Wafer carrying manipulator and wafer manufacturing system

Abstract

The utility model discloses a wafer carrying manipulator which comprises a first gripper and a second gripper, the flat first gripper can extend into the space between wafers stacked in a wafer material frame and grabs a single wafer, and powerful guarantee is provided for wafer feeding; meanwhile, the wafer carrying manipulator further comprises a second gripper, the second gripper comprises a plurality of fixing heads, and each fixing head is connected with a suction cup to suck and loosen the wafers, so that blank wafer feeding and finished wafer discharging of the wafer grinding equipment are completed, and the plurality of fixing heads can carry a plurality of wafers at the same time. The wafer carrying manipulator can be applied to feeding of a wafer material frame and feeding and discharging of wafer grinding equipment, the flexible adaptability of the manipulator is improved, and compared with feeding and discharging through two groups of mechanical arms in the prior art, a wafer manufacturing system is simplified, and the wafer production and manufacturing efficiency is improved. The utility model further provides a wafer manufacturing system which comprises the wafer carrying manipulator.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of wafer manufacturing equipment and its peripheral supporting facilities, in particular to a wafer handling manipulator and a wafer manufacturing system. Background Technique

[0002] In the process of wafer manufacturing, the key process is to perform double-sided grinding and polishing on the surface of the wafer. At present, in the production process of grinding and polishing equipment, it is divided into manual loading and unloading and automatic loading and unloading. When loading manually, the incoming wafers are in a dry state. Workers directly take the wafers out of the wafer cassette by hand and put them into the grinding and polishing tank of the grinding and polishing equipment. After putting them into the grinding and polishing tank, workers will check whether the wafers are accurately placed in the grinding and polishing tank by visual inspection and touch. After confirming that there is no problem, the grinding and polishing equipment starts to work. In the process of automatic loading and unloading production, the manipulator directly takes the wafers out of the wafer cassette and places them at the wafer buffer station, and then the manipulator puts them into the grinding and polishing tank of the grinding and polishing equipment, and the grinding and polishing equipment starts to work.

[0003] The style of the wafer loading cassette is as Figure 1 shown, and the layer spacing is only 10 mm or 7 mm. It can only reach into the cassette to pick and place. When the wafer is placed into the grinding and polishing equipment, since the wafer placement position of the grinding and polishing equipment is a platform, a gripper is required to take it down for unloading. Generally, two robots are used in the industry to achieve the above functions and actions, with a complex structure, large occupied space, and high production cost. Summary of the Utility Model

[0004] The purpose of the utility model is to provide a wafer handling manipulator and a wafer manufacturing system to solve the problems existing in the above-mentioned prior art, so that the wafer handling manipulator can grasp the wafers in the wafer cassette, and can also perform loading of blank wafers and unloading of finished wafers in the wafer grinding equipment, improve the adaptability of the wafer handling manipulator, improve the production efficiency of the wafer manufacturing system, and reduce the production cost.

[0005] To achieve the above purpose, the utility model provides the following solutions:

[0006] The utility model provides a wafer handling manipulator, comprising:

[0007] A first gripper, the first gripper is a flat structure, and the first gripper can reach between the stacked wafers in the wafer cassette to grasp a single wafer;

[0008] A second gripper, the second gripper includes a plurality of fixed heads, each fixed head is connected with a suction cup, the suction cup is located at the bottom of the fixed head, and the suction cup is communicated with an adsorption gas source, and the adsorption gas source can perform air extraction and inflation operations on the suction cup to make the suction cup adsorb and release the wafer;

[0009] Both the first gripper and the second gripper can be connected to a robotic arm, and the robotic arm can drive the first gripper and the second gripper to move.

[0010] Preferably, the first gripper is a Y-shaped plate structure. The first gripper includes a connecting plate and two support plates connected to the connecting plate. The two support plates are symmetrically arranged with the midline in the length direction of the connecting plate as the axis. The connecting plate can be connected to the robotic arm, and the support plates can extend between the wafers stacked in the wafer cassette and fix a single wafer to realize the handling of a single wafer.

[0011] Preferably, an outer clamping block is arranged at one end of the support plate away from the connecting plate, and an inner clamping block is arranged on the connecting plate. The inner clamping block is slidably arranged on the connecting plate, and the inner clamping block is connected with a clamping driver. The inner clamping block and the outer clamping block cooperate to fix the wafer.

[0012] Preferably, both the inner clamping block and the outer clamping block have clamping grooves, and the clamping grooves of the inner clamping block and the outer clamping block are arranged oppositely. The clamping groove is a U-shaped groove.

[0013] Preferably, adsorption elements are arranged on the tops of the connecting plate and the support plates. The adsorption elements are communicated with an adsorption gas source. The adsorption gas source can perform air extraction and inflation operations on the adsorption elements so that the adsorption elements adsorb and release the wafer.

[0014] Preferably, the second gripper further includes a mounting substrate. The fixing heads are connected to the mounting substrate, and the fixing heads are circumferentially and uniformly distributed around the axis of the mounting substrate; both the mounting substrate and the fixing heads are axisymmetric structures.

[0015] Preferably, the middle part of the mounting substrate is connected to the robotic arm, and one end of the mounting substrate connected to the fixing heads is inclined downward.

[0016] Preferably, each fixing head is connected with a plurality of suction cups, and the suction cups are circumferentially and uniformly distributed around the axis of the fixing head.

[0017] Preferably, the wafer handling robot further includes a connecting flange. The first gripper and the second gripper are both connected to the connecting flange and are located on both sides of the connecting flange. The connecting flange can be detachably connected to the robotic arm.

[0018] Furthermore, the present invention further provides a wafer manufacturing system, including the above-mentioned wafer handling robot.

[0019] The utility model has achieved the following technical effects compared with the prior art: The wafer handling manipulator of the utility model includes a first gripper and a second gripper. The first gripper is of a flat structure and can extend between the stacked wafers in a wafer cassette to grasp a single wafer. The second gripper includes a plurality of fixing heads, each fixing head is connected with a suction cup, the suction cup is located at the bottom of the fixing head, and the suction cup is communicated with an adsorption gas source. The adsorption gas source can perform air extraction and inflation operations on the suction cup to enable the suction cup to adsorb and release the wafer. Both the first gripper and the second gripper can be connected to a robotic arm, and the robotic arm can drive the first gripper and the second gripper to move.

[0020] For the wafer handling manipulator of the utility model, the flat first gripper can extend between the stacked wafers in a wafer cassette and grasp a single wafer, providing a strong guarantee for wafer loading. At the same time, the wafer handling manipulator of the utility model further includes a second gripper, which includes a plurality of fixing heads, and each fixing head is connected with a suction cup to suck and release the wafer, so as to complete the loading of the blank wafer and the unloading of the finished wafer in the wafer grinding equipment. Multiple fixing heads can carry multiple wafers simultaneously. The wafer handling manipulator of the utility model can be applied to the loading of the wafer cassette and the loading and unloading of the wafer grinding equipment, improving the flexible adaptability of the manipulator. Compared with the prior art in which two groups of robotic arms are used for loading and unloading, the utility model simplifies the wafer manufacturing system, improves the wafer production and manufacturing efficiency, and saves the production cost.

[0021] At the same time, the utility model also provides a wafer manufacturing system, including the above-mentioned wafer handling manipulator. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for use in the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative efforts.

[0023] Figure 1 It is a schematic structural diagram of a wafer cassette;

[0024] Figure 2 It is a schematic structural diagram of the wafer handling manipulator disclosed in the first embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 3 For Figure 1 The enlarged structural diagram at position A in

[0026] Figure 4 It is a schematic structural diagram of the wafer handling manipulator disclosed in the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] In the figure: 100, a wafer handling robot arm;

[0028] 1, a first gripper; 2, a second gripper; 3, a fixed head; 4, a suction cup; 5, a connecting plate; 6, a support plate; 7, an outer clamping block; 8, an inner clamping block; 9, a clamping driver; 10, a clamping groove; 11, a mounting substrate; 12, a connecting flange; 13, an adsorption element. Detailed implementation manner

[0029] Next, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0030] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a wafer handling robot arm and a wafer manufacturing system to solve the problems existing in the above-mentioned prior art, so that the wafer handling robot arm can grasp the wafers in the wafer cassette, and can also perform loading of blank wafers and unloading of finished wafers on the wafer grinding equipment, improve the adaptability of the wafer handling robot arm, improve the production efficiency of the wafer manufacturing system, and reduce the production cost.

[0031] To make the above-mentioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and understandable, the present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific implementation manners.

[0032] Embodiment 1

[0033] This embodiment provides a wafer handling robot arm 100, including a first gripper 1 and a second gripper 2. The first gripper 1 is a flat structure, and the first gripper 1 can extend into the wafers stacked in the wafer cassette to grasp a single wafer; the second gripper 2 includes a plurality of fixed heads 3, and each fixed head 3 is connected with a suction cup 4. The suction cup 4 is located at the bottom of the fixed head 3, and the suction cup 4 is connected to an adsorption gas source. The adsorption gas source can perform air extraction and inflation operations on the suction cup 4 to make the suction cup 4 adsorb and release the wafer; both the first gripper 1 and the second gripper 2 can be connected to a robotic arm, and the robotic arm can drive the first gripper 1 and the second gripper 2 to move.

[0034] The wafer handling manipulator 100 of the present utility model has a flat first gripper 1 that can extend between the wafers stacked in a wafer cassette and grasp a single wafer, providing strong guarantee for wafer loading. At the same time, the wafer handling manipulator 100 of the present utility model further includes a second gripper 2. The second gripper 2 includes a plurality of fixed heads 3, and each fixed head 3 is connected with a suction cup 4 to suck and release the wafers, so as to complete the loading of the blank wafers and the unloading of the finished wafers of the wafer grinding equipment. The plurality of fixed heads 3 can handle multiple wafers simultaneously. The wafer handling manipulator 100 of the present utility model can be applied to the loading of the wafer cassette and the loading and unloading of the wafer grinding equipment, improving the flexible adaptability of the manipulator. Compared with the prior art in which two sets of robotic arms are used for loading and unloading, the present utility model simplifies the wafer manufacturing system, improves the wafer production and manufacturing efficiency, and saves the production cost.

[0035] Among them, the first gripper 1 is a Y-shaped plate structure. The first gripper 1 includes a connecting plate 5 and two support plates 6 connected to the connecting plate 5. The two support plates 6 are symmetrically arranged with the midline of the length direction of the connecting plate 5 as the axis, improving the structural stability of the first gripper 1, and further ensuring the stability when grasping the wafer. The connecting plate 5 can be connected to the robotic arm, and the support plates 6 can extend between the wafers stacked in the wafer cassette and fix a single wafer to realize the handling of a single wafer. The first gripper 1 adopts a fork-shaped plate structure, enabling it to extend between the wafers stacked in the wafer cassette, grasp the wafer, and realize the loading operation of the wafers in the wafer cassette, providing convenience for wafer preparation, and at the same time reducing the contact area with the wafer to avoid damaging the wafer.

[0036] In this specific embodiment, an outer clamping block 7 is provided at the end of the support plate 6 away from the connecting plate 5, and an inner clamping block 8 is provided on the connecting plate 5. The inner clamping block 8 is slidably arranged on the connecting plate 5, and the inner clamping block 8 is connected with a clamping driver 9. The inner clamping block 8 and the outer clamping block 7 can cooperate to fix the wafer. The clamping driver 9 drives the outer clamping block 7 to slide to adjust the distance between the outer clamping block 7 and the inner clamping block 8, so that the first gripper 1 can grasp the wafer. The clamping driver 9 can be selected from a hydraulic cylinder or a pneumatic cylinder, etc. It should be explained here that in actual application, it is necessary to avoid the thickness of the inner clamping block 8 and the outer clamping block 7 being too large, so as not to affect the first gripper 1 from extending between the wafers stacked in the wafer cassette, ensuring the grasping reliability of the first gripper 1. Reasonably setting the thickness of the inner clamping block 8 and the outer clamping block 7 belongs to the common means of those skilled in the art and will not be elaborated here.

[0037] To further ensure the clamping stability of the inner clamping block 8 and the outer clamping block 7 on the wafer, both the inner clamping block 8 and the outer clamping block 7 are provided with clamping grooves 10, and the clamping grooves 10 of the inner clamping block 8 and the outer clamping block 7 are arranged oppositely to clamp the wafer tightly, so as to realize the clamping and grasping of the wafer. The clamping groove 10 is a U-shaped groove, which can avoid damaging the wafer while ensuring the clamping stability, and improve the safety factor of wafer handling.

[0038] Specifically, the second gripper 2 further includes a mounting substrate 11, and the fixing head 3 is connected to the mounting substrate 11. The fixing heads 3 are circumferentially distributed uniformly around the axis of the mounting substrate 11 to improve the uniform stress of the mounting substrate 11, which is beneficial to improving the motion stability of the second gripper 2. In this specific embodiment, both the mounting substrate 11 and the fixing head 3 are axisymmetric structures, so as to further improve the structural stability of the second gripper 2, ensure its stability during the processes of grasping, releasing and handling the wafer, and improve the working reliability of the manipulator.

[0039] It should also be noted that the middle part of the mounting substrate 11 is connected to the robotic arm, and one end of the mounting substrate 11 connected to the fixing head 3 is inclined downward to avoid affecting the adsorption and handling of the wafer by the fixing head 3, avoid interference, and improve the working reliability of the second gripper 2. In this specific embodiment, the mounting substrate 11 is arranged in a stepped structure. In practical applications, the mounting substrate 11 can also be arranged in an inclined structure. In order to reduce the weight of the mounting substrate 11, weight-reducing holes are provided on the mounting substrate 11. On the premise of ensuring the structural strength of the mounting substrate 11, the weight of the mounting substrate 11 is minimized, the energy consumption of the manipulator is reduced, and the production cost is saved.

[0040] In addition, in other specific embodiments of the present invention that can be implemented, each fixing head 3 is connected with a plurality of suction cups 4 to improve the adsorption stability of the wafer. The suction cups 4 are circumferentially distributed uniformly around the axis of the fixing head 3 to improve the uniform stress of the wafer.

[0041] During the wafer manufacturing process, since the wafer and the polishing of the grinding and polishing equipment have formed vacuum adsorption in a water film environment, it is difficult to break the suction, and there is a risk of generating fragments. The suction cups 4 of the second gripper 2 of the present invention are reasonably arranged. The arrangement of the suction cups 4 can avoid stress concentration and maintain stress balance. The small-area vacuum breaking method is adopted, and each fixing head 3 adopts a combined grasping method to improve the performance, solve the vacuum breaking of the vacuum suction of the wafer in the water environment, and ensure the wafer quality.

[0042] In this specific embodiment, the second gripper 2 includes three fixed heads 3, which are aligned with the loading position of the wafer grinding equipment. Each fixed head 3 is connected with three suction cups 4 to ensure the adsorption stability of the wafer. It should also be explained here that the suction cups 4 can also be used to purge the wafer to avoid particle residues at each wafer picking and placing position, which may scratch the wafer and affect the process quality. Nitrogen can be selected for purging to protect the wafer to the greatest extent and ensure the wafer quality.

[0043] The wafer handling manipulator 100 of the present utility model further includes a connecting flange 12. The first gripper 1 and the second gripper 2 are both connected to the connecting flange 12 and are located on both sides of the connecting flange 12 to prevent the first gripper 1 and the second gripper 2 from affecting each other. The connecting flange 12 can be detachably connected to the robotic arm, which is convenient for connection and provides convenience for later disassembly, installation and maintenance.

[0044] Embodiment 2

[0045] In this embodiment, adsorption elements 13 are provided on the top of the connecting plate 5 and the support plate 6 of the first gripper 1. The adsorption elements 13 are connected to an adsorption gas source. The adsorption gas source can perform air extraction and inflation operations on the adsorption elements 13 so that the adsorption elements 13 can adsorb and release the wafer. In this specific embodiment, the first gripper 1 also uses the adsorption method to grasp the wafer, which is stable and reliable for adsorption and completes the loading of the wafer.

[0046] In practical applications, in order to reduce the occupied space of the first gripper 1, the adsorption elements 13 are embedded in the connecting plate 5 and the support plate 6, and the top surface of the adsorption elements 13 is flush with the top surfaces of the connecting plate 5 and the support plate 6 to prevent the first gripper 1 from being too thick and ensure that the first gripper 1 can extend into the wafers stacked in the wafer cassette to grasp a single wafer, ensuring the working reliability of the first gripper 1.

[0047] The other structures of the wafer handling manipulator 100 in this embodiment are the same as those in Embodiment 1 and will not be described in detail here.

[0048] Embodiment 3

[0049] This embodiment provides a wafer manufacturing system, including the above-mentioned wafer handling manipulator 100, including the first gripper 1 and the second gripper 2, which can be applied to the loading of the wafer cassette and the loading and unloading of the wafer grinding equipment, improving the flexible adaptability of the manipulator. Compared with the prior art in which two sets of robotic arms are used for loading and unloading, the wafer manufacturing system of the present utility model simplifies the wafer manufacturing system, improves the wafer production and manufacturing efficiency, and saves production costs.

[0050] The wafer handling manipulator 100 of the present utility model adopts a combined structure of a first gripper 1 and a second gripper 2, which can achieve dry-wet separation, pick up materials from a wafer cassette, and improve the operation efficiency of the manipulator. The second gripper 2 adopts a vacuum suction method, and a plurality of suction cups 4 are arranged on each fixed head 3 to avoid stress concentration and solve the problem of vacuum breakdown in the vacuum suction of wafers in a water environment by a small-area vacuum breakdown method. Moreover, the second gripper 2 can suck three wafers at a time, load and unload wafers for a wafer grinding device, shorten the loading and unloading time of the wafer grinding device, and improve the production efficiency of wafer grinding.

[0051] Specific examples are applied in the present utility model to expound the principle and implementation mode of the present utility model. The description of the above embodiments is only used to help understand the method and its core idea of the present utility model; at the same time, for those of ordinary skill in the art, according to the idea of the present utility model, there will be changes in the specific implementation mode and application scope. In summary, the content of this specification should not be construed as a limitation to the present utility model.

Claims

1. A wafer handling robot, characterized in that: include: A first gripper, the first gripper is a flat structure, and the first gripper can extend between the stacked wafers in the wafer frame to grab a single wafer; A second gripper, wherein the second gripper comprises a plurality of fixed heads, each of the fixed heads is connected to a suction cup, the suction cup is located at the bottom of the fixed head, the suction cup is connected to an adsorption gas source, and the adsorption gas source can perform air extraction and air filling operations on the suction cup to enable the suction cup to adsorb and release the wafer; The first gripper and the second gripper can both be connected to a mechanical arm, and the mechanical arm can drive the first gripper and the second gripper to move.

2. The wafer handling robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first gripper is a Y-shaped plate structure, which includes a connecting plate and two support plates connected to the connecting plate. The two support plates are symmetrically arranged with the midline of the length direction of the connecting plate as the axis. The connecting plate can be connected to the robotic arm, and the support plate can extend between the stacked wafers in the wafer frame and fix the single wafer to realize the transportation of the single wafer.

3. The wafer handling robot according to claim 2, characterized in that: An outer clamping block is arranged at one end of the support plate away from the connecting plate, and an inner clamping block is arranged on the connecting plate. The inner clamping block is slidably arranged on the connecting plate, and the inner clamping block is connected to a clamping driver. The inner clamping block cooperates with the outer clamping block to fix the wafer.

4. The wafer handling robot according to claim 3, characterized in that: The inner clamping block and the outer clamping block both have clamping grooves, and the clamping grooves of the inner clamping block and the outer clamping block are arranged opposite to each other, and the clamping grooves are U-shaped grooves.

5. The wafer handling robot according to claim 2, characterized in that: The connecting plate and the top of the supporting plate are provided with adsorption elements, which are connected with the adsorption gas source. The adsorption gas source can evacuate and inflate the adsorption element so that the adsorption element adsorbs and releases the wafer.

6. The wafer handling robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The second gripper further includes a mounting base plate, the fixing heads are connected to the mounting base plate, and the fixing heads are evenly distributed circumferentially around the axis of the mounting base plate; the mounting base plate and the fixing heads are both axisymmetric structures.

7. The wafer handling robot according to claim 6, characterized in that: The middle part of the mounting base plate is connected to the mechanical arm, and one end of the mounting base plate connected to the fixing head is tilted downward.

8. The wafer handling robot according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that: Each of the fixing heads is connected to a plurality of suction cups, and the suction cups are evenly distributed circumferentially around the axis of the fixing head.

9. The wafer handling robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a connecting flange, the first gripper and the second gripper are both connected to the connecting flange and are located on both sides of the connecting flange, and the connecting flange can be detachably connected to the mechanical arm.

10. A wafer manufacturing system, characterized in that: A wafer handling robot comprising the wafer handling robot as described in any one of claims 1 to 9.

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