Silicon wafer transportation device, silicon wafer transportation method and storage medium

Abstract

The invention provides a silicon wafer transportation device, a silicon wafer transportation method and a storage medium, and the silicon wafer transportation device comprises a mechanical arm unit which comprises at least two mechanical arms; the distance adjusting unit drives the mechanical arms to move in the first direction so as to change the distance between the at least two mechanical arms in the first direction; the acquisition unit is used for acquiring the current silicon wafer position information of the wafer box and the current mechanical arm position information of the mechanical arm unit; the control unit is used for determining moving path information of each mechanical arm in the first direction according to the current silicon wafer position information and preset target silicon wafer position information; and based on the current mechanical arm position information and the moving path information, the distance adjusting unit is controlled to adjust the distance between the at least two mechanical arms, and when each mechanical arm is located at the target position, each mechanical arm is controlled to execute the corresponding silicon wafer taking and placing action. According to the method and the device, cross-layer, cross-layer and discontinuous-layer quick and accurate taking and placing can be realized, the unnecessary operation frequency is reduced, and the overall operation efficiency and precision are improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of semiconductor processing technology, and in particular to a silicon wafer transportation device and method, and a storage medium. Background Art

[0002] In the semiconductor industry, robots are often used to pick, place, and sort silicon wafers or substrates to improve production efficiency and resource utilization. Depending on actual production, different wafer cassettes must be used for pick-and-place operations to increase the cassette's full load rate and effective utilization. However, in the prior art, a wafer transport device with two sets of robotic arms is used to perform pick-and-place and sorting operations. One set of robotic arms includes a single movable arm, while the other set includes multiple fixed arms, with fixed spacing between the arms.

[0003] When using existing silicon wafer transport devices for wafer placement and sorting, the spacing between robotic arms is fixed, with one robotic arm assigned to each layer of a wafer cassette. Synchronous placement of multiple robotic arms can effectively handle the simultaneous placement of adjacent layers within a cassette. However, this structure struggles to efficiently handle complex scenarios involving discontinuous layers, frequent adjustments, and multiple placements. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In order to solve at least one technical problem in the above-mentioned prior art, the embodiment of the present disclosure aims to provide a silicon wafer transportation device, a silicon wafer transportation method, and a storage medium.

[0005] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows:

[0006] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a silicon wafer transport device for placing and taking silicon wafers in a wafer box, wherein the wafer box includes a plurality of card slots stacked along a first direction; the silicon wafer transport device includes:

[0007] a robotic arm unit, comprising at least two robotic arms arranged along the first direction;

[0008] a spacing adjustment unit, capable of driving at least two of the robotic arms to move in the first direction to change the spacing between the at least two robotic arms in the first direction;

[0009] an acquiring unit, configured to acquire current wafer position information of the wafer cassette and current robotic arm position information of each robotic arm in the robotic arm unit; and

[0010] A control unit is connected to the spacing adjustment unit and the acquisition unit respectively, and the control unit is used to: determine the movement path information of each of the robotic arms in the first direction according to the current silicon wafer position information and the preset target silicon wafer position information; and based on the current robotic arm position information and the movement path information, control the spacing adjustment unit to adjust the spacing between at least two of the robotic arms, and when each of the robotic arms is at the corresponding target position, control each of the robotic arms to perform a corresponding silicon wafer picking and placing action.

[0011] Exemplarily, each of the robotic arms includes a pick-and-place portion, and the silicon wafer transport device further includes a pick-and-place drive unit. Any of the robotic arms is configured such that the pick-and-place drive unit drives the pick-and-place portion to independently perform a silicon wafer pick-and-place action relative to another robotic arm.

[0012] Wherein, the control unit is also used to: determine the pick-up and placement path information of each of the robotic arms in the second direction according to the current silicon wafer position information and the target silicon wafer position information, the second direction being the feeding direction of the pick-up and placement part inserted into the wafer box; when each of the robotic arms is at the corresponding target position, based on the pick-up and placement path information, control the pick-up and placement drive unit of each of the robotic arms to drive the pick-up and placement part to perform corresponding silicon wafer pick-up and placement actions independently of each other.

[0013] Exemplarily, the pick-and-place drive unit includes at least a first drive member and a first track assembly arranged along the second direction, and the first drive member drives the pick-and-place portion to move along the first track assembly so that the pick-and-place portion can be inserted into or removed from the film box.

[0014] Exemplarily, the spacing adjustment unit includes at least a second driving member and a second track assembly arranged along the first direction, and the second driving member drives each of the robotic arms to move along the second track assembly to change the spacing between each of the robotic arms in the first direction.

[0015] Exemplarily, the acquiring unit includes:

[0016] A first acquisition mechanism is provided on the wafer cassette, and is used to acquire the storage information of the silicon wafers in all the card slots in the wafer cassette to determine the current position information of the silicon wafers in the wafer cassette; and

[0017] The second acquisition mechanism is provided on the robotic arm unit, and is used to detect the position of each robotic arm to determine the current robotic arm position information.

[0018] Exemplarily, the first acquisition mechanism includes:

[0019] An image collector, used for scanning the overall image of all silicon wafers in the wafer box;

[0020] an image processor connected to the image collector, the image processor being configured to obtain the current silicon wafer position information based on the image;

[0021] And / or, the second acquisition mechanism includes:

[0022] a linear grating scale assembly, provided on the robotic arm unit and arranged along the first direction, the linear grating scale assembly being configured to generate corresponding sensing signals based on the displacement of each of the robotic arms;

[0023] A signal processor is used to obtain the current position information of the robotic arm based on the sensing signal.

[0024] Exemplarily, a buffer gasket is provided between two adjacent robotic arms in the first direction.

[0025] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a silicon wafer transportation method, which is applied to the silicon wafer transportation device described above, and the silicon wafer transportation method includes:

[0026] Acquiring current silicon wafer position information of the wafer cassette and current robotic arm position information of each robotic arm in the robotic arm unit;

[0027] Determining movement path information of each of the robotic arms in the first direction according to the current silicon wafer position information and preset target silicon wafer position information;

[0028] Based on the current robot arm position information and the movement path information, the spacing adjustment unit is controlled to adjust the spacing between at least two of the robot arms, and when each of the robot arms is at the corresponding target position, each of the robot arms is controlled to perform a corresponding silicon wafer pick-and-place action.

[0029] Exemplarily, the step of controlling the spacing adjustment unit to adjust the spacing between at least two of the robotic arms based on the current robotic arm position information and the movement path information, and controlling each robotic arm to perform a corresponding wafer pick-and-place action when each robotic arm is at a corresponding target position, specifically includes:

[0030] Based on the current silicon wafer position information and the target silicon wafer position information, the pick-and-place path information of each of the robotic arms in the second direction is determined, where the second direction is the feed direction of the pick-and-place part inserted into the wafer box; when each of the robotic arms is at the corresponding target position, based on the pick-and-place path information, the pick-and-place drive unit of each of the robotic arms is controlled to drive the pick-and-place part to perform corresponding silicon wafer pick-and-place actions independently of each other.

[0031] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a computer storage medium, wherein the storage medium stores at least one instruction, and the at least one instruction is used to be executed by a processor to implement the silicon wafer transportation method as described above.

[0032] The beneficial effects brought about by the embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows:

[0033] In the silicon wafer transport device, silicon wafer transport method and storage medium provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, at least two robotic arms are arranged in a robotic arm unit, and the spacing between the at least two robotic arms in the card slot stacking direction of the wafer box can be adjusted by using a spacing adjustment unit. The current silicon wafer position information in the wafer box and the current robotic arm position information of each robotic arm in the robotic arm unit can be obtained by an acquisition unit, and the movement path information of each robotic arm in the first direction can be determined based on the current silicon wafer position information in the wafer box and the preset target silicon wafer position information. Therefore, based on the current robotic arm position information and the movement path information, the spacing adjustment unit is controlled to adjust the spacing between the at least two robotic arms, and when each robotic arm is at the corresponding target position, each robotic arm is controlled to perform a corresponding silicon wafer picking and placing action.

[0034] In this way, the purpose of dynamically adjusting the spacing between each robotic arm can be achieved, so that each robotic arm can reach the desired target position, and realize fast and accurate pick-and-place across layers, and non-continuous layers, thereby significantly reducing the number of unnecessary operations and improving overall work efficiency and accuracy. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing the structure of a silicon wafer transport device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure when placing or picking up silicon wafers;

[0036] Figure 2 A structural block diagram showing a silicon wafer transport device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0037] Figure 3 A flow chart showing the silicon wafer transportation method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] To make the purpose, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure more clear, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, not all of the embodiments. Based on the described embodiments of the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0039] Unless otherwise defined, the technical or scientific terms used in this disclosure should have the usual meanings understood by people with ordinary skills in the field to which this disclosure belongs. The words "first", "second" and similar words used in this disclosure do not indicate any order, quantity or importance, but are only used to distinguish different components. Similarly, words such as "one", "an" or "the" do not indicate a quantity limitation, but rather indicate the existence of at least one. Words such as "include" or "comprise" mean that the elements or objects appearing before the word include the elements or objects listed after the word and their equivalents, without excluding other elements or objects. Words such as "connect" or "connected" are not limited to physical or mechanical connections, but may include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect. "Up", "down", "left", "right" and the like are only used to indicate relative positional relationships. When the absolute position of the object being described changes, the relative positional relationship may also change accordingly.

[0040] As used in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the terms "parallel," "perpendicular," and "identical" include the strict sense of "parallel," "perpendicular," and "identical," as well as "approximately parallel," "approximately perpendicular," and "approximately identical" with respect to a certain tolerance, which, taking into account the tolerances associated with the measurement of a particular quantity (e.g., limitations of the measurement system), means within an acceptable range of deviation for a particular value as determined by one of ordinary skill in the art. For example, "approximately" can mean within one or more standard deviations, or within 3% or 5% of the stated value.

[0041] In addition, in this document, unless otherwise defined, the terms "substantially," "essentially," "approximately," and "about" are used to describe and explain small variations. When used in connection with an event or circumstance, these terms can encompass situations where the event or circumstance occurs exactly, as well as situations where the event or circumstance occurs approximately. For example, when used in connection with a numerical value, these terms can include a range of variation of less than or equal to 10% of the numerical value, such as less than or equal to ±5%, less than or equal to ±4%, less than or equal to ±3%, less than or equal to ±2%, less than or equal to ±1%, less than or equal to ±0.5%, less than or equal to ±0.1%, less than or equal to ±0.05%. The term "substantially coplanar" can refer to two surfaces being aligned along the same plane within the micrometer range, for example, within 40 μm, 30 μm, 20 μm, 10 μm, or 1 μm.

[0042] In the prior art, when using existing silicon wafer transport devices for wafer pick-up, placement, and sorting, the spacing between robotic arms is fixed, with one robotic arm corresponding to each layer of a wafer cassette. Multiple robotic arms perform pick-up and placement operations synchronously, effectively handling the simultaneous pick-up and placement requirements of adjacent layers within the cassette. However, this structure struggles to efficiently handle complex scenarios involving discontinuous layers, frequent adjustments, and multiple pick-up and placement operations.

[0043] For example, a wafer cassette includes multiple layers of slots stacked along a first direction. When a robotic arm is used to pick up and place silicon wafers to be picked up, the movement route of the robotic arm is pre-set to pick up and place the silicon wafers placed in each slot in the wafer cassette. If the wafer cassette is not fully loaded with silicon wafers, that is, if at least one slot does not contain a silicon wafer, the multiple robotic arms will still move to the corresponding slot to pick up and place the silicon wafers due to the fixed spacing between them. However, due to the limited number of robotic arms, when there are a large number of slots, if the wafer cassette is not fully loaded with silicon wafers, and two non-contiguous slots across layers need to be picked up and placed, frequent adjustments and multiple pick-ups and placements are required. This wastes time and reduces efficiency. The number of silicon wafers in the wafer cassette is generally counted manually, which is labor-intensive.

[0044] In order to solve the above problems, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a silicon wafer transportation device, a silicon wafer transportation method, and a storage medium.

[0045] like Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a silicon wafer transport device for taking and placing silicon wafers in a wafer box 10. The wafer box 10 includes a plurality of card slots 11 stacked along a first direction Y.

[0046] The silicon wafer transport device comprises:

[0047] The robot arm unit 30 includes at least two robot arms S arranged along the first direction Y;

[0048] a spacing adjustment unit 40 capable of driving at least two of the robotic arms S to move in the first direction Y to change the spacing between the at least two robotic arms S in the first direction Y;

[0049] An acquiring unit 50 is configured to acquire current wafer position information of the wafer cassette 10 and current robotic arm position information of each robotic arm S in the robotic arm unit 30; and

[0050] The control unit 60 is connected to the spacing adjustment unit 40 and the acquisition unit 50 respectively. The control unit 60 is used to: determine the movement path information of each of the robotic arms S in the first direction Y according to the current silicon wafer position information and the preset target silicon wafer position information; and based on the current robotic arm position information and the movement path information, control the spacing adjustment unit 40 to adjust the spacing between at least two of the robotic arms S, and when each of the robotic arms S is at the corresponding target position, control each of the robotic arms S to perform the corresponding silicon wafer picking and placing action.

[0051] It should be noted that the current silicon wafer position information within the wafer cassette 10 may refer to the positions of the slots 11 containing silicon wafers and the slots 11 not containing silicon wafers in the first direction Y, before the wafers are placed in the wafer cassette 10. The target silicon wafer position information may refer to the positions of the slots 11 in the wafer cassette 10 that are to be stored with silicon wafers and the slots 11 that are not to be stored with silicon wafers, as issued by the production management system (MES). Based on the current silicon wafer position information and the target silicon wafer position information, the movement path information of each robot arm S in the first direction Y can be determined. In other words, the target position to which each robot arm S needs to move in the first direction Y can be determined. Therefore, based on the movement path information and the current position of each robot arm S, each robot arm S can be moved accordingly to the position of the slot 11 where the wafer is to be placed, thereby completing the wafer placement operation in the slot 11 where the wafer is to be placed.

[0052] In this way, the purpose of dynamically adjusting the spacing between each robotic arm S can be achieved, so that each robotic arm S can reach the desired target position, and realize fast and accurate picking and placing across layers, and non-continuous layers, thereby significantly reducing the number of unnecessary operations and improving overall work efficiency and accuracy.

[0053] In some embodiments, the robot arm unit 30 includes five robot arms S. However, this is not limited thereto.

[0054] In addition, in some embodiments, each of the robotic arms S includes a pick-and-place part 31, and the silicon wafer transport device also includes a pick-and-place drive unit 20. Any of the robotic arms S is constructed so that the pick-and-place drive unit 20 drives the pick-and-place part 31 to independently perform silicon wafer pick-and-place actions relative to another robotic arm S; the control unit 60 is also used to: determine the pick-and-place path information of each of the robotic arms S in the second direction X based on the current silicon wafer position information and the target silicon wafer position information, where the second direction X is the feed direction of the pick-and-place part 31 inserted into the wafer box; when each of the robotic arms S is at the corresponding target position, based on the pick-and-place path information, control the pick-and-place drive unit 20 of each of the robotic arms S to drive the pick-and-place part 31 to independently perform corresponding silicon wafer pick-and-place actions.

[0055] Using the above solution, the pick-up and placement unit 31 can complete the placement and placement of silicon wafers by inserting or withdrawing the wafer cassette along the second direction X. For example, the pick-up and placement unit 31 may include a pallet that, under the control of the pick-up and placement drive unit 20, can be inserted below the silicon wafer to be removed along the second direction X and lift the silicon wafer to be removed. To prevent breakage during transportation, the pallet is provided with suction holes connected to a suction device. The silicon wafer is adsorbed on the pallet, and after reaching a predetermined position, the suction force is released to release the silicon wafer.

[0056] Each of the robotic arms S can not only move in the first direction Y, changing the spacing between adjacent robotic arms S, but can also independently perform wafer pick-and-place operations. In this way, multiple robotic arms S can perform pick-and-place operations without synchronization, providing greater flexibility and adaptability to a wider range of scenarios.

[0057] The pick-and-place drive unit 20 can drive the robot arm S to perform linear reciprocating motion along the second direction X. There are many ways for the pick-and-place drive unit 20 to achieve linear reciprocating motion. For example, in some embodiments, the pick-and-place drive unit 20 includes at least a first drive member and a first track assembly arranged along the second direction X. The first drive member drives the pick-and-place portion 31 to move along the first track assembly so that the pick-and-place portion 31 can be inserted into or exited from the film box.

[0058] For example, in some embodiments, the first drive element may be a linear drive motor. A linear drive motor is a motor that directly converts electrical energy into linear motion. Compared to traditional rotary motors, linear drive motors eliminate the need for transmission mechanisms (such as screws, belts, and gears), resulting in higher efficiency and better response speed.

[0059] For example, in other embodiments, the first driving member may include a first lead screw, a first drive motor, etc., and the pick-and-place portion 31 may be slidably connected to the first lead screw. The first drive motor drives the first lead screw to rotate, thereby driving the pick-and-place portion 31 to feed along the second direction X. The specific structure of the pick-and-place drive unit 20 is not limited thereto.

[0060] The specific structure of the spacing adjustment unit 40 can be diverse. For example, in some embodiments, the spacing adjustment unit 40 includes at least a second driving member and a second track assembly arranged along the first direction Y. The second driving member drives each of the robotic arms S to move along the second track assembly to change the spacing between each of the robotic arms S in the first direction Y.

[0061] For example, in some embodiments, the second drive element may be a linear drive motor. A linear drive motor is a motor that directly converts electrical energy into linear motion. Compared to traditional rotary motors, linear drive motors eliminate the need for transmission mechanisms (such as screws, belts, and gears), resulting in higher efficiency and better response speed.

[0062] For example, in other embodiments, the second drive member may include a second lead screw, a second drive motor, etc., and the pick-and-place portion 31 may be slidably connected to the second lead screw, and the second drive motor drives the second lead screw to rotate, thereby driving the robotic arm S to move along the first direction Y. For example, the second drive motor may be a linear drive motor. For example, one robotic arm S may correspond to one second drive member to achieve the purpose of flexible position movement of each robotic arm S in the first direction Y. Of course, it is understandable that each robotic arm S can also use the same second drive motor as a power source to achieve the movement of each robotic arm S in the first direction Y. The specific structure of the pick-and-place drive unit 20 is not limited to this.

[0063] In some embodiments, the acquiring unit 50 may include:

[0064] a first acquisition mechanism, which is provided on the wafer cassette and is used to acquire the wafer storage information in all the card slots 11 in the wafer cassette to determine the current wafer position information of the wafer cassette, wherein the wafer storage information includes whether there are wafers stored and the number of wafers stored; and

[0065] The second acquisition mechanism is provided on the robotic arm unit 30 , and is used to detect the position of each robotic arm S to determine the current robotic arm position information.

[0066] The first acquisition mechanism may be implemented in a variety of ways. For example, the first acquisition mechanism may be implemented by a distance sensor, a contact sensor, an optical sensor, etc.

[0067] For example, the distance sensor may include an ultrasonic sensor, a laser ranging sensor, etc., for measuring the distance between an object and the sensor. The distance sensor may be provided in each card slot 11. When a silicon chip is placed in the card slot 11, the distance sensor generates a corresponding sensing signal.

[0068] For example, a contact sensor is a sensor that detects a specific position by directly contacting an object. It can be used to trigger a switch, detect the presence of an object, or sense the position of an object. Examples of contact sensors include limit switches, pressure sensors, and touch sensors.

[0069] For example, optical sensors can include reflective photosensors, photoelectric switches, and image sensors. Reflective photosensors emit light and detect reflected light, providing position feedback based on the reflected light signal. Photoelectric switches directly detect objects using a light beam, enabling rapid motion detection and position control. Image sensors can capture and process image data, and based on this image data, obtain information about the position of the silicon chip within the card slot 11.

[0070] Specifically, in some embodiments, the first acquisition mechanism includes:

[0071] An image collector, used for scanning the overall image of all silicon wafers in the wafer box;

[0072] An image processor is connected to the image collector, and is used to obtain the current silicon wafer position information based on the image.

[0073] In the above solution, the overall image of all the silicon wafers in the wafer box can be obtained by scanning, and then the image can be analyzed to obtain the storage information of the silicon wafers in each card slot 11.

[0074] In addition, there are many ways to implement the second acquisition mechanism, such as a grating ruler, a contact limit switch, an ultrasonic sensor, a laser ranging sensor, a potentiometer, an encoder, and a touch sensor. For example, in some embodiments, the second acquisition mechanism includes:

[0075] a linear grating scale assembly, provided on the robotic arm unit 30 and arranged along the first direction Y, the linear grating scale assembly being configured to generate corresponding sensing signals based on the displacement of each of the robotic arms S;

[0076] A signal processor is used to obtain the current position information of the robotic arm based on the sensing signal.

[0077] In the above scheme, the grating ruler determines the position by reading the changes in the grating stripes, and the grating ruler sensor can accurately measure the linear displacement of the robot arm S.

[0078] It should be noted that slot mapping sensors already exist in silicon wafer production management systems. Slot mapping sensors are used to describe devices in the fields of industrial automation and robotics that use sensors to identify and map the relationship between object positions and specific slots (or location slots). The second acquisition mechanism can be implemented directly using the slot mapping sensors already provided in the silicon wafer production management system, without the need for additional components.

[0079] It should be noted that the movement position of each of the robotic arms S can be determined by the current silicon wafer position information obtained by the first acquisition mechanism, which matches the target silicon wafer position information released by the MES (Manufacturing Execution System) without any abnormality. After the equipment runs a computer calculation, it is sent to the PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) to realize the individual pick-and-place function of each of the robotic arms S.

[0080] Furthermore, in some embodiments, Figure 1 As shown, a buffer pad 70 is provided between two adjacent robotic arms S in the first direction Y. By providing the buffer pad 70, it is possible to avoid collision between the robotic arms S when they move along the first direction Y, thereby preventing wear and tear between the robotic arms S.

[0081] Taking the related art silicon wafer transport device comprising one movable robotic arm and four fixed robotic arms as an example, when a wafer cassette has 25 slots 11, and assuming that the slots 11 containing silicon wafers are distributed as slot S1 on the first layer, slot S6 on the sixth layer, slot S11 on the eleventh layer, slot S16 on the sixteenth layer, and slot S21 on the twenty-first layer, at least five pick-and-place operations are required to completely remove the silicon wafers from the cassette. However, with the silicon wafer transport device provided in the present embodiment, for example, with five robotic arms S, for the same wafer position distribution, only one pick-and-place operation is required to completely remove the silicon wafers from the cassette, improving efficiency by 50%.

[0082] In addition, the present disclosure also provides a silicon wafer transportation method, which is applied to the silicon wafer transportation device in the present disclosure. Figure 3 As shown, the silicon wafer transportation method includes the following steps:

[0083] Step S01, obtaining the current position information of the silicon wafers in the wafer cassette 10 and the current position information of each robot S in the robot unit 30;

[0084] Step S02: determining the movement path information of each of the robotic arms S in the first direction Y according to the current silicon wafer position information and the preset target silicon wafer position information;

[0085] Step S03: Based on the current robot arm position information and the movement path information, control the spacing adjustment unit 40 to adjust the spacing between at least two of the robot arms S, and when each of the robot arms S is at the corresponding target position, control each of the robot arms S to perform a corresponding silicon wafer pick-and-place action.

[0086] Exemplarily, the above step S03 specifically includes:

[0087] Based on the current silicon wafer position information and the target silicon wafer position information, the pick-and-place path information of each of the robotic arms S in the second direction X is determined, where the second direction X is the feed direction of the pick-and-place portion 31 inserted into the wafer cassette; when each of the robotic arms S is at the corresponding target position, based on the pick-and-place path information, the pick-and-place drive unit 20 of each of the robotic arms S is controlled to drive the pick-and-place portion 31 to independently perform corresponding silicon wafer pick-and-place actions.

[0088] Obviously, the silicon wafer transportation method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure also has the beneficial effects brought by the silicon wafer transportation device provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, which will not be repeated here.

[0089] In addition, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer storage medium, wherein the storage medium stores at least one instruction, and the at least one instruction is used to be executed by a processor to implement the silicon wafer transportation method described above.

[0090] The computer readable storage medium mentioned above implements the steps in the above-mentioned method embodiments when the computer program stored in its memory is executed by the processor. Similarly, it can have the beneficial effects brought by the above-mentioned method.

[0091] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that all or part of the processes in the above-mentioned embodiment methods can be implemented by instructing the relevant hardware through a computer program, and the computer program can be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium. When the computer program is executed, it can include the processes of the embodiments of the above-mentioned methods. Among them, any reference to memory, storage, database or other media used in the embodiments provided in this application may include at least one of non-volatile and volatile memory. Non-volatile memory may include read-only memory (ROM), magnetic tape, floppy disk, flash memory or optical memory, etc. Volatile memory may include random access memory (RAM) or external cache memory. As an illustration and not limitation, RAM can be in various forms, such as static random access memory (SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM).

[0092] There are a few points to note:

[0093] (1) The drawings of the embodiments of the present disclosure only relate to the structures related to the embodiments of the present disclosure. Other structures may refer to conventional designs.

[0094] (2) For the sake of clarity, the thickness of layers or regions in the drawings used to describe the embodiments of the present disclosure are exaggerated or reduced, i.e., these drawings are not drawn to scale. It is understood that when an element such as a layer, film, region, or substrate is referred to as being "on" or "under" another element, the element may be "directly" "on" or "under" the other element or intervening elements may be present.

[0095] (3) In the absence of conflict, the embodiments of the present disclosure and the features therein may be combined with each other to form new embodiments.

[0096] The above are only specific embodiments of the present disclosure, but the protection scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The protection scope of the present disclosure should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A silicon wafer transport device for placing and taking silicon wafers in a wafer box, wherein the wafer box comprises a plurality of slots stacked in a first direction; The silicon wafer transport device comprises: a robotic arm unit, comprising at least two robotic arms arranged along the first direction; a spacing adjustment unit, capable of driving at least two of the robotic arms to move in the first direction to change the spacing between the at least two robotic arms in the first direction; an acquiring unit, configured to acquire current wafer position information of the wafer cassette and current robotic arm position information of each robotic arm in the robotic arm unit; and A control unit is connected to the spacing adjustment unit and the acquisition unit respectively, and the control unit is used to: determine the movement path information of each of the robotic arms in the first direction according to the current silicon wafer position information and the preset target silicon wafer position information; and based on the current robotic arm position information and the movement path information, control the spacing adjustment unit to adjust the spacing between at least two of the robotic arms, and when each of the robotic arms is at the corresponding target position, control each of the robotic arms to perform a corresponding silicon wafer picking and placing action.

2. The silicon wafer transport device according to claim 1, characterized in that: Each of the robotic arms includes a pick-and-place portion, and the silicon wafer transport device further includes a pick-and-place drive unit. Any of the robotic arms is configured such that the pick-and-place drive unit drives the pick-and-place portion to independently perform a silicon wafer pick-and-place action relative to another robotic arm. Wherein, the control unit is also used to: determine the pick-up and placement path information of each of the robotic arms in the second direction according to the current silicon wafer position information and the target silicon wafer position information, the second direction being the feeding direction of the pick-up and placement part inserted into the wafer box; when each of the robotic arms is at the corresponding target position, based on the pick-up and placement path information, control the pick-up and placement drive unit of each of the robotic arms to drive the pick-up and placement part to perform corresponding silicon wafer pick-up and placement actions independently of each other.

3. The silicon wafer transport device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The pick-and-place driving unit includes at least a first driving member and a first track assembly arranged along the second direction. The first driving member drives the pick-and-place portion to move along the first track assembly so that the pick-and-place portion is inserted into or removed from the film box.

4. The silicon wafer transport device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The spacing adjustment unit includes at least a second driving member and a second track assembly arranged along the first direction. The second driving member drives each of the robotic arms to move along the second track assembly to change the spacing between each of the robotic arms in the first direction.

5. The silicon wafer transport device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The acquisition unit includes: A first acquisition mechanism is provided on the wafer cassette, and is used to acquire the storage information of the silicon wafers in all the card slots in the wafer cassette to determine the current position information of the silicon wafers in the wafer cassette; and The second acquisition mechanism is provided on the robotic arm unit, and is used to detect the position of each robotic arm to determine the current robotic arm position information.

6. The silicon wafer transport device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The first acquisition mechanism includes: An image collector, used for scanning the overall image of all silicon wafers in the wafer box; an image processor connected to the image collector, the image processor being configured to obtain the current silicon wafer position information based on the image; And / or, the second acquisition mechanism includes: a linear grating scale assembly, provided on the robotic arm unit and arranged along the first direction, the linear grating scale assembly being configured to generate corresponding sensing signals based on the displacement of each of the robotic arms; A signal processor is used to obtain the current position information of the robotic arm based on the sensing signal.

7. The silicon wafer transport device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A buffer gasket is provided between two adjacent robotic arms in the first direction.

8. A method for transporting silicon wafers, characterized in that: Applicable to the silicon wafer transport device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, the silicon wafer transport method comprising: Acquiring current silicon wafer position information of the wafer cassette and current robotic arm position information of each robotic arm in the robotic arm unit; Determining movement path information of each of the robotic arms in the first direction according to the current silicon wafer position information and preset target silicon wafer position information; Based on the current robot arm position information and the movement path information, the spacing adjustment unit is controlled to adjust the spacing between at least two of the robot arms, and when each of the robot arms is at the corresponding target position, each of the robot arms is controlled to perform a corresponding silicon wafer pick-and-place action.

9. The silicon wafer transportation method according to claim 8, characterized in that: The method further includes controlling the spacing adjustment unit to adjust the spacing between at least two of the robotic arms based on the current robotic arm position information and the movement path information, and controlling each robotic arm to perform a corresponding wafer pick-and-place action when each robotic arm is at a corresponding target position. Based on the current silicon wafer position information and the target silicon wafer position information, the pick-and-place path information of each of the robotic arms in the second direction is determined, where the second direction is the feed direction of the pick-and-place part inserted into the wafer box; when each of the robotic arms is at the corresponding target position, based on the pick-and-place path information, the pick-and-place drive unit of each of the robotic arms is controlled to drive the pick-and-place part to perform the corresponding silicon wafer pick-and-place actions independently of each other.

10. A computer storage medium, characterized in that The storage medium stores at least one instruction, and the at least one instruction is used to be executed by a processor to implement the silicon wafer transportation method according to any one of claims 8 to 9.

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