Introduction
By some estimates, the use of robotics in electronics manufacturing now rivals that of the automotive industry. No wonder: Fabricated chips, components, and fully assembled electronics are high value, so they justify investments in automation technologies. Complicating matters is that volumes and therefore throughput must be high, and the products are also inherently delicate … with semiconductor wafers for some applications now only 140 µm thick. These application parameters demand precision handling with motion systems and robotics having exceptional reach, speed, force, and dexterity as well as cleanroom compliance. Hastening the adoption of robotics in semiconductor manufacture are burgeoning classes of six-axis robots, selective compliance assembly robot arms (SCARAs), cartesian machinery, and collaborative robots featuring reconfigurable or modular hardware as well as unifying software to greatly simplify implementation. These robots and their supplemental equipment must be designed, rated, and installed for cleanroom settings or else risk contaminating delicate wafers with impurities.
Figure 1: Here, a delicate wafer is placed into an atomic layer deposition machine located within a cleanroom. (Image source: Dreamstime)
Requirements are defined by ISO 14644-1:2015, which classifies cleanroom air cleanliness by particle concentration. So, there’s especially heavy reliance on: ■ Exacting integration, wrapping, delivery, and installation methods to prevent particulate from hitchhiking into the cleanroom ■ Specialty coatings that won’t flake or otherwise degrade ■ Stainless steel enclosures and other elements wherever feasible ■ Specialty inert and non-gassing lubricants for mechanical components ■ Vacuum elements within the robotic body to direct any particulate to a segregated exhaust area ■ Specialty sealing of all robot joints
The latter is especially important for high-speed robots that satisfy the need for high semiconductor throughput but shed more particles than slower-moving equipment.
Figure 2: The use of robotics and other automation for the production of micro-electronics extends beyond the cleanroom. (Image source: Dreamstime)
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