Wafer conveying system and method of multi-handicraft mechanical arm

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of wafer processing, and discloses a wafer conveying method of a multi-hand process mechanical arm, wafers are conveyed among a transfer unit, a rotating unit and a hot plate unit through a wafer conveying system, and the method specifically comprises the following steps: S1, taking out the wafers: taking out at most N-1 wafers to be processed from the transfer unit by the process mechanical arm; s2, the wafers on the rotating unit are exchanged, wherein the process mechanical arm exchanges the unprocessed wafers on the fork with the processed wafers on the rotating unit; s3, the wafers on the hot plate unit are exchanged, specifically, the wafers, processed through the rotating unit, on the fork are exchanged with the wafers processed on the hot plate unit through the process mechanical arm; and S4, putting back the wafer: transferring the wafer exchanged in the S3 back into the transfer unit by the process mechanical arm. According to the invention, by shortening the moving distance of the process mechanical arm, the overall wafer conveying and exchanging efficiency of the equipment is improved, and high-quality processing and forming of wafers are effectively ensured.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of wafer processing, and in particular to a wafer conveying system and method of a multi-manual robot arm. Background Art

[0002] In order to obtain semiconductor products, such as chips, wafers need to be processed accordingly in different processing units. In the processing of the coating and developing equipment, the wafers are mainly transferred between the wafer box, the transfer unit, the rotation unit, and the hot plate unit. At present, in order to improve production efficiency, the coating and developing equipment has been increasing the hourly throughput, usually by increasing the speed of the robot arm to improve the processing efficiency.

[0003] The overall transfer efficiency of existing wafers needs to be improved during the transfer unit, hot plate unit and rotation unit through the process robot. Although the processing efficiency of wafer exchange and transfer can be improved by increasing the speed of the robot, the mechanical structure of the robot generates negative pressure inside the robot to prevent the particles generated by the robot from overflowing the robot. During high-speed movement, the negative pressure system of the robot may have problems, causing more particle impurities to overflow from the robot. The particle impurities adhere to the wafer, causing quality problems of the wafer. In addition, when the robot moves at high speed, the possibility of its own failure increases, which will also shorten the life of related parts. Therefore, the speed of the robot has an upper limit, and the output it can increase also has an upper limit. Summary of the invention

[0004] 1. Technical issues to be solved

[0005] In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the present invention provides a wafer transfer system and method for a multi-process robot arm, which solves the problem that the efficiency of wafer exchange and transfer between a transfer unit, a hot plate unit and a rotation unit in the prior art is too low, and when the transfer speed is adjusted by controlling the robot arm, it is easy to cause robot arm failure and easily affect the wafer processing quality.

[0006] (II) Technical solution

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention is implemented through the following technical solutions:

[0008] A wafer transfer method for a multi-handcraft robot arm, wherein the wafer is transferred between the transfer unit, the rotation unit, and the hot plate unit through a wafer transfer system, specifically comprising the following steps:

[0009] S1. Take out wafers: The process robot takes out at most N-1 wafers to be processed from the transfer unit;

[0010] S2. Exchange the wafers on the rotating unit: the process robot arm exchanges the unprocessed wafers on the fork with the processed wafers on the rotating unit;

[0011] S3, exchanging wafers on the hot plate unit: the process robot arm exchanges the wafers on the fork that have been processed by the rotating unit with the wafers that have been processed on the hot plate unit;

[0012] S4, putting back the wafer: the process robot transfers the wafer exchanged in S3 back to the transfer unit.

[0013] Preferably, in S2, the wafer exchange method is: the idle fork of the process robot arm obtains the wafer processed by the rotation unit; the fork carrying the wafer to be processed sends the wafer to the idle rotation unit;

[0014] In S3, the wafer exchange method is as follows: the idle fork of the process robot arm obtains the wafer processed by the hot plate unit; the fork of the wafer processed by the load rotation unit sends the wafer to the idle hot plate unit.

[0015] Preferably, when the hot plate unit is not idle, the process robot arm has at least one idle fork arm before executing S3.

[0016] Preferably, when the hot plate unit is idle, before executing S3, the process robot arm has at most N wafers.

[0017] Preferably, when the process robot arm obtains N wafers to be processed by the rotation units, in S3, the action of sending the wafers to be processed to the idle hot plate unit is preferentially executed.

[0018] Preferably, in S4, the number of wafers returned is at most N.

[0019] A wafer transfer method for a multi-handcraft robot arm, wherein the wafer is transferred between the transfer unit, the rotation unit, and the hot plate unit through a wafer transfer system, specifically comprising the following steps:

[0020] S0, determine whether the rotating unit is idle, if so, execute S1.2; if not, execute S1.1;

[0021] S1.1. Take out the wafer: The process robot takes out at most N-1 wafers to be processed from the transfer unit.

[0022] S1.2, take out the wafer: the process robot takes out at most N wafers from the transfer unit;

[0023] S2. Exchange the wafers on the rotating unit: the process robot arm exchanges the unprocessed wafers on the fork with the processed wafers on the rotating unit;

[0024] S3, exchanging wafers on the hot plate unit: the process robot arm exchanges the wafers on the fork that have been processed by the rotating unit with the wafers that have been processed on the hot plate unit;

[0025] S4, putting back the wafer: the process robot transfers the wafer exchanged in S3 back to the transfer unit.

[0026] Preferably, the wafer exchange method in S2 includes the action of a fork loaded with wafers to be processed and sending the wafers into an idle rotating unit; when N wafers are taken out in S1.2, the action of a fork loaded with wafers to be processed and sending the wafers into an idle rotating unit is first executed in S2.

[0027] Preferably, a plurality of the rotating units and the hot plate units are equidistantly arranged and symmetrically disposed on both sides of the process robot arm.

[0028] A wafer transfer system with multiple process robots comprises a wafer box station, a box station robot, a transfer unit, a plurality of rotation units and a hot plate unit. A process robot is arranged between the transfer unit, the rotation unit and the hot plate unit. The process robot is provided with N forks (N≥3 and is an integer). The wafer transfer system realizes the exchange of wafers on the transfer unit, the rotation unit and the hot plate unit through the wafer transfer method as described in any one of the above schemes.

[0029] (III) Beneficial effects

[0030] The present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0031] The wafer transfer system and method of the multi-hand process robot arm can pick up multiple wafers at a time through the multiple forks set by the process robot arm. At the same robot arm speed, within one operation cycle, it can achieve the same handling volume as the prior art by reducing the movement distance of the robot arm, thereby improving the transmission efficiency of the wafer between the transfer unit, the rotation unit and the hot plate unit; at the same time, it can effectively avoid the situation where the robot arm's operating life is short or the particulate impurities overflowed from the robot arm affect the wafer processing quality when the transmission efficiency is improved by adjusting the robot arm's operating speed. The entire process robot arm transmission system can also transport wafers individually and carry wafers of different heights; at the same time, it can also carry multiple wafers at a time, and multiple wafers can be replaced one by one, with a wider range of adaptability. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] Figure 1 This is a flow chart of the wafer transfer method of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the wafer conveying system of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 3A schematic diagram of the application status of the invented wafer transfer system;

[0035] Figure 4 This is a flow chart of respectively transferring 2 wafers of three types in the prior art;

[0036] Figure 5 This is a flow chart of the present invention for transferring two wafers of three types respectively;

[0037] Figure 6 The flow chart of the present invention is to transfer 3 wafers of three types respectively when the hot plate unit is idle;

[0038] Figure 7 The flow chart of the present invention is to transfer 3 wafers of three types respectively when the rotating unit is idle;

[0039] Figure 8 In the present invention, both the hot plate unit and the rotating unit are not idle, and a flow chart of transferring 3 wafers of three types is provided respectively.

[0040] In the figure: 1. Wafer box; 2. Box station robot; 3. Transfer unit; 4. Process robot; 5. Rotation unit; 6. Hot plate unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] 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.

[0042] See also Figure 1 The present invention provides a technical solution: a wafer transfer method of a multi-handcraft robot arm, which transfers the wafer between the transfer unit, the rotation unit, and the hot plate unit through a wafer transfer system, and specifically includes the following steps:

[0043] S1. Take out wafers: The process robot takes out at most N-1 wafers to be processed from the transfer unit;

[0044] S2. Exchange the wafers on the rotating unit: the process robot arm exchanges the unprocessed wafers on the fork with the processed wafers on the rotating unit;

[0045] S3, exchanging wafers on the hot plate unit: the process robot arm exchanges the wafers on the fork that have been processed by the rotating unit with the wafers that have been processed on the hot plate unit;

[0046] S4, putting back the wafer: the process robot transfers the wafer exchanged in S3 back to the transfer unit.

[0047] The present invention can transport wafers individually through the process robot arm, and can carry wafers of different heights; at the same time, it can carry multiple wafers at a time, or it can carry a single wafer at a time; the entire robot arm transmission system can replace multiple wafers one by one. By reducing the moving distance of the process robot arm, the same handling capacity as the prior art is achieved, thereby improving the overall wafer transmission and exchange efficiency of the equipment.

[0048] In this embodiment, the wafer exchange method in S2 is: the idle fork of the process robot arm obtains the wafer processed by the rotation unit; the fork carrying the wafer to be processed sends the wafer to the idle rotation unit;

[0049] In S3, the wafer exchange method is as follows: the idle fork of the process robot arm obtains the wafer processed by the hot plate unit; the fork of the wafer processed by the load rotation unit sends the wafer to the idle hot plate unit.

[0050] In this embodiment, when the hot plate unit is not idle, the process robot arm has at least one idle fork before executing S3.

[0051] In this embodiment, when the hot plate unit is idle, before executing S3, the process robot arm has at most N wafers.

[0052] In this embodiment, when the process robot arm obtains N wafers to be processed by the rotation unit, in S3, the action of sending the wafers to be processed to the idle hot plate unit is performed preferentially.

[0053] In this embodiment, in S4 , the number of wafers put back is at most N.

[0054] A wafer transfer method for a multi-handcraft robot arm, wherein the wafer is transferred between the transfer unit, the rotation unit, and the hot plate unit through a wafer transfer system, specifically comprising the following steps:

[0055] S0, determine whether the rotating unit is idle, if so, execute S1.2; if not, execute S1.1;

[0056] S1.1. Take out the wafer: The process robot takes out at most N-1 wafers to be processed from the transfer unit.

[0057] S1.2, take out the wafer: the process robot takes out at most N wafers from the transfer unit;

[0058] S2. Exchange the wafers on the rotating unit: the process robot arm exchanges the unprocessed wafers on the fork with the processed wafers on the rotating unit;

[0059] S3, exchanging wafers on the hot plate unit: the process robot arm exchanges the wafers on the fork that have been processed by the rotating unit with the wafers that have been processed on the hot plate unit;

[0060] S4, putting back the wafer: the process robot transfers the wafer exchanged in S3 back to the transfer unit.

[0061] In this embodiment, the wafer exchange method in S2 includes the action of a fork loaded with wafers to be processed and sending the wafers into an idle rotating unit; when N wafers are taken out in S1.2, the action of a fork loaded with wafers to be processed and sending the wafers into an idle rotating unit is first executed in S2.

[0062] A wafer transfer system with multiple process robots comprises a wafer cassette block (CSB), a cassette block robotics arm (CRA), a transfer unit (TRS), a plurality of rotation units (SPIN) and a hot plate unit (OVEN); a process robot arm (PRA) is arranged between the transfer unit, the rotation unit and the hot plate unit; N forks (N≥3 and is an integer) are arranged on the process robot arm; and the wafer transfer system realizes the exchange of wafers on the transfer unit, the rotation unit and the hot plate unit through the wafer transfer method described in any one of the above schemes.

[0063] The wafers marked in grey in the figure represent the wafers to be processed, the wafers filled in blue represent the wafers processed by the rotating unit, and the wafers filled in yellow represent the wafers processed by the rotating unit and the hot plate unit. Next, 9 wafers (marked with A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, C3) are used as an example to compare the differences between the prior art and the present invention:

[0064] In the prior art, in the coating and developing equipment, the process robot arm transfers the wafer between the rotating unit, the hot plate unit, and the transfer unit, such as Figure 4 As shown, the existing process robot arm also adopts a double-wafer transfer method to transfer wafers between various process units. The process in the prior art is described by example:

[0065] 1. The process robot obtains wafer A1 from the transfer unit;

[0066] 2. The process robot moves to the rotation unit, obtains wafer B1 processed by the rotation unit, and delivers wafer A1 to the rotation unit;

[0067] 3. The process robot moves to the hot plate unit, obtains the wafer C1 processed by the hot plate unit, and delivers the wafer B1 to the hot plate unit;

[0068] 4. The process robot moves to the transfer unit and delivers wafer C1 to the transfer unit;

[0069] 5. The process robot moves to the transfer unit to obtain wafer A2;

[0070] 6. The process robot moves to the rotation unit, obtains wafer B2 processed by the rotation unit, and delivers wafer A2 to the rotation unit;

[0071] 7. The process robot moves to the hot plate unit, obtains the wafer C2 processed by the hot plate unit, and delivers the wafer B2 to the hot plate unit;

[0072] 8. The process robot moves to the transfer unit and delivers wafer C2 to the transfer unit;

[0073] In the prior art, to carry wafers A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2, the process robot has a total of 8 actions and needs to move 7 times.

[0074] The 8 actions are: grab wafers from the transfer unit; exchange wafers from the rotation unit; exchange wafers from the hot plate unit; send wafers to the transfer unit; grab wafers from the transfer unit; exchange wafers from the rotation unit; exchange wafers from the hot plate unit; send wafers to the transfer unit;

[0075] The 7 movements are: from the transfer unit to the rotating unit, from the rotating unit to the hot plate unit, from the hot plate unit to the transfer unit, from the transfer unit to the transfer unit, from the transfer unit to the rotating unit, from the rotating unit to the hot plate unit, and from the hot plate unit to the transfer unit.

[0076] The process robot arm used in the solution of the present invention is provided with N forks, and multiple wafers are replaced in one operation cycle. In the process of N forks, N-1 forks are exchanged, and some parts can be exchanged multiple times at the same time, which shortens the movement cycle and improves the transportation efficiency. Figure 5 As shown, the following takes three forks as an example to illustrate the process flow of this solution:

[0077] 1. The process robot obtains wafers A1 and A2 from the transfer unit;

[0078] 2. The process robot moves to the first rotating unit, obtains the wafer B1 processed by the rotating unit, and delivers the wafer A1 to the rotating unit;

[0079] 3. The process robot moves to the second rotating unit, obtains the wafer B2 processed by the rotating unit, and delivers the wafer A2 to the rotating unit;

[0080] 4. The process robot moves to the first hot plate unit, obtains the wafer C1 processed by the hot plate unit, and delivers the wafer B1 to the hot plate unit;

[0081] 5. The process robot moves to the second hot plate unit, obtains the wafer C2 processed by the hot plate unit, and delivers the wafer B2 to the hot plate unit;

[0082] 6. The process robot moves to the transfer unit and delivers wafers C1 and C2 to the transfer unit.

[0083] In this solution, to carry wafers A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, the process robot has 6 actions and needs to move 5 times.

[0084] The 6 actions are: grab wafers from the transfer unit, exchange wafers with the rotation unit, exchange wafers with the rotation unit, exchange wafers with the hot plate unit, exchange wafers with the hot plate unit, and send wafers to the transfer unit;

[0085] The five movements are: from the wafer box to the rotating unit, from the rotating unit to the rotating unit, from the rotating unit to the hot plate unit, from the hot plate unit to the hot plate unit, and from the hot plate unit to the transfer unit.

[0086] Compared with the prior art which requires 8 actions and 7 moves, the wafer transfer efficiency is increased by 25%.

[0087] Reference Figure 6-8 As shown, it indicates in turn that when the hot plate unit is idle, the rotating unit is idle, and both the hot plate unit and the rotating unit are not idle, the execution flow chart of transferring and exchanging three types of wafers of each type is 3 pieces.

[0088] Reference Figure 6 and 7 As shown, the following takes three forks as an example, the process of the forks obtaining wafers when the spin and oven are idle:

[0089] When the hot plate unit is idle:

[0090] 1. Forks 1 and 2 on the process robot arm respectively obtain wafers A1 and A2 on the transfer unit, and fork 3 obtains the processed B1 from the rotation unit;

[0091] 2. Forks 1 and 2 on the process robot arm send A1 and A2 to the rotating unit respectively, and the corresponding forks obtain B2 and B3 processed by the rotating unit respectively;

[0092] 3. The process robot moves to the hot plate unit as a whole, and fork arm 2 sends B3 to the idle hot plate unit and obtains the processed C1; fork arm 3 sends B1 to the hot plate unit and obtains the processed C2, and fork arm 1 sends B2 to the hot plate unit;

[0093] 4. The process robot arm moves to the transfer unit as a whole, and forks 2 and 3 send C1 and C2 into the transfer unit respectively.

[0094] When the rotating unit is idle:

[0095] 1. Forks 1, 2 and 3 on the process robot arm respectively obtain wafers A1, A2 and A3 on the transfer unit;

[0096] 2. Fork arms 3 and 1 on the process robot arm send A3 and A1 to the rotating unit respectively, and the corresponding fork arms obtain B1 and B2 processed by the rotating unit respectively, and fork arm 2 sends A2 to the rotating unit;

[0097] 3. The process robot moves to the hot plate unit as a whole, and fork arm 2 obtains the processed C1; fork arm 3 sends B1 to the hot plate unit and obtains the processed C2, and fork arm 1 sends B2 to the hot plate unit;

[0098] 4. The process robot arm moves to the transfer unit as a whole, and forks 2 and 3 send C1 and C2 into the transfer unit respectively.

[0099] According to the above specific number of forks, the special situation of N wafers (spin and oven are idle) can be known as follows:

[0100] 1. When there is an idle time in the rotating unit, the process robot arm can be fully loaded into the rotating unit, and the idle rotating unit can be used to make one of the N forks idle, so as to meet the requirements of executing the normal process; 2. When there is an idle time in the hot plate unit, the robot arm can be fully loaded into the hot plate unit, and the idle hot plate unit can be used to make one of the N forks idle, so as to meet the requirements of executing the normal process.

[0101] It should be noted that, in this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "include", "comprise" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions. The sentence "includes an element defined by ... does not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the element".

[0102] Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and variations may be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the present invention, and that the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A wafer transfer method for a multi-hand process robot arm, characterized in that: The wafer is transferred between the transfer unit, the rotation unit, and the hot plate unit by a wafer conveying system, which specifically includes the following steps: S1. Take out wafers: The process robot takes out at most N-1 wafers to be processed from the transfer unit; S2. Exchange the wafers on the rotating unit: the process robot arm exchanges the unprocessed wafers on the fork with the processed wafers on the rotating unit; S3, exchanging wafers on the hot plate unit: the process robot arm exchanges the wafers on the fork that have been processed by the rotating unit with the wafers that have been processed on the hot plate unit; S4, putting back the wafer: the process robot transfers the wafer exchanged in S3 back to the transfer unit.

2. The wafer transfer method of a multi-hand process robot arm according to claim 1, characterized in that: In S2, the wafer exchange method is as follows: the idle fork of the process robot arm obtains the wafer processed by the rotation unit; A fork loaded with wafers to be processed delivers the wafers to an idle rotary unit; In S3, the wafer exchange method is as follows: the idle fork of the process robot arm obtains the wafer processed by the hot plate unit; The fork that loads the wafers processed by the rotation unit sends the wafers to the idle hot plate unit.

3. The wafer transfer method of a multi-hand process robot arm according to claim 2, characterized in that: When the hot plate unit is not idle, the process robot arm has at least one idle fork before executing S3.

4. The wafer transfer method of a multi-hand process robot arm according to claim 2, characterized in that: When the hot plate unit is idle, before executing S3, the process robot arm has at most N wafers.

5. The wafer transfer method of a multi-process robot arm according to claim 4, characterized in that: When the process robot arm obtains N wafers to be processed by the rotation unit, in S3, the action of sending the wafers to be processed to the idle hot plate unit is performed preferentially.

6. The wafer transfer method of a multi-process robot arm according to claim 1, characterized in that: In S4, at most N wafers are returned.

7. A wafer transfer method of a multi-hand process robot arm, characterized in that: The wafer is transferred between the transfer unit, the rotation unit, and the hot plate unit by a wafer conveying system, which specifically includes the following steps: S0, determine whether the rotating unit is idle, if so, execute S1.2; if not, execute S1.1; S1.

1. Take out the wafer: The process robot takes out at most N-1 wafers to be processed from the transfer unit. S1.2, take out the wafer: the process robot takes out at most N wafers from the transfer unit; S2. Exchange the wafers on the rotating unit: the process robot arm exchanges the unprocessed wafers on the fork with the processed wafers on the rotating unit; S3, exchanging wafers on the hot plate unit: the process robot arm exchanges the wafers on the fork that have been processed by the rotating unit with the wafers that have been processed on the hot plate unit; S4, putting back the wafer: the process robot transfers the wafer exchanged in S3 back to the transfer unit.

8. The wafer transfer method of a multi-process robot arm according to claim 7, characterized in that: The wafer exchange method in S2 includes the action of a fork carrying the wafer to be processed and sending the wafer into an idle rotating unit; when N wafers are taken out in S1.2, the action of a fork carrying the wafer to be processed and sending the wafer into an idle rotating unit is first executed in S2.

9. A wafer transfer system with multiple process robot arms, comprising a wafer box station, a box station robot arm, a transfer unit, a plurality of rotation units and a hot plate unit, wherein a process robot arm is arranged between the transfer unit, the rotation unit and the hot plate unit, characterized in that: The process robot arm is provided with N forks (N≥3 and is an integer), and the wafer conveying system realizes the exchange of wafers on the transfer unit, the rotation unit and the hot plate unit through the wafer conveying method as described in any one of claims 1-8.

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