JPH0498848A - Wafer replacing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the need to perform a replacing work of wafers by men and to reduce the man-hour by a method wherein a wafer transfer robot for transferring mixedly or separately the wafers to a dummy wafer carrier and a product wafer carrier or from a mixing carrier to the dummy and product wafer carriers is driven while being controlled. CONSTITUTION:Product wafers and dummy wafers are respectively transferred from a product wafer carrier 1 and a dummy wafer carrier 2 to a mixing carrier 3 by a wafer transfer robot 4 and the replacement of the wafers is performed. At this case, a replacement pattern is previously stored in a storage part. The robot 4 is driven while being controlled on the basis of a signal from this storage part and replace the wafers according to the replacement pattern. Then, in the separation replacement of the dummy wafers, the wafers are transferred from the carrier 3 to a dummy wafer discrimination part 5 by the robot 4 and here, the dummy wafers are discriminated by a sensor 6 and in the case of the product wafers or in the case of the dummy wafers, the product wafers or the dummy wafers are transferred to the carrier 1 or the carrier 2 by the robot 4 and the replacement of the wafers is performed. Thereby, the need that operators perform the replacing work of the wafers is eliminated and the man-hour can be sharply reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a wafer advance machine, and more particularly to a wafer advance machine that performs mixed advance and separate advance of dummy wafers and product wafers.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, wafer heat treatment and the like have been carried out in batch processing, and if the number of product wafers per batch is insufficient, this shortage is compensated for by using dummy wafers. When trying to mix and separate product wafers and dummy wafers using a wafer transfer machine, conventional wafer transfer machines only have the function of transferring wafers from one carrier to another, so dummy wafers and product wafers cannot be mixed and separated. It was not possible to mix and replace it at any position in the carrier. Furthermore, since a dummy wafer identification function was not provided, it was not possible to separate the dummy wafers and product wafers from the mixed carrier and replace them. Therefore, such wafer preparation work for mixing and separation was performed by one person using tweezers or the like.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Conventional wafer advance machines do not have the function of mixing and separating dummy wafers and product wafers, so humans must perform the advance work.
This required a large amount of man-hours. Further, there are problems in that dust adheres to the product wafers during the preparation work and scratches occur due to contact between the wafers, which causes a decrease in yield.

[Means to solve the problem]

The wafer transfer machine of the present invention mixes wafers with a wafer transfer robot for mixing or separating wafers from a dummy wafer carrier and a product wafer carrier to a mixing carrier, or from a mixing carrier to a dummy wafer carrier and a product wafer carrier. a dummy comprising a replenishment pattern storage unit for storing the order of replenishment of wafers to the mixed carrier to be transported; and a sensor for identifying dummy wafers and product wafers when separating and transporting wafers from the mixed carrier; The wafer identification unit includes a wafer identification unit, and a control unit that drives and controls a wafer transfer robot based on signals from the replacement pattern storage unit and the dummy wafer identification unit.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a chart showing an example of a mixing and reloading pattern of dummy wafers and product wafers. The pattern for replacing dummy wafers (marked with ○) and dummy wafers (marked with x) is shown.

First, in the mixed advance of dummy wafers and product wafers, according to the advance pattern of FIG. 2, product wafers and dummy wafers are transferred from product wafer carrier 1 and dummy wafer carrier 2 shown in FIG. 1 to mixed carrier 3, respectively. Transported by transport robot Soto 4 and paid for. At this time, the transfer pattern is stored in advance in the storage section, and the wafer transfer robot 4 is driven and controlled by the control section based on signals from the storage section, and transfers the wafers according to the transfer pattern.

Next, in the separation and preparation of the dummy wafer, the wafer is transferred from the mixed carrier 3 to the dummy wafer identification unit 5 by the transfer robot 4, where the dummy wafer is identified by the sensor 6, and if it is a product wafer, it is transferred to the product wafer carrier 1. In the case of dummy wafers, the wafers are transported to the dummy wafer carrier 2 by the transport robot 4, and the dummy wafers are transferred in advance. Note that methods for distinguishing between dummy wafers and product wafers include using a wafer without an orientation flat as the dummy wafer, using a wafer with markings on the back surface, and the like.

Note that the pattern for replacing product wafers and dummy wafers as shown in FIG. 2 can be set arbitrarily.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention automatically mixes and separates dummy wafers and product wafers, and therefore does not require the operator to carry out preparation work, which can significantly reduce the number of man-hours. In addition, it is possible to prevent dust from adhering to product wafers and damage caused by contact between wafers due to the preparation work, and it is possible to improve the yield.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a chart showing an example of a prepayment pattern in the case of mixed prepayment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Product wafer carrier, 2...Dummy wafer carrier, 3...Mixing carrier, 4...Wafer transfer robot, 5...Dummy wafer identification unit, 6...
·sensor

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A wafer transfer robot for mixing or separating and transferring wafers to a dummy wafer carrier and a product wafer carrier, or from a mixed carrier to a dummy wafer carrier and a product wafer carrier, and driving this wafer transfer robot. A wafer advance machine, comprising: a control section for controlling the wafer. 2. The wafer tipping machine according to claim 1, further comprising a tipping pattern storage section for storing the tipping order to the mixed carrier when wafers are mixed and transported from the dummy wafer carrier and the product wafer carrier to the mixed carrier. 3. The wafer advance machine according to claim 1, further comprising a dummy wafer identification section equipped with a sensor for identifying dummy wafers and product wafers when the wafers are separated and transported from the mixed carrier to the dummy wafer carrier and the product wafer carrier. . 4. The wafer transfer machine according to claim 1, wherein the control section controls the drive of the wafer transfer robot based on signals from the transfer pattern storage section and the dummy wafer identification section.