Silicon wafer jacking mechanism and silicon wafer unloading system
By combining a bottom-up silicon wafer lifting mechanism with an air knife, the problem of complex structure in existing silicon wafer handling equipment has been solved, achieving equipment simplification and efficiency improvement.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Utility models(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-04-29
- Publication Date
- 2026-04-07
AI Technical Summary
Existing silicon wafer handling equipment has a complex structure that is difficult to simplify when removing silicon wafers.
The silicon wafer lifting mechanism adopts a bottom-up lifting method. The lifting component drives the top plate to pass through the bottom channel of the material box to lift the silicon wafers one by one, and then blows them away with air knives, which simplifies the equipment structure.
This reduces the structural complexity of silicon wafer handling equipment, improves work efficiency, and reduces silicon wafer damage rate.
Smart Images
Figure CN224098117U_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This utility model relates to the technical field of silicon wafer transfer equipment, specifically to a silicon wafer lifting mechanism and a silicon wafer unloading system. Background Technology
[0002] Most mainstream silicon wafers on the market are half-wafers. When a silicon wafer is processed from a whole wafer into a half-wafer, during the transportation process, due to the installation position of various processes or equipment, the half-wafer needs to be lifted and rotated at a certain angle to change its orientation before it can be placed into the subsequent equipment.
[0003] In existing technologies, silicon wafers are transported using rotary conveying mechanisms. Before transfer, the silicon wafers need to be removed from the cassette. Various devices exist for removing silicon wafers from the cassette, such as those using vertically moving mechanisms (e.g., robotic arms) to lift and remove the wafers. Designing wafer-lifting mechanisms on conveying equipment is well-known in the industry. However, in certain application scenarios, space constraints can lead to complex structures for the conveying equipment. This application attempts to propose an alternative wafer removal mechanism to simplify the equipment structure as much as possible. Utility Model Content
[0004] Based on the background art, this application attempts to propose a new silicon wafer removal mechanism, providing at least one useful alternative as a reference for those skilled in the art. The silicon wafer lifting mechanism provided in this application replaces the existing top-down wafer grabbing technique with a bottom-up lifting approach, which simplifies the structure of the original handling equipment to some extent.
[0005] The silicon wafer lifting mechanism provided in this application includes:
[0006] A base frame with a placement area at its top;
[0007] A material box is placed in the placement area, and the material box has a channel that extends from the bottom to its interior;
[0008] A lifting assembly, mounted on the base frame and located below the material box, has a lifting end;
[0009] The top plate is located on the lifting end of the lifting assembly;
[0010] The lifting assembly can drive the top plate through the channel to push out the silicon wafers in the cassette.
[0011] Furthermore, the silicon wafer lifting mechanism also includes:
[0012] One base plate;
[0013] The base plate is movably placed at the bottom of the material box and covers the channel.
[0014] Furthermore, at least one guide post is provided inside the material box, and the guide post extends along the lifting direction of the silicon wafer; a guide notch matching the guide post is provided on the base plate.
[0015] Furthermore, the number of guide posts is two.
[0016] Furthermore, the lifting assembly includes:
[0017] A connector is located at the bottom of the base frame and extends downwards; a motor is mounted on the connector.
[0018] A screw is rotatably mounted on the connector and is arranged in a vertical direction. The other end of the screw is poweredly connected to the output shaft of a motor.
[0019] A sleeve having a threaded hole inside and matching the screw, the top of the sleeve being connected to the top plate, and the sleeve being slidably mounted on the connector.
[0020] Furthermore, the length of the screw and sleeve that mate is greater than the depth of the internal space of the material box.
[0021] Furthermore, a limiting member is provided on one side of the connector, and the limiting member has a through hole for the sleeve to pass through. The limiting member is slidably disposed on the connector.
[0022] The silicon wafer unloading system disclosed in this application includes:
[0023] The aforementioned silicon wafer lifting mechanism; and
[0024] The conveying assembly is mounted on the base frame;
[0025] The base frame has a certain length for mounting the conveying assembly, and the material box is placed on the conveying assembly.
[0026] Furthermore, a plurality of lifting components and a plurality of top plates are provided along the length direction of the base frame.
[0027] Furthermore, each side of the base frame has a baffle, and the two sides of the material box slide in contact with their respective baffles.
[0028] In use, this application uses a lifting assembly to drive a top plate, which passes through a channel at the bottom of the material box. The top plate then lifts all the silicon wafers inside the material box. In this technical solution, the mechanism for lifting the silicon wafers is installed below the base frame, which simplifies the structure of the handling equipment and reduces its power consumption. Attached Figure Description
[0029] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.
[0030] Figure 1 This is a front view of Example 1.
[0031] Figure 2 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram of Example 1;
[0032] Figure 3 This is a three-dimensional schematic diagram from another perspective of Example 1;
[0033] Figure 4 This is a front view of Example 2.
[0034] Figure 5 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram of Example 2. Detailed Implementation
[0035] In the following description, only certain exemplary embodiments are briefly described. As those skilled in the art will recognize, the described embodiments can be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention. Therefore, the drawings and description are considered exemplary in nature and not restrictive.
[0036] The following disclosure provides many different embodiments or examples for implementing various structures of this invention. To simplify the disclosure, specific examples of components and arrangements are described below. Of course, these are merely examples and are not intended to limit the scope of this invention.
[0037] The embodiments of this utility model will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0038] Example 1:
[0039] See Figure 1 , Figure 2 and Figure 3This embodiment discloses a silicon wafer lifting mechanism, including a base frame 10, a wafer cassette 20, a top plate 30, and a lifting assembly 40. The wafer cassette 20 is placed on top of the base frame 10, the lifting assembly 40 is mounted on the base frame 10, and the top plate 30 is located at the lifting end of the lifting assembly 40 and below the wafer cassette 20. The lifting assembly 40 drives the top plate 30 upwards, thereby ejecting the silicon wafers one by one from the wafer cassette 20. The lifted wafers are then blown away by air blades to the next process stage. After all the wafers have been blown away by the air blades, the lifting assembly 40 lowers the top plate 30, which protrudes from the bottom of the wafer cassette 20, making room for the next batch of wafers.
[0040] Specifically, a specific area at the top of the base frame 10 is designed as a placement area, and the material box 20 is placed on the placement area accordingly. A through channel 21 is provided at the bottom of the material box 20, which extends from the upper bottom surface of the material box 20 to the lower bottom surface of the material box 20, so that the lifting assembly 40 can drive the top plate 30 through the channel 21 into the material box 20, thereby lifting the silicon wafers in the material box 20 one by one.
[0041] The lifting assembly 40 is located at the bottom of the base frame 10. The lifting assembly 40 has a lifting end, and the top plate 30 is installed on the lifting end of the lifting assembly 40. When the lifting assembly 40 is not in operation, the top plate 30 is located directly below the channel 21 (and also below the material box). When the lifting assembly 40 is in operation, the lifting end of the lifting assembly 40 drives the top plate 30 to pass through the channel 21 and lift the silicon wafers in the material box 20 one by one.
[0042] See Figure 1 , Figure 2 and Figure 3 The lifting assembly 40 includes a connector 41, a screw 42, and a sleeve 43. The connector 41 is a plate-shaped structure, with one end fixedly mounted on the lower part of the base frame 10 and the other end extending vertically downwards. A support plate 44 is provided at the bottom end of the connector 41, and the support plate 44 and the connector 41 form an L-shaped structure. A motor 45 is mounted on the support plate 44.
[0043] The connector 41 is provided with a screw 42 rotatably mounted on one end of the support plate 44 via a support structure, so that one end of the screw 42 is rotatably connected to the support structure. Furthermore, this end of the screw 42 is poweredly connected to the output shaft of the motor 45 through a transmission mechanism (such as a pulley mechanism), so that the motor 45 can directly drive the screw 42 to rotate around its axis.
[0044] like Figure 1As shown, the sleeve 43 has a threaded hole, through which it engages with the screw 42. The sleeve 43 is slidably mounted on the connector 41, and its top end is fixedly connected to the bottom surface of the top plate 30. When the screw 42 rotates under the drive of the motor 45, the sleeve 43 can move vertically, thereby driving the top plate 30 to move vertically. Therefore, in this embodiment, the connector 41 supports the motor 45, screw 42, and sleeve 43, and the motor 45 drives the screw 42 to rotate. Through the threaded engagement between the screw 42 and the sleeve 43, the rotational motion of the motor 45 is converted into linear motion of the sleeve 43 and the top plate 30.
[0045] Preferably, the length of the screw 42 and the sleeve 43 is greater than the depth of the internal space of the material box 20, and the length of the screw 42 driving the sleeve 43 to move is greater than the depth of the material box 20, so as to ensure that the top plate 30 pushes all the silicon wafers in the material box 20 out of the material box 20.
[0046] In addition, the bottom end of the connector 41 is provided with a limiting member 46, which has a through hole for the sleeve 43 to pass through. The limiting member 46 slides in contact with the connector 41. Through the cooperation of the sleeve 43 and the screw 42, the sleeve 43 slides on the connector 41 with the limiting member 46. Through the sliding relationship between the connector 41 and the limiting member 46, the sleeve 43 is prevented from rotating.
[0047] In this embodiment, the channel 21 is approximately a square hole structure, and correspondingly, the top plate 30 is also approximately a square plate structure. The size of the top plate 30 is smaller than the size of the channel 21, so that under the action of the lifting assembly 40, the top plate 30 can smoothly pass through the channel 21 and enter the interior of the material box 20.
[0048] During use, the silicon wafer lifting mechanism drives the top plate 30 through the lifting end of the lifting component 40, allowing the top plate 30 to pass through the channel 21 at the bottom of the material box 20. The top plate 30 then lifts all the silicon wafers inside the material box 20, and air knives blow the lifted wafers off one by one. In this technical solution, mounting the lifting component 40 on the base frame 10 simplifies the structure of the original handling equipment to some extent.
[0049] Preferably, in actual working scenarios, a stack of silicon wafers (not shown in the figure) is placed on each of the left and right sides of the material box 20. To simultaneously lift the two stacks of silicon wafers, see [reference needed]. Figure 1 and Figure 2The material box 20 has a base plate 22 inside, on which two stacks of silicon wafers are placed. The base plate 22 can basically cover the bottom of the material box 20. Therefore, the top plate 30 located at the lifting end of the lifting assembly 40 is in contact with the lower surface of the base plate 22 during operation. With the help of the base plate 22, the lifting assembly 40 lifts the two stacks of silicon wafers in the material box 20. By setting the base plate 22, the top plate 30 can be prevented from directly contacting the silicon wafers, indirectly increasing the area of the top plate 30 acting on the silicon wafers, thereby reducing the pressure area on the silicon wafers when they are lifted, and thus reducing the damage rate of the silicon wafers during lifting.
[0050] In one specific implementation scenario:
[0051] The material box 20 has at least one guide post 23 inside, which extends along the direction of silicon wafer lifting and is located approximately between two stacks of silicon wafers (not shown in the figure). See also Figure 2 , Figure 2 The diagram illustrates the configuration of two guide posts 23. These guide posts 23 are located inside the material box 20, on the front and rear sides and approximately in the middle of the left and right sides. The two guide posts 23 are parallel to each other and arranged vertically. One purpose of the guide posts 23 is to provide a side stop for each stack of silicon wafers, ensuring that either stack is confined within its respective area within the material box 20 without crushing each other. Another purpose is to provide a vertical guide for the rising or falling of the base plate 22, allowing the silicon wafers on the base plate 22 to rise vertically in a relatively standard manner as designed, preparing for subsequent air knife removal of the silicon wafers.
[0052] Understandably, in order to better enable the base plate 22 to rise and fall in the vertical direction, a guide notch matching the guide post 23 is provided on the front and rear sides of the base plate 22.
[0053] In this implementation scenario, the material box 20 is equipped with guide posts 23. On the one hand, when the base plate 22 is placed into the material box 20, it guides the placement direction of the base plate 22. On the other hand, when the lifting component 40 drives the top plate 30 to lift the base plate 22, the guide posts 23 guide the movement direction of the base plate 22. Furthermore, as mentioned above, the guide posts 23 cooperate with the side of the material box 20 to form a barrier that can limit the space of the silicon wafer.
[0054] Example 2:
[0055] This embodiment discloses a silicon wafer unloading system, which is an integration and modification based on Embodiment 1, specifically as follows:
[0056] See Figure 4 and Figure 5 The base frame 10 is along the length direction ( Figure 4 (Extend and lengthen in the left and right directions)
[0057] A conveying assembly 50 is added to the base frame 10. Multiple material boxes 20 are set on the conveying assembly 50 and multiple lifting assemblies 40 are configured accordingly. Figure 4 and Figure 5 The diagram illustrates a scenario with four lifting assemblies 40. The working principle is explained below using four lifting assemblies 40 as an example. During operation, multiple wafer trays 20 are sequentially positioned on the conveying assembly 50. When multiple wafer trays 20 carrying silicon wafers are conveyed above the four lifting assemblies 40 by the conveying assembly 50, the conveying assembly 50 stops conveying. The four lifting assemblies 40 then push out the silicon wafers from the corresponding four wafer trays 20. Afterward, the lifting ends of the lifting assemblies 40 descend. Once the lifting ends return to their original positions, the conveying assembly 50 continues to drive other wafer trays 20 carrying silicon wafers to move above the four lifting assemblies 40 again, repeating the aforementioned actions. The conveying assembly 50 can typically circulate to replace or load empty wafer trays 20 in a timely manner.
[0058] like Figure 4 and Figure 5 As shown, the conveying assembly 50 includes two belts 51, multiple pulleys 52, and a motor 53. Multiple pulleys 52 are respectively arranged on both sides of the base frame 10, and a belt 51 is arranged on each side of the base frame 10. The belts 51 are matched with the pulleys 52, such that the length direction of the belts 51 is substantially consistent with the length direction of the base frame 10. The two belts 51 are driven by a single motor 53.
[0059] During operation, the bottom sides of the material box 20 are placed directly or indirectly on two belts 51, which transport the material box 20 to the top plate 30. After the silicon wafers in the material box 20 are unloaded, the belts 51 will carry it away.
[0060] As can be seen from the foregoing, the silicon wafer unloading system disclosed in this embodiment is provided with a number of lifting components 40 at equal intervals along the length of the base frame 10, and each lifting component 40 has a top plate 30 on its lifting end, and each top plate 30 has a corresponding material box 20 above it.
[0061] Furthermore, a baffle is provided on the front and rear sides of the base frame 10, and the two sides of the material box 20 slide in contact with the two baffles, thereby restricting the position of the material box 20 by setting the two baffles.
[0062] In this embodiment, during operation, after all the silicon wafers in all the material boxes 20 have been unloaded by all the lifting components 40, the conveying component 50 sends all the material boxes 20 away and brings in other fully loaded material boxes 20. By setting multiple lifting components 40 on the base frame 10, multiple material boxes 20 can be unloaded at once, which can improve work efficiency.
[0063] The embodiments described above merely illustrate specific implementations of this utility model, and while the descriptions are detailed, they should not be construed as limiting the scope of this utility model patent. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make various modifications and improvements without departing from the concept of this utility model, and these modifications and improvements all fall within the protection scope of this utility model.
Claims
1. A silicon wafer lifting mechanism, characterized in that, include: A base frame with a placement area at its top; A material box is placed in the placement area, and the material box has a channel that extends from the bottom to its interior; A lifting assembly, mounted on the base frame and located below the material box, has a lifting end; The top plate is located on the lifting end of the lifting assembly; The lifting assembly can drive the top plate through the channel to push out the silicon wafers in the cassette.
2. The silicon wafer lifting mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: One base plate; The base plate is movably placed at the bottom of the material box and covers the channel.
3. The silicon wafer lifting mechanism according to claim 2, characterized in that: The material box is provided with at least one guide post, which extends along the lifting direction of the silicon wafer; the base plate is provided with a guide notch that matches the guide post.
4. The silicon wafer lifting mechanism according to claim 3, characterized in that, The number of guide posts is 2.
5. The silicon wafer lifting mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that, The lifting assembly includes: A connector is located at the bottom of the base frame and extends downwards; a motor is mounted on the connector. A screw is rotatably mounted on the connector and is arranged in a vertical direction. The other end of the screw is poweredly connected to the output shaft of a motor. A sleeve having a threaded hole inside and matching the screw, the top of the sleeve being connected to the top plate, and the sleeve being slidably mounted on the connector.
6. The silicon wafer lifting mechanism according to claim 5, characterized in that, The length of the screw that mates with the sleeve is greater than the depth of the internal space of the material box.
7. The silicon wafer lifting mechanism according to claim 5, characterized in that, A limiting member is provided on one side of the connector, and the limiting member has a through hole for the sleeve to pass through. The limiting member is slidably disposed on the connector.
8. A silicon wafer unloading system, characterized in that, include: The silicon wafer lifting mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 7; and The conveying assembly is mounted on the base frame; The base frame has a certain length for mounting the conveying assembly, and the material box is placed on the conveying assembly.
9. The silicon wafer unloading system according to claim 8, characterized in that, A plurality of lifting components and a plurality of top plates are provided along the length of the base frame.
10. The silicon wafer unloading system according to claim 9, characterized in that, The base frame has a baffle on each side, and the two sides of the material box slide in contact with their respective baffles.