Rapid wafer conveying control method for vertical furnace
By setting pre-fetching and pre-placement coordinates in the vertical furnace, combined with the rotation and Z-axis movement of the robotic arm, efficient wafer transfer was achieved, solving the problem of low wafer transfer efficiency and improving the operating speed of the equipment.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202511210206.1
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-08-27
- Publication Date
- 2025-12-23
AI Technical Summary
In existing technologies, wafer transfer efficiency is low, resulting in long equipment waiting times, which affects overall equipment efficiency and wafer fab throughput.
A rapid wafer transfer control method for vertical furnaces is adopted. By setting pre-fetch and pre-place coordinates on the buffer rack and boat frame, the robot first rotates to the pre-fetch coordinate and then extends its fingers to pick up the wafer, and then rotates to the pre-place coordinate to place the wafer. This reduces the number of times the robot returns to the origin. Combined with the up and down movement of the Z-axis, precise wafer picking and placing is achieved.
It improved wafer transfer efficiency, reduced the robot's movement time, increased the overall operating speed of the equipment, and saved 2 minutes, especially when the robot's rotation speed was slow.
Smart Images
Figure CN121192033A_ABST
Abstract
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of semiconductor material preparation, and particularly relates to a vertical furnace rapid wafer transfer control method. BACKGROUND
[0002] In the process of semiconductor material preparation, wafer transfer efficiency is very important, and the idle time of expensive equipment every second is a huge waste of cost. Quickly sending the wafer into / out of the equipment and reducing the waiting time of the equipment are the key to improving the overall equipment efficiency. Shortening the time of wafer circulation between the equipment can directly improve the throughput of the whole wafer factory (Fab), and therefore, higher requirements are put forward for the transfer efficiency of the equipment. SUMMARY
[0003] The present application aims at solving the problems of the prior art, and provides a vertical furnace rapid wafer transfer control method which is convenient to operate, high in transfer efficiency and clear in logic.
[0004] In order to solve the above technical problems, the technical scheme adopted by the present application is as follows: A vertical furnace rapid wafer transfer control method, comprising the following steps: Step S1, coordinate configuration, the pre-wafer taking coordinates and the pre-wafer placing coordinates of the mechanical hand are specified on the buffer rack and the boat rack; Step S2, placing the wafer box to the buffer rack according to the preset wafer placing sequence of the boat rack; Step S3, rotating the mechanical hand to the pre-wafer taking coordinates of the buffer rack; Step S4, extending the fingers of the mechanical hand to the actual wafer taking coordinates of the buffer rack to take out the wafer; Step S5, retracting the fingers of the mechanical hand to the wafer taking coordinates of the buffer rack; Step S6, rotating the mechanical hand to the pre-wafer placing coordinates of the boat rack and moving up and down to the wafer placing position on the boat rack; Step S7, extending the fingers of the mechanical hand to the actual wafer placing coordinates of the boat rack to place the wafer; Step S8, retracting the fingers of the mechanical hand to the wafer placing coordinates of the boat rack; Step S9, repeating steps S3 to S8 until all the wafers on the buffer rack are transferred into the boat rack. As a further improvement of the present application, it further comprises step S10, starting the process, and after the process is finished, the wafers are returned through the reverse sequence.
[0005] As a further improvement of the present application, in step S3, after the mechanical hand is rotated to the pre-wafer taking coordinates, the mechanical hand moves up and down to align the height of the wafer to be taken.
[0006] As a further improvement of the application, in the step S5, after the robot is retracted to the pre-taken wafer coordinate, the robot waits for the instruction of moving to the next position without returning to the original position.
[0007] As a further improvement of the application, in the step S6, the robot is rotated by 180° to the pre-placed wafer coordinate.
[0008] As a further improvement of the application, in the step S8, after the robot is retracted to the pre-placed wafer coordinate, the robot waits for the instruction of moving to the next position without returning to the original position.
[0009] As a further improvement of the application, in the step S1, the three-dimensional coordinate of the robot is defined as , wherein, corresponding to the rotation angle of the robot, corresponding to the distance of the robot finger extension, the coordinate of the robot; the pre-taken wafer coordinate is the pre-placed wafer coordinate is
[0010] As a further improvement of the application, in the step S3, the robot is rotated to the pre-taken wafer coordinate , and moves along the Z axis to the position, and the coordinate of the robot is updated to ; in the step S4, the robot extends the finger to the wafer taken coordinate of the buffer rack to take out the wafer.
[0011] As a further improvement of the application, in the step S6, the robot is rotated from to the pre-placed wafer coordinate , and moves along the Z axis from the position to the position, and the coordinate of the robot is updated to ; in the step S7, the robot extends the finger to the actual wafer placed coordinate of the boat rack to place the wafer.
[0012] Compared with the prior art, the application has the following advantages: The vertical furnace fast wafer conveying control method of the application sets the pre-taken wafer coordinate and the pre-placed wafer coordinate, the robot is first rotated to the pre-taken wafer coordinate, then the finger is extended to the actual taken position, and the position of the robot can be adjusted up and down according to the height of the wafer to realize accurate wafer taking; similarly, after the wafer is taken, the robot is first rotated to the pre-placed wafer position, then adjusted to the wafer placed position on the boat rack through lifting movement, and the finger is extended, so that the wafer can be accurately placed on the boat rack. During the whole wafer taking and placing process, the robot does not need to return to the original position, the conveying efficiency is improved, and only a small amount of new coordinate data is introduced, which has the characteristics of simple data and clear logic. Attached Figure Description
[0013] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the rapid plate transfer process in a vertical furnace according to a specific embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the transmission system and a coordinate diagram of the transmission in a specific embodiment of the present invention; Detailed Implementation The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific preferred embodiments, but this does not limit the scope of protection of the present invention.
[0014] In the description of this invention, it should be understood that the terms "side", "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential", etc., indicating the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, are only for the convenience of describing this invention and simplifying the description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation of this invention.
[0015] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of this invention, "a plurality of" means two or more unless otherwise explicitly specified.
[0016] Example Define the three-dimensional coordinates of the robotic arm ,in, Corresponding to the rotation angle of the robotic arm, Corresponding to the distance the robotic arm's fingers extend. The coordinates of the robotic arm are defined; the robotic arm also has a vertical degree of freedom. To construct the coordinate system, the robotic arm's coordinates are represented using... describe.
[0017] like Figure 1 As shown, the vertical furnace rapid wafer transfer control method of this implementation specifically includes the following steps: Step S1: Based on the existing coordinates, add prefetch coordinates to the buffer rack and the boat rack. and pre-play coordinates .
[0018] Step S2: Take out the film box and put it into the buffer rack according to the order of film placement on the boat frame.
[0019] Step S3: The robotic arm rotates to the pre-fetch coordinates of the buffer rack. At the same time, it can safely move along the Z-axis. Position, robot arm coordinates updated to .
[0020] Step S4: The robotic arm extends its fingers to the actual chip retrieval coordinates of the buffer rack. Remove the wafer.
[0021] Step S5: The robotic arm retracts its fingers to the chip retrieval coordinates of the buffer rack. .
[0022] Step S6, the robotic arm from Rotate to pre-set coordinates At the same time, the Z-axis can also move safely up and down, from... Move to position The robot arm coordinates have been updated to .
[0023] Step S7: The robotic arm extends its fingers to the actual coordinates of the plank's placement. Put down the wafer.
[0024] Step S8: The robotic arm retracts its fingers to the plank placement coordinates on the boat frame. .
[0025] Step S9: Repeat steps S3 to S8 until all wafers are transferred to the boat frame.
[0026] Step S10: Start the process. After the process is completed, return the wafer in the reverse order.
[0027] like Figure 2 The diagram shown is a schematic of the transmission system and a coordinate representation of the transmission process in this embodiment. For the traditional transmission method, the sequence of coordinate changes of the robotic arm after step S4 is as follows: .
[0028] For the control method in this embodiment, the sequence of robot arm coordinate changes is as follows: .
[0029] Traditional transmission methods, in which robotic arms... Become hour, No movement was performed, but the method in this embodiment is from Directly redirected to Simultaneously, the Z-axis can move freely. For high-speed robotic arms, a single pick-and-place operation can save 3 seconds. An 8-inch vertical furnace has 170 slots on its boat frame. The number of pick-and-place operations using a single finger (one slot) and multiple fingers (five slots) is approximately 40, which is estimated to save 2 minutes. The slower the robotic arm's rotation speed, the more significant the speed-up effect of this invention. Actual machine testing showed that at maximum speed, the traditional method took 18 minutes and 1 second, while this invention took 16 minutes and 52 seconds, demonstrating an effective speed improvement. In actual production, to ensure wafer safety, the speed of the robotic arm and lifting axis will be reduced, thus amplifying the speed-up effect of this invention. The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. All technical solutions falling within the scope of the present invention's concept are within the scope of protection of the present invention. It should be noted that for those skilled in the art, any improvements and modifications made without departing from the principles of the present invention should also be considered within the scope of protection of the present invention.
Claims
1. A method for rapid plate transfer control in a vertical furnace, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: Step S1: Configure coordinates by specifying the pre-fetch coordinates and pre-place coordinates of the robot on the buffer rack and the boat frame; Step S2: Place the film cassettes into the buffer rack according to the preset film placement order of the boat frame; Step S3: The robotic arm rotates to the pre-fetch coordinates of the buffer rack; Step S4: The robotic arm extends its fingers to the actual wafer retrieval coordinates of the cache rack and retrieves the wafer; Step S5: The robotic arm retracts its fingers to the chip retrieval coordinates of the buffer rack; Step S6: The robotic arm rotates to the pre-placement coordinates of the boat frame and moves up and down to the position on the boat frame where the wafer is placed; Step S7: The robotic arm extends its fingers to the actual wafer placement coordinates on the boat frame and places the wafer down; Step S8: The robotic arm retracts its fingers to the plank placement coordinates on the boat frame; Step S9: Repeat steps S3 to S8 until all wafers on the cache rack are transferred to the boat rack.
2. The rapid plate transfer control method for a vertical furnace according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes step S10, starting the process, and returning the wafer in the reverse order after the process is completed.
3. The rapid plate transfer control method for a vertical furnace according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S3, after the robot arm rotates to the pre-fetch coordinates, the robot arm moves up and down to align with the height of the wafer to be fetched.
4. The rapid plate transfer control method for a vertical furnace according to claim 3, characterized in that, In step S5, after the robotic arm retracts to the pre-picking coordinates, it waits for the instruction to move to the next position without having to return to the origin.
5. The rapid plate transfer control method for a vertical furnace according to claim 4, characterized in that, In step S6, the robot arm rotates 180° to the coordinates of the pre-placed film.
6. The rapid plate transfer control method for a vertical furnace according to claim 5, characterized in that, In step S8, after the robotic arm retracts to the pre-placed piece coordinates, it waits for the instruction to move to the next position without having to return to the origin.
7. The rapid plate transfer control method for a vertical furnace according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, In step S1, the three-dimensional coordinates of the robotic arm are defined as follows: ,in, Corresponding to the rotation angle of the robotic arm, Corresponding to the distance the robotic hand's fingers extend, ( The coordinates constituting the robotic arm; the coordinates of the pre-fetch piece are... Preview coordinates are .
8. The rapid plate transfer control method for a vertical furnace according to claim 7, characterized in that, In step S3, the robotic arm rotates to the pre-picking coordinates. and move along the Z-axis to Position, robot arm coordinates updated to In step S4, the robotic arm extends its fingers to the cache rack to retrieve the chip coordinates. Remove the wafer.
9. The rapid plate transfer control method for a vertical furnace according to claim 8, characterized in that, In step S6, the robotic arm... Rotate to pre-set coordinates and along the Z-axis Position moved to Position, robot arm coordinates updated to In step S7, the robotic arm extends its fingers to the actual coordinates of the plank's placement. Put down the wafer.