Apparatus and method for clamping and picking up silicon wafers stored in wafer cassettes, and silicon wafer transfer equipment

Abstract

The embodiment of the present invention discloses a device, method and silicon wafer conveying equipment for clamping and picking up silicon wafers stored in a silicon wafer box. The device may include: a drive shaft capable of rotating around its own longitudinal axis; A plurality of gripping arms on the drive shaft extending in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the drive shaft so as to reach into the wafer cassette and hold the wafer as the drive shaft moves close to the cassette. The clips are clamped; the buckle mechanism is arranged between each clamping arm and the drive shaft. The buckle mechanism can be switched between the locked state and the unlocked state. In the locked state, the drive shaft drives the clamping arm so that When the drive shaft rotates, the clamping arm rotates together with the drive shaft. In an unlocked state, the drive shaft cannot drive the clamping arm so that the clamping arm remains stationary when the drive shaft rotates.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor production, in particular to a device, method and silicon wafer conveying equipment for clamping and picking silicon wafers stored in a silicon wafer box. Background technique [0002] Multi-arm wafer transfer equipment for transferring wafers stored in wafer cassettes is known in the prior art, wherein the wafer cassette typically has a plurality of slots arranged in a stacked manner within the wafer cassette Each slot is suitable for placing a single silicon wafer, while the multi-arm silicon wafer transfer device has a plurality of gripping arms, which can simultaneously or at one time grip the slots corresponding to the plurality of gripping arms The corresponding plurality of silicon wafers, and the plurality of gripping arms can move together with the robot arm of the device to transfer the gripped silicon wafers to the target position. A multi-arm wafer transfer machine can maximize ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0005] For example, assuming that the equipment 10A needs to transfer the silicon wafers placed in the first to fifth slots in the wafer cassette from top to bottom: if there are silicon wafers in the five slots, the equipment 10A's set of gripper arms 11A and individual gripper arm 12A can grip wafers at the same time, so as to transfer five wafers out of five slots to the target position at one time; missing in the first or fifth slot In the case of silicon wafers, the clamping arm group 11A of the equipment 10A can clamp the silicon wafers, so that four silicon wafers out of the five slots can be transferred to the target position at one time, and at this time, the individual clamping The arm 12A can be in a standby state; however, in the case of missing silicon wafers in the third slot, the clamping arm set 11A of the device 10A cannot be used to clamp the silicon wafer at first, because there must be a clamping arm set 11A in the clamping arm set 11A. The picking arm cannot pick up the silicon wafer, and the equipment 10A will automatically stop and cannot continue to carry out further transmission operations. , The four silicon wafers placed in the fifth slot are clamped and transported, in other words, figure 1 The conventional equipment 10A shown in can not realize the simultaneous transfer or one-time transfer of these four silicon wafers

It can be understood that in the case of missing silicon wafers in the second or fourth slots, and in the case of missing silicon wafers in two of the five slots, it is necessary to use the separate clamping arm 12A to separate the wafers multiple times. transmission, or in other words, simultaneous or one-time transmission cannot be achieved. Obviously, these situations have led to a reduction in the operating efficiency of equipment 10A

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