Wafer loading method and wafer storage library

Abstract

The present application provides a wafer loading method and a wafer storage library, and relates to the field of semiconductor technology. The wafer loading method provided by the present application can be implemented in a wafer storage library without setting up additional wafer transmission equipment, thereby improving the integration of the wafer processing system. In addition, a wafer moving mechanism and a wafer calibration mechanism are provided in the wafer storage library. When the wafer is loaded, the target wafer can be placed on the wafer calibration mechanism for calibration, and then the calibrated target wafer is transferred to the wafer carrying device outside the wafer storage library by the wafer moving mechanism. Thus, based on the aforementioned process, the wafer provided by the present application is a calibrated wafer, and the position of its placement is relatively fixed, so that the position can be directly used as the process position in the subsequent process equipment, without the need for secondary correction of the wafer in the subsequent steps, thereby improving the accuracy of the subsequent execution steps and further improving the integration of the wafer processing system.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of semiconductor technology, and in particular to a wafer loading method and a wafer storage library. Background Art

[0002] Wafers are the basic raw materials in semiconductor manufacturing. They are circular thin sheets made from extremely high-purity semiconductor materials (such as silicon or gallium arsenide) through processes such as crystal pulling and slicing. In semiconductor technology, wafers can be processed into corresponding integrated circuit devices (such as chips, drive circuits, etc.) through a series of processes.

[0003] Considering the processing requirements of wafers, the processing of wafers often needs to be completed in a highly dust-free space, and dust-free space often requires a high construction cost. Therefore, how to optimize the wafer processing process and reduce the space occupied by process equipment is a technical problem that technicians in this field need to solve urgently. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of this, the embodiments of the present application provide a wafer loading method and a wafer storage library. The wafer loading method provided in the application can be implemented in the wafer storage library without the need for additional wafer transfer equipment, thereby improving the integration of the wafer processing system.

[0005] In a first aspect, the present application provides a wafer loading method, which is applied to a wafer storage library, in which a wafer calibration mechanism, a wafer moving mechanism, a wafer box moving mechanism, and a plurality of wafer box carriers are provided. The wafer loading method comprises: in response to a wafer loading request, determining a target wafer box containing a target wafer from the wafer boxes on a plurality of carriers. In response to the target wafer box not being on the target carrier, driving the wafer box moving mechanism to move the target wafer box to the target carrier. Driving the wafer moving mechanism to move the target wafer from the target wafer box on the target carrier to the wafer calibration mechanism. Controlling the wafer calibration mechanism to perform calibration processing on the target wafer. Driving the wafer moving mechanism to move the target wafer from the wafer calibration mechanism to a wafer carrier device outside the wafer storage library.

[0006] Optionally, the wafer loading method includes a mobile platform, a wafer moving mechanism, a wafer box moving mechanism and a target carrier platform are arranged on the mobile platform, and the wafer box moving mechanism is driven to move the target wafer box to the target carrier platform, including: determining the carrier platform to be loaded that carries the target wafer box. The mobile platform is driven to move in a vertical direction and the wafer box moving mechanism is aligned with the carrier platform to be loaded in a vertical direction. The wafer box moving mechanism is driven to be tightly matched with the target wafer box and moved to the target carrier platform.

[0007] Optionally, the wafer calibration mechanism is arranged on a mobile platform, the wafer moving mechanism is arranged on the mobile platform by a lifting mechanism, and the wafer moving mechanism is driven to move the target wafer from the target wafer box on the target carrier to the wafer calibration mechanism, including: determining the wafer picking position based on the target slot of the target wafer in the target wafer box, wherein the wafer moving mechanism at the wafer picking position faces the target carrier in the horizontal plane and aligns with the target slot in the vertical direction. Move the wafer moving mechanism to the wafer picking position and drive the wafer moving mechanism to move in the direction of the target carrier to be tightly matched with the target wafer. Drive the lifting mechanism and the wafer moving mechanism to move the target wafer to the wafer calibration mechanism.

[0008] Optionally, the wafer moving mechanism is driven to include a wafer tray tightly matched with the bottom of the wafer, and the wafer moving mechanism is driven to move the target wafer from the wafer calibration mechanism to the wafer carrying device outside the wafer storage library, including: controlling the wafer moving mechanism to move to the reference matching position of the wafer calibration mechanism, wherein when the wafer moving mechanism is located at the reference matching position, the relative position of the wafer tray and the wafer calibration mechanism in the horizontal plane is constant. The lifting mechanism is driven to move upward so that the wafer tray contacts the lower surface of the target wafer and is tightly matched with the target wafer. The wafer moving mechanism is driven to move the target wafer from the wafer calibration mechanism to the wafer carrying device outside the wafer storage library.

[0009] Optionally, the wafer calibration mechanism includes a calibration table for carrying and calibrating wafers, the shape of the wafer tray matches the calibration table, and when the wafer tray abuts against the side wall of the calibration table, the wafer moving mechanism is located in a reference matching position.

[0010] Optionally, the wafer storage library is arranged at a wafer exchange window, and the wafer carrying device is located at the wafer exchange window. Before driving the wafer moving mechanism to move the target wafer from the wafer calibration mechanism to the wafer carrying device outside the wafer storage library, the wafer loading method also includes: driving the mobile platform to move in a vertical direction to the wafer exchange window, so that the wafer carrying device is located within the operating range of the wafer moving mechanism.

[0011] Optionally, the wafer loading method further includes: in response to the wafer box on the target carrier not containing the target wafer, controlling the wafer box moving mechanism to move the wafer box on the target carrier to a wafer box exchange area of ​​the wafer storage library.

[0012] Optionally, determining a target wafer box containing a target wafer from the wafer boxes on the multiple carriers includes: determining a wafer box identification of the target wafer box based on the wafer loading request. Determining a candidate wafer box from the wafer boxes on the multiple carriers based on the wafer box identification, wherein the candidate wafer box has a wafer box identification. Determining the target wafer box from the candidate wafer boxes.

[0013] Optionally, the wafer loading method further includes: determining a wafer to be loaded from a target wafer box based on the wafer loading request, and determining a target wafer from the wafers to be loaded based on the loading order.

[0014] In a second aspect, the present application provides a wafer storage library, including a controller, a wafer calibration mechanism, a wafer moving mechanism, a wafer box moving mechanism, and a plurality of carriers of the wafer box. The controller is used to execute any of the wafer loading methods described above.

[0015] The present application provides a wafer loading method and a wafer storage library. The wafer loading method provided by the present application can be implemented by a wafer storage library without the need to set up additional processing equipment. In addition, the wafer storage library provided by the present application is provided with a wafer box moving mechanism, a wafer moving mechanism and a wafer calibration mechanism, so that when loading wafers, the target wafer in the target wafer box can be placed on the wafer calibration mechanism, and after calibration, the wafer moving mechanism is transmitted to the wafer carrying device outside the wafer storage library. The wafer storage library provided by the present application also has built-in devices such as a wafer moving mechanism and a wafer calibration mechanism, so the arrangement layout of the wafer storage library greatly improves the integration of the wafer processing system, and at the same time has the function of delivering wafers outward. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings required for use in the embodiments are briefly introduced below. It should be understood that the following drawings only show certain embodiments of the present invention and therefore should not be regarded as limiting the scope. For ordinary technicians in this field, other related drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0017] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the process scenario of the wafer preparation process provided in some embodiments of the present application.

[0018] Figure 2 It is a structural schematic diagram of a wafer storage library provided in some embodiments of the present application.

[0019] Figure 3 This is a top view of the interior of a wafer storage library provided in some embodiments of the present application.

[0020] Figure 4It is a flow chart of a wafer loading method provided in some embodiments of the present application.

[0021] Figure 5 This is an internal side view of a mobile platform provided by some embodiments of the present application.

[0022] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of a process of moving a target wafer based on a wafer calibration mechanism provided in some embodiments of the present application.

[0023] Among them, 100, wafer processing system; 110, processing unit; 120, wafer handling system; 200, wafer storage library; 210, wafer moving mechanism; 220, wafer box moving mechanism; 230, carrier; 231, target wafer box; 232, target carrier; 240, exchange window; 250, mobile platform; 260, wafer calibration mechanism; 261, calibration table; 300, wafer carrying equipment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0025] Application Overview:

[0026] With the development of wafer processing technology, the Automatic Material Handling System (AMHS) is generally used to transfer wafers in wafer processing. Based on AMHS, during the wafer processing process, the wafer processing equipment can be integrated into multiple processing units, so that the AMHS can be used to transfer wafers between different units and within the processing unit.

[0027] To further illustrate the wafer processing process based on AMHS, the present application provides a system schematic diagram of a wafer processing system 100 ( Figure 1 ). The wafer processing system 100 can be understood as a collection of process equipment in the wafer processing process.

[0028] like Figure 1 As shown, the wafer processing system 100 may include multiple processing units 110. The processing unit 110 may refer to a cluster of related equipment for one or more processes in the wafer processing process, that is, the wafer can complete the corresponding processing process after passing through the corresponding processing unit 110.

[0029] After being formed, the wafer generally undergoes processes such as surface polishing, cleaning, oxidation, photolithography, etching, ion implantation, chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, chemical mechanical polishing, interconnection, testing, cutting, packaging, and final testing to form semiconductor components.

[0030] In practical applications, the overall processing process of the wafer can be divided into multiple continuous processing links according to the actual semiconductor preparation requirements. The process equipment of each processing link can form the aforementioned processing unit 110, so that after the wafer enters the processing unit 110, it is automatically / semi-automatically processed by each process equipment to complete the corresponding processing task.

[0031] In order to realize the automatic / semi-automatic material transfer of the aforementioned processing unit 110, a wafer handling system 120 may also be integrated in the aforementioned wafer processing system 100. Among them, the wafer handling system 120 is an AMHS applied to wafer processing. In the aforementioned wafer processing system 100, it is mainly used to transfer wafers between the processing units 110 and load and unload wafers for each processing unit 110.

[0032] In actual application, one or more wafers are generally directly transferred within the processing unit 110 so as to be processed by corresponding process equipment. Between the processing units 110, the wafers can be transferred through a wafer box.

[0033] Wafer cassette is a container used to place and transport wafers in semiconductor production. Wafer cassettes are mainly used to handle and store wafers to simplify transportation and reduce the risk of contamination. There are symmetrical grooves inside the wafer cassette with strictly uniform dimensions to support both sides of the wafer. Usually one wafer cassette can hold 25 wafers.

[0034] In the wafer processing system 100, the wafer box can be configured as a front-opening unified pod (FOUP). That is, the wafer box is open at the front of the box body so that the wafer can be taken out or stored in the wafer box. In addition, in the wafer processing system 100, the wafer boxes of different processing units 110 are presented in different styles (mainly distinguished by the color of the box body) to distinguish different processing links of the wafer during the processing process.

[0035] Based on the aforementioned wafer cassette, in the wafer handling system 120, the wafer cassette can be transferred between the processing units 110 and wafers can be extracted from the wafer cassette in the processing unit 110. Therefore, the aforementioned wafer handling system 120 can include a wafer cassette carrying device and a wafer carrying device.

[0036] The wafer box carrying device may refer to a device for transporting wafer boxes between the processing units 110. The wafer box carrying device generally realizes automatic or semi-automatic wafer box transportation between the processing units 110 through a device capable of transporting wafer boxes. For example, the wafer box carrying device may be realized by a transport device such as an overhead hoist transport (OHT), an automated material robot (AMR), or a conveyor.

[0037] The wafer carrier is similar to the aforementioned wafer box carrier, and may refer to a device for transporting wafers within the processing unit 110, and may also be implemented by the aforementioned handling equipment. In addition, it should be noted that the specific presentation form of the wafer carrier may match the requirements of the corresponding processing unit 110, so that the process equipment within the processing unit 110 can process the wafers carried thereon. Generally, the wafer carrier may also be referred to as a wafer boat.

[0038] Considering the different processing rates of different processing links, a cache structure may be provided in the wafer handling system 120 to coordinate the processing of each link. The cache structure in the wafer handling system 120 is generally presented as a wafer stocker.

[0039] The wafer storage library is a device used to store and automatically manage wafer boxes in the semiconductor manufacturing process. One or more wafer storage libraries can be set up in each processing unit 110 to cache wafer boxes to be processed / processed. Among them, a plurality of wafer box positions are generally set up in the wafer storage library to realize the storage and delivery of wafer boxes, so as to balance the production capacity differences between various production process equipment as material storage space.

[0040] Based on the aforementioned wafer handling system 120, the wafer boxes between the various processing units 110 can be transferred between the wafer storage libraries of the various processing units 110 through the wafer box carrying equipment, and the wafer storage library can distribute the wafer boxes as needed, so that the wafers in the wafer boxes can be transferred between the various process equipment in the processing unit 110 through the wafer carrying equipment to complete the corresponding processing of the wafers.

[0041] Therefore, based on the aforementioned wafer processing system 100, material handling and processing of wafers can be realized during the entire processing process, thereby effectively organizing related process equipment and transportation equipment of the wafers and realizing high integration and automation of the system.

[0042] In practical applications, the wafer storage library in the aforementioned wafer processing system 100 can only store and retrieve wafer boxes. That is, the wafer storage library is generally provided with two windows. One window interacts with the wafer box carrier to realize the interaction of wafer boxes between the processing units 110, and the other window interacts with the processing unit 110 to provide a suitable wafer box for the processing unit 110.

[0043] Taking into account that the processing unit 110 needs to process wafers, the above-mentioned wafer processing system 100 is often also provided with a wafer picking device, so as to place the wafers in the wafer box provided by the wafer storage library on the wafer carrying device, so as to perform corresponding processing on the wafers on the wafer carrying device through the production equipment.

[0044] The wafer box retrieval device mentioned above is presented as an independent device in the actual wafer processing system 100, which occupies a large working space, especially considering that each processing unit 110 generally needs to be equipped with at least one wafer retrieval device, which occupies a large amount of space.

[0045] Considering that the wafer processing system 100 needs to be set up in a dust-free environment, the processing environment often requires a large cost to build. The aforementioned wafer box fetching equipment occupies a lot of space and brings a lot of construction costs, thereby raising the processing cost of the wafer.

[0046] In view of the above situation, the present application provides a wafer loading method and a wafer storage library. Among them, the wafer loading method provided by the present application can be implemented in the wafer storage library without setting up additional wafer transmission equipment, thereby improving the integration of the wafer processing system. In addition, a wafer moving mechanism and a wafer calibration mechanism are provided in the wafer storage library. When the wafer is loaded, the target wafer can be placed on the wafer calibration mechanism for calibration, and then the calibrated target wafer is transferred to the wafer carrying device outside the wafer storage library by the wafer moving mechanism. Thus, based on the above process, the wafer provided by the present application is a calibrated wafer, and the position of its placement is relatively fixed, so that the position can be directly used as the process position in the subsequent process equipment, without the need for secondary correction of the wafer in the subsequent steps, thereby improving the accuracy of the subsequent execution steps and further improving the integration of the wafer processing system.

[0047] Various non-limiting embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0048] An exemplary wafer storage library and its loading process:

[0049] The wafer storage library provided in the present application can be applied to a wafer processing system (such as the aforementioned wafer processing system 100), and the original wafer storage library can be optimized so that it can directly act on the wafer loading process.

[0050] Wafer loading can refer to the process of providing a processing unit with a wafer to be processed during processing. During processing, generally, the wafer can be taken from the wafer box and placed on the wafer carrier, and then transported to the process equipment in the processing unit through the wafer carrier.

[0051] The wafer storage library provided by the present application can be integrated with a wafer moving mechanism and a wafer box moving mechanism, so that the wafer storage library provided by the present application can directly take out wafers from the wafer carrying device and place them in the wafer carrying device for loading, without the need to set up additional wafer taking equipment, thereby improving the integration of the entire processing system.

[0052] To further describe the wafer storage library provided by the present application, Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of a wafer storage library 200 is provided. Figure 2 The structure of the wafer storage library 200 on one side interacting with a wafer carrier (not shown in the figure) is shown.

[0053] exist Figure 2 The X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis may be included in the three reference directions, wherein XOY forms a horizontal plane, the Z-axis is the vertical direction of the horizontal plane, and the X-axis and the Y-axis are two directions perpendicular to each other in the horizontal plane.

[0054] The wafer storage library 200 is generally arranged based on the aforementioned horizontal plane and vertical direction, wherein the vertical direction is generally the extension direction of the wafer storage library 200 , that is, the wafer boxes can be stacked in the wafer storage library 200 along the vertical direction.

[0055] like Figure 2 As shown, the wafer storage library 200 may be provided with a wafer exchange window 240. During the wafer loading process, a wafer carrier (not shown) of the wafer processing system is parked at the wafer exchange window 240, and the wafer storage library 200 may take out the wafer to be loaded from the wafer box and place it in the wafer carrier, and then the wafer carrier transfers the wafer to the process equipment of the processing unit.

[0056] It should be noted that the wafer storage library 200 provided in the present application can be used in the wafer loading process. Considering the similarity of the loading and unloading processes, it can also be applied to the unloading process or directly integrate the loading and unloading functions, which can be based on actual conditions, and the present application does not limit this.

[0057] To further illustrate the execution process in the wafer storage library 200 during the unloading process, the present application also provides a top view of the interior of the wafer storage library 200 ( Figure 3 ).

[0058] like Figure 3 As shown, the wafer storage library 200 is provided with a wafer moving mechanism 210 , a wafer box moving mechanism 220 and a plurality of wafer box carrying platforms 230 .

[0059] The wafer moving mechanism 210 may refer to an actuator disposed inside the wafer storage library 200 for fixing and moving wafers. That is, the aforementioned wafer moving mechanism 210 may be presented as a combination of a wafer clamp and its moving mechanism. Figure 3 The adsorption tray in the wafer can be fixedly matched with the wafer (such as supporting the bottom surface of the wafer and adsorbing the wafer), and the moving mechanism can drive the wafer clamp to move with the wafer box.

[0060] The wafer box moving mechanism 220 may refer to an actuator disposed inside the wafer storage library 200 for fixing and moving the wafer box. That is, the aforementioned wafer box moving mechanism 220 may be presented as a combination of a wafer box fixture and its moving mechanism. Among them, the wafer box fixture (such as the clamping claw in the figure) may be fixedly matched with the wafer box (such as clamping the edge of the wafer box), and the moving mechanism may drive the wafer box fixture to carry the wafer box to move.

[0061] The present application does not limit the implementation of the wafer moving mechanism 210 and the wafer box moving mechanism 220. Among them, the actual fixtures of the two actuators can be modified as needed, as long as they can be fixed to the corresponding wafer / wafer box. For example, the specific actuator of the wafer moving mechanism 210 can be implemented by electrostatic suction cups, wafer tweezers and other equipment in addition to the Bernoulli suction cup. For another example, the specific actuator of the wafer box moving mechanism 220 can be implemented by self-locking mechanisms, hangers and other equipment in addition to electric / pneumatic clamps.

[0062] In addition, the moving mechanisms of the two actuators can also be set according to actual needs. Figure 3 In the embodiment, the two actuators can be integrated on one robot arm, that is, the same robot arm can be selected as the moving mechanism of the two actuators, and the different actuators can be directly set at the end of the robot arm. As another implementation method, the two actuators can also be set on the same truss, and the two actuators can also be implemented by two robot arms.

[0063] The carrier 230 may refer to a mechanical structure in the wafer storage library 200 for carrying and fixing a wafer box. Figure 3 As shown, the carriers 230 can be centrally arranged on the side wall of the wafer storage library 200 away from the wafer exchange window 240 and multiple carriers can be arranged on the horizontal plane. In addition, multiple rows of carrier plates of the carriers 230 can also be arranged in the vertical direction so that the carriers 230 are arranged in an array on the side wall.

[0064] like Figure 3 As shown, during the wafer loading process, the wafer carrier 300 outside the wafer storage library 200 can be parked outside the wafer exchange window 240, so that the wafer can be taken out from the wafer box (not shown in the figure) on the carrier 230 through the wafer exchange window 240 by the aforementioned wafer moving mechanism 210 and placed in the wafer carrier 300.

[0065] Taking into account that the aforementioned carrier platform 230 is generally arranged on the side wall away from the wafer exchange window 240, the moving path for taking the wafer from the carrier platform 230 and placing it on the wafer carrying device 300 is relatively long, so a target carrier platform (not shown in the figure) can be set between the wafer exchange window 240 and the conventional carrier platform 230 of the cache wafer box, so that the wafer box on the target carrier platform is recorded as the target wafer box 231.

[0066] Therefore, during the wafer loading process, the wafer box can be first moved from the carrier 230 to the target carrier (not shown in the figure) and used as the target wafer box 231, and then the wafer can be taken from the target wafer box 231 and placed on the wafer carrier device 300.

[0067] In some embodiments, considering that the wafer box may bump or shake during movement in the wafer storage library 200 or outside, resulting in unstable position of the wafers in the wafer box, the relative positions of the wafer moving mechanism 210 and the wafers in the wafer box are not fixed when they cooperate, thereby affecting the placement of the wafer in the wafer carrier 300 and the processing of the wafers by subsequent process equipment.

[0068] Therefore, the wafer storage library 200 provided in the present application may also be provided with a wafer calibration mechanism 260. Among them, the wafer calibration mechanism 260 can be used to calibrate the position of the wafer. That is, in the aforementioned wafer loading process, the wafer can be first placed on the wafer calibration mechanism 260, and after being calibrated by the wafer calibration mechanism 260, it can be placed on the wafer carrier 300.

[0069] The wafer calibration mechanism 260 can be a wafer aligner, which is a key equipment used in the semiconductor manufacturing process, mainly used to ensure that the wafer is in the correct position and direction during the processing. Among them, the wafer calibration mechanism 260 can be provided with a calibration table 261, and the wafer can be placed on the calibration table 261 for calibration, so as to obtain a wafer in a preset state. That is, the position of the calibrated wafer on the calibration table 261 is fixed, so that when the wafer moving mechanism 210 cooperates with the calibration table 261 in a specific position, the positional relationship between the wafer moving mechanism 210 and the calibrated wafer is also fixed and accurate. Thereby improving the accuracy of subsequent wafer placement.

[0070] The wafer calibration mechanism 260 is generally calibrated mainly by laser measurement, photoelectric sensor or other high-precision sensor technology (such as laser, optical sensor, etc.). Specifically, the sensor technology can be combined with software algorithms to monitor the position and posture of the wafer in real time, and the deviation can be analyzed by comparing the measurement results with the preset standard position, and feedback correction can be performed to achieve automatic adjustment.

[0071] In some embodiments, the aforementioned wafer storage library 200 may also include a controller, which can be communicated with other devices / systems in the wafer processing system to control various electric devices in the wafer storage library 200 to execute the wafer unloading method provided in the present application.

[0072] The controller of the wafer storage library 200 can be understood as a collection of computing devices in the wafer storage library 200. For example, the controller can be characterized as a combination of a processor and a readable storage medium. Among them, the readable storage medium can store the program product / program instructions of the wafer unloading method provided by the present application. The processor can be connected to the readable storage medium and other electronic control devices of the wafer storage library 200, thereby specifying the program product in the readable storage medium to control other electronic control devices of the wafer storage library 200 to execute the wafer unloading method provided by the present application.

[0073] Thus, based on the aforementioned wafer storage library 200, it can be implemented in the wafer storage library 200 without setting up additional wafer transfer equipment, thereby improving the integration of the wafer processing system. In addition, a wafer moving mechanism 210 and a wafer calibration mechanism 260 are provided in the wafer storage library 200. When the wafer is loaded, the target wafer can be placed on the wafer calibration mechanism 260 for calibration, and then the calibrated target wafer is transferred to the wafer carrier device 300 outside the wafer storage library 200 by the wafer moving mechanism 210. Thus, based on the aforementioned process, the wafer provided in the present application is a calibrated wafer, and the position of its placement is relatively fixed, so that the position can be directly used as the process position in the subsequent process equipment, without the need for secondary correction of the wafer in the subsequent steps, thereby improving the accuracy of the subsequent execution steps and further improving the integration of the wafer processing system.

[0074] Combine the following Figure 4 The flow chart shown illustrates the loading process based on the aforementioned wafer storage library.

[0075] Figure 4 1 is a schematic diagram of a wafer loading method provided in some embodiments of the present application. Figure 4 The process P400 shown may be applied to a wafer storage library (such as the wafer storage library 200 ) and executed by a controller of the wafer storage library.

[0076] like Figure 4 As shown, P400 may include the following steps:

[0077] S410 , in response to a wafer loading request, determining a target wafer box containing a target wafer from the wafer boxes on a plurality of carriers.

[0078] S420 , in response to the target wafer box not being on the target carrying platform, driving the wafer box moving mechanism to move the target wafer box to the target carrying platform.

[0079] S430, driving the wafer moving mechanism to move the target wafer from the target wafer box on the target carrying table to the wafer calibration mechanism.

[0080] S440, controlling the wafer calibration mechanism to perform calibration processing on the target wafer.

[0081] S450, driving the wafer moving mechanism to move the target wafer from the wafer calibration mechanism to a wafer carrying device outside the wafer storage library.

[0082] In the aforementioned S410, the wafer loading request may refer to an instruction received by the wafer storage library to take a wafer from a target wafer box inside the wafer storage library and transfer it to a wafer carrying device.

[0083] In some embodiments, the aforementioned wafer loading request is used as a trigger condition of the aforementioned process P400, that is, when the wafer storage library receives the wafer loading request sent by the host computer, the method shown in the aforementioned P400 is executed. That is, after the wafer storage library receives the wafer loading request, it can parse the wafer loading request to determine the wafer that needs to be loaded, and then move the wafer from the wafer box of the wafer storage library to the wafer carrier.

[0084] In some embodiments, the aforementioned wafer loading request generally corresponds to the wafer loading situation in the wafer carrying device. Among them, when the wafer carrying device can store multiple wafers, the aforementioned wafer loading request can be an overall loading request for multiple wafers. When the wafer carrying device stores a single wafer, the aforementioned wafer loading request can be a specific loading request for a single wafer. In addition, when the wafer carrying device can store multiple wafers, the aforementioned wafer loading request can also be characterized as multiple specific loading requests to control the wafer storage library to realize the wafer loading operation one by one.

[0085] When the aforementioned wafer loading request is a request for loading multiple wafers as a whole, the wafer storage library can determine the wafer that needs to be loaded at present based on its own built-in wafer retrieval logic (such as taking wafers one by one from top to top) and perform loading processing on it. After completing the loading of the current wafer, the wafer storage library will determine the last wafer that needs to be loaded, thereby completing the overall loading request. For the specific loading request of a single wafer, the wafer storage library can directly parse the request to determine the corresponding wafer and process it.

[0086] During the loading process, the wafer currently being loaded by the wafer storage library is recorded as the target wafer, that is, the target wafer may be the wafer recorded in the wafer loading request or the wafer currently selected by the wafer storage library for loading.

[0087] The target wafer box may refer to a wafer box storing the target wafer. As mentioned above, the target wafer box should theoretically be set on the target carrier. However, considering the situation of replacing the wafer box, in this case, after the wafer box on the target carrier is removed, it may be necessary to re-determine the target wafer box, and the target wafer box may be located on other carriers (such as the carrier on the side wall).

[0088] Therefore, after the aforementioned S410, it can be detected whether the target wafer box is on the target carrier, if so, S430 is directly executed, if not, the aforementioned S420 is executed.

[0089] In some embodiments, considering the aforementioned situation that the target wafer box is not on the target carrier, the target wafer box can be determined when the aforementioned S410 is executed. When the aforementioned instruction does not clearly point to the carrier, the target wafer box can be determined based on the wafer box identification.

[0090] Considering that there are multiple processing units in the wafer processing system, in order to reasonably distinguish the working conditions of different processing units, the aforementioned wafer box can be provided with a wafer box identification reflecting each link (generally represented by the color of the wafer box). When placing the target wafer box, a wafer box with a wafer box identification reflecting the current link to be loaded (i.e., the previous link is completed) can be placed. When executing the aforementioned S410, the wafer box identification of the target wafer box is determined based on the wafer loading request. Based on the wafer box identification, a candidate wafer box is determined from the wafer boxes on multiple carriers. The target wafer box is determined from the candidate wafer boxes. Among them, the candidate wafer box has a wafer box identification. The step of determining the target wafer box from the candidate wafer box can optimize the wafer box based on multiple parameters such as the number of wafers that can be placed and the moving distance.

[0091] Furthermore, the wafers (and target wafers) to be loaded can also be determined autonomously by the wafer storage library. After determining the aforementioned target wafer box, the preset loading sequence can be called to determine the target wafer, thereby realizing the automatic mode of the wafer. That is, the wafer to be loaded can be determined from the target wafer box based on the wafer loading request. The target wafer is determined from the wafer to be loaded based on the loading sequence.

[0092] In addition, the aforementioned wafers to be loaded can also refer to the wafers that can be processed in the target wafer box. In some cases, some wafers are test wafers that do not need to be loaded, so these wafers can be ignored when taking out the wafers. Furthermore, in order to ensure that the wafers in the wafer box are completely removed, the aforementioned wafers that do not need to be loaded can be transferred to a specific wafer box (such as a fixed wafer box set above) to form an empty box.

[0093] In the aforementioned S420, the target wafer box can be moved to the target carrier by the wafer box moving mechanism. In this process, the wafer box moving mechanism can first move to the current position of the target wafer box, thereby tightly cooperating with the target wafer box, and then the wafer box moving mechanism drives the target wafer box to be placed on the target carrier.

[0094] Tight fit may refer to the fit state when the wafer box moving mechanism and the wafer box are fixedly fit, that is, when the wafer box moving mechanism moves the wafer box, the actuator may be first tightly fixed with the wafer box (such as by clamping both sides of the wafer box by claws), so that when the moving mechanism drives the actuator to move, the wafer box can be driven to move.

[0095] In the aforementioned S430 and subsequent steps, the wafer may be transferred to the wafer carrier device. The process may be a series of actions of transferring to a wafer calibration mechanism (S430), calibrating (S440), and then moving to the wafer carrier device (S450).

[0096] In some embodiments, considering that the moving line length of the wafer moving mechanism is long, the moving line length will be even longer after carrying the wafer, and it needs to avoid a large number of obstacles when moving in space. In order to simplify its movement process and facilitate obstacle avoidance settings, the movement of the two actuators in the plane can be decomposed into two processes: direction adjustment and extension and retraction along the direction, thereby reducing the complexity of movement and reducing the spatial obstacle avoidance requirements.

[0097] Therefore, in order to achieve the coordination between the moving mechanism and the moving object, the entire coordination process can be divided into three processes: height alignment, orientation alignment, and orientation extension. Among them, after the height alignment and orientation alignment, the actuator can be in the coordination position of the actuator object. That is, at the coordination position, the orientation of the moving mechanism is aligned with the moving object and the height is aligned with the moving object, so that it can be directly extended and retracted along the orientation to contact the corresponding moving object.

[0098] The aforementioned S430 and S450 can be coordinated using the above method, which will not be elaborated here.

[0099] Thus, the wafer loading method provided by the present application can be implemented in the wafer storage library without setting up additional wafer transfer equipment, thereby improving the integration of the wafer processing system. In addition, a wafer moving mechanism and a wafer calibration mechanism are provided in the wafer storage library. When the wafer is loaded, the target wafer can be placed on the wafer calibration mechanism for calibration, and then the calibrated target wafer is transferred to the wafer carrying device outside the wafer storage library by the wafer moving mechanism. Thus, based on the aforementioned process, the wafer provided by the present application is a calibrated wafer, and the position of its placement is relatively fixed, so that the position can be directly used as the process position in the subsequent process equipment, without the need for secondary correction of the wafer in the subsequent steps, thereby improving the accuracy of the subsequent execution steps and further improving the integration of the wafer processing system.

[0100] In some embodiments, considering that the aforementioned process of taking wafers from the target wafer box generally takes out all the wafers in the target wafer box, the following steps may be further included after the aforementioned S450:

[0101] S460, in response to the wafer box on the target carrier not containing the target wafer, controlling the wafer box moving mechanism to move the wafer box on the target carrier to a wafer box exchange area of ​​the wafer storage library.

[0102] That is, after the aforementioned process has taken out the wafers from the target wafer box, the target wafer box can be removed. Among them, the aforementioned S460 can be determined based on the loading status of the target wafer box. For example, the loading status can be updated once after each wafer is taken out to determine whether the box is empty. For another example, the remaining wafers in the target wafer box can be detected by a sensor, so that it can be sent out when it is empty.

[0103] When the wafer box is moved to the wafer box exchange area, it can be sent out of the wafer storage library by manual / mechanical operation. The moving process can be performed by the wafer box moving mechanism. In addition, when the aforementioned target wafer box does not have wafers, it is no longer used as the target wafer box, and it is necessary to reselect a wafer box as the target wafer box (i.e., execute the aforementioned S410).

[0104] It should be noted that the aforementioned wafer box not containing the target wafer may mean that it does not contain wafers that need to be loaded. If the target wafer box contains wafers that cannot be loaded due to testing, abnormality, etc., it can also be regarded as not containing the target wafer.

[0105] Mobile platform and motion process based on mobile platform:

[0106] In actual application, the wafer storage library extends in the vertical direction, and the wafer carrier can be presented as a crane that moves based on a hanging rail. At the same time, the wafer boxes are often stacked in the wafer storage library based on the horizontal and vertical reference directions. The actuator in the aforementioned wafer storage library should have the ability to move longitudinally so that it can move in the vertical direction during the loading operation and deliver the wafers to the external wafer carrier. Therefore, the aforementioned wafer storage library may include a mobile platform, and the wafer moving mechanism, the wafer box moving mechanism, and the target carrier are arranged on the mobile platform (such as Figure 3 On the mobile platform 250).

[0107] Among them, the mobile platform refers to a mechanical device that can move in the vertical direction, wherein the vertical direction refers to the direction perpendicular to the horizontal plane where the mobile platform is located. This application refers to a device that can move devices such as a wafer box moving mechanism, a wafer moving mechanism, and a target carrier platform along the vertical direction.

[0108] To further describe the mobile platform and its motion process, the present application also provides a structural schematic diagram of a mobile platform ( Figure 5 ).like Figure 5 As shown, the wafer moving mechanism 210 , the wafer box moving mechanism 220 and the target carrying platform 232 (and the target wafer box 231 thereon) are all disposed on the moving platform 250 .

[0109] It should be noted that although Figure 5 The middle moving platform 250 does not appear as a table top, but in fact, it ensures the stability of the relative positions between the wafer moving mechanism 210, the wafer box moving mechanism 220 and the target carrier 232 through the fixation of the frame structure and the platform, and can also be regarded as a plane.

[0110] The wafer moving mechanism 210 and the wafer box moving mechanism 220 are implemented by a planar robot arm, and the aforementioned lifting mechanism can be arranged at the connection between the planar robot arm and the moving platform 250 .

[0111] Based on the aforementioned mobile platform 250 and lifting mechanism, during the vertical movement, the mobile platform 250 can first be used for a large range of movement (such as aligning with the current position of the target wafer box 231, aligning with the wafer exchange window 240, etc.), and high-precision alignment can be achieved by the lifting mechanism.

[0112] That is, based on the aforementioned mobile platform 250, in the process of moving the target wafer box 231 to the target carrier 232, the carrier to be loaded that carries the target wafer box 231 can be first determined. The mobile platform 250 is driven to move in the vertical direction and the wafer box moving mechanism 220 is aligned with the carrier to be loaded in the vertical direction. The wafer box moving mechanism 220 is driven to be tightly matched with the target wafer box 231 and moved to the target carrier 232. Among them, the carrier to be loaded can refer to the carrier on which the target wafer box 231 was originally placed, which is generally set in one of the carriers on the side wall.

[0113] In some embodiments, considering that the aforementioned steps need to take the target wafer box 231 from the loading platform, the height of the mobile platform 250 can be adjusted after taking the wafer box, so as to facilitate interaction with the wafer carrier 300 through the wafer exchange window 240. That is, the mobile platform 250 can be driven to move to the wafer exchange window 240 in the vertical direction, so that the wafer carrier 300 is located within the operating range of the wafer moving mechanism 210.

[0114] In some embodiments, in order to ensure the accuracy of calibration, the aforementioned wafer calibration mechanism 260 may also be disposed on the mobile platform 250 .

[0115] Therefore, the aforementioned process of taking out wafers from the target wafer box can be presented as follows: Figure 6 As shown in the process. Figure 6 As shown, process P600 may include the following steps:

[0116] S611, determining a wafer retrieval position based on a target slot position of a target wafer in a target wafer box.

[0117] S613, moving the wafer moving mechanism to the wafer taking position and driving the wafer moving mechanism to move along the direction of the target carrier platform to be tightly matched with the target wafer.

[0118] S615 , driving the lifting mechanism and the wafer moving mechanism to move the target wafer to the wafer calibration mechanism.

[0119] S620 , in response to the target wafer being placed on the calibration table and the target wafer being separated from the wafer calibration mechanism, controlling the wafer calibration mechanism to perform calibration processing on the target wafer.

[0120] S631, control the wafer moving mechanism to move to the reference matching position of the wafer calibration mechanism.

[0121] S633, driving the lifting mechanism to move upward so that the wafer tray contacts the lower surface of the target wafer and is tightly matched with the target wafer.

[0122] S635, driving the wafer moving mechanism to move the target wafer from the wafer calibration mechanism to a wafer carrying device outside the wafer storage library.

[0123] Among them, S611, S613 and S615 may correspond to the aforementioned S430. The aforementioned S620 may correspond to the aforementioned S440. The aforementioned S631, S633 and S635 may correspond to the aforementioned S450.

[0124] In the aforementioned S611, the wafer picking position may refer to the matching position corresponding to the aforementioned target slot. When the wafer picking mechanism is located at the wafer picking position, the wafer moving mechanism faces the target carrier in the horizontal plane and aligns with the target slot in the vertical direction, so that it can achieve contact with the target wafer by telescoping along its direction, thereby achieving a tight fit.

[0125] In some embodiments, in order to facilitate the placement and removal of wafers, the specific execution device of the wafer moving mechanism in the present application can be a tray with an adsorption function, that is, the wafer moving mechanism includes a wafer tray that is tightly matched with the bottom of the wafer. When the wafer tray contacts the bottom of the wafer, the wafer can be adsorbed (such as electrostatic adsorption, vacuum adsorption).

[0126] Thus, the wafer picking position of the target slot reflects the position between the target slot and the next slot in the vertical direction. After aligning the position, the wafer moving mechanism can be driven to move the wafer tray under the wafer for adsorption (generally, it needs to move upward to contact and adsorb) to execute the above S613.

[0127] After executing the aforementioned S613, the wafer moving mechanism can be controlled to extract the target wafer from the target wafer box, and then adjust the direction to place it on the wafer calibration mechanism. Among them, considering that there may be errors between the target wafer and the wafer moving mechanism before calibration, the accuracy requirement of the execution process of the aforementioned S615 is relatively low. Generally, the target wafer is moved to the top of the aforementioned calibration table, and then the wafer moving mechanism is controlled to slowly drop the target wafer onto the calibration table, and then the tightening state is released.

[0128] In the aforementioned S615, generally, it is only necessary to ensure that the wafer moving mechanism is placed on the calibration table and the wafer moving mechanism releases the target wafer. The aforementioned S620 can also be used as an execution condition to trigger subsequent steps.

[0129] In some embodiments, considering the multiple sensors provided by the wafer calibration mechanism, the triggering condition of S620 can be detected by the wafer calibration mechanism itself. The placement of the target wafer on the calibration table can be detected by sensors such as contacts and weight, and the separation of the target wafer from the wafer calibration mechanism can be detected by a visual sensor.

[0130] After executing the aforementioned S620, the calibrated target wafer and the aforementioned calibration stage have an accurate relative position relationship. In order to use this relationship to align the wafer moving mechanism with the target wafer, the calibration stage and the wafer moving mechanism can be directly aligned.

[0131] Considering that the calibration table (wafer calibration mechanism) and the wafer moving mechanism are arranged on the same moving platform, and the relative positions of the two in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction are known, the aforementioned S631 can be performed based on the known positional relationship to move the wafer moving mechanism to the reference matching position of the wafer calibration mechanism. Wherein, when the wafer moving mechanism is located at the reference matching position, the relative positions of the wafer tray and the wafer calibration mechanism in the horizontal plane are constant.

[0132] In some embodiments, the aforementioned reference matching position can be characterized as preset movement mechanism parameters, so that corresponding preset displacements are performed to ensure that the reference matching position is maintained.

[0133] In some embodiments, the wafer calibration mechanism includes a calibration platform for carrying and calibrating wafers, the shape of the wafer tray matches the calibration platform, and when the wafer tray abuts against the side wall of the calibration platform, the wafer moving mechanism is located at a reference matching position. That is, the aforementioned reference matching position can also be characterized as a physical limit, thereby further ensuring the stability of the relative position relationship between the two.

[0134] After being in the aforementioned reference matching position, vertical movement can be performed to ensure that the relative positions of the wafer tray and the target wafer in the horizontal plane remain unchanged, so that the wafer moving mechanism and the contact area of ​​the lower surface of the target wafer are tightly matched.

[0135] Therefore, the relative position relationship between the wafer moving mechanism and the target wafer is stable and unique, and movement and loading can be performed based on this relative position relationship in subsequent steps, thereby ensuring the accurate wafer position of the wafer moving mechanism.

[0136] It should be noted that, by aligning the wafer on the wafer moving mechanism through the aforementioned steps S631 to S635, the limitation of the wafer on the calibration process can be avoided, and at the same time, the stability of the calibration process can be ensured.

[0137] It should be noted that the various elements described in the above specific embodiments can be combined in any suitable manner without contradiction. To avoid unnecessary repetition, this application will not further describe various possible combinations.

[0138] It should be understood that multiple components and / or parts can be provided by a single integrated component or part. Alternatively, a single integrated component or part can be divided into separate multiple components and / or parts. The disclosure "one" or "an" used to describe a component or part is not intended to exclude other components or parts.

[0139] It should be understood that although the terms “first” or “second” etc. may be used in the present application to describe various elements, these elements are not defined by these terms, and these terms are only used to distinguish one element from another.

[0140] The basic principles of the present application are described above in conjunction with specific embodiments. However, it should be noted that the advantages, strengths, effects, etc. mentioned in the present application are only examples and not limitations, and it cannot be considered that these advantages, strengths, effects, etc. are required by each embodiment of the present application. In addition, the specific details disclosed above are only for the purpose of illustration and ease of understanding, not for limitation, and the above details do not limit the present application to being implemented by adopting the above specific details.

[0141] The above are only specific implementations of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any technician familiar with the technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A wafer loading method, characterized in that: The wafer loading method is applied to a wafer storage library, wherein a wafer calibration mechanism, a wafer moving mechanism, a wafer box moving mechanism and a plurality of wafer box carrying platforms are arranged in the wafer storage library, and the wafer loading method comprises: In response to a wafer loading request, determining a target wafer box containing a target wafer from the wafer boxes on the plurality of carriers; In response to the target wafer box not being on the target carrying platform, driving the wafer box moving mechanism to move the target wafer box to the target carrying platform; Driving the wafer moving mechanism to move the target wafer from the target wafer box on the target carrying table to the wafer calibration mechanism; Controlling the wafer calibration mechanism to perform calibration processing on the target wafer; The wafer moving mechanism is driven to move the target wafer from the wafer calibration mechanism to a wafer carrying device outside the wafer storage library.

2. The wafer loading method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The wafer loading method comprises a moving platform, the wafer moving mechanism, the wafer box moving mechanism and the target carrying platform are arranged on the moving platform, and the driving of the wafer box moving mechanism to move the target wafer box to the target carrying platform comprises: Determine a loading platform to be loaded that carries the target wafer box; Driving the mobile platform to move in a vertical direction and aligning the wafer box moving mechanism with the loading platform in a vertical direction; The wafer box moving mechanism is driven to tightly cooperate with the target wafer box and move it to the target carrying platform.

3. The wafer loading method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The wafer calibration mechanism is arranged on the mobile platform, the wafer moving mechanism is arranged on the mobile platform through a lifting mechanism, and the wafer moving mechanism is driven to move the target wafer from the target wafer box on the target carrying platform to the wafer calibration mechanism, including: Determine a wafer fetching position based on a target slot of the target wafer in the target wafer box, wherein the wafer moving mechanism located at the wafer fetching position faces the target carrier in a horizontal plane and aligns with the target slot in a vertical direction; Moving the wafer moving mechanism to the wafer taking position and driving the wafer moving mechanism to move along the direction of the target carrying platform to be tightly matched with the target wafer; The lifting mechanism and the wafer moving mechanism are driven to move the target wafer onto the wafer calibration mechanism.

4. The wafer loading method according to claim 3, characterized in that: The wafer moving mechanism driven includes a wafer tray tightly matched with the bottom of the wafer, and the wafer moving mechanism driven to move the target wafer from the wafer calibration mechanism to the wafer carrying device outside the wafer storage library includes: Controlling the wafer moving mechanism to move to a reference matching position of the wafer calibration mechanism, wherein when the wafer moving mechanism is located at the reference matching position, the relative position of the wafer tray and the wafer calibration mechanism in a horizontal plane is constant; Driving the lifting mechanism to move upward so that the wafer tray contacts the lower surface of the target wafer and is tightly matched with the target wafer; The wafer moving mechanism is driven to move the target wafer from the wafer calibration mechanism to a wafer carrying device outside the wafer storage library.

5. The wafer loading method according to claim 4, characterized in that: The wafer calibration mechanism includes a calibration table for carrying and calibrating wafers. The shape of the wafer tray matches the calibration table. When the wafer tray abuts against the side wall of the calibration table, the wafer moving mechanism is located at the reference matching position.

6. The wafer loading method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The wafer storage library is arranged at a wafer exchange window, the wafer carrying device is located at the wafer exchange window, and before the wafer moving mechanism is driven to move the target wafer from the wafer calibration mechanism to the wafer carrying device outside the wafer storage library, the wafer loading method further comprises: The moving platform is driven to move in a vertical direction to the wafer exchange window, so that the wafer carrying device is located within the operating range of the wafer moving mechanism.

7. The wafer loading method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The wafer loading method further comprises: In response to the wafer box on the target carrying platform not containing the target wafer, the wafer box moving mechanism is controlled to move the wafer box on the target carrying platform to a wafer box exchange area of ​​the wafer storage library.

8. The wafer loading method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The step of determining a target wafer box containing a target wafer from the wafer boxes on the plurality of carriers comprises: Determining a wafer box identification of the target wafer box based on the wafer loading request; Determining a candidate wafer box from the wafer boxes on the plurality of carriers based on the wafer box identification, wherein the candidate wafer box has the wafer box identification; The target wafer box is determined from the candidate wafer boxes.

9. The wafer loading method according to claim 8, characterized in that: The wafer loading method further comprises: Determining a wafer to be loaded from the target wafer box based on the wafer loading request; The target wafer is determined from the wafers to be loaded based on the loading order.

10. A wafer storage library, characterized in that: It includes a controller, a wafer calibration mechanism, a wafer moving mechanism, a wafer box moving mechanism and a plurality of carriers for the wafer box; The controller is used to execute the wafer loading method described in any one of claims 1 to 9.

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