Double-station automatic wafer conveying, screening, detecting production process and device

Abstract

The application discloses a double-station automatic wafer conveying, screening and detecting production process and device, and specifically comprises the following steps: wafer feeding to a workbench (step one); wafer boat feeding to a wafer screening workbench (step two); detection and wafer supplement (step three); stacking (step four); bundling (step five); and wafer entering into a boat (step six). The wafer picking, detecting and boat loading process adopts overhead crane double-station feeding, a wafer overturning mechanism is installed above a C1 / C2 transition rail, wafer overturning is realized before wafer entering into a transfer platform, code scanning and information inputting are carried out before wafer overturning, the transfer platform realizes separate feeding of double-wafer workbenches, wafer enters into the transfer platform for correction, and then smoothly enters into the wafer workbench. The production device manufactured by using the process can efficiently complete wafer picking, detecting and production, and meet UPH production capacity demand.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of semiconductor wafer processing equipment, and more particularly to a dual-station automatic wafer conveying, screening, and inspection production process and apparatus. Background Technology

[0002] Semiconductor wafer screening processes involve lengthy steps such as wafer selection, inspection, binning, re-inspection, and wafer replenishment, making it difficult to achieve full automation. This results in low efficiency per unit and a large footprint, leading to relatively high processing costs for large-scale production.

[0003] Therefore, the integrated design of the entire production line is a problem that technical personnel in this field urgently need to solve. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This invention aims to address the needs of large-scale industrial production capacity, improve production efficiency and annual capacity, and proposes a dual-station automatic wafer conveying, screening and inspection production process. This process uses a dual-station automatic wafer conveying system to the wafer picking worktable and completes online screening, simultaneous inspection, binning, re-inspection, labeling, and strapping processes to achieve the required production cycle and capacity.

[0005] To achieve this objective, the present invention adopts the following technical solution: A dual-station automated wafer conveying, screening, and inspection production process, characterized by the following steps: Step 1: Loading wafers onto the worktable The wafer hoppers, transported to the two first positions by the overhead crane, are taken out by the first and second picking robots and placed into the flipping mechanism for flipping and data scanning. Then, the first picking robot places the wafer hopper into the calibration position for calibration and pushes it into the transfer platform. Then, the corresponding first and third picking robots transfer the wafer hoppers on the transfer platform to the first and second worktables of the two corresponding screening and inspection processes. Step 2: Load the material from the waffle tray to the crystal sieving worktable. The overhead crane places the empty waffle tray hopper into two second positions, and the tray handling robot takes a stack of empty trays from the second position and puts them into the empty tray conveyor track. Empty pallets are conveyed to the separation position by a pallet conveying robot, and the waffle tray is separated from the waffle tray hopper into a single pallet by a pallet handling robot and transferred to the second worktable or the lower layer of the double-layer transfer conveyor track by a buffer robot arm; the empty waffle tray located on the lower layer of the conveyor track is placed on the first worktable by a buffer robot arm. Take one wafer from the wafer cassette handed over from the transfer platform on the first and second workbenches, position, inspect, pick, bin, and unload each full cassette; Step 3: Inspection and Crystal Replacement A full-crystal pallet or a partially full-crystal pallet in the uninspected buffer area is transported by a buffer robotic arm to two inspection stations. The inspection stations check whether the full-crystal pallets are placed correctly. If there is an abnormality, it is repaired by a die-filling robotic arm. If there is an empty space, it is filled by a die-filling robotic arm. After re-inspection until it is in a normal state, it is transported to the inspected buffer area. For trays with incomplete die filling, replenish die until the tray is full, then inspect again. If any abnormalities are found, repair them using a die replenishment robot arm. If there are empty slots, replenish die using the die replenishment robot arm. Re-inspect until normal status is achieved, then transfer to the inspected buffer area. Step 4: Palletizing Using a palletizing and handling robotic arm, fully inspected and tested full-crystal pallets are picked up and stacked from the inspected buffer area. A separator paper is removed for each layer of pallets; the top cover is placed on the top layer. Step 5: Strapping Labels are printed using a marking machine and affixed to the top cover; after being belted by a belt-bundling machine, the belt is rotated, belted again, and labeled again; after inspection, the product is transported to the picking position via a pallet conveyor module. Step Six: Placing the food on a plate The robotic arm uses a tray pick-and-place mechanism to move the packaged waffle tray to the fixture tray at the pick-up position.

[0006] Furthermore, in step one, the flipping mechanism is located above the first and second transition rails. That is, the dual-station loading platform shares a single flipping mechanism.

[0007] Furthermore, in step two, after the crystal screening is completed, the material handling robot places the empty wafer disk on the lower layer of the transfer platform; then the first and second material handling robots put the empty wafer back into the wafer hopper at the first position.

[0008] Furthermore, in step two, the crystal sieving process is performed using the following method: Three empty pallet storage positions are provided on one side of the first workbench near the double-layer transfer conveyor track, including two empty pallet storage positions for OK bins that are placed well and one empty pallet storage position for NG bins that are not placed well. When one of the OK bints is full, the buffer robotic arm picks up the full-filled tray and places it on the detection track. The trays that are not full are moved to the undetected buffer area. Then, the empty trays in another location are moved to the wafer sorting tray position by the wafer sorting machine's tray transfer platform. The buffer robotic arm of the first worktable picks up the material tray from the lower track of the double-layer transfer conveyor and places it in the empty tray standby position. Once the NG bin disk is full, the cache robotic arm will move it to the unchecked cache area. The process of the second workbench is the same as that of the first workbench. The difference is that after the crystal is full, the completed full crystal tray is picked up by the Waffle tray transport robot arm and placed on the upper rail of the double-layer feeding platform to be transported to a position near the first workbench. The buffer robot arm picks up the full crystal tray and places it on the detection track, and moves the trays that are not full to the buffer area.

[0009] Furthermore, in step two, the crystal picking and detection process is performed using the following method: Positioning the wafer; The wafer sorting machine picks up wafers and performs binning operations. At the same time, two sets of detection devices, AOI and IR, are used to detect the wafers online. OK wafers are placed into OK bin trays, and wafers that are defective by AOI or IR are placed into NG bin trays respectively.

[0010] Furthermore, the crystal sieve disk process in step two is as follows: The same bin that is not full is moved to the first worktable by a buffer robotic arm and then closed by a vertical turret; or the same bin that is not full is moved to the lower rail of the double-layer feeding platform track by a buffer robotic arm and then moved to the second worktable by a waffle plate handling robotic arm and closed by a vertical turret.

[0011] Furthermore, in step three, the crystal replenishment process is as follows: The caching robotic arm places the full-crystal tray into the detection track; Online AOI inspection is performed on the front side; If the inspection is passed, it will be moved to the designated palletizing position. If the test fails, the wafer is transferred to the die replacement station. The die replacement worktable lifts and positions the wafer tray; the defective wafer is picked out and placed in the NG box; the die replacement robot arm takes the wafer from the OK bin and places it in an empty space; it is re-inspected, and if it passes the test, it is transferred to the inspected buffer area.

[0012] Furthermore, in step four, the specific palletizing process is as follows: The palletizing and handling robot arm picks up full-crystal trays from the inspected buffer area and stacks them. For each layer of waffle trays, a paper separator is placed by the paper separator arm, and then the trays are transported to the inspection station for inspection. If the inspection is qualified, the palletizing and handling robot arm places the trays into the top cover, and the labeling robot arm affixes a label to the top cover. The finished product transfer arm then picks up the trays and places them into the conveying module. If the trays are not qualified, an alarm is triggered, and manual handling is required to remove the paper separators for inspection.

[0013] In step five, the specific process for the cable tie is as follows: The finished product transfer arm picks up and places the material into the conveyor module, which then conveys it to the strapping machine's feeding mechanism. The material is fed in, strapped, rotated, and strapped again. The material is then transported to the inspection area by the discharge mechanism. Once the inspection is passed, the material is conveyed to the labeling area by the strapping tray conveyor module. The material is then labeled and transferred to the pallet waiting to be placed in the tray. If the inspection fails, the cable will be conveyed to the pallet waiting area, then picked up by the Waffle tray robot and placed in the NG buffer area of ​​the cable tie. The defective cable tie will be manually removed and placed back into the finished product pallet conveyor module.

[0014] A dual-station automated wafer conveying, screening, and inspection production device is designed and manufactured using the aforementioned process method.

[0015] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows: 1. The overhead crane has two workstations for loading. A wafer flipping mechanism is installed above the C1 / C2 transition rails to flip the wafers before they enter the transfer platform. Before flipping, information is scanned and entered. The transfer platform feeds the wafers to the two wafer worktables separately. The wafers are then calibrated on the transfer platform to ensure smooth entry into the wafer worktable.

[0016] 2. A dual-station, dual-wafer stage with inverted configuration is adopted. P&P uses a vertical turret for in-process pick-and-place positioning, back-side IR inspection, and back-side AOI. The Waffle tray stage has three spare tray positions: two OK BIN spare trays and one NG spare tray, enabling continuous operation and maximizing UPH while optimizing space layout.

[0017] 3. The gantry structure gripper picks up a stack of waffle trays (top covers) from the nine-grid pallet and places them on the empty tray conveyor track. The waffle trays (top covers) are then sent to the separation position, where the robotic arm separates them to the empty tray feeding platform (double-layer transfer conveyor track). The double-track feeding platform is divided into upper and lower layers. The upper layer conveys full trays, while the lower layer supplies empty trays, shortening the waiting time. The empty tray conveyor track is divided into three sections: the feeding point, the separation point, and the top cover waiting point. There are two separation points, one for backup and one for use. Attached Figure Description

[0018] Figure 1 This is a plan view of the overall process of this invention; Figure 2 This is a flowchart of the wafer loading process of the present invention; Figure 3 This is a flow chart of the feeding process of the waffle tray hopper of the present invention; Figure 4 This is a flowchart of the detection and crystal replenishment process of the present invention; Figure 5 This is a flow chart of the palletizing process of the present invention; Figure 6 This is a flow chart of the cable-stayed assembly process of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0019] The technical solution of the present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0020] Example 1 A dual-station automated wafer conveying, screening, and inspection production process includes the following steps: Step 1: Loading wafers onto the worktable The wafer hoppers, transported to the two first positions by the overhead crane, are taken out by the first and second picking robots and placed into the flipping mechanism for flipping and data scanning. Then, the first picking robot places the wafer hopper into the calibration position for calibration and pushes it into the transfer platform. Then, the corresponding first and third picking robots transfer the wafer hoppers on the transfer platform to the first and second worktables of the two corresponding screening and inspection processes. Step 2: Load the material from the waffle tray to the crystal sieving worktable. The overhead crane places the empty waffle tray hopper into two second positions, and the tray handling robot takes a stack of empty trays from the second position and puts them into the empty tray conveyor track. Empty pallets are conveyed to the separation position by a pallet conveying robot, and the waffle tray is separated from the waffle tray hopper into a single pallet by a pallet handling robot and transferred to the second worktable or the lower layer of the double-layer transfer conveyor track by a buffer robot arm; the empty waffle tray located on the lower layer of the conveyor track is placed on the first worktable by a buffer robot arm. Take one wafer from the wafer cassette handed over from the transfer platform on the first and second workbenches, position, inspect, pick, bin, and unload each full cassette; Step 3: Inspection and Crystal Replacement A full-crystal pallet or a partially full-crystal pallet in the uninspected buffer area is transported by a buffer robotic arm to two inspection stations. The inspection stations check whether the full-crystal pallets are placed correctly. If there is an abnormality, it is repaired by a die-filling robotic arm. If there is an empty space, it is filled by a die-filling robotic arm. After re-inspection until it is in a normal state, it is transported to the inspected buffer area. For trays with incomplete die filling, replenish die until the tray is full, then inspect again. If any abnormalities are found, repair them using a die replenishment robot arm. If there are empty slots, replenish die using the die replenishment robot arm. Re-inspect until normal status is achieved, then transfer to the inspected buffer area. Step 4: Palletizing Using a palletizing and handling robotic arm, fully inspected and tested full-crystal pallets are picked up and stacked from the inspected buffer area. A separator paper is removed for each layer of pallets; the top cover is placed on the top layer. Step 5: Strapping Labels are printed using a marking machine and affixed to the top cover; after being belted by a belt-bundling machine, the belt is rotated, belted again, and labeled again; after inspection, the product is transported to the picking position via a pallet conveyor module. Step Six: Placing the food on a plate The robotic arm uses a tray pick-and-place mechanism to move the packaged waffle tray to the fixture tray at the pick-up position.

[0021] In this embodiment, in step one, the flipping mechanism is located above the first and second transition rails. That is, the dual-station loading platform shares one flipping mechanism. In some embodiments, it is not necessary to flip the waffle tray hopper; it can be directly corrected and moved to the two worktables.

[0022] In this embodiment, in step two, after the crystal screening is completed, the material handling robot places the empty wafer disk on the lower layer of the transfer platform; then the first and second material handling robots put the empty wafer back into the wafer hopper at the first position.

[0023] In this embodiment, the crystal sieving process is performed in step two using the following method: Three empty pallet storage positions are provided on one side of the first workbench near the double-layer transfer conveyor track, including two empty pallet storage positions for OK bins that are placed well and one empty pallet storage position for NG bins that are not placed well. When one of the OK bints is full, the buffer robotic arm picks up the full-filled tray and places it on the detection track. The trays that are not full are moved to the undetected buffer area. Then, the empty trays in another location are moved to the wafer sorting tray position by the wafer sorting machine's tray transfer platform. The buffer robotic arm of the first worktable picks up the material tray from the lower track of the double-layer transfer conveyor and places it in the empty tray standby position. Once the NG bin disk is full, the cache robotic arm will move it to the unchecked cache area. The process of the second workbench is the same as that of the first workbench. The difference is that after the crystal is full, the completed full crystal tray is picked up by the Waffle tray transport robot arm and placed on the upper rail of the double-layer feeding platform to be transported to a position near the first workbench. The buffer robot arm picks up the full crystal tray and places it on the detection track, and moves the trays that are not full to the buffer area.

[0024] In this embodiment, in step two, the crystal picking and detection process is performed using the following method: Positioning the wafer; The wafer sorting machine picks up wafers and performs binning operations. At the same time, two sets of detection devices, AOI and IR, are used to detect the wafers online. OK wafers are placed into OK bin trays, and wafers that are defective by AOI or IR are placed into NG bin trays respectively.

[0025] In this embodiment, the crystal sieve disk process in step two is as follows: The same bin that is not full is moved to the first worktable by a buffer robotic arm and then closed by a vertical turret; or the same bin that is not full is moved to the lower rail of the double-layer feeding platform track by a buffer robotic arm and then moved to the second worktable by a waffle plate handling robotic arm and closed by a vertical turret.

[0026] In this embodiment, the crystal replenishment process in step three is as follows: The caching robotic arm places the full-crystal tray into the detection track; Online AOI inspection is performed on the front side; If the inspection is passed, it will be moved to the designated palletizing position. If the test fails, the wafer is transferred to the die replacement station. The die replacement worktable lifts and positions the wafer tray; the defective wafer is picked out and placed in the NG box; the die replacement robot arm takes the wafer from the OK bin and places it in an empty space; it is re-inspected, and if it passes the test, it is transferred to the inspected buffer area.

[0027] In this embodiment, the specific palletizing process in step four is as follows: The palletizing and handling robot arm picks up full-crystal trays from the inspected buffer area and stacks them. For each layer of waffle trays, a paper separator is placed by the paper separator arm, and then the trays are transported to the inspection station for inspection. If the inspection is qualified, the palletizing and handling robot arm places the trays into the top cover, and the labeling robot arm affixes a label to the top cover. The finished product transfer arm then picks up the trays and places them into the conveying module. If the trays are not qualified, an alarm is triggered, and manual handling is required to remove the paper separators for inspection.

[0028] In this embodiment, the specific process of the cable tie is as follows: The finished product transfer arm picks up and places the material into the conveyor module, which then conveys it to the strapping machine's feeding mechanism. The material is fed in, strapped, rotated, and strapped again. The material is then transported to the inspection area by the discharge mechanism. Once the inspection is passed, the material is conveyed to the labeling area by the strapping tray conveyor module. The material is then labeled and transferred to the pallet waiting to be placed in the tray. If the inspection fails, the cable will be conveyed to the pallet waiting area, then picked up by the Waffle tray robot and placed in the NG buffer area of ​​the cable tie. The defective cable tie will be manually removed and placed back into the finished product pallet conveyor module.

[0029] A dual-station automated wafer conveying, screening, and inspection production device is designed and manufactured using any of the process methods described in the above embodiments.

[0030] The technical principles of the present invention have been described above with reference to specific embodiments. These descriptions are merely for explaining the principles of the invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of protection of the invention in any way. Based on this explanation, those skilled in the art can readily conceive of other specific embodiments of the invention without inventive effort, and these embodiments will all fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A dual-station automated wafer conveying, screening, and inspection production process, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: Step 1: Loading wafers onto the worktable The wafer hoppers, transported to the two first positions by the overhead crane, are taken out by the first and second picking robots and placed into the flipping mechanism for flipping and data scanning. Then, the first picking robot places the wafer hopper into the calibration position for calibration and pushes it into the transfer platform. Then, the corresponding first and third picking robots transfer the wafer hoppers on the transfer platform to the first and second worktables of the two corresponding screening and inspection processes. Step 2: Load the material from the waffle tray to the crystal sieving worktable. The overhead crane places the empty waffle tray hopper into two second positions, and the tray handling robot takes a stack of empty trays from the second position and puts them into the empty tray conveyor track. Empty pallets are conveyed to the separation position by a pallet conveying robot, and the waffle tray is separated from the waffle tray hopper into a single pallet by a pallet handling robot and transferred to the second worktable or the lower layer of the double-layer transfer conveyor track by a buffer robot arm; the empty waffle tray located on the lower layer of the conveyor track is placed on the first worktable by a buffer robot arm. Take one wafer from the wafer cassette handed over from the transfer platform on the first and second workbenches, position, inspect, pick, bin, and unload each full cassette; Step 3: Inspection and Crystal Replacement A full-crystal pallet or a partially full-crystal pallet in the uninspected buffer area is transported by a buffer robotic arm to two inspection stations. The inspection stations check whether the full-crystal pallets are placed correctly. If there is an abnormality, it is repaired by a die-filling robotic arm. If there is an empty space, it is filled by a die-filling robotic arm. After re-inspection until it is in a normal state, it is transported to the inspected buffer area. For trays with incomplete die filling, replenish die until the tray is full, then inspect again. If any abnormalities are found, repair them using a die replenishment robot arm. If there are empty slots, replenish die using the die replenishment robot arm. Re-inspect until normal status is achieved, then transfer to the inspected buffer area. Step 4: Palletizing Using a palletizing and handling robotic arm, fully inspected and tested full-crystal pallets are picked up and stacked from the inspected buffer area. A separator paper is removed for each layer of pallets; the top cover is placed on the top layer. Step 5: Strapping Labels are printed using a marking machine and affixed to the top cover; after being belted by a belt-bundling machine, the belt is rotated, belted again, and labeled again; after inspection, the product is transported to the picking position via a pallet conveyor module. Step Six: Placing the food on a plate The robotic arm uses a tray pick-and-place mechanism to move the packaged waffle tray to the fixture tray at the pick-up position.

2. The dual-station automated wafer screening and inspection production process as described in claim 1, characterized in that, In step one, the flipping mechanism is located above the first and second transition rails.

3. The dual-station automated wafer conveying, screening, and inspection production process as described in claim 2, characterized in that, In step two, after the crystal screening is completed, the material handling robot places the empty wafer disk on the lower layer of the transfer platform; then the first and second material handling robots put the empty wafer back into the wafer hopper in the first position.

4. The dual-station automated wafer conveying, screening, and inspection production process as described in claim 2, characterized in that, In step two, the crystal sieving process is performed using the following method: Three empty pallet storage positions are provided on one side of the first workbench near the double-layer transfer conveyor track, including two empty pallet storage positions for OK bins that are placed well and one empty pallet storage position for NG bins that are not placed well. When one of the OK bints is full, the buffer robotic arm picks up the full-filled tray and places it on the detection track. The trays that are not full are moved to the undetected buffer area. Then, the empty trays in another location are moved to the wafer sorting tray position by the wafer sorting machine's tray transfer platform. The buffer robotic arm of the first worktable picks up the material tray from the lower track of the double-layer transfer conveyor and places it in the empty tray standby position. Once the NG bin disk is full, the cache robotic arm will move it to the unchecked cache area. The process of the second workbench is the same as that of the first workbench. The difference is that after the crystal is full, the completed full crystal tray is picked up by the Waffle tray transport robot arm and placed on the upper rail of the double-layer feeding platform to be transported to a position near the first workbench. The buffer robot arm picks up the full crystal tray and places it on the detection track, and moves the trays that are not full to the buffer area.

5. The dual-station automated wafer conveying, screening, and inspection production process as described in claim 4, characterized in that, In step two, the detection process is carried out using the following method: Positioning the wafer; The wafer sorting machine picks up wafers and performs binning operations. At the same time, two sets of detection devices, AOI and IR, are used to detect the wafers online. OK wafers are placed into OK bin trays, and wafers that are defective by AOI or IR are placed into NG bin trays respectively.

6. The dual-station automated wafer conveying, screening, and inspection production process as described in claim 5, characterized in that, The process for sieving crystal assemblies in step two is as follows: The same bin that is not full is moved to the first worktable by a buffer robotic arm and then closed by a vertical turret; or the same bin that is not full is moved to the lower rail of the double-layer feeding platform track by a buffer robotic arm and then moved to the second worktable by a waffle plate handling robotic arm and closed by a vertical turret.

7. The dual-station automated wafer conveying, screening, and inspection production process as described in claim 6, characterized in that, In step three, the crystal replenishment process is as follows: The caching robotic arm places the full-crystal tray into the detection track; Online AOI inspection is performed on the front side; If the inspection is passed, it will be moved to the designated palletizing position. If the test fails, the wafer is transferred to the die replacement station. The die replacement worktable lifts and positions the wafer tray; the defective wafer is picked out and placed in the NG box; the die replacement robot arm takes the wafer from the OK bin and places it in an empty space; it is re-inspected, and if it passes the test, it is transferred to the inspected buffer area.

8. The dual-station automated wafer conveying, screening, and inspection production process as described in claim 7, characterized in that... The specific palletizing process is as follows: The palletizing and handling robot arm picks up full-crystal trays from the inspected buffer area and stacks them. For each layer of waffle trays, a paper separator is placed by the paper separator arm, and then the trays are transported to the inspection station for inspection. If the inspection is qualified, the palletizing and handling robot arm places the trays into the top cover, and the labeling robot arm affixes a label to the top cover. The finished product transfer arm then picks up the trays and places them into the conveying module. If the trays are not qualified, an alarm is triggered, and manual handling is required to remove the paper separators for inspection.

9. The dual-station automated wafer conveying, screening, and inspection production process as described in claim 8, characterized in that, The specific manufacturing process for the cable tie is as follows: The finished product transfer arm picks up and places the material into the conveyor module, which then conveys it to the strapping machine's feeding mechanism. The material is fed in, strapped, rotated, and strapped again. The material is then transported to the inspection area by the discharge mechanism. Once the inspection is passed, the material is conveyed to the labeling area by the strapping tray conveyor module. The material is then labeled and transferred to the pallet waiting to be placed in the tray. If the inspection fails, the cable will be conveyed to the pallet waiting area, then picked up by the Waffle tray robot and placed in the NG buffer area of ​​the cable tie. The defective cable tie will be manually removed and placed back into the finished product pallet conveyor module.

10. A dual-station automated wafer conveying, screening, and inspection production device, characterized in that, The device is designed and manufactured using the process method described in any one of claims 1-9.

Images