Silicon wafer conveying device

Abstract

The utility model discloses a silicon wafer conveying device, which comprises a silicon wafer transfer module for moving silicon wafers between a first station and a second station, and the silicon wafer transfer module moves above the first station and the second station. The second station comprises a carrier plate module used for bearing the silicon wafer and a position detection device used for detecting the position of the carrier plate module, the carrier plate module is provided with a silicon wafer bearing position used for placing the silicon wafer, and the silicon wafer transferring module comprises a downward suction cup used for sucking the silicon wafer and an adjusting mechanism used for adjusting the position of the suction cup. According to the utility model, the silicon wafer conveying accuracy can be realized by utilizing a simple detection device, and the support plate and the silicon wafer adsorption device are designed in a modular manner, so that compared with a conventional single silicon wafer deviation correction manner, the investment, debugging and operation costs are reduced, the structure of a heavy-load linear motor module is optimized, and the operation clamping stagnation caused by parallelism processing deviation can be avoided.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of silicon wafer production, especially relates to a silicon wafer conveying device. BACKGROUND

[0002] The existing plate type silicon wafer automatic feeding and discharging adopts visual reading of position information of each silicon wafer bearing position on a silicon wafer carrier plate, the silicon wafer bearing position is also called pocket, the relative offset of each pocket is calculated through a specified algorithm, the XY theta axis data of each pocket is acquired in the first step, the offset data is sent to PLC through specified format data information, and then deviation correction is executed, and finally the effect of deviation correction and putting into each pocket is achieved.

[0003] Since the pocket position of each silicon wafer carrier plate needs to be detected and positioned during the silicon wafer conveying process, a large number of visual CCDs and a large number of deviation correction mechanisms are adopted, the cost is high, the structure is complicated, the failure rate is also increased due to the complexity of the circuit and the complexity of the visual system of the mechanism, and the cost is also increased accordingly. UTILITY MODEL CONTENT

[0004] To solve the problem of complexity of the visual detection and positioning device used in the silicon wafer conveying process, the utility model provides a silicon wafer conveying device, which can realize the accuracy of silicon wafer conveying by using a simple detection device, reduce the investment, debugging and operation cost, and also reduce the equipment size.

[0005] The utility model adopts the technical scheme that a kind of silicon wafer conveying device is designed, including the silicon wafer transfer module that silicon wafer is moved between first station and second station, the silicon wafer transfer module moves above the first station and second station, the second station includes the carrier plate module for bearing the silicon wafer and the position detection device for detecting the position of the carrier plate module, the carrier plate module is provided with the silicon wafer bearing position for placing the silicon wafer, the silicon wafer transfer module includes the suction disc for adsorbing silicon wafer downwards and the adjusting mechanism for adjusting the position of the suction disc, the adjusting mechanism adjusts the position of the suction disc according to the position information detected by the position detection device, so that the adsorbed silicon wafer and the silicon wafer bearing position correspond to each other.

[0006] In some embodiments, the adjusting mechanism includes a translation mechanism that controls the translation of the suction disc in three degrees of freedom in space and a rotation mechanism that controls the rotation of the suction disc around a vertical axis.

[0007] In some embodiments, the translation mechanism includes a multi-motor linear motor, and each motor of the multi-motor linear motor is provided with the suction disc.

[0008] In some embodiments, the wafer carrier module comprises a silicon wafer carrier, the silicon wafer carrier is provided with silicon wafer carrying positions for carrying the silicon wafer, and the position detection device is a vision sensor for detecting the position of the wafer carrier.

[0009] In some embodiments, the wafer carrier module comprises a plurality of silicon wafer carriers arranged side by side.

[0010] In some embodiments, the silicon wafer carrier is a rectangular plate, and the vision sensor detects the diagonal position information of the silicon wafer carrier.

[0011] In some embodiments, the wafer transfer module slides on a moving rail arranged above the first station and the second station, and the second station further comprises a wafer carrier conveying mechanism for conveying the wafer carrier below the moving rail.

[0012] In some embodiments, two first stations are arranged on opposite sides of the second station, and each first station is provided with a wafer transfer module.

[0013] In some embodiments, a gantry transfer mechanism and a heavy-load linear motor module are further provided, the wafer transfer module is fixed on the gantry transfer mechanism, the gantry transfer mechanism is installed on the heavy-load linear motor module, and the heavy-load linear motor module drives the gantry transfer mechanism to move the wafer transfer module between the first stations located on opposite sides of the second station.

[0014] In some embodiments, the heavy-load linear motor module comprises a sliding fitting slide rail and a sliding block, and the width of the slide rail is greater than the width of the sliding block.

[0015] Compared with the prior art, the utility model has the following beneficial effects:

[0016] The utility model discloses a carrier plate and silicon wafer adsorption device module design, compared with the mode of the conventional single wafer rectification, adopt the method of a group of data integral rectification of multiple wafer sharing to carry out integral rectification, relative to the present single point rectification, greatly reduce the use amount of visual CCD, simplify circuit control, reduce the investment, debugging, operating cost, also reduce the equipment size. The arrangement optimization design of visual device, use less visual device to achieve the same detection result, save the investment cost. The structure of heavy load type linear motor module is optimized, and the running jam caused by parallelism processing deviation can be avoided. By modularization, the silicon wafer carrier plate is divided into various regions, and the machining precision of each region can be more easily guaranteed in the carrier plate design and manufacturing, and the cost is not increased due to the length-width overrun of the carrier plate. Through the precision assembly of the controllable modularization of the carrier plate, the visual captured image can be divided into several regions, and the gantry rectification mechanism also rectifies through the visual reading of the region integral module, so that the silicon wafer reaches the expected precision range and is fed, and the feeding work is completed. The multiple-mover linear motor can fold the silicon wafer after completing the silicon wafer feeding, and in the rectification action of the feeding position on the carrier plate, the three movers can be combined together and move forward or move reversely in the same direction, so that the X-axis function is realized. The layout of the mechanism simplifies the X-axis, reduces the weight of the equipment, reduces the cost of the equipment, simultaneously simplifies the control, and reduces the failure rate of the equipment. The structure of heavy load type linear motor module is optimized, and the running jam caused by parallelism processing deviation can be avoided. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0017] The utility model will be described in detail below in combination with specific embodiment and drawing, in order to show the detail, facilitate understanding its principle, it is not necessarily drawn to scale, similar reference signs can be described similar parts in different view. The drawings generally show the embodiments discussed herein in an example rather than limiting manner. Among them:

[0018] Figure 1 It is the three-dimensional schematic view of silicon wafer conveying device.

[0019] Figure 2 It is the schematic view of silicon wafer transfer module setting on gantry transfer mechanism.

[0020] Figure 3 It is the schematic view of silicon wafer transfer module.

[0021] Figure 4 It is the schematic view of multiple-mover linear motor and makes the suction disc module apart.

[0022] Figure 5 It is the schematic view of multiple-mover linear motor and makes the suction disc module fold.

[0023] Figure 6 It is the schematic view of carrier plate module.

[0024] Figure 7 is a schematic view of the end side of a silicon wafer conveying device.

[0025] Figure 8 is a schematic view of the silicon wafer carrier plate and the silicon wafer transfer module when misaligned.

[0026] Figure 9 is Figure 8 a schematic view of the silicon wafer transfer module after rotation.

[0027] Figure 10 is a schematic view of the coordinate change caused by the rotation of the silicon wafer transfer module.

[0028] Figure 11 is Figure 1 a schematic view of the top of the silicon wafer conveying device.

[0029] In the figure, 1 is a first station, 2 is a second station, 3 is a silicon wafer, 4 is a silicon wafer transfer module, 5 is a silicon wafer carrier plate, 6 is a pocket, 7 is a gantry transfer mechanism, 8 is a heavy-load linear motor module, 81 is a sliding block, 9 is a frame, 10 is a moving guide rail, 11 is a Z-direction lifting motor, 12 is a Y-direction driving motor, 13 is a suction cup module, 131 is a suction cup, 14 is a multi-motor linear motor, 15 is a rotating mechanism, 16 is a visual sensor, 17 is a rectangular wire frame, and 18 is the center position of the silicon wafer carrier plate module. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] The following are specific embodiments of the present application, and the technical solutions of the present application will be further described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present application is not limited to these embodiments, and the following embodiments do not limit the utility model involved in the claims. In addition, all combinations of the features described in the embodiments are not necessarily required by the solution of the utility model.

[0031] The principles and structures of the present application will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. EMBODIMENT

[0032] As Figure 1 , 2As shown in Figure 3, a silicon wafer conveying device includes a silicon wafer transfer module 4 for moving silicon wafers 3 between a first workstation 1 and a second workstation 2, the silicon wafer transfer module 4 moves above the first workstation 1 and the second workstation 2, the second workstation 2 includes a carrier module for carrying the silicon wafer and a position detection device for detecting the position of the carrier module, the carrier module is provided with a silicon wafer carrying position for placing the silicon wafer, the silicon wafer transfer module 4 includes a downward suction cup 131 for adsorbing silicon wafers and an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the position of the suction cup 131, the adjustment mechanism adjusts the position of the suction cup 131 according to the position information detected by the position detection device so that the adsorbed silicon wafer corresponds to the silicon wafer carrying position up and down.

[0033] like Figure 6 、 7 As shown, the carrier module includes a plurality of parallel silicon wafer carriers 5, each of which is a rectangular plate and has silicon wafer carrying positions for carrying the silicon wafers distributed on the silicon wafer carrier 5. The silicon wafer carrying positions are also called pockets 6.

[0034] The silicon wafer transfer module 4 is slidably arranged on a movable guide rail 10 above the first workstation 1 and the second workstation 2. The second workstation 2 also includes a carrier conveying mechanism, which conveys the carrier to the bottom of the movable guide rail 10. The carrier conveying mechanism can be, for example, a conveying device such as a belt conveying mechanism.

[0035] The system includes two first workstations 1, located on opposite sides of the second workstation 2. Each first workstation 1 is equipped with a silicon wafer transfer module 4, i.e., two silicon wafer transfer modules 4 are provided for relative movement. In actual production, the specifications, arrangement, and number of silicon wafer carriers 5 in each silicon wafer transfer module 4 can be adjusted according to actual needs.

[0036] The first workstation 1 is a silicon wafer loading area, and is provided with two groups of gantry transfer mechanisms 7 corresponding to the two silicon wafer loading areas; each group of gantry transfer mechanisms 7 includes three silicon wafer transfer modules 4.

[0037] The silicon wafer transfer module 4 is arranged on the gantry transfer mechanism 7, the gantry transfer mechanism 7 is installed on the heavy-loaded linear motor module 8, the heavy-loaded linear motor module 8 is installed on the frame 9, the movable guide rail 10 is the stator of the heavy-loaded linear motor module 8, and the heavy-loaded linear motor module 8 is used to drive the gantry transfer mechanism 7 to move between the first workstation 1 and the second workstation 2 to complete the transfer of the silicon wafer.

[0038] like Figure 7 、 11As shown, the heavy-duty linear motor module 8 includes a slide rail and slide block mechanism. The gantry transfer mechanism 7 is installed on the slide block 81 of the slide rail and slide block mechanism, which is arranged on the linear motor and can slide relative to the linear motor in a direction perpendicular to the linear motor. The slide rail of the slide rail and slide block mechanism is slightly wider than the slide block, so that the gantry can still operate normally without jamming even if there is a small deviation in the parallelism processing of the opposite side mounting surface of the large gantry.

[0039] The number of gantry transfer mechanisms 7 and the contained silicon wafer adjusting mechanism are adapted to the silicon wafer carrier plate 5, and can realize one-way operation to complete the loading of all pockets 6 of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5.

[0040] The adjusting mechanism includes a translation mechanism for controlling the translation of the suction cup 131 in three spatial degrees of freedom and a rotation mechanism 15 for controlling the rotation of the suction cup 131 around a vertical axis.

[0041] As shown in Figure 4 , 5 The translation mechanism includes a Z-direction lifting motor 11, a Y-direction drive motor 12, and a suction cup module 13. The suction cup module 13 is provided with a suction cup 131 for adsorbing the silicon wafer. The suction cup module 13 includes a multi-mover linear motor 14, and each mover of the multi-mover linear motor 14 is provided with the suction cup 131. The rotation mechanism 15 for controlling the rotation of the suction cup 131 around a vertical axis is also included, such as a rotary motor. Of course, it is not limited to this mechanism, as long as the suction cup 131 can be adjusted in XYZθ dimensions.

[0042] The distance between the pockets 6 of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5 and the horizontal distance of the silicon wafer loading area are not consistent, and the multi-mover linear motor 14 can realize the horizontal motion control of multiple suction cups 131, thereby adjusting the distance and realizing the control of the X-direction drive coinciding with the folding action of the silicon wafer.

[0043] When the carrier plate conveying mechanism conveys the silicon wafer carrier plate 5, the position of each stop is slightly different, so that the gantry transfer mechanism 7 directly loads above the silicon wafer carrier plate 5 has errors, and cannot be accurately placed in the pockets 6 of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5 at one time. Therefore, the actual position of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5 needs to be obtained by combining the vision detection device, and the deviation of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5 positioned in the actual ideal position is calculated by the upper computer. The deviation data is sent to the PLC module, and the PLC sends the deviation data to the drive motor responsible for the motion of each axis of the adjusting mechanism, so as to ensure that the silicon wafer sucked by the suction cup 131 taking silicon wafer module is accurately placed in the pockets 6 of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5. For easy installation, the vision detection device is arranged below the silicon wafer carrier plate 5.

[0044] Because of the modular design of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5, multiple silicon wafer carrier plates 5 are loaded at the same time each time, and there is a gap between each silicon wafer carrier plate 5, which causes the actual position of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5 to deviate from the ideal position. The ideal position is directly below the gantry transfer mechanism 7 when the gantry transfer mechanism 7 moves above the silicon wafer carrier plate 5 transmission mechanism. The silicon wafer can be loaded into the pocket 6 without the need for other adjustments by lowering the gantry transfer mechanism 7. The actual position of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5 is obtained by the vision detection device and transmitted to the PLC. The PLC compares the deviation between the actual position and the ideal position to calculate the parameters required for adjustment of the adjustment mechanism and sends the data to the drive motor responsible for the movement of each axis of the adjustment mechanism to complete the adjustment of the position and angle. Then the Z-direction lifting motor 11 lowers the suction cup 131 to accurately place the silicon wafer into the pocket 6.

[0045] The position detection device is a vision sensor, and the vision sensor 16 is located below the silicon wafer carrier plate 5. The vision sensor 16 is used to detect the position of the carrier plate. The vision sensor 16 detects the diagonal position information of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5 and calculates the center position of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5 based on the diagonal position coordinates of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5.

[0046] The rectangular frame 17 in the figure is the detection range of the vision sensor 16. By detecting the coordinates of the diagonal vertices of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5 module, the center position and offset angle of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5 module can be inferred. Therefore, when there are multiple silicon wafer carrier plates 5, adjacent silicon wafer carrier plates 5 can share one vision sensor 16 for detection.

[0047] The silicon wafer transfer method is as follows:

[0048] When the silicon wafer transfer module 4 moves above the silicon wafer carrier plate 5, the vision sensor 16 captures the pose information of the carrier plate, which is represented by the box area shown in the figure. This area is calculated based on the actual position of the silicon wafer carrier plate 5 and represents the silicon wafer carrier plate 5 with offsets in the X, Y, and θ axes. Therefore, when the gantry moves to the position directly above the actual silicon wafer carrier plate 5, the extracted silicon wafer needs to be corrected. The correction data is in the X, Y, and θ axes.

[0049] After obtaining the box area information, the center point of the box area is calculated by the upper computer. When the center of the adjustment mechanism is the same as the center of the silicon wafer transfer module 4, only the Y-direction drive motor 12 needs to move the offset Y in the Y-direction, and the multi-motor linear motor 14 needs to move the offset X in the X-direction, to achieve the accurate correspondence between the silicon wafer transfer module and the silicon wafer carrier plate. Then the Z-direction lifting motor lowers the silicon wafer transfer module to place the silicon wafer on the silicon wafer carrier plate.

[0050] As Figure 8 , 9As shown in Figures 10 and 10 , in actual use, the rotation center of the adjustment mechanism often differs from the center of the wafer transfer module 4 due to mechanism layout or equipment assembly. In this case, when the rotation axis of the rotation mechanism 15 is corrected by θ, the original X and Y coordinates will also be offset because the mechanism's rotation center is not at the actual module center. Therefore, assuming the distance from the actual rotation center to the wafer pickup center is R, the calculation yields the following coordinates: the distance from point B (B is the position after rotation correction to the actual wafer pickup module arrival) to point A (A is the original wafer carrier 5's correct module center position as read visually). If the offset from the material removal position to the material loading position is (X offset, Y offset, θ offset), then the actual data executed by the gantry mechanism from the wafer removal position to the wafer loading position on the wafer carrier 5 is (X offset - R / cosα+R, Y offset - R·tanα, θ offset).

[0051] The specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the spirit of the present invention. Persons skilled in the art may make various modifications, additions, or substitutions to the described specific embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention or exceeding the scope defined by the appended claims.

[0052] Although some terms are used more frequently in this article, the possibility of using other terms is not excluded. These terms are used only to more conveniently describe and explain the essence of the present invention; interpreting them as any additional restrictions is contrary to the spirit of the present invention. The execution order of actions, steps, etc. in the devices and methods shown in the specification and drawings can be implemented in any order as long as there is no special explicit limitation on the order and as long as the output of the previous processing is not used in the subsequent processing. Similar sequential terms (for example, "first", "next", "secondly", "again", "then", etc.) used for the convenience of description do not mean that they must be implemented in such an order.

[0053] It should be understood by those skilled in the art that all directional references (for example, above, below, upward, up, downward, down, top, bottom, left, right, vertical, horizontal, etc.) are used descriptively in the drawings to facilitate the reader's understanding, and do not represent limitations (for example, on position, orientation or use, etc.) on the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. They are only for the convenience of describing the present application and simplifying the description. Unless otherwise specified, these directional words do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. The directional words "inside" and "outside" refer to the inside and outside relative to the outline of each component itself.

[0054] For purposes of the description hereinafter, the terms "upper", "lower", "right", "left", "rear", "front", "vertical" and "horizontal" as can be perceived herein relative to the accompanying drawings refer to the orientation of the components being described. However, it is to be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if a device described herein relative to the other device or structure is inverted, then a spatially relative term such as "above" can be interpreted as meaning "below" or "below" can be interpreted as meaning "above". The device can also be oriented in other ways (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly. The devices can be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.

[0055] In addition, some of the terms used herein (for example, substantially, certain, generally, etc.) can refer to slight inaccuracy or slight deviation in conditions, amounts, values or dimensions, etc., some of which are within manufacturing deviation or tolerance range. It should be noted that the use of the terms "first", "second", etc. to describe various components is merely intended to differentiate one component from another, and the terms do not have special meaning unless otherwise stated, and therefore cannot be interpreted as limiting the scope of protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A silicon wafer conveying device, comprising a silicon wafer transfer module for moving silicon wafers between a first station and a second station, wherein the silicon wafer transfer module moves above the first station and the second station, characterized in that: The second workstation includes a carrier module for carrying the silicon wafer and a position detection device for detecting the position of the carrier module. The carrier module is provided with a silicon wafer carrying position for placing the silicon wafer. The silicon wafer transfer module includes a downward suction cup for adsorbing the silicon wafer and an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the position of the suction cup. The adjustment mechanism adjusts the position of the suction cup according to the position information detected by the position detection device so that the adsorbed silicon wafer corresponds to the silicon wafer carrying position up and down.

2. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The adjustment mechanism includes a translation mechanism for spatially controlling the translation of the suction cup in three degrees of freedom in space and a rotation mechanism for controlling the rotation of the suction cup around a vertical axis.

3. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The translation mechanism includes a multi-motor linear motor, and each mover of the multi-motor linear motor is provided with the suction cup.

4. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The carrier module includes a silicon wafer carrier, on which silicon wafer carrying positions for carrying the silicon wafers are distributed. The position detection device is a visual sensor, which is used to detect the position of the carrier.

5. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The carrier module includes a plurality of parallel silicon wafer carriers.

6. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The silicon wafer carrier is a rectangular plate, and the visual sensor detects diagonal position information of the silicon wafer carrier.

7. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The silicon wafer transfer module is slidably arranged on a movable guide rail above the first station and the second station. The second station also includes a carrier conveying mechanism, which conveys the carrier to the bottom of the movable guide rail.

8. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 7, characterized in that: The system comprises two first workstations, which are respectively located on two opposite sides of the second workstation, and a silicon wafer transfer module is provided corresponding to each of the first workstations.

9. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a gantry transfer mechanism and a heavy-loaded linear motor module. The silicon wafer transfer module is fixed on the gantry transfer mechanism, and the gantry transfer mechanism is installed on the heavy-loaded linear motor module. The heavy-loaded linear motor module drives the gantry transfer mechanism to drive the silicon wafer transfer module to move between the first workstation and the second workstation.

10. The silicon wafer conveying device according to claim 9, characterized in that: The heavy-load linear motor module includes a sliding rail and a slider that are slidably matched, and the width of the sliding rail is greater than the width of the slider.

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