CN106409740B - A kind of the wafer transfer manipulator and application method of single armed Three Degree Of Freedom - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a single-arm three-degree-of-freedom wafer transfer manipulator and its use method, comprising a rotary motion system, a radial motion system, a vertical motion system and a support; the rotary motion system includes a rotary drive motor connected to a lifting frame, The rotation drive motor drives the main arm to rotate through the first transmission device, and the top end of the main arm passes through the upper bracket to connect with the radial motion system and then drives the radial motion system to rotate; the radial motion system includes a The radial drive motor drives the mechanical gripper that slides along the two radial guide rails through the second transmission device, and the surface of the mechanical gripper is provided with a vacuum adsorption device for absorbing the wafer; the vertical motion system includes a vertical motion system connected to the vertical motor The vertical drive motor on the support drives the lifting frame moving up and down along the two linear guide shafts through the third transmission device, and then drives the rotary motion system and the radial motion system to move up and down.

Description

A single-arm three-degree-of-freedom wafer transfer manipulator and method of use

technical field

The invention relates to a 3-degree-of-freedom wafer transfer manipulator and a use method thereof, which can realize reliable and accurate transfer of wafers between different stations, and are especially applied to an online wafer detection system.

Background technique

The third-generation wide bandgap semiconductor has the advantages of high stability, high photoelectric conversion, and low energy loss. It is widely used in consumer electronics equipment, new energy vehicles, aircraft engines and other fields, and its materials are relatively expensive. Therefore, in the entire manufacturing process of integrated devices, the detection and analysis of semiconductor materials is particularly important.

As the production output and size of wafers continue to increase, the production and testing of wafers are required to develop in the direction of high-speed, continuous, and automated production. Due to the need to realize the rapid transfer of wafer stations in a limited space, high requirements are put forward for the working stability, motion accuracy, and cleanliness of the automatic transfer manipulator during wafer inspection.

Therefore, as the core equipment for silicon wafer transmission and positioning in semiconductor inspection, the exploration of wafer transfer manipulator is of great significance to break the monopoly of foreign countries on China's high-end microscopic market and promote the development of my country's semiconductor industry.

Contents of the invention

In view of the above problems, the object of the present invention is to propose a wafer transfer manipulator capable of efficient handling, high-speed and high-precision positioning and a method for using it.

For realizing said purpose, the first technical scheme that the present invention adopts is as follows:

A manipulator for transporting wafers, comprising a rotary motion system, a radial motion system, a vertical motion system and a support for installing the three systems; the support includes a radial support, a casing and an upper mounted on the casing Bracket, lower bracket, vertical motor bracket;

The rotary motion system includes a rotary drive motor connected to the lifting frame, the rotary drive motor drives a main arm to rotate through the first transmission device, and the top end of the main arm passes through the upper bracket to connect with the radial motion system Then drive the radial motion system to rotate; the radial motion system includes a radial drive motor connected to the radial support, and the radial drive motor drives a manipulator claw that slides along two radial guide rails through the second transmission device, so The surface of the manipulator claw is provided with a vacuum adsorption device for absorbing wafers; the vertical motion system includes a vertical drive motor connected to the vertical motor support, and the vertical drive motor has an electromagnetic brake device to ensure After the motor loses power, the electromagnetic brake coil also loses power, so that the brake shoe of the brake tightly hugs the brake wheel and the motor is braked and stopped. The vertical drive motor is driven by the third transmission device to move up and down along the two linear guide shafts. The lifting frame, and then drive the rotary motion system and the radial motion system to move up and down.

Further, the first transmission device includes a driving wheel connected to the output end of the rotary drive motor and a driven wheel meshed with it, the driven wheel is made into a gear shaft, and the lower end of the gear shaft passes through a thrust bearing The seat is fixed on the lower plate of the lifting frame to prevent the axial movement of the gear shaft. The gear shaft passes through the upper plate of the lifting frame through the deep groove ball bearing seat assembly, and the protruding part of the upper end is the main arm.

Further, the second transmission device includes a ball screw connected to the output end of the radial drive motor, and the two ends of the ball screw are respectively connected through the fixed side screw support assembly and the supporting side screw. The rod support assembly is fixed on the radial bracket; the screw nut of the ball screw is connected to a bearing platform, and the mechanical claw is fixed on the bearing platform, and the bearing platform and the two guide rail sliders connected.

Further, in the second transmission device, the fixed-side square screw support assembly includes a fixed-side support, and a pair of oppositely installed angular contact ball bearings are installed in the fixed-side support to bear Axial force in both directions prevents axial play.

Further, in the second transmission device, the support-side square screw support assembly includes a support-side support, and a deep-groove ball bearing is arranged in the support-side support to withstand radial loads. .

Further, the third transmission device includes a ball screw connected to the output end of the vertical drive motor, and the two ends of the ball screw pass through the fixed-side round screw support assembly and the support-side round screw respectively. The rod support assembly is connected to the upper and lower brackets; the screw nut of the ball screw is fixed on the lifting frame, and two parallel linear guide shafts are connected to the lifting frame through linear bearings. Both ends of the guide shaft are respectively fixed on the upper and lower brackets.

Further, in the third transmission device, the fixed-side round screw support assembly includes a fixed-side support, and a pair of oppositely installed angular contact ball bearings are installed in the fixed-side support to bear Axial force in both directions prevents axial play.

Further, in the third transmission device, the support-side round screw support assembly includes a support-side support, and a deep-groove ball bearing is arranged in the support-side support to withstand radial loads. .

Further, it also includes a vacuum adsorption device, the vacuum adsorption device includes a vacuum flow channel arranged on the gripper, the two ends of the flow channel are respectively a vacuum adapter and an outlet suction cup, and the vacuum reaches the vacuum flow channel of the gripper. The outlet is in contact with the wafer to generate suction to absorb the wafer.

The second technical scheme that the present invention adopts is as follows:

The using method of the present invention is as follows:

When working, the manipulator receives the control signal from the industrial computer, the rotary motion system and the vertical motion system move together to make the manipulator rotate and rise to the height of the cassette, and the radial motion system drives the manipulator claws to extend to the front of the wafer in the cassette. below;

Then the vertical motion system continues to move up slightly, the end claw touches the wafer, the vacuum generator starts, the vacuum reaches the exit through the vacuum flow channel to suck the wafer, and the mechanical claw is retracted radially under the drive of the radial motion system The wafer is released from the cassette;

After the wafers in the cassette are taken out, the cassette descends to the height of the distance between the two wafers; after the manipulator carrying the wafer reaches the height of the pre-alignment stage through the coordinated movement of the rotary motion system and the vertical motion system, the radial The motion system drives the manipulator to move to the top of the pre-alignment table, then the manipulator descends under the drive of the vertical motion system, the pre-alignment table touches the wafer, the manipulator vacuum releases the wafer and returns to the initial zero position, and completes the loading process.

The present invention adopts above technical scheme, has following advantages:

1. The manipulator involved in the present invention has three degrees of freedom, which are radial translation, main arm rotation and lifting movement, and each degree of freedom has an independent motor. These three movements can be linked or can move independently , which is conducive to the adjustment of the movement and the compensation of the rotation angle, and can realize the movement of picking up and sending wafers at any height and any position.

2. The mechanical gripper of the present invention is fixed on the bearing platform, and the bearing platform is fixedly connected with the radial driving device, thereby realizing the linkage of the gripper with the radial movement mechanism, and achieving the beneficial effects of ensuring positioning accuracy and good reliability .

3. In the vertical movement direction of the present invention, in addition to setting the lifting stroke control through the computer program, the vertical drive motor is also equipped with an electromagnetic brake device, which ensures that the motor can be quickly and effectively braked and stopped when the power is off, so that The positioning accuracy and braking performance in the vertical direction of the manipulator are guaranteed.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the overall structure schematic diagram of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is the assembly schematic diagram of rotary motion system in the present invention;

Fig. 3 is the assembly diagram of radial motion system in the present invention;

Fig. 4 is the partial enlarged view of manipulator claw among the present invention;

Fig. 5 is the assembly schematic diagram of vertical movement system among the present invention;

In the figure: 1 rotary motion system, 2 radial motion system, 3 vertical motion system, 5 bracket,

10 motor, 11 driving wheel, 12 driven wheel, 13 main arm, 14 tight flange, 15 thrust bearing seat, 16 deep groove ball bearing seat assembly,

20 motor, 21 coupling, 22 ball screw, 23 fixed side screw support assembly, 24 support side screw support assembly, 25 screw nut, 26 guide rail slider, 27 rolling guide rail,

30 motor, 31 coupling, 32 ball screw, 33 fixed side round screw support assembly, 34 support side round screw support assembly, 35 screw nut, 36 lifting frame, 37 linear bearing, 38 linear Guide shaft, 39 linear guide shaft support,

40 carrying table, 41 vacuum adapter, 42 manipulator gripper, 43 vacuum runner, 44 outlet suction cup,

50 radial supports, 51 upper supports, 52 lower supports, 53 vertical motor supports, 54 right casings, 55 left casings, and 56 front casings.

Detailed ways

The present invention will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the present invention includes a rotary motion system 1 , a radial motion system 2 , a vertical motion system 3 and a bracket 5 for installing the above three motion systems 1 , 2 , and 3 .

Described support 5 comprises radial support 50, right casing 54, left casing 55, front casing 56, rear casing, lower casing and the upper support 51 that is installed on the casing, lower support 52 and vertical motor Bracket 53. Wherein the rear casing and the lower casing are not represented in the figure.

As shown in Figure 2, the rotary motion system 1 of the present invention includes an AC servo motor 10 installed on the lifting frame 36, the output shaft of the motor 10 is connected to a driven wheel 12 through a driving wheel 11, and the driven gear is made into a gear shaft , the upper end of which passes through the upper bracket part is the main arm 13 of the rotary motion system. The top end of the main arm 13 is connected with the radial motion system 2 through the tightening flange 14, so that it passes through the reduction gear pair 11, 12 under the drive of the motor 10. The deceleration realizes the rotational movement of the arm 13 of the manipulator claw 42 fixed on the radial motion system 2 . The thrust bearing block 15 is fixed on the lower plate of the lifting frame 36 and is connected with the lower end of the gear shaft 12. The gear shaft 12 passes through the upper plate of the lifting frame 36 through the deep groove ball bearing block assembly 16, and the deep groove ball bearing block assembly 16 Fixedly connected with lifting frame 36.

As shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, the radial motion system 2 of the present invention includes an AC servo motor 20 installed on the radial support 50, the output shaft of the motor 20 is connected with the ball screw 22 through a shaft coupling 21, The motor end of leading screw 22 is fixed by fixed side-type screw support assembly 23, and the other end is supported by support side-type screw support assembly 24, and there is a pair of relatively installed in the fixed side-type screw support assembly 23. Angular contact ball bearings are provided with deep groove ball bearings in the supporting side screw support assembly 24. The screw nut 25 of the screw 22 is connected to a carrying platform 40, and the motor 20 drives the screw 22 to rotate. Driven by the lever nut 25, the guide rail slider 26 moves radially along two parallel rolling guide rails 27, and the manipulator claw 42 is fixed on the bearing platform 40, and the claw 42 is provided with a vacuum adapter 41, a vacuum flow channel 43 and a The outlet suction cup 44, the vacuum reaches the outlet suction cup 44 through the vacuum channel 43 and contacts the wafer to realize the adsorption of the wafer.

As shown in Figure 5, the vertical motion system 3 of the present invention includes an AC servo motor 30 installed on a vertical motor support 53 with an electromagnetic brake device, and the output shaft of the motor 30 is connected to the ball screw through a coupling 31. 32 connection, the motor end of the ball screw 32 is fixed by the fixed-side circular screw support assembly 33, and the other end is supported by the support-side circular screw support assembly 34, and there is a fixed-side circular screw support assembly 33 For the angular contact ball bearings installed oppositely, deep groove ball bearings are arranged in the support side circular screw support assembly 34, the screw nut 35 of the ball screw 32 is connected to the upper plate of a lifting frame 36, and the motor 30 drives the screw 32 rotates, lifting frame 36 moves vertically along two parallel linear guide shafts 38 through linear bearing 37 driven by lead screw nut 35, and linear guide shaft 38 is fixedly connected with upper and lower supports 51,52 by guide shaft bearing 39.

When the present invention works, the manipulator receives the control signal sent by the industrial computer, and the rotary motion system 1 and the vertical motion system 3 cooperate to make the manipulator rotate and rise to the height of the film box 01, and the radial motion system 2 drives the claws to extend to the film box 01. directly below the wafer in the cassette. Then the vertical motion system 3 moves up slightly, the end claws touch the wafer, the vacuum generator starts, the vacuum reaches the outlet 44 through the vacuum flow channel 43 to suck the wafer, and the claws radially return under the drive of the radial motion system 2 shrink the wafer out of cassette 01.

After the wafers in the cassette 01 are taken out, the cassette 01 descends to the height of the distance between two wafers. After the manipulator carrying the wafer reaches the height of the pre-alignment table through the coordinated motion of the rotary motion system 1 and the vertical motion system 3, the radial motion system 2 drives the gripper to move to the top of the pre-alignment table, and then the manipulator moves in the vertical motion system Driven down, the pre-alignment table touches the wafer, and the manipulator vacuum releases the wafer and returns to the initial zero position to complete the wafer loading process.

Although the specific embodiments of the present invention have been described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, it does not limit the protection scope of the present invention. The transmission mechanisms in the rotary motion system 1, the radial motion system 2 and the vertical motion system 3 can also adopt other different structural modes. For example, in the radial motion system 2, the guiding parts 27 can be two parallel arrangements. The guide rail can also be two light bars arranged in parallel. Various modifications or variations that can be made by those skilled in the art without creative efforts are still within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (5)

1. a kind of wafer transfer manipulator of single armed Three Degree Of Freedom, which is characterized in that including rotary motion system, radial motion system System, vertical movement system and the rack for installing three systems；The rack includes the upper bracket installed up and down and lower branch Frame；

The rotary motion system includes a rotary drive motor being connected on crane, and rotary drive motor is passed by first Dynamic device drives principal arm rotation, and the principal arm top is pierced by the upper bracket and is connected with radial motion system and then drives The rotation of radial motion system；The radial motion system includes a radial drive motor being connected in radial struts, radial to drive By the second transmission device driving one along the mechanical paw of two radial guidances sliding, the mechanical paw surface is provided with dynamic motor For adsorbing the vacuum absorption device of wafer；The vertical movement system includes a vertical drive being connected on motor vertical bracket Dynamic motor, the vertical driving motor have electromagnetic brake brake apparatus, it is ensured that electromagnetic brake coil also loses after motor power loss Electricity makes the brake shoe of brake tightly embrace brake wheel motor and is braked and stalls, and the vertical driving motor is driven by third and is filled The crane that two linear steering axis of drives edge moves up and down is set, and then is driven in rotary motion system and radial motion system Lower movement；

First transmission device include a driving wheel being connect with the rotary drive motor output end and be engaged with from Driving wheel, the driven wheel are made into gear shaft, and the lower end of the gear shaft is fixed under the crane by thrust shaft block On plate, to prevent the axial float of gear shaft, the gear shaft passes through the upper of the crane by deep groove ball bearing holder assembly Plate, the upper end extension are the principal arm；

Second transmission device includes a ball-screw connecting with the radial drive motor output end, the ball-screw Both ends pass through affixed side square leading screw bearing component respectively and type leading screw bearing component in side are supported to be fixed on the radial struts On；The feed screw nut of the ball-screw connects a plummer, is fixed with the mechanical paw on the plummer, and described holds Microscope carrier is connected with two guide rail slide blocks；

The affixed side square leading screw bearing component includes an affixed side support, has a pair of of phase in the affixed side support To the angular contact ball bearing of installation, axial float is prevented to bear the axial force of both direction；

The third transmission device includes a ball-screw connecting with the vertical driving motor output end, the ball-screw Both ends pass through the round leading screw bearing component of affixed side respectively and to support that the round leading screw bearing component in side is connected to described upper and lower On bracket；The feed screw nut of the ball-screw is fixed on the crane, and two parallel linear steering axis pass through straight Spool is held to be connect with the crane, and the both ends of the guiding axis are separately fixed on upper and lower bracket；

The round leading screw bearing component of affixed side includes an affixed side support, has a pair of of phase in the affixed side support To the angular contact ball bearing of installation, axial float is prevented to bear the axial force of both direction；

Manipulator receives the control signal of industrial personal computer sending, and rotary motion system and vertical movement system cooperative movement make manipulator It is risen after rotation closely to film magazine height, radial motion system drive mechanical paw extend out to the underface of wafer in film magazine；Then it hangs down Straight kinematic system continuation slightly moves up, and end gripper contacts wafer, vacuum generator starting, and vacuum is reached through vacuum runner and exported Wafer is sucked in place, and radially retraction makes wafer be detached from film magazine to mechanical paw under the driving of radial motion system.

2. the wafer transfer manipulator of single armed Three Degree Of Freedom as described in claim 1, which is characterized in that support side type Leading screw bearing component includes one and supports collateral seat, is equipped with a deep groove ball bearing, in the collateral seat of support to bear diameter To load.

3. the wafer transfer manipulator of single armed Three Degree Of Freedom as described in claim 1, which is characterized in that the support side is round Leading screw bearing component includes one and supports collateral seat, is equipped with a deep groove ball bearing, in the collateral seat of support to bear diameter To load.

4. the wafer transfer manipulator of single armed Three Degree Of Freedom as described in claim 1, which is characterized in that further include that a vacuum is inhaled Adsorption device, the vacuum absorption device include a vacuum runner being arranged on mechanical paw, and the runner both ends are true respectively Sky adapter tube and out oral sucker, vacuum reach the exit and wafer contacts through gripper vacuum-flow road and adsorb to generate adsorption capacity Wafer.

5. the application method of the wafer transfer manipulator of any single armed Three Degree Of Freedom of claim 1-4, which is characterized in that

When work, manipulator receives the control signal of industrial personal computer sending, rotary motion system and vertical movement system cooperative movement Rise after rotating manipulator closely to film magazine height, radial motion system drive mechanical paw extend out to wafer in film magazine just under Side；

Then the continuation of vertical movement system slightly moves up, and end gripper contacts wafer, and vacuum generator starting, vacuum is through vacuum-flow Road reaches exit and wafer is sucked, and radially retraction makes wafer be detached from film magazine to mechanical paw under the driving of radial motion system；

After wafer in film magazine is removed, film magazine decline two wafer spacing from height；The manipulator for carrying wafer passes through After the cooperative movement of rotary motion system and vertical movement system reaches the height of prealignment platform, radial motion system drive is mechanical Gripper moves to the top of prealignment platform, and manipulator declines under the driving of vertical movement system later, and the contact of prealignment platform is brilliant Circle, manipulator vacuum release wafer are simultaneously restored to initial zero position, completion upper piece process.