JP3249003U - Automatic Optical Inspection Equipment for Wafers - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To provide an automatic optical inspection device for wafers capable of efficiently inspecting wafer disks. [Solution] The device comprises an inspection holding means 3 arranged along a transport path such that an inspection waiting wafer storage rack 32 and an inspected wafer storage rack 33 are separated by an inspection space, a transport means 4 receiving a predetermined number of wafer disks W from the inspection waiting wafer storage rack 32 and moving it along the transport path so as to pass through the inspection space to provide it to the inspected wafer storage rack 33, an optical inspection module 5 inspecting the wafer disks W on the transport means 4 passing through the inspection space, and a supply and recovery means 2 configured to take out a predetermined number of uninspected wafer disks W from a first wafer case 91 and transport them to the inspection waiting wafer storage rack 32, respectively, and transport inspected wafer disks W from the inspected wafer storage rack 33 to a second wafer case 92. [Selected Figure] Figure 1

Description

This invention relates to an automatic optical inspection device for wafers that performs inspection of the wafers.

Disc-shaped wafers, thinly sliced from cylindrical ingots, are used in the semiconductor industry as materials for semiconductor substrates, and precise and efficient inspection is required to control their quality. This inspection is generally performed using optical inspection equipment, and the specific inspection process involves placing one wafer disk at the inspection position of the optical inspection equipment, and once the inspection is complete, removing the inspected wafer disk from the inspection position before placing the next wafer disk.

As such, there is room for further efficiency improvements, since the wafer disks must be placed and removed between the actual inspections performed by the optical inspection device. Therefore, the present invention aims to provide an automated optical inspection device for wafers that can efficiently inspect wafer disks.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a wafer case holder on which a first wafer case capable of accommodating a plurality of uninspected wafer disks and a second wafer case capable of accommodating a plurality of inspected wafer disks are disposed;
an inspection holding means having an inspection waiting wafer storage rack in which a predetermined number of inspection waiting wafer holders, each capable of holding one wafer disk, are arranged side by side along a predetermined transport path, and an inspected wafer storage rack in which the predetermined number of inspected wafer holders, each capable of holding one wafer disk, are arranged side by side along the transport path and are arranged along the transport path so as to separate an inspection space from the inspection waiting wafer storage rack;
a transport means configured to move along the transport path and receive the wafer disks from each of the inspection waiting wafer holders of the inspection waiting wafer storage rack, and then move through the inspection space to provide the wafer disks to each of the inspected wafer holders of the inspected wafer storage rack;
an optical inspection module configured to perform automatic optical inspection on the wafer discs on the transport means as they pass through the inspection space;
and a supply and recovery means configured to remove the predetermined number of uninspected wafer disks from the first wafer case and transport them to each of the inspection waiting wafer holders, and to transport inspected wafer disks from each of the inspected wafer holders to the second wafer case.

With the above configuration, when the conveying means receives uninspected wafer disks from each standby wafer holder of the standby wafer storage rack and then passes through the inspection space to provide the wafer disks to each inspected wafer holder of the inspected wafer storage rack, the supply and recovery means takes out a predetermined number of uninspected wafer disks from the first wafer case and transports them to each inspection standby wafer holder, and when the conveying means provides the wafer disks to each inspected wafer holder of the inspected wafer storage rack and then returns to the standby wafer storage rack to receive the uninspected wafer disks, the supply and recovery means can transport the inspected wafer disks from each inspected wafer holder to the second wafer case. This allows the wafer disks to continue to be inspected without stopping the conveying of the wafer disks by the conveying means, and therefore allows the wafer disks to be inspected efficiently.

1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of an embodiment of an automatic optical inspection device for wafers according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of an inspection holding means and a transport means in the embodiment. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the supply and recovery means in the embodiment takes out two wafer disks from a wafer case and delivers them to a standby wafer storage rack in the inspection and holding means. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the supply and recovery means in the embodiment takes out two wafer disks from a wafer case and delivers them to a standby wafer storage rack in the inspection and holding means. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing the state in which the supply and recovery means takes out an inspected wafer disk W from an inspected wafer storage rack in the inspection holding means. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the optical inspection module performs optical inspection on the wafer disk while the transport means is moving. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a conveying means delivers an inspected wafer disk W to an inspected wafer holder of an inspected wafer storage rack. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the transport means returns to the standby wafer storage rack side. FIG.

In order to more clearly describe the objectives, technical means and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention, the following will clearly and completely describe the technical means in the embodiments of the present invention in combination with the accompanying drawings of the embodiments of the present invention. It should be clear that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Generally, the components of the embodiments of the present invention depicted and shown in the accompanying drawings can be arranged and designed in various different configurations. Therefore, the detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention provided below in the accompanying drawings does not constitute any limitation on the protection scope of the present invention, but merely represents selected embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the automatic optical inspection device for wafers of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the automatic optical inspection device for wafers of the present invention is equipped with a wafer case holder 1, a supply and recovery means 2, an inspection holding means 3, a transport means 4, and an optical inspection module 5, and performs an inspection process on the wafers to control their quality.

On the wafer case holder 1, a first wafer case 91 capable of housing multiple uninspected wafer disks W and a second wafer case 92 capable of housing multiple inspected wafer disks W are arranged. In this embodiment, two second wafer cases 92 are arranged, and for example, wafer disks that have passed the inspection process and those that have failed the inspection process are respectively arranged.

As shown in FIG. 2 etc., the inspection holding means 3 has an inspection waiting wafer storage rack 32 in which a predetermined number (two in this embodiment) of inspection waiting wafer holders 320, each capable of holding one wafer disk W, are arranged side by side along a predetermined transport path, and an inspected wafer storage rack 33 in which a predetermined number (two in this embodiment) of inspected wafer holders 330, each capable of holding one wafer disk W, are arranged side by side along the transport path and are arranged to separate the inspection space S from the inspection waiting wafer storage rack 32 along the transport path.

The transport means 4 is configured to be movable along the transport path and to receive wafer disks W from each of the inspection waiting wafer holders 320 in the inspection waiting wafer storage rack 32, and then move through the inspection space S to provide the wafer disks W to each of the inspected wafer holders 330 in the inspected wafer storage rack 33.

The optical inspection module 5 is disposed on the inspection holding means 3 as shown in FIG. 6, and is configured to perform automatic optical inspection of the wafer disk W on the conveying means 4 from above the inspection space S of the inspection holding means 3 as the wafer disk W passes through the inspection space S.

The supply and recovery means 2 is configured to take out a predetermined number (two in this embodiment) of uninspected wafer disks W from the first wafer case 91 and transport them to each of the inspection waiting wafer holders 320, and to transport inspected wafer disks W from each inspected wafer holder 330 to the second wafer case 92.

The "predetermined number" in this embodiment refers to the number of wafer disks W transported by the transport means 4, and the number of inspection waiting wafer holders 320 and inspected wafer holders 330, as well as the number of wafers simultaneously transported by the supply and recovery means 2, are all set to two, but it is also possible to configure the automatic optical inspection device for wafers of this invention by setting this predetermined number to one or three or more.

The supply and recovery means 2 is, for example, a robot arm with a high degree of freedom as shown in FIG. 1, and has an arm 21 that branches into two, and the transport means 4 has two wafer suction parts 41 that are lined up along the transport path and can each suction-hold one wafer disk W as shown in FIG. 3.

In this embodiment, the transport path extends along a predetermined first horizontal axis direction L1, and the supply and recovery means 2 is spaced apart from the inspection holding means 3 in a second horizontal axis direction L2 perpendicular to the first horizontal axis direction L1, and is spaced apart from the wafer case holding table 1 in the first horizontal axis direction L1. If necessary, the transport path can be configured as a curved path.

The wafer case holder 1 is positioned away from the inspected wafer storage rack 33 and close to the inspection-awaiting wafer storage rack 32. The first wafer case 91 that stores uninspected wafer disks W is positioned close to the inspection-awaiting wafer storage rack 32, and the second wafer case 92 that stores inspected wafer disks W is positioned further away.

The specific configuration of the inspection holding means 3 in this embodiment further includes a platform 31, which extends along the transport path (first horizontal axis direction L1) and is disposed below the inspection waiting wafer storage rack 32 and the inspected wafer storage rack 33. The platform 31 is formed with a rail groove 310 that extends along the transport path (first horizontal axis direction L1) and is attached so that the transport means 4 can move along the transport path (first horizontal axis direction L1). The inspection waiting wafer storage rack 32 is formed with a first supporter 321 that extends upward from both sides of the rail groove 310 and supports each inspection waiting wafer holding table 320 from below, and the inspected wafer storage rack 33 is formed with a second supporter 331 that extends upward from both sides of the rail groove 310 and supports each inspected wafer holding table 330 from below.

Each inspection waiting wafer holder 320 is configured to have two first wafer holders 322 that can hold one wafer disk W by approaching each other along a direction (in this embodiment, coinciding with the second horizontal axis direction L2) perpendicular to the transport path (first horizontal axis direction L1). Also, although the two first wafer holders 322 can no longer hold the wafer disk W by moving away from each other, the wafer disk W can be transferred between the wafer suction portion 41 of the transport means 4 through the space between them.

That is, FIG. 4 shows the two first wafer holding plates 322 approaching each other to receive and hold one wafer disk W each from the two arms 21 of the supply and recovery means 2, and FIG. 5 shows the two first wafer holding plates 322 moving away from each other to pass the wafer disk W through the space between them to the transport means 4.

The two first wafer holding plates 322 do not necessarily have to have the same shape/configuration; for example, in this embodiment, they are formed in different shapes (one has a roughly rectangular outline, and the other has a roughly triangular outline), but since both have the role of supporting the wafer disk W from below, they are treated as the same part.

Each inspected wafer holder 330 is configured to have two second wafer holders 332 that can hold one wafer disk W by approaching each other along a direction perpendicular to the transport path. The two second wafer holders 332 can also move away from each other and no longer be able to hold the wafer disk W, but instead can transfer the wafer disk W between them and the wafer suction unit 41 of the transport means 4 through the space between them.

That is, FIG. 5 shows two second wafer holding plates 332 approaching each other and each holding one wafer disk W, and two arms 21 of the supply and recovery means 2 attempting to pick up that wafer disk W, and FIG. 6 shows two second wafer holding plates 332 moving away from each other to receive the wafer disk W from the transport means 4 through the space between them.

The two second wafer holding plates 332 do not necessarily have to have the same shape/configuration; for example, in this embodiment, they are formed in different shapes (one has a roughly rectangular outline, and the other has a roughly triangular outline), but since both have the role of supporting the wafer disk W from below, they are treated as the same part.

With the above configuration, in the automatic optical inspection device for wafers of the present invention, when the conveying means 4 receives the uninspected wafer disks W from each of the standby wafer holders 320 of the standby wafer storage rack 32 and passes through the inspection space S to provide the wafer disks W to each of the inspected wafer holders 330 of the inspected wafer storage rack 33, the supply and recovery means 2 takes out a predetermined number of uninspected wafer disks W from the first wafer case 91 and conveys them to each of the inspection standby wafer holders 320. When the transport means 4 returns to the standby wafer storage rack 32 to receive uninspected wafer disks W after providing the wafer disks W to each inspected wafer holder 330 of the inspected wafer storage rack 33, the supply and recovery means 2 transports the inspected wafer disks W from each inspected wafer holder 330 to the second wafer case 92, and stores the wafer disks that have been determined to be pass or fail by the inspection process in the corresponding second wafer case 92.

Then, when the conveying means 4 passes through the inspection space S while holding an uninspected wafer disk W, the optical inspection module 5 inspects the uninspected wafer disk W from above while taking an image of the uninspected wafer disk W, and determines whether it is a pass or fail product.

Therefore, the automatic optical inspection device for wafers of the present invention can continue to perform inspection of the wafer disk W in the optical inspection module 5 without stopping the transport of the wafer disk W by the transport means 4, thereby achieving the purpose of efficiently inspecting the wafer disk.

Incidentally, in this embodiment, for ease of understanding, an embodiment having only one transport means 4 is shown, but if necessary, it is possible to further improve the efficiency of inspection by installing multiple transport means 4, each having a predetermined number of wafer suction portions 41, and adding a configuration in which the multiple transport means 4 move in a cyclical manner between the inspection waiting wafer storage rack 32 and the inspected wafer storage rack 33.

The above embodiment is illustrative and describes the principles and effects of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. A person skilled in the art who is familiar with this technology may make some changes or modifications to the above embodiment, provided that they do not deviate from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, all changes and modifications made by a person skilled in the art, provided that they do not deviate from the gist of the present invention, should be considered to be included in the scope of protection of the present invention.

1 Wafer case holder 2 Supply and recovery means 21 Arm 3 Inspection holder 31 Platform 310 Rail groove 32 Wafer storage rack for inspection 320 Wafer storage rack for inspection 321 First supporter 322 First wafer holder plate 33 Inspected wafer storage rack 330 Inspected wafer holder 331 Second supporter 332 Second wafer holder plate 4 Transport means 41 Wafer suction unit 5 Optical inspection module 91 First wafer case 92 Second wafer case L1 First horizontal axis direction L2 Second horizontal axis direction W Wafer disc S Inspection space

Claims (6)

a wafer case holder on which a first wafer case capable of accommodating a plurality of uninspected wafer disks and a second wafer case capable of accommodating a plurality of inspected wafer disks are disposed;
an inspection holding means having an inspection waiting wafer storage rack in which a predetermined number of inspection waiting wafer holders, each capable of holding one wafer disk, are arranged side by side along a predetermined transport path, and an inspected wafer storage rack in which the predetermined number of inspected wafer holders, each capable of holding one wafer disk, are arranged side by side along the transport path and are arranged along the transport path so as to separate an inspection space from the inspection waiting wafer storage rack;
a transport means configured to move along the transport path and receive the wafer disks from each of the inspection waiting wafer holders of the inspection waiting wafer storage rack, and then move through the inspection space to provide the wafer disks to each of the inspected wafer holders of the inspected wafer storage rack;
an optical inspection module configured to perform automatic optical inspection on the wafer discs on the transport means as they pass through the inspection space;
a supply and recovery means configured to remove the predetermined number of uninspected wafer disks from the first wafer case and transport them to each of the inspection waiting wafer holders, and to transport inspected wafer disks from each of the inspected wafer holders to the second wafer case. said supplying and recovering means having said predetermined number of arms;
2. The automatic optical inspection device for wafers according to claim 1, wherein said transport means has said predetermined number of wafer suction portions arranged along said transport path and each capable of suction-holding one wafer disk. The automatic optical inspection device for wafers according to claim 2, wherein the transport path extends along a predetermined first horizontal axis, and the supply and recovery means is disposed at a distance from the inspection holding means in a second horizontal axis direction perpendicular to the first horizontal axis direction, and is disposed at a distance from the wafer case holding table in the first horizontal axis direction. The automatic optical inspection device for wafers according to claim 3, wherein the wafer case holder is positioned away from the inspected wafer storage rack and close to the inspection waiting wafer storage rack. the inspection holding means further includes a platform extending along the transport path and disposed below the inspection waiting wafer storage rack and the inspected wafer storage rack, the platform being formed with a rail groove extending along the transport path and mounted so that the transport means can move along the transport path;
the inspection waiting wafer storage rack is formed with first supporters extending upward from both sides of the rail groove to support each of the inspection waiting wafer holders from below;
the inspected wafer storage rack is formed with second supporters extending upward from both sides of the rail groove to support each of the inspected wafer holders from below;
each of the inspection waiting wafer holders is configured to have two first wafer holders which can hold one wafer disk by approaching each other along a direction perpendicular to the transport path and can transfer the wafer disk between the inspection waiting wafer holders and the transport means by moving away from each other;
2. The automatic optical inspection apparatus for wafers according to claim 1, wherein each of the inspected wafer holders is configured to have two second wafer holder plates that approach each other along a direction perpendicular to the transport path to be able to hold one wafer disk. The automatic optical inspection device for wafers according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the predetermined number is 2.

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