Electrostatic elimination gripper for wafer transfer robot

Abstract

The utility model discloses a kind of static elimination gripper of wafer transport manipulator, belong to semiconductor equipment technical field, the utility model includes gripper main part, the front end of gripper main part is equipped with assembly slot, the bottom of gripper main part is equipped with rectangular slot, rectangular slot is communicated with the inside of assembly slot, two outer expansion plates are rotatably installed in assembly slot, the side of outer expansion plate is provided with support plate, the top of support plate and the top of gripper main part keep flush, the utility model is equipped with the structural design of outer expansion plate, push rod and U type movable seat, the size of gripper main part can be adjusted, effectively ensure the stability of wafer on gripper main part, solve the problem that different sizes of wafer are difficult to guarantee the stability on gripper.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the field of semiconductor equipment technology, specifically to an electrostatic elimination gripper for a wafer transport robot. Background Technology

[0002] Wafer robotic arms are important components of wafer transport equipment. As components that come into direct contact with wafers before, during, and after the process, they are high-precision, high-cleanliness robotic systems. Their main function is to quickly, accurately, and safely grasp and transport wafers between various process chambers, load ports, and transport chambers of semiconductor equipment using grippers installed at the free end of the robotic arm assembly.

[0003] However, the shape and size of existing grippers are usually fixed, and the support area of ​​the grippers on the bottom of the wafer is fixed. In the process of gripping wafers of different sizes, it is difficult to ensure the stability of the wafer on the grippers, which can easily lead to the wafer tilting and slipping, causing wafer transfer failure and damage, thereby increasing the wafer defect rate and increasing wafer production costs. Utility Model Content

[0004] The purpose of this invention is to provide an electrostatic elimination gripper for a wafer transport robot. Through the structural design of an expansion plate, a push rod, and a U-shaped movable seat, the size of the gripper body can be adjusted, effectively ensuring the stability of the wafer on the gripper body and solving the problem of difficulty in ensuring the stability of wafers of different sizes on the gripper.

[0005] This utility model is achieved through the following technical solution:

[0006] This utility model relates to an electrostatic elimination gripper for a wafer transfer robot, comprising a gripper body, an assembly groove at the front end of the gripper body, and a rectangular groove at the bottom of the gripper body, the rectangular groove being connected to the interior of the assembly groove. Two outward expansion plates are rotatably mounted inside the assembly groove, and support plates are provided on the sides of the outward expansion plates, with the top of the support plates being flush with the top of the gripper body. A U-shaped movable seat is fitted inside the assembly groove, the bottom of the U-shaped movable seat engaging with the rectangular groove. Two push rods are rotatably mounted on the U-shaped movable seat, with one end of the push rods rotatably connected to the outer ring surface of the outward expansion plates.

[0007] Furthermore, the outer expansion plate has a circular groove, in which a bearing is fitted. The inner ring of the bearing is fitted with a shaft, and the two ends of the shaft are connected to the upper and lower inner walls of the assembly groove. The two outer expansion plates are symmetrically arranged with the U-shaped movable seat as the center, and the two push rods are symmetrically arranged with the U-shaped movable seat as the center.

[0008] Furthermore, a guide block is provided at the bottom of the U-shaped movable seat. The guide block cooperates with the rectangular groove, and the bottom end of the guide block passes through the rectangular groove to the bottom of the gripper body.

[0009] Furthermore, a U-shaped frame is provided on the outer ring surface of the expansion plate, one end of the push rod is rotatably engaged with the U-shaped frame, and a through groove is provided on the end of the push rod away from the expansion plate. Two pins are vertically arranged inside the U-shaped movable seat, and the outer surface of the pins is in clearance fit with the through groove.

[0010] Furthermore, a miniature ion fan is installed on the gripper body, and the output end of the miniature ion fan is connected to an air duct, with an arc-shaped air guide shroud installed at one end of the air duct.

[0011] Furthermore, a square groove is provided on the arc-shaped air guide cover, and the outer surface of one end of the air duct is interference-fitted with the square groove.

[0012] This utility model has the following beneficial effects:

[0013] 1. This utility model, through the structural design of an expansion plate, push rods, and a U-shaped movable seat, allows the U-shaped movable seat to rotate and unfold towards the outside of the gripper body within the assembly slot via two push rods and two expansion plates. This enables adjustment of the gripper body size, allowing for the gripping and conveying of wafers of different sizes. This effectively ensures the stability of the wafer on the gripper body, prevents wafer skew and slippage during gripping, guarantees safe wafer conveying, reduces wafer defect rate, reduces wafer production costs, and eliminates the need for frequent replacement of gripper bodies of corresponding sizes to adapt to wafer dimensions, thereby improving wafer conveying efficiency.

[0014] 2. This utility model, through the structural design of a micro ion fan and an arc-shaped air guide, allows the output end of the micro ion fan to diffuse the ion fan in a fan shape to the front end of the gripper body to grasp the wafer through the arc-shaped air guide, thereby achieving full elimination of static electricity. This ensures that the ion wind is blown evenly to the surface of the wafer where static electricity is generated and the surface of the gripper body, effectively eliminating static electricity on the wafer and avoiding electrostatic discharge when the gripper body grasps the wafer, thus providing sufficient protection for the wafer.

[0015] Of course, any product implementing this utility model does not necessarily need to achieve all of the advantages described above at the same time. Attached Figure Description

[0016] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the assembly structure of the static elimination gripper.

[0017] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the electrostatic elimination gripper.

[0018] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure at the bottom of the static elimination gripper.

[0019] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the gripper body.

[0020] Figure 5This is a structural diagram of the expansion plate, push rod, and U-shaped movable seat.

[0021] In the figure: 1. Gripper body; 101. Assembly slot; 102. Rectangular slot; 2. Outer expansion plate; 201. Shaft; 202. Support plate; 3. Push rod; 4. U-shaped movable seat; 401. Guide block; 5. Miniature ion fan; 501. Air duct; 6. Arc-shaped air guide cover. Detailed Implementation

[0022] The technical solutions of the present utility model will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings of the embodiments. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present utility model, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present utility model, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative effort are within the protection scope of the present utility model.

[0023] Please see Figure 1-5 This utility model provides a technical solution: an electrostatic elimination gripper for a wafer transfer robot, including a gripper body 1, an assembly groove 101 at the front end of the gripper body 1, four threaded holes at the end of the gripper body 1 away from the assembly groove 101, which can facilitate the installation of the gripper body 1 on the free end of the robot, and a rectangular groove 102 at the bottom of the gripper body 1, which communicates with the interior of the assembly groove 101.

[0024] Two outwardly expanding plates 2 are rotatably mounted within the assembly slot 101. Each outwardly expanding plate 2 has a circular groove, within which a bearing is fitted. The inner ring of the bearing is fitted with a shaft 201. Both ends of the shaft 201 are connected to the upper and lower inner walls of the assembly slot 101, ensuring the rotation of the outwardly expanding plates 2 within the assembly slot 101. The two outwardly expanding plates 2 are symmetrically arranged around a U-shaped movable seat 4, allowing them to rotate in opposite directions within the assembly slot 101. Support plates 202 are provided on the sides of the outwardly expanding plates 2. The top of the support plates 202 is flush with the top of the gripper body 1, providing support for the bottom of wafers of different sizes, increasing the support area of ​​the gripper body 1 on the wafer bottom, and ensuring the stability of the wafer on the gripper body 1. A U-shaped movable seat 4 is fitted within the assembly slot 101. The bottom of the U-shaped movable seat 4 engages with a rectangular slot 102. A guide block 401 is provided at the bottom of the U-shaped movable seat 4, engaging with the rectangular slot 102. Friction exists between guide block 401 and rectangular groove 102, ensuring the sliding and locking of guide block 401 within rectangular groove 102, thus locking the rotation amplitude of the two outer expansion plates 2. The bottom end of guide block 401 passes through rectangular groove 102 to the bottom of gripper body 1. Two push rods 3 are rotatably mounted on U-shaped movable seat 4. One end of push rod 3 is rotatably connected to the outer ring surface of outer expansion plate 2. The two push rods 3 and U-shaped movable seat 4 are centrally symmetrically arranged, facilitating the synchronous rotation of the two outer expansion plates 2 towards each other. A U-shaped frame is provided on the outer ring surface of outer expansion plate 2. One end of push rod 3 is rotatably engaged with the U-shaped frame, ensuring the rotation effect between push rod 3 and outer expansion plate 2. A through groove is opened at the end of push rod 3 away from outer expansion plate 2. Two pins are vertically arranged inside U-shaped movable seat 4. The outer surface of the pins is clearance-fitted with the through groove, ensuring the rotation effect between the other end of push rod 3 and U-shaped movable seat 4, thereby achieving the effect of two push rods 3 pushing two outer expansion plates 2 to rotate towards each other.

[0025] When it is necessary to grip and transfer wafers of different sizes, an external force pushes the guide block 401 to slide in the rectangular groove 102, causing the guide block 401 to drive the U-shaped movable seat 4 to move in the assembly groove 101. The movement of the U-shaped movable seat 4 causes the U-shaped movable seat 4 to push the two push rods 3 and cause them to rotate in the U-shaped movable seat 4. This causes one end of the two push rods 3 to push the rotating connection of the two outer expansion plates 2. After being pushed, the outer expansion plates 2 rotate and unfold towards the outside of the gripper body 1 in the assembly groove 101 with the shaft 201 as the axis. This causes the two support plates 202 to move away from the sides of the gripper body 1 at the same time, thereby increasing the gripping area of ​​the gripper body 1 and increasing the contact area between the sides of the gripper body 1 and the bottom of the wafer, thus realizing the adjustment of the size of the gripper body 1.

[0026] A miniature ion fan 5 is installed on the gripper body 1. The output end of the miniature ion fan 5 is connected to a duct 501. One end of the duct 501 is equipped with an arc-shaped air guide 6, which can realize the fan-shaped diffusion of the ion wind, ensuring that the ion wind can be blown evenly to the wafer surface and ensuring the static electricity elimination effect. A square groove is opened on the arc-shaped air guide 6. The outer surface of one end of the duct 501 is interference-fitted with the square groove, which can facilitate the duct 501 to deliver the ion wind into the arc-shaped air guide 6.

[0027] During the wafer gripping and transfer process, the micro ion fan 5 is started by the external PLC controller, so that the output end of the micro ion fan 5 delivers ion air to the arc-shaped air guide shroud 6 through the air duct 501. Then, through the arc design of the arc-shaped air guide shroud 6, the ion air diffuses to the front end of the gripper body 1 to grip the wafer, so that the ion air fully covers the wafer gripped on the gripper body 1, and fully eliminates the static electricity generated on the gripper body 1 and the gripped wafer.

[0028] The preferred embodiments of this utility model disclosed above are merely illustrative of the present utility model. These preferred embodiments do not exhaustively describe all details, nor do they limit the utility model to the specific implementations described. Clearly, many modifications and variations can be made based on the content of this specification. This specification selects and specifically describes these embodiments to better explain the principles and practical applications of this utility model, thereby enabling those skilled in the art to better understand and utilize it. This utility model is limited only by the claims and their full scope and equivalents.

Claims

1. An electrostatic elimination gripper for a wafer transfer robot, comprising a gripper body (1), characterized in that: The front end of the gripper body (1) is provided with an assembly groove (101), and the bottom of the gripper body (1) is provided with a rectangular groove (102), which is connected to the interior of the assembly groove (101). Two expansion plates (2) are rotatably installed in the assembly slot (101). A support plate (202) is provided on the side of the expansion plate (2). The top of the support plate (202) is flush with the top of the gripper body (1). A U-shaped movable seat (4) is fitted in the assembly slot (101). The bottom of the U-shaped movable seat (4) is fitted with the rectangular slot (102). Two push rods (3) are rotatably installed on the U-shaped movable seat (4). One end of the push rod (3) is rotatably connected to the outer ring surface of the expansion plate (2).

2. The electrostatic elimination gripper of a wafer transfer robot according to claim 1, characterized in that, The outer expansion plate (2) has a circular groove, and a bearing is fitted in the circular groove. The inner ring of the bearing is fitted with a shaft (201). The two ends of the shaft (201) are connected to the upper and lower inner walls of the assembly groove (101). The two outer expansion plates (2) are symmetrically arranged with the U-shaped movable seat (4) as the center. The two push rods (3) are symmetrically arranged with the U-shaped movable seat (4) as the center.

3. The electrostatic elimination gripper of a wafer transport robot according to claim 2, characterized in that, The bottom of the U-shaped movable seat (4) is provided with a guide block (401), which cooperates with the rectangular groove (102). The bottom end of the guide block (401) passes through the rectangular groove (102) to the bottom of the gripper body (1).

4. The electrostatic elimination gripper of a wafer transport robot according to claim 3, characterized in that, The outer ring surface of the expansion plate (2) is provided with a U-shaped frame. One end of the push rod (3) is rotatably engaged with the U-shaped frame. The end of the push rod (3) away from the expansion plate (2) is provided with a through groove. Two pins are vertically arranged inside the U-shaped movable seat (4). The outer surface of the pins is in clearance fit with the through groove.

5. The electrostatic elimination gripper of a wafer transport robot according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The gripper body (1) is equipped with a micro ion fan (5), the output end of the micro ion fan (5) is connected to a duct (501), and one end of the duct (501) is equipped with an arc-shaped air guide hood (6).

6. The electrostatic elimination gripper of a wafer transport robot according to claim 5, characterized in that, The arc-shaped air guide shroud (6) has a square groove, and the outer surface of one end of the air duct (501) is interference-fitted with the square groove.

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