• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.1492-1501
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• 2006

A transportation system of single wafer has been developed to be applied to semiconductor manufacturing process of the next generation. In this study, the experimental apparatus consists of two kinds of track, one is for propelling a wafer, so called control track, the other is for generating an air film to transfer a wafer, so called transfer track. The wafer transportation speed has been evaluated by the numerical and the experimental methods for three types of nozzle position a..ay (i.e., the front-, face- and rear-array) in an air levitation system. Test facility for 300mm wafer has been equipped with two control tracks and one transfer track of 1500mm length from the starting point to the stopping point. From the present results, it is found that the experimental values of the wafer transportation speed are well in agreement with the computed ones. Namely, the computed values of the maximum wafer transportation speed $V_{max}$ are slightly higher than the experimental ones by about $15{\times}20%$. The disparities in $V_{max}$ between the numerical and the experimental results become smaller as the air velocity increases. Also, at the same air flow rate, the order of wafer transportation speeds is : $V_{max}$ for the front-array > $V_{max}$ for the face-array > $V_{max}$ for the rear-array. However, the face-array is rather more stable than any other type of nozzle array to ensure safe transportation of a wafer.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.161-161
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• 2000

The clean mobile robot for wafer transfer is AGV that carry each wafer to each equipment. It has wafer handling technology, wafer ID recognition technology, position calibration technology using vision system, and anti-vibration technology. Wafer loading/unloading working accuracy is within ${\pm}$1mm, ${\pm}$3$^{\circ}$. By application of this AGV, we can reduce the manufacturing tack time and bring cost down of equipment.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.31-36
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• 2003

On this study, an E.E(End-Effector) for the 300 mm wafer transfer robot system is newly suggested. It is a mechanical type with $180^{\circ}$ rotating ranges and is composed of 3-point arms, two plate springs and single-axis DC motor controlled by microchip. To design, relationship between the gripping force and the wafer deformation is analyzed by FEM. By analytic results, the gripping force for 300 mm wafer is confirmed as 255~274 gf. From experimental results on gripping force, repeatable position accuracy and gripping cycle times in a wafer cleaning system, we confirmed that the suggested E.E was well designed to satisfiy on the required performance for 300 mm wafer transfer robot system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.541-542
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• 2008

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.4 s.247
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• pp.306-313
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• 2006

Automated material handling system is being used as a method to reduce manufacturing cost in the semiconductor and flat panel displays (FPDs) manufacturing process. Those are considering switch-over from the traditional cassette system to single-substrate transfer system to reduce raw materials of stocks in the processing line. In the present study, the wafer transportation speed has been evaluated by numerical and experimental method for three propulsion nozzle array (face, front, rear) in an air levitation system. Test facility for 300 mm wafer was equipped with two control tracks and a transfer track of 1,500mm length. The diameter of propulsion nozzle is 0.8mm and air velocity of wafer propulsion is $50\sim150m/s$. We found that the experimental results of the wafer transportation speed were well agreed with the numerical ones. Namely, the predicted values of the maximum wafer transportation speed are higher than those values of experimental data by 16% and the numerical result of the mean wafer transportation speed is higher than the experimental result within 20%.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.66-73
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• 2004

This paper presents wafer motion modeling of transfer unit in clean tube system, which was developed as a means for transferring the air-floated wafers inside the closed tube filled with the super clean airs. When the wafer is transferred in x direction with an initial velocity the motion along x direction can be modeled as a simple decaying motion due to viscous friction of the fluid. But, the motion in y direction is modeled as a mass-spring-damper system where the recovering force by air jets issued from the perforated is modeled as a linear spring. Experiments with a clean tube system built fur 12 wafer show the validity of the presented force and motion models.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.4 no.1 s.10
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• pp.35-41
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• 2005

An air levitation type wafer transfer system is composed of control and transfer track. Wafer transfer speed is mainly affected by air velocity of propulsion nozzle. In this study, the propulsion force coefficient was evaluated experimentally for the nozzle with 0.5mm, 0.8mm, and 1.0mm diameter. As a result, the propulsion force was largest in the smallest size of nozzle at same air velocity. The propulsion force coefficient of nozzle increases with reducing diameter of nozzle. This increment of propulsion force coefficient was enlarged remarkably at the 0.5mm diameter of nozzle.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1989.10a
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• pp.421-426
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• 1989

Many of semiconductor manufacturing companies persuit automation of wafer fabrication to improve the yields and quality of their products. Development of real-time control system for wafer fabrication and wafer/cassette automatic transfer-system is the most important part to achieve the purpose. In this paper, SECS protocol proposed by SEMI is briefly reviewed and an implementation method of real-time monitoring and control system is suggested as one of the possible ways for wafer fabrication automation. The system consists of process equipments supporting SECS.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.08a
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• pp.1264-1268
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• 2004

This paper presents a wafer motion modeling of the transfer unit and the control unit in the clean tube system, which was developed as a means for transferring the air-floated wafers inside the closed tube filled with the super clean airs. The motion in the transfer unit is modeled as a mass-spring-damper system where the recovering force by air jets issued from the perforated plate is modeled as a linear spring. The motion in the control unit is also modeled as another mass-spring-damper system, but in two dimensional systems. Experiments with a clean tube system built for 12-inch wafers show the validity of the presented force and motion models.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society Of Semiconductor Equipment Technology
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.80-87
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• 2003

On this study, an End-Effector for the 300mm wafer transfer robot System is newly suggested. It is a mechanical type with $180^{\circ}$ rotating ranges and is composed of 3-point arms, two plate springs and single-axis DC motor. It is controlled by microchip for the DC motor control. To design, relationships on the gripping force and the wafer deformation is analyzed by FEM analysis. Criterion on gripping force of a suggested End-Effector is confirmed as $255 ~ 274g_f$ from experimental results. From experimented results on repeatable position accuracy, gripping force and gripping cycle times in a wafer cleaning system, we confirmed that the suggested End-Effector is well satisfied on the required performance for 300mm wafer transfer robot system.