阅读说明：本技术 晶圆转移机械臂、转移方法以及晶圆夹具 (Wafer transfer mechanical arm, transfer method and wafer clamp ) 是由 吴功 倪萌 于 2021-09-17 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种晶圆转移机械臂,包括：晶圆夹具,晶圆夹具包括限位装置和至少一个托爪盘,托爪盘上设置有至少两个托爪块,限位装置包括推杆和驱动机构,驱动机构用于驱动推杆朝向收容空间水平移动,以使得位于收容空间内的晶圆边缘被夹持于推杆和托爪块之间；和机械臂本体,晶圆夹具设置于机械臂本体上,机械臂本体用于带动晶圆夹具平移和/或旋转。本发明通过设置限位装置,将位于收容空间内的晶圆夹持限位在推杆和托爪块之间,从而避免晶圆夹具在带动晶圆移动过程中,晶圆因惯性在收容空间内晃动,甚至脱离收容空间,从而提高了晶圆转移的安全性,并且有利于提高晶圆转移速度。(The invention discloses a wafer transfer mechanical arm, which comprises: the wafer clamp comprises a limiting device and at least one claw supporting disc, at least two claw supporting blocks are arranged on the claw supporting disc, the limiting device comprises a push rod and a driving mechanism, and the driving mechanism is used for driving the push rod to horizontally move towards the accommodating space so that the edge of a wafer positioned in the accommodating space is clamped between the push rod and the claw supporting blocks; and the wafer clamp is arranged on the mechanical arm body, and the mechanical arm body is used for driving the wafer clamp to translate and/or rotate. According to the wafer transfer device, the limiting device is arranged to clamp and limit the wafer positioned in the accommodating space between the push rod and the supporting claw block, so that the wafer is prevented from shaking in the accommodating space due to inertia and even being separated from the accommodating space in the process that the wafer clamp drives the wafer to move, the wafer transfer safety is improved, and the wafer transfer speed is improved.)

1. A wafer transfer robot, comprising:

the wafer clamp comprises a limiting device and at least one claw supporting disc, at least two claw supporting blocks are arranged on the claw supporting disc, the claw supporting blocks are in a step shape and comprise at least one group of supporting surfaces and limiting surfaces which are connected with each other so as to form at least one containing space for containing and supporting a wafer, the supporting surfaces are used for supporting the wafer, the limiting surfaces are used for limiting the wafer to move horizontally, the minimum distance between every two adjacent limiting surfaces of the same containing space is smaller than the diameter of the wafer, the limiting device comprises a push rod and a driving mechanism, and the driving mechanism is used for driving the push rod to move horizontally towards the containing space so that the edge of the wafer located in the containing space is clamped between the push rod and the claw supporting block; and

the wafer clamp is arranged on the mechanical arm body, and the mechanical arm body is used for driving the wafer clamp to translate and/or rotate.

2. The wafer transfer robot of claim 1, comprising two wafer clamps, wherein both wafer clamps are disposed on the robot body.

3. The wafer transfer robot of claim 2, wherein the wafer clamps are symmetrically disposed on the robot body.

4. A wafer transfer method, characterized in that the wafer transfer robot according to any of claims 1-3 is used, comprising the steps of:

s100, when a state wafer is transferred, controlling a wafer clamp to face the wafer to be transferred;

s101, controlling the push rod to be far away from the accommodating space;

s102, controlling the claw supporting disc to move to the position below the corresponding wafer;

s103, controlling the claw supporting disc to move upwards and supporting the wafer;

s104, controlling the push rod to move towards the accommodating space so as to push the wafer in the accommodating space to move towards one side, wherein the edge of the wafer is clamped between the push rod and the claw block;

s200, when the wafer in the other state is transferred, controlling the other wafer clamp to face the wafer to be transferred, and repeating the steps S101-S104.

5. A wafer chuck, comprising:

the wafer accommodating device comprises at least one claw supporting disc, wherein at least two claw supporting blocks are arranged on the claw supporting disc, the claw supporting blocks are in a step shape and comprise at least one group of supporting surfaces and limiting surfaces which are connected with each other so as to form at least one accommodating space for accommodating and supporting a wafer, the supporting surfaces are used for supporting the wafer, the limiting surfaces are used for limiting the wafer to move horizontally, and the minimum distance between every two adjacent limiting surfaces in the same accommodating space is smaller than the diameter of the wafer;

the limiting device comprises a push rod and a driving mechanism, and the driving mechanism is used for driving the push rod to horizontally move towards the accommodating space, so that the edge of the wafer positioned in the accommodating space is clamped between the push rod and the claw block.

6. The wafer holder of claim 5, wherein the straight line of the moving path of the push rod is coincident with any diameter of the accommodating space.

7. The wafer holder of claim 5, wherein the diameter of the bottom surface of the receiving space is larger than the diameter of the wafer.

8. The wafer clamp of claim 5, wherein the pawl plate is provided with a first avoiding hole for accommodating the push rod, and the push rod penetrates through the first avoiding hole and is driven by the driving mechanism to enter and exit the accommodating space along the length direction of the first avoiding hole.

9. The wafer holder of claim 5, comprising a plurality of pallet trays arranged in a sequentially spaced stack.

10. The wafer holder of claim 5, comprising a plurality of pallet modules stacked at intervals in sequence, wherein the pallet modules comprise a connecting base and a plurality of pallet plates connected to the connecting base, and the plurality of pallet plates are stacked at intervals in sequence along a height direction of the connecting base.

11. The wafer holder of claim 10, wherein the relative heights of a plurality of said gripper disc modules are adjustable, and/or the relative heights of a plurality of said gripper discs within the same said gripper disc module are adjustable.

12. The wafer holder of claim 5, wherein the two holding claw blocks are arranged on the holding claw disk, and the diameter of the straight line where the two holding claw blocks are located is used for forming the accommodating space.

13. The wafer chuck as claimed in claim 5, wherein at least three of the plurality of gripper blocks are disposed on the gripper tray.

14. The wafer clamp of claim 5, wherein four of the claw blocks are arranged on the claw tray, and every two of the claw blocks are arranged at two ends of the claw tray in parallel.

15. The wafer chuck as claimed in claim 5, wherein the supporting surface is disposed horizontally, or the supporting surface is disposed obliquely with respect to the horizontal surface toward the center of the holding claw disk and the receiving space.

16. The wafer chuck as claimed in claim 5, wherein the limiting surface extends along a height direction of the jaw block; or the limiting surface extends along the height direction of the claw supporting block and towards the outside of the accommodating space.

17. The wafer holder of claim 16, wherein the retaining surface is an arcuate surface that conforms to a circumference of the wafer.

18. The wafer chuck as claimed in claim 5, further comprising:

and the sensor is used for detecting whether the wafer exists on the supporting claw disk or not.

19. The wafer clamp of claim 18, wherein the transmitting end and the receiving end of the sensor are respectively disposed on two opposite sides of the tray in the thickness direction, and a second avoiding hole is disposed on the tray corresponding to the detection station of the sensor.

20. The wafer holder of claim 18, wherein the sensor is slidable relative to the receiving space such that an orthographic projection of the sensor in a horizontal plane is inside or outside the receiving space.

21. The wafer chuck as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 20, further comprising:

a shell, wherein the limiting device is arranged in the shell,

the supporting claw disc comprises a supporting part and a connecting part, the connecting part is connected with the shell, the supporting part is positioned outside the shell, and the supporting claw block is arranged on the supporting part.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductors, in particular to a wafer transfer mechanical arm, a wafer transfer method and a wafer clamp.

Background

In the current semiconductor industry, on one hand, a fixture for supporting and fixing a wafer in a horizontal state generally includes a claw tray, a plurality of claw blocks are arranged on the claw tray, and the wafer is supported by the claw blocks, but in order to match with an original wafer carrier, the height of the claw block is generally set to be very low, and is slightly larger than the thickness of the wafer so as to form a groove capable of accommodating the wafer, meanwhile, in order to enable the wafer to smoothly fall into the groove, the diameter of the groove needs to be slightly larger than the diameter of the wafer, so that the wafer in the wafer fixture is easy to slide out of the groove due to inertia in a moving process, and then the wafer is damaged by collision.

On the other hand, in the process of transporting the wafer, a single-piece pallet is often used to pick up one wafer at a time. For some specific process flows, such as cleaning, surface heat treatment, edge finding, point number and other high-capacity process technologies, the operation of one wafer at a time is time-consuming for the whole process, and the space resources of equipment cannot be well utilized. In addition, repeated operation is too frequent and, for machine components, also faces wear and service life problems.

And in some processes, the wafer is differentiated from a clean wafer. In order to prevent the clean sheet from being contaminated, the dirty sheet and the clean sheet need to be handled separately. When carrying the wafer, if the structure that the same support claw disc is used for taking, placing and carrying the wafer is adopted, the dirty sheet can pollute the support claws on the support claw disc, so that the clean sheet can be polluted due to the fact that the clean sheet contacts the support claws when the support claw disc carries the clean sheet, and the follow-up process is not facilitated.

Therefore, in view of the above problems, it is necessary to propose a further solution to solve at least one of the problems.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a wafer transfer mechanical arm, a transfer method and a wafer clamp, so as to overcome the defects in the prior art.

In order to solve the technical problems, the technical scheme of the invention is as follows:

a wafer transfer robot, comprising:

the wafer clamp comprises a limiting device and at least one claw supporting disc, at least two claw supporting blocks are arranged on the claw supporting disc, the claw supporting blocks are in a step shape and comprise at least one group of supporting surfaces and limiting surfaces which are connected with each other so as to form at least one containing space for containing and supporting a wafer, the supporting surfaces are used for supporting the wafer, the limiting surfaces are used for limiting the wafer to move horizontally, the minimum distance between every two adjacent limiting surfaces of the same containing space is smaller than the diameter of the wafer, the limiting device comprises a push rod and a driving mechanism, and the driving mechanism is used for driving the push rod to move horizontally towards the containing space so that the edge of the wafer located in the containing space is clamped between the push rod and the claw supporting block; and

the wafer clamp is arranged on the mechanical arm body, and the mechanical arm body is used for driving the wafer clamp to translate and/or rotate.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the robot comprises two wafer holders, and the two wafer holders are both disposed on the robot body.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the wafer holders are symmetrically disposed on the robot body.

The other technical scheme is as follows:

a wafer transfer method adopts any one of the wafer transfer mechanical arms, and comprises the following steps:

s100, when a state wafer is transferred, controlling a wafer clamp to face the wafer to be transferred;

s101, controlling the push rod to be far away from the accommodating space;

s102, controlling the claw supporting disc to move to the position below the corresponding wafer;

s103, controlling the claw supporting disc to move upwards and supporting the wafer;

s104, controlling the push rod to move towards the accommodating space so as to push the wafer in the accommodating space to move towards one side, wherein the edge of the wafer is clamped between the push rod and the claw block;

s200, when the wafer in the other state is transferred, controlling the other wafer clamp to face the wafer to be transferred, and repeating the steps S101-S104.

The other technical scheme is as follows:

a wafer chuck, comprising:

the wafer accommodating device comprises at least one claw supporting disc, wherein at least two claw supporting blocks are arranged on the claw supporting disc, the claw supporting blocks are in a step shape and comprise at least one group of supporting surfaces and limiting surfaces which are connected with each other so as to form at least one accommodating space for accommodating and supporting a wafer, the supporting surfaces are used for supporting the wafer, the limiting surfaces are used for limiting the wafer to move horizontally, and the minimum distance between every two adjacent limiting surfaces in the same accommodating space is smaller than the diameter of the wafer;

the limiting device comprises a push rod and a driving mechanism, and the driving mechanism is used for driving the push rod to horizontally move towards the accommodating space, so that the edge of the wafer positioned in the accommodating space is clamped between the push rod and the claw block.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a moving path of the push rod is located on a straight line which coincides with any diameter of the accommodating space.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a diameter of a bottom surface of the accommodating space is larger than a diameter of the wafer.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the pawl tray is provided with a first avoiding hole for accommodating the push rod, and the push rod is inserted into the first avoiding hole and driven by the driving mechanism to enter and exit the accommodating space along a length direction of the first avoiding hole.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the device comprises a plurality of claw trays which are arranged in a stacked mode at intervals.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the device comprises a plurality of claw supporting disk modules stacked at intervals in sequence, wherein the claw supporting disk modules comprise a connecting seat and a plurality of claw supporting disks connected with the connecting seat, and the plurality of claw supporting disks are stacked at intervals in sequence along a height direction of the connecting seat.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the relative heights of a plurality of the pallet modules are adjustable, and/or the relative heights of a plurality of the pallet trays in the same pallet module are adjustable.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the two claw supporting blocks are disposed on the claw supporting tray, and the diameter of a straight line where the two claw supporting blocks are located is used to form the receiving space.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, at least three of the pallet blocks are disposed on the pallet.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, four of the claw supporting blocks are disposed on the claw supporting plate, and two of the claw supporting blocks are disposed in parallel at two ends of the claw supporting plate.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the supporting surface is disposed horizontally, or the supporting surface is disposed obliquely with respect to the horizontal plane toward the direction of the center of the holding claw disk and the receiving space.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the limiting surface extends along the height direction of the claw block; or the limiting surface extends along the height direction of the claw supporting block and towards the outside of the accommodating space.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the limiting surface is an arc surface adapted to the circumference of the wafer.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises:

and the sensor is used for detecting whether the wafer exists on the supporting claw disk or not.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the transmitting end and the receiving end of the sensor are respectively disposed on two opposite sides of the claw supporting disc in the thickness direction, and a second avoiding hole is disposed on the claw supporting disc corresponding to the detection station of the sensor.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the sensor is capable of sliding relative to the housing space, so that an orthographic projection of the sensor on a horizontal plane is located inside or outside the housing space.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises:

a shell, wherein the limiting device is arranged in the shell,

the supporting claw disc comprises a supporting part and a connecting part, the connecting part is connected with the shell, the supporting part is positioned outside the shell, and the supporting claw block is arranged on the supporting part.

Compared with the prior art, the invention has the beneficial effects that:

(1) the wafer clamp provided by the invention is provided with the wafer clamp comprising the limiting device, and the wafer positioned in the accommodating space is further clamped and limited between the push rod and the supporting claw block, so that the wafer is prevented from shaking in the accommodating space due to inertia and even separating from the accommodating space in the process of driving the wafer to move by the wafer clamp, the wafer transfer safety is improved, and the wafer transfer speed is favorably improved.

(2) The invention achieves the purpose of arranging a plurality of claw supporting discs by arranging the claw supporting disc module, improves the assembling efficiency and accuracy of the claw supporting discs, and improves the adjusting and replacing efficiency of a single claw supporting disc.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments described in the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a wafer transfer robot according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the wafer chuck of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of the wafer chuck of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the pawl plate of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural view of a pallet block according to the present invention;

fig. 6 is a perspective view of a wafer chuck according to an embodiment of the invention.

Specifically, 1, a wafer;

500. a wafer transfer robot arm; 510. a mechanical arm body; 511. a first mounting table; 512. a second mounting table; 513. a third mounting table; 514. a driving mechanism IV; 520. a wafer clamp; 521. a pallet module; 5211. a claw supporting plate; 52111. a first avoidance hole; 52112. a second avoidance hole; 52113. a connecting portion; 52114. a bearing part; 5212. a connecting seat; 52121. n layers of supporting blocks; 52122. pressing a plate; 52123. lapping lugs; 522. a pawl block; 5221. a limiting surface; 5222. a bearing surface; 523. a push rod; 524. a drive mechanism; 525. a housing; 5251. a support ear plate; 526. a sensor.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", etc. indicate orientations or positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, and are used merely for convenience in describing the present invention and for simplicity in description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore, should not be taken as limiting the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first," "second," etc. may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the invention, the meaning of "a plurality" is two or more unless otherwise specified.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection; can be mechanically or electrically connected; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art through specific situations.

As shown in fig. 1, a wafer transfer robot 500 includes a wafer chuck 520 and a robot body 510, wherein the wafer chuck 520 is disposed on the robot body 510, and the robot body 510 is configured to drive the wafer chuck 520 to translate and/or rotate.

Preferably, two wafer chucks 520 are included, and both wafer chucks 520 are disposed on the robot body 510 to respectively hold wafers 1 in different states. Further, the two wafer clamps 520 are symmetrically disposed on the robot body 510, so that the wafer 1 in different states can be controlled and supported by rotating 180 °.

Specifically, the robot arm body 510 includes a first mounting station 511, a second mounting station 512, and a third mounting station 513.

The first mounting table 511 is provided with a first driving mechanism, which is connected with the wafer clamp 520 to drive the wafer clamp to rotate horizontally to face different stations or align different wafer clamps 520 thereon with wafers 1 to be accommodated. The second mounting table 512 is provided therein with a second driving mechanism, which is connected to the first mounting table 511 to drive the second mounting table to move horizontally so as to approach or separate from the original carrier of the wafer 1. A third driving mechanism is arranged in the third mounting table 513, and the third driving mechanism is connected with the second mounting table 512 to drive the third mounting table to move up and down, so that the wafer clamp 520 lifts the wafer 1 upwards to separate the wafer from the original carrier.

Further, the robot arm body 510 further includes a fourth driving mechanism 514, and the fourth driving mechanism 514 is connected to the third mounting table 513 to drive the horizontal movement thereof. Preferably, the moving path of the robot arm body 510 driven by the driving mechanism four 514 is perpendicular to the moving path thereof driven by the driving mechanism two, thereby saving horizontal space.

The method for transferring the wafer 1 by adopting the wafer transfer mechanical arm 500 comprises the following steps:

s100, when a state wafer 1 is transferred, controlling a wafer clamp 520 to face the wafer 1 to be transferred;

s101, the push rod 523 is controlled to be far away from the accommodating space;

s102 controlling the claw disc 5211 to move to the lower side of the corresponding wafer 1;

s103 controlling the claw disc 5211 to move upward and lift the wafer 1;

s104, the push rod 523 is controlled to move towards the accommodating space so as to push the wafer 1 in the accommodating space to move towards one side, and the edge of the wafer 1 is clamped between the push rod 523 and the claw supporting block;

when the wafer 1 in another state is transferred in step S200, another wafer clamp 520 is controlled to face the wafer 1 to be transferred, and steps S101-S104 are repeated.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, a wafer clamp 520 includes a limiting device and at least one claw supporting disc 5211, so as to further clamp and limit the wafer 1 located in the accommodating space between the push rod 523 and the claw supporting block 522, thereby preventing the wafer 1 from shaking in the accommodating space due to inertia and even separating from the accommodating space when the wafer clamp 520 drives the wafer 1 to move, thereby improving the safety of transferring the wafer 1 and facilitating the increase of the transferring speed of the wafer 1.

Specifically, the claw disk 5211 is provided with at least two claw blocks 522 to form a receiving space for receiving and supporting the wafer 1, i.e., a range surrounded by a dotted circle in fig. 2.

The limiting device comprises a push rod 523 and a driving mechanism 524, wherein the driving mechanism 524 is used for driving the push rod 523 to move towards the accommodating space, so that the edge of the wafer 1 located in the accommodating space is clamped between the push rod 523 and the claw holding block 522. Preferably, the push rod 523 moves horizontally toward the receiving space. Further, the straight line of the moving path of the push rod 523 coincides with any diameter of the accommodating space, so that the stability of the movement of the wafer 1 in the pushing process is improved.

The driving mechanism 524 is preferably an air cylinder, and controls the push rod 523 to advance or retract by the air cylinder. Further, both ends of the push rod 523 are provided with an air cylinder to improve the stability of the movement of the push rod 523.

Of course, the clamp may further include a housing 525, the limiting device is disposed in the housing 525, the holding claw disc 5211 includes a holding portion 52114 and a connecting portion 52113, the connecting portion 52113 is connected to the housing 525, the holding portion 52114 is located outside the housing 525, and the holding claw block 522 is disposed on the holding portion 52114.

In this embodiment, the pawl tray 5211 is provided with a first avoiding hole 52111 for accommodating the push rod 523, and the push rod 523 penetrates through the first avoiding hole 52111, and is driven by the driving mechanism 524 to enter and exit the accommodating space along the length direction of the first avoiding hole 52111, so as to save space and facilitate the supporting operation of the pawl tray 5211.

As shown in fig. 4, four claw blocks 522 are disposed on the claw tray 5211, and two claw blocks 522 are disposed at two ends of the claw tray 5211 in parallel to stably support the wafer 1. However, the holding claw plate 5211 may be provided with only two holding claw blocks 522, and in this case, the straight line where the two holding claw blocks 522 are located may be a diameter to form an accommodation space, so as to stably support the wafer 1. The retainer plate 5211 may also be provided with three or five or more retainer blocks 522, so long as the center of gravity of the wafer 1 is ensured to fall within the closed pattern formed by the retainer blocks, thereby ensuring stable support of the wafer 1.

As shown in fig. 5, the claw block 522 is stepped and includes at least one set of a supporting surface 5222 and a limiting surface 5221 connected to each other to form at least one receiving space, the supporting surface 5222 is used for supporting the wafer 1, and the limiting surface 5221 is used for limiting the horizontal movement of the wafer 1.

It is understood that, in this case, the receiving space is formed in a groove shape by the corresponding holding surfaces 5222 and the stopper surfaces 5221 of the plurality of pawl blocks 522. As shown in fig. 5(a) and 5(b), the pawl block 522 includes a set of support surfaces 5222 and a set of limiting surfaces 5221 connected to each other to form a receiving space. As shown in fig. 5(c) and 5(d), the pawl block 522 includes two sets of support surfaces 5222 and limiting surfaces 5221 connected to each other, forming two receiving spaces with different diameters. Of course, the holding claw block 522 may be provided with more sets of the holding surfaces 5222 and the limiting surfaces 5221 connected to each other, so as to form accommodating spaces with different diameters, so as to accommodate wafers 1 with two sizes.

The minimum distance between two adjacent limiting surfaces 5221 in the same accommodating space is smaller than the diameter of the wafer 1, so that the arrangement position of the push rod 523 is more flexible, and the situation that the push rod 523 pushes the wafer 1 away from the accommodating space completely is avoided.

The support surface 5222 may be horizontally disposed to support the wafer 1 stably. Alternatively, as shown in fig. 5, the support surface 5222 is inclined with respect to the horizontal plane in a direction toward the center of the pawl plate 5211 and the housing space. That is, the supporting surface 5222 is preferably an inclined surface, and the high side of the supporting surface is intersected with the limiting surface 5221, and the low side of the supporting surface faces the center of the circle. The supporting surface 5222 is inclined from the limiting surface 5221 to the surface of the claw disk 5211, and is relatively horizontally arranged, so that the inclined supporting surface 5222 makes the bottom surface of the wafer 1 and the supporting surface 5222 be in point contact or line contact, and the contact surface is reduced to prevent the surface of the wafer 1 from being damaged. Preferably, the bottom surface of the wafer 1 is in line contact with the support surface 5222 to ensure the stability of the wafer 1, and the support surface 5222 is a curved surface adapted to the circumference of the wafer 1.

As shown in fig. 5(a), the limiting surface 5221 may extend in the height direction of the claw block 522, i.e., perpendicular to the horizontal plane, so as to limit the wafer 1 from being deviated.

Of course, as shown in fig. 5(b), the limiting surface 5221 may also extend along the height direction of the claw block 522 and toward the outside of the receiving space, so as to form a shape similar to a horn, such that the limiting surface 5221 can simultaneously guide the wafer 1 to slide toward the supporting surface 5222, such that when the wafer 1 deviates from the center of the receiving space, the wafer 1 can still be lifted upwards by the apparatus and fall into the receiving space. At this time, an abutting surface is preferably connected between the supporting surface 5222 and the limiting surface 5221, and the abutting surface extends along the height direction of the pawl block 522, i.e. the abutting surface is perpendicular to the horizontal plane, so that the push rod 523 pushes the wafer 1 to contact the abutting surface in the subsequent step, thereby preventing the wafer 1 from contacting the inclined limiting surface 5221 and pushing the wafer 1 to move upward.

Preferably, the position-limiting surface 5221 is an arc surface adapted to the circumference of the wafer 1, so as to stably clamp the wafer 1 between the push rod 523 and the position-limiting surface 5221.

The material of the pawl block 522 is generally selected according to the process requirements, and commonly used materials include PEEK, PFA, teflon, etc., but not limited to the above.

The present fixture preferably includes a plurality of sequentially spaced-apart pallet 5211, which may be stacked in a conventional layer-by-layer manner. More preferably, as shown in fig. 6, the clamping apparatus includes a plurality of claw disk modules 521 stacked in sequence at intervals, the claw disk modules 521 include a connecting seat 5212 and a plurality of claw disks 5211 connected to the connecting seat 5212, and the plurality of claw disks 5211 are stacked in sequence at intervals along the height direction of the connecting seat 5212. Specifically, in the present embodiment, a plurality of pallet modules 521 are disposed, and each pallet module 521 includes a plurality of pallet 5211. The plurality of claw supporting discs 5211 are arranged in a modularized mode, so that the claw supporting discs 5211 can be assembled and disassembled and adjusted more conveniently, when one claw supporting disc 5211 is replaced, only the claw supporting disc module 521 needs to be disassembled, the claw supporting disc 5211 in the claw supporting disc module 521 corresponds to the claw supporting disc 5211, and the disassembling times are reduced.

Generally, the wafer chuck is provided with 25 holding claw plates 5211 to correspond to 25 wafers 1 in the wafer 1 cassette, and the wafers are taken out at one time. Of course, without limitation, the device may include only 1 detent disc 5211, or more or less than 25 detent discs 5211.

It is understood that, for batch taking out the wafers 1 at a time, taking the wafer 1 in the wafer 1 cassette as an example, the pitch of the plurality of claw plates 5211 matches the pitch of the plurality of wafers 1 in the wafer 1 cassette, so that the claw plates 5211 extend into between the adjacent wafers 1 and lift the wafers 1 to take out. More specifically, the sum of the thickness of the pawl plate 5211 and the height of the pawl block 522 is adapted to the pitch of the adjacent wafers 1.

Preferably, the relative heights of the plurality of gripper tray modules 521 are adjustable, and/or the relative heights of the plurality of gripper trays 5211 in the same gripper tray module 521 are adjustable, so as to achieve uniformity, and facilitate batch loading and picking and placing of the wafers 1 at one time.

Specifically, the inboard of this device is provided with a plurality of support otic placodes 5251 in order to install corresponding module along the direction of height in also the mount pad, and support otic placode 5251's interval is adjusted according to the height of every group module, guarantees that every group module installation back, a small amount of adjustment space in addition for the adjustment of whole group's levelness. Each layer of the support lug plate 5251 is provided with a screw hole for fixing and a steel sheet for jackscrew, which are respectively used for fixing and adjusting each group of modules. Every module is independently installed, can independently carry out the adjustment in aspects such as height and levelness simultaneously. If one of the supporting claw discs 5211 needs to be replaced, only the module comprising the supporting claw disc 5211 needs to be replaced, so that the problem that the traditional supporting claw disc 5211 needs to be disassembled and assembled layer by layer when replaced is solved. When the device is installed, as shown in the figure, each group of modules consists of n supporting claw discs 5211, a first layer of supporting blocks, a second layer of supporting blocks, a third layer of supporting blocks, … …, n layers of supporting blocks 52121 and a pressing plate 52122. The claw supporting disc 5211 is mounted on the first layer of supporting block, the second layer of supporting block is mounted, and the height and the levelness of the claw supporting disc 5211 are adjusted and then locked. The second claw supporting disk 5211 is mounted on the second layer of supporting blocks, the third layer of supporting blocks are mounted, and the height and the levelness of the layer of claw supporting disk 5211 are adjusted and then locked. And the rest of the claw supporting disc 5211 and the rest of the supporting blocks are arranged by analogy. After the n-layer holding claw disc 5211 is mounted, a pressing plate 52122 is mounted above the n-layer holding claw disc 5211 for fastening the last layer holding claw disc 5211. Such a set of detent wells 5211 is assembled, wherein the relative height and levelness of the detent wells 5211 within the set are consistent. The remaining sets of pawl trays 5211 are assembled in the same manner. A set of claw supporting discs 5211 are mounted on the vertical plate, and the corresponding lapping lugs 52123 of the uppermost supporting block or other supporting blocks are lapped with the supporting lug plates 5251, so that the mounting holes are aligned. The heights of the different positions of the group of claw supporting discs 5211 are measured, and the jackscrews on the supporting blocks on the uppermost layer are adjusted according to the height difference until the heights of all points are consistent and the screws are locked after the heights meet the requirements. At this point, it is necessary to continue to monitor the height of the set of pawl trays 5211 at various positions. If the height difference exceeds the required range, the screw is loosened, and the jackscrew at the corresponding position is continuously adjusted until the height difference of each point of the locking rear supporting claw disk 5211 is within the required range. Thus, a set of pawl trays 5211 is installed. The above steps are repeated and the remaining sets of the pallet 5211 are installed. When replacement is necessary, the corresponding set of claw trays 5211 is simply removed and replaced. The height of the group needs to be detected and adjusted again after replacement, and the levelness of the group is ensured to be qualified.

When carrying the wafers 1 in batch, the wafers 1 may not be regularly arranged in the original carrier, and the axes thereof are deviated in the horizontal direction, so that the diameter of the bottom surface of the accommodating space of the jig is larger than that of the wafers 1, thereby ensuring that the wafers 1 can be taken out, and particularly, when taking the batch of the wafers 1, all the wafers 1 in the original carrier can be taken out at one time. The diameter of the bottom surface of the housing space is a circumferential diameter formed at the junction of the plurality of seating surfaces 5222 and the stopper surface 5221.

Particularly, when supporting a batch of wafers 1, the wafers 1 deviated in the horizontal direction can be normalized by the subsequent push rod 523 to be located on the same axis, thereby facilitating the subsequent process.

As shown in fig. 3, the chuck further includes a sensor 526 for detecting the presence or absence of the wafer 1 on the chuck 5211. Specifically, the transmitting end and the receiving end of the sensor 526 are respectively disposed on two opposite sides of the claw tray 5211 in the thickness direction, and a second avoiding hole 52112 is disposed on the claw tray 5211 corresponding to the detection station of the sensor 526. The second avoidance holes 52112 may be disposed to coincide with the first avoidance holes 52111. Further, the sensor 526 can slide relative to the accommodating space, so that the orthographic projection of the sensor on the horizontal plane is positioned in or out of the accommodating space, and the operation of taking and placing the wafer 1 by the clamp is avoided.

In this embodiment, the four claw supporting blocks 522 arranged in a rectangular shape are arranged on the claw supporting disc 5211, and the four claw supporting blocks 522 are located on the same plane and have the same radian, and satisfy:

wherein D is the diameter of the accommodating space, D is the diameter of the wafer 1 to be accommodated, and x₁For tolerance of the diameter of the accommodation space, x₂Is the horizontal offset distance, w, of the wafer 1 in the original carrier₁Is the width, w, of the orthographic projection of the bearing surface 5222 on the horizontal plane₂The width of the orthographic projection of the limiting surface 5221 on the horizontal plane. By limiting the size of the claw block 522 and the receiving space formed by the claw block, the wafer 1 can be surely received in the receiving space and is not received by the receiving space.

Further, x₂≤x₁≤1.5x₂Therefore, the size of the accommodating space is suitable, the wafer clamp 520 is prevented from having an excessively large volume, and the wafer 1 is prevented from being damaged due to excessive friction on the supporting surface 5222 caused by the excessive moving distance of the wafer 1 pushed by the subsequent push rod 523.

In summary, the wafer in the accommodating space is further clamped and limited between the push rod and the claw supporting block by the limiting device, so that the wafer is prevented from shaking in the accommodating space due to inertia and even separating from the accommodating space when the wafer clamp drives the wafer to move, the wafer transferring safety is improved, and the wafer transferring speed is improved.

It will be evident to those skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the details of the foregoing illustrative embodiments, and that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein. Any reference sign in a claim should not be construed as limiting the claim concerned.

Furthermore, it should be understood that although the present description refers to embodiments, not every embodiment may contain only a single embodiment, and such description is for clarity only, and those skilled in the art should integrate the description, and the embodiments may be combined as appropriate to form other embodiments understood by those skilled in the art.