CN220795864U

CN220795864U - Intelligent goods shelf management system of wafer conveying box

Info

Publication number: CN220795864U
Application number: CN202322584250.1U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 孟凡勇
Original assignee: SiEn Qingdao Integrated Circuits Co Ltd
Current assignee: SiEn Qingdao Integrated Circuits Co Ltd
Priority date: 2023-09-22
Filing date: 2023-09-22
Publication date: 2024-04-16
Anticipated expiration: 2033-09-22

Abstract

The utility model provides an intelligent shelf management system of a wafer transfer box, which comprises: the intelligent goods shelf and the code scanning device; the intelligent goods shelf comprises a goods shelf body and a plurality of goods places, wherein the goods places are used for placing the wafer conveying boxes, and each goods shelf body, each goods place and each wafer conveying box are provided with coded pictures comprising unique equipment information; each goods space is provided with an induction element, the induction elements are connected with an alarm device, and the induction elements are used for triggering the alarm device to send alarm signals after the wafer conveying box is placed in or leaves the goods space corresponding to the induction elements, so that operators are reminded of using code scanning equipment to scan; the code scanning equipment is used for scanning the coded pictures of the wafer conveying boxes placed in or leaving the goods space and the coded pictures of the goods space, updating the scanning result to the database, and the database also comprises the position information of the goods space which is used for positioning the wafer conveying boxes. The system can accurately position the wafer conveying box by means of the scanning result of the code scanning equipment.

Description

Intelligent goods shelf management system of wafer conveying box

Technical Field

The utility model relates to the technical field of semiconductor manufacturing, in particular to an intelligent shelf management system of a wafer transfer box.

Background

The common goods shelves of the existing wafer factories need to manually move the wafer conveying boxes filled with wafers up and down, when the production and manufacturing departments search the positions of the wafer conveying boxes in the system, the positions of the wafer conveying boxes cannot be known, the wafer conveying boxes need to be searched one by one manually, and the storage of the wafer conveying boxes cannot be reasonably arranged according to the state of goods shelves. For batch information of wafers in the wafer transfer box, the wafer transfer box is more inconvenient to find, and the problem that the wafer information is difficult to trace in the manual handling process is also solved. Therefore, the semiconductor factory improves the goods shelf and the goods space, the goods shelf and the goods space are provided with the radio frequency identification reader (RFID READER), chips can be embedded into the wafer conveying box, the radio frequency information of the chips in the wafer conveying box can be automatically read when the wafer conveying box is put in, the wafer conveying box and the storage position information are further bound, and once the wafer conveying box is taken out, the storage information can be automatically emptied, so that the corresponding goods space position information is emptied. However, although the solution is very intelligent, the radio frequency identification reader and the chip have to be installed, so that the hardware equipment has relatively high cost, and the popularization in application scenes is inconvenient.

Disclosure of utility model

The utility model aims to provide an intelligent goods shelf management system of a wafer conveying box, which is used for scanning coded pictures on a goods shelf and the wafer conveying box by means of a code scanning device, so that the wafer conveying box on the goods shelf can be accurately positioned, and the production cost can be saved.

The utility model provides an intelligent shelf management system of a wafer transfer box, which comprises: the intelligent goods shelf comprises a goods shelf body provided with at least one layer of goods shelf and a plurality of goods places arranged on each layer of goods shelf, wherein the goods places are used for placing wafer conveying boxes, and each goods shelf body, each goods place and each wafer conveying box are provided with coded pictures comprising unique equipment information; each goods space is provided with an induction element, the induction elements are connected with an alarm device, the induction elements are used for triggering the alarm device to send alarm signals after the wafer conveying box is placed in or leaves the goods space corresponding to the induction elements, and the alarm signals are used for reminding operators to scan by using code scanning equipment;

The code scanning device is used for scanning the coded pictures of the wafer conveying boxes placed in or leaving the goods space and the coded pictures of the goods space where the wafer conveying boxes are located, updating scanning results comprising binding relations between the wafer conveying boxes and unique equipment information of the goods space to a database, and the database also comprises position information of the goods space, wherein the position information of the goods space is used for positioning the wafer conveying boxes.

In another possible embodiment, the method further comprises a server for storing a database; the server is in communication connection with the code scanning device, the code scanning device sends a scanning result to the server, and the server updates the scanning result to the database.

In a possible embodiment, the alarm device is further configured to stop the alarm after the operator scans the coded picture of the wafer transfer box placed in or removed from the cargo space and the coded picture of the cargo space where the wafer transfer box is located by using the code scanning device.

In other possible embodiments, a cart for transporting the pods is also included; wherein each cart is provided with a coded picture comprising unique device information; the code scanning device is also used for scanning the coded pictures of the carts to obtain unique device information corresponding to each cart.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises a manufacturing execution system; the manufacturing execution system is communicatively coupled to a server that uploads unique device information for the wafer cassette and unique device information for the shelf to the manufacturing execution system.

In another possible embodiment, the sensing element is a photoelectric sensor or an infrared sensor.

In a possible embodiment, the unique device information of each shelf body includes at least one of a name and a number of the shelf, and the unique device information of each goods location includes the unique device information of the shelf body where the unique device information of each goods location is located, and at least one of the name, the number, and the goods type of the goods location; the unique device information of the pod includes at least one of a pod name, a cargo type, and a number.

In a possible embodiment, the encoded picture is a two-dimensional code or a bar code.

In a further possible embodiment, the alarm device comprises a buzzer or a warning light.

In another possible embodiment, the code scanning device is an industrial code scanning gun supporting code scanning software installation and secondary custom development.

The intelligent shelf management system of the wafer transfer box has the beneficial effects that: through scanning the coding picture on goods shelves and the wafer conveying box with the help of sweeping the sign indicating number equipment, realize the accurate positioning to the wafer conveying box on the goods shelves, compare prior art and install the radio frequency identification reader on goods shelves and goods shelves, the design of wafer conveying box embedded chip is lower, moreover maintenance cost is low, the application scenario is wide.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an intelligent shelf of a semiconductor factory provided by the utility model;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a code scanning device according to the present utility model;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a correspondence between a shelf, a cargo space, and a wafer cassette according to the present utility model;

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a query interface corresponding to a manufacturing execution system provided by the present utility model.

Detailed Description

For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present utility model more apparent, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present utility model will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present utility model, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the utility model without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the utility model. Unless otherwise defined, technical or scientific terms used herein should be given the ordinary meaning as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this utility model belongs. As used herein, the word "comprising" and the like means that elements or items preceding the word are included in the element or item listed after the word and equivalents thereof without precluding other elements or items.

The intelligent shelf management system provided by the utility model comprises: intelligent goods shelves and sweep a yard equipment. The intelligent goods shelf comprises a goods shelf body provided with at least one layer of goods shelf and a plurality of goods places arranged on each layer of goods shelf, and each goods place is used for placing a wafer transfer box (FOUP). Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an intelligent shelf, each shelf body, cargo space, and wafer carrier being provided with coded pictures that include unique device information. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram schematically illustrating a code scanning apparatus for scanning coded pictures of the shelf body, the goods space and the wafer cassette to obtain unique apparatus information corresponding to each of the shelf body, the goods space and the wafer cassette. It should be noted that the encoded picture may be a two-dimensional code or a bar code, and fig. 1 illustrates the encoded picture as a bar code.

Each goods space is provided with an induction element, the induction elements are connected with an alarm device, the induction elements are used for triggering the alarm device to send alarm signals after the wafer conveying box is placed in or leaves the goods space corresponding to the induction elements, and the alarm signals are used for reminding operators to scan by using code scanning equipment;

The code scanning device is used for scanning the coded pictures of the wafer conveying boxes placed in or leaving the goods space and the coded pictures of the goods space where the wafer conveying boxes are located, updating scanning results comprising binding relations between the wafer conveying boxes and unique equipment information of the goods space to a database, and the database also comprises position information of the goods space, wherein the position information of the goods space is used for positioning the wafer conveying boxes. It should be understood that, because the goods shelf body and the goods space on the goods shelf body have a binding relationship, when the database includes the position information of the goods shelf body instead of the position information of the goods space, the position information of the goods space on the goods shelf body can be determined according to the binding relationship and the position information of the goods shelf body, and the position information of the goods space can also be understood as being included in the database.

It should be noted that, the location information of the cargo space included in the database may be set by a staff member or may be from the positioning module. Specifically, the shelf body can be further provided with a positioning module, and the positioning module is used for positioning the position of the shelf body and sending the position information of the shelf body to a database; after the worker moves the physical position of the goods shelf body according to the production requirement, the positioning module can update the latest position information of the goods shelf body to the database in real time, so that the latest position relation of the goods shelf body is always stored in the database, and the goods shelf body and the goods positions on the goods shelf body have binding relation, so that the position information of the goods positions can be understood to be included in the database.

In a possible embodiment, the sensing element may be a photoelectric sensor or an infrared sensor. Illustratively, when the sensing element is a photosensor, the photosensor may detect the presence of a solid object in three different ways. The first common way is: the presence of the pod is detected by detecting the optical signal reflected by the object using a reflective photosensor that integrates the light source and photocell. The second method is to use a transmission type photoelectric sensor in which a light source and a photoelectric element are mounted on both sides of an object, and detect the presence or absence of a cassette by an optical signal transmitted through the object. A third common way is: the presence or absence of the pod is detected by the optical signal scattered by the object using a photosensor in which a light source and a photocell are respectively mounted on the same side of the object. It can be seen that the principle of the photoelectric sensor in detecting the presence or absence of the cassette is to determine the presence or absence of the cassette based on the amount of light received and the amount of light blocked or reflected. The infrared sensor can calculate the surface temperature of the object to be measured by measuring the temperature difference between the object to be measured and the infrared contact probe, so as to determine whether the wafer transfer box exists or not, and as shown in fig. 1, the infrared sensor is illustratively arranged at the inlet position of each cargo space, so that the temperature difference between the object to be measured and the infrared contact probe can be accurately measured to calculate the surface temperature of the object to be measured.

In another possible embodiment, the alarm device may include a buzzer or an alarm lamp, where the buzzer may alert the operator to scan the code through a buzzer alarm, and the alarm lamp may alert the operator to scan the code through a flashing light, where the alarm device may further stop the alarm after the operator scans the coded picture of the wafer transport box placed in or leaving the cargo space and the coded picture of the cargo space where the wafer transport box is located by using the code scanning device. When a worker places the wafer transfer box in a goods space, the state of the goods space is changed from idle to occupied, the sensing element detects the wafer transfer box at the moment, so that a buzzer is triggered to give an alarm, an operator is reminded to scan the coded pictures on the wafer transfer box and the coded pictures of the goods space where the wafer transfer box is located by using code scanning equipment, the binding relation between the goods shelf body and the goods space is preset due to the fact that the system is preset, the goods shelf body, the goods space and the wafer transfer box can be bound by combining information obtained by scanning of the code scanning equipment, the wafer transfer box is scanned and put in storage, and when scanning is successful, the buzzer is triggered to finish the alarm. Still another exemplary embodiment, when a worker takes the wafer transfer box from the cargo space, the state of the cargo space changes from occupied to idle, the sensing element detects that the wafer transfer box is not present at this time, so as to trigger a buzzer alarm, remind the operator to scan the coded picture on the wafer transfer box and the coded picture of the cargo space where the wafer transfer box is located by using the code scanning device, and because the binding relation between the goods shelf body and the cargo space and the wafer transfer box is already stored in the system, the cargo space and the wafer transfer box can be unbinding by combining the information obtained by scanning by the code scanning device, so that the wafer transfer box can be scanned out of the warehouse, and when the scanning is successful, the buzzer is triggered to finish the alarm. It should be understood that the alarm device may be provided on the shelf body, or may be provided on each cargo space, specifically as required. For example, in the intelligent shelf in fig. 1, an alarm device is disposed on the shelf body, and no matter any cargo space is put into the wafer transfer box or taken away from the wafer transfer box, that is, the detection result of any one sensing element changes, the alarm device is triggered to alarm, until the cargo space with the changed detection result is scanned by an operator, the buzzer is triggered to stop alarming. This has the advantage that only one buzzer needs to be provided, which contributes to cost savings. And each goods location is provided with an implementation scheme of a buzzer, so that under the scene that a plurality of wafer conveying boxes are operated simultaneously, an operator can judge which goods location is not scanned and put in storage in time, and the scanning is supplemented in time.

In one possible embodiment, the shelf body of the intelligent shelf may further include a manufacturing execution system (Manufacturing Execution System, MES). The manufacturing execution system is in communication connection with the code scanning device, so that the code scanning device can send unique device information corresponding to each goods shelf body, each goods shelf and each wafer conveying box to the server, the server can send the unique device information to the manufacturing execution system, namely, the position information of the wafer conveying box can be updated to the manufacturing execution system of the semiconductor factory through the corresponding interface, and the corresponding relation between the goods shelf and the goods shelf is preset in the manufacturing execution system. For example, the correspondence between shelves and goods locations is shown in the table in FIG. 3, and the identifiers (SLF_ID) of 7-layer shelves corresponding to one shelf body are SLF-A01-01, SLF-A01-02, SLF-A01-03, SLF-A01-04, SLF-A01-05, SLF-A01-06 and SLF-A01-07, respectively. Each layer of shelves is correspondingly provided with 6 rows of goods places, and the unique equipment information of the wafer transfer boxes corresponding to the first row of goods places to the sixth row of goods places is carrier_1, carrier_2, carrier_3, carrier_4, carrier_5 and carrier_6. Thus, each shelf is provided with 6 cargo areas, each cargo area and the cargo displayed in each cargo area corresponds to unique equipment information as shown in fig. 3, for example, the unique equipment information of the first row of cargo areas of the first shelf is CS000001, the unique equipment information of the first row of cargo areas of the second shelf is CS001001, and so on. Therefore, according to the binding relation between the goods space sent by the code scanning equipment and the unique equipment information of the wafer conveying box, the goods space information corresponding to the wafer conveying box can be determined, and therefore the position of the wafer conveying box is determined based on the goods space information. For another example, the operator may query the cargo location corresponding to the cargo name currently, i.e., the cargo location, by entering the cargo name into the manufacturing execution system. Illustratively, as shown in fig. 4, the name of the lot, the location of the lot (i.e., the cargo space), and the latest scan time of the lot are preset in the manufacturing execution system. For example, the ID of the corresponding cargo position of cassette CS000001 is SLF-A01-01 and the last scan time is 1997/7/18:00. The operator opens the client of the manufacturing execution system and inputs the name of the good in the pod to query the location of the good and the latest scan time.

In another possible embodiment, the intelligent shelf management system further includes a cart for transporting the wafer cassette; wherein each cart is also provided with an encoded picture comprising unique device information; even if the wafer transfer box is in a state of being carried, the code scanning equipment can also scan the coded pictures of the carts for carrying the wafer transfer box, so that unique equipment information corresponding to each cart is obtained, the code scanning equipment also sends the unique equipment information corresponding to the carts to the server, the server then sends the unique equipment information to the manufacturing execution system, and the position of the wafer transfer box can be positioned according to the information of the carts, so that the area positioning of the wafer transfer box can be realized according to the information of the carts, which are preset by the manufacturing execution system, and the position of the wafer transfer box can be positioned according to the information of the carts.

In other possible embodiments, the unique device information of each shelf body includes at least one of a name, a number, and a number of shelves, and the unique device information of each cargo space includes the unique device information of the shelf body where it is located, and at least one of a name, a number, and a cargo type of the cargo space; the unique equipment information of the pod includes at least one of a pod name, a cargo type, and a number. The coded picture of the cart including the unique device information may also be derived from at least one of a cart name, a cart type, and a number. The code scanning device can be a PDA device, and the PDA device supports code scanning software installation and a secondary custom developed industrial code scanning gun, such as Windows or Android software installation. Code scanning software used in the PDA, which supports two upload modes: one way is to scan the code offline and then store it locally, and upload it by wire after switching on the network cable, the other way is to support wireless real-time upload.

Therefore, operators can preset the coding rules of the goods according to the physical position information and the quantity of the goods, and the coding rules of the goods are set according to the types of the goods, and two-dimensional codes/bar code labels are printed out and posted on the goods shelves and the goods. The PDA code scanning gun is held by an operator to sequentially scan the goods shelves, the goods positions and the goods, the goods shelves, the goods positions and the goods are bound, then according to the network connection type, the PDA code scanning gun can wirelessly upload the codes in real time, and can upload the code scanning data of the goods shelves, the goods positions and the goods in a wired mode through a network cable in the later period, after the code scanning data are uploaded to a background server through an interface, the code scanning gun can be integrated with a manufacturing execution system, the specific goods shelves of the goods can be displayed in the manufacturing execution system, and the operator can conveniently and rapidly find the positions of the goods. In addition, after the wafer transfer box is put on a shelf or taken away, a user can be reminded by acquiring the detection state change of the sensing element, for example, 1) the sensing element can sense the arrival condition of the wafer transfer box after the wafer transfer box is put on the shelf, and trigger the buzzer to remind the user to use the PDA to scan and store; 2) After the wafer transfer box is taken away, the sensing element can sense the leaving condition of the wafer transfer box and trigger the buzzer to remind a user to use the PDA to scan and leave the warehouse.

In one possible embodiment, the coded pictures on the cargo space may include an upper coded picture and a lower coded picture; the update mode of the warehouse-in and warehouse-out information of goods on the goods shelf can be as follows: after an operator puts the wafer transfer box on the goods space, the goods newly added on the shelf can be put in storage by scanning the shelf, the on-shelf coded picture of the goods space and the coded picture of the wafer transfer box; 2) After an operator takes away the wafer transfer box on the goods space, the original binding information is covered by scanning the goods shelf, the lower frame coding picture of the goods space and the coding picture of the wafer transfer box, unbinding is realized, and accordingly the goods removed from the shelf are delivered out of the warehouse.

In sum, through scanning the coding picture on goods shelves and the wafer conveying box with the help of sweeping the sign indicating number equipment, realize the accurate positioning to the wafer conveying box on the goods shelves, compare prior art and install the radio frequency identification reader on goods shelves and goods shelves, the design of wafer conveying box embedded chip, hardware cost is lower, and maintenance cost is low moreover, and the application scenario is wide.

While embodiments of the present utility model have been described in detail hereinabove, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to these embodiments. It is to be understood that such modifications and variations are within the scope and spirit of the present utility model as set forth in the following claims. Moreover, the utility model described herein is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways.

Claims

1. An intelligent shelf management system for a wafer transfer cassette, comprising: the intelligent goods shelf and the code scanning device;

the intelligent goods shelf comprises a goods shelf body provided with at least one layer of goods shelf and a plurality of goods places arranged on each layer of goods shelf, wherein the goods places are used for placing wafer conveying boxes, and each goods shelf body, each goods place and each wafer conveying box are provided with coded pictures comprising unique equipment information;

2. The intelligent shelf management system of claim 1, further comprising a server for storing a database;

The server is in communication connection with the code scanning device, the code scanning device sends the scanning result to the server, and the server updates the scanning result to the database.

3. The intelligent shelf management system of claim 1, wherein the alarm device is further configured to stop the alarm after an operator scans the coded pictures of the wafer transfer box placed in or removed from the cargo space and the coded pictures of the cargo space where the wafer transfer box is located using the code scanning device.

4. The intelligent shelf management system of any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a cart for transporting the wafer cassettes; wherein each cart is provided with a coded picture comprising unique device information;

The code scanning device is also used for scanning the coded pictures of the carts to obtain unique device information corresponding to each cart.

5. The intelligent shelf management system of claim 2, further comprising a manufacturing execution system;

The manufacturing execution system is communicatively coupled to a server that uploads unique device information for the wafer cassette and unique device information for the shelf to the manufacturing execution system.

6. A smart shelf management system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the sensing element is a photoelectric sensor or an infrared sensor.

7. The intelligent shelf management system of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the unique device information for each shelf body comprises at least one of a name and a number of the shelf, the unique device information for each cargo location comprises the unique device information for the shelf body in which it is located, and at least one of a name, a number, and a cargo type of the cargo location; the unique device information of the pod includes at least one of a pod name, a cargo type, and a number.

8. A smart shelf management system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the coded picture is a two-dimensional code or a bar code.

9. A smart shelf management system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the alarm means comprises a buzzer or a warning light.

10. The intelligent shelf management system of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the code scanning device is an industrial code scanning gun supporting code scanning software installation and secondary custom development.