words do not indicate or imply that the referred device or element must have a specific orientation or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. The directional words "inside and outside" refer to the inside and outside relative to the outline of each component itself.

[0057] For ease of description, spatially relative terms such as "above", "above", "on the upper surface of", "above", etc. may be used here to describe the spatial positional relationship between a device or feature and other devices or features as shown in the figure. It should be understood that spatially relative terms are intended to include different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation described in the figure. For example, if the device in the accompanying drawings is inverted, the device described as "above other devices or structures" or "above other devices or structures" will be positioned as "below other devices or structures" or "below other devices or structures". Thus, the exemplary term "above" may include both "above" and "below". The device may also be positioned in other different ways (rotated 90 degrees or in other orientations), and the spatially relative descriptions used here are interpreted accordingly.

[0058] In addition, some vague terms (e.g., substantially, certain, generally, etc.) may refer to slight inaccuracies or slight deviations of conditions, quantities, values, or dimensions, some of which are within the manufacturing deviation or tolerance range. It should be noted that the use of words such as "first" and "second" to define components is only for the convenience of distinguishing the corresponding components. If not otherwise stated, the above words have no special meanings and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the scope of protection of this application.

Claims

1. A silicon wafer conveying device, comprising a silicon wafer transfer module for moving silicon wafers between a first station and a second station, wherein the silicon wafer transfer module moves above the first station and the second station, and is characterized in that: The second workstation includes a carrier module for carrying the silicon wafer and a position detection device for detecting the position of the carrier module. The carrier module is provided with a silicon wafer carrying position for placing the silicon wafer. The silicon wafer transfer module includes a downward suction cup for adsorbing the silicon wafer and an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the position of the suction cup. The adjustment mechanism adjusts the position of the suction cup according to the position information detected by the position detection device so that the adsorbed silicon wafer corresponds to the silicon wafer carrying position up and down.

2. A silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The adjusting mechanism comprises a translation mechanism for spatially controlling the suction cup to translate in three degrees of freedom in space and a rotation mechanism for controlling the suction cup to rotate around a vertical axis.

3. A silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The translation mechanism comprises a multi-mover linear motor, and each mover of the multi-mover linear motor is provided with the suction cup.

4. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The carrier module comprises a silicon wafer carrier, on which silicon wafer carrying positions for carrying the silicon wafer are distributed, and the position detection device is a visual sensor, which is used to detect the position of the carrier.

5. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The carrier module includes a plurality of silicon wafer carriers arranged in parallel.

6. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The silicon wafer carrier is a rectangular plate, and the visual sensor detects diagonal position information of the silicon wafer carrier.

7. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The silicon wafer transfer module is slidably arranged on a movable guide rail above the first station and the second station. The second station also includes a carrier conveying mechanism, and the carrier conveying mechanism conveys the carrier to the bottom of the movable guide rail.

8. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 7, characterized in that: It comprises two first workstations, which are respectively located on two opposite sides of the second workstation, and a silicon wafer transfer module is provided corresponding to each of the first workstations.

9. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a gantry transfer mechanism and a heavy-load linear motor module, the silicon wafer transfer module is fixed on the gantry transfer mechanism, the gantry transfer mechanism is installed on the heavy-load linear motor module, and the heavy-load linear motor module drives the gantry transfer mechanism to drive the silicon wafer transfer module to move between the first workstation and the second workstation.

10. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 9, characterized in that: The heavy-load linear motor module includes a sliding rail and a slider that are slidably matched, and the width of the sliding rail is greater than the width of the slider.

11. A silicon wafer conveying method, used in the silicon wafer conveying device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that: If the visual sensor detects that the coordinate deviation of the carrier module relative to the ideal position is (X1 deviation, Y1 deviation, θ1 deviation), and the distance from the wafer picking center of the silicon wafer transfer module to the rotation axis of the rotating mechanism is R, and the rotation angle from the wafer picking center of the silicon wafer transfer module to the center of the silicon wafer transfer module relative to the rotation axis is α, then the adjustment mechanism makes the movement parameters of each coordinate of the silicon wafer transfer module be (X1 deviation -R / cosα+R, Y1 deviation -R·tanα, θ1 deviation).

12. The silicon wafer conveying method according to claim 11, characterized in that: The carrier module includes a silicon wafer carrier, and the visual sensor detects the diagonal position coordinates of the silicon wafer carrier, and calculates the center position of the silicon wafer carrier according to the diagonal position coordinates of the silicon wafer carrier.

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