Semiconductor chips are the core cornerstone of information technology and an important emerging technology and industry that countries are competing to develop. Wafer, as the fundamental material for manufacturing semiconductor chips, plays a very important role in the development of China's semiconductor industry. In terms of wafer manufacturing capacity, China has already taken the lead in the world, but as the global "chip shortage" intensifies, it will further accelerate capacity expansion.
1. Project Background
A subsidiary of a domestic semiconductor industry listed group, as a leading player in the national electronic information materials industry, is committed to the research and development, manufacturing of semiconductor materials, electronic specialized materials, semiconductor devices and other technologies. The main product is semiconductor zone melting single crystal silicon wafer, with a global top three comprehensive strength and a domestic market share of over 80%.
To accelerate capacity expansion, the company has invested approximately $3 billion to initiate the construction of a large diameter silicon wafer production and manufacturing project for integrated circuits in Yixing City, Jiangsu Province. The second phase of the project has been launched in 2021, adhering to the advanced concept of "Industry 4.0" and planning to use intelligent manufacturing throughout the entire line to achieve automation, informatization, and intelligent construction of the workshop. After completion, the total production capacity will be 220000 8-inch epitaxial wafers, 200000 12-inch polished wafers, and 150000 12-inch epitaxial wafers per month, becoming a silicon wafer production base with global advantages. Therefore, in terms of the group's intelligent warehousing, ROBOTECH has improved the intelligence, informatization, and automation level of its production base by implementing advanced intelligent warehousing systems.
2. Project planning
ROBOTECH has fully utilized the 6m vertical space of its production base and planned a 4-lane box type automated warehouse for accessing semiconductor wafer products, which can accommodate a total of over 2000 storage spaces, effectively increasing the storage capacity of wafers. Due to the wafer being in the form of a sheet, its carrier adopts a specially customized 330 * 330 * 300 transparent plastic container for easy access to the wafer, with a maximum load of 50kg. Solved the problem of complex wafer storage processes and limited space utilization in traditional warehouses, achieving a dual improvement in space utilization and efficiency.
• Zebra series stacker crane system
• 100m/min & 24-hour production rhythm & 63P/h per cycle
In terms of efficient operation, ROBOTECH selects the zebra series stacker crane system for high dynamic material flow, with a horizontal speed of 100m/min, which meets the 24-hour production rhythm of the production base, and the storage efficiency can reach 63P/h per cycle.
3. Fearless of challenges, customized innovation
• Ensure dust and shock resistance
• Non-standard customization
• Ultrasonic sensor device
• The carrier is placed at an angle of 5 degrees on the shelves and forks
Challenge 1
The storage characteristics of semiconductor wafers are to ensure dust and shock resistance, otherwise it is easy to cause damage to fragile wafers. Based on this, ROBOTECH has upgraded the mechanical structure of the stacker crane to non-standard customization. For example, aluminum alloy ground rails are used instead of conventional rails, high-strength cold drawn aluminum alloy columns are used instead of steel columns, rubber covered wheels are used instead of steel wheels, Timing belt lifting is used instead of steel wire rope lifting, and dust-proof covers are added to the cargo platform. From the early stage of equipment design, the impact of dust and vibration on goods has been minimized, the risk of pollution in the dust-free workshop has been reduced, and the yield has been improved. The cleanliness level can meet the environmental requirements of Class 1000.
Challenge 2
Due to the transparent plastic box of the wafer carrier, conventional photoelectric sensors cannot be used for cargo detection. ROBOTECH innovatively designed an ultrasonic sensor device for cargo detection, which can automatically detect the condition of goods on shelves and pallets. And it is equipped with a camera and a mobile manual operation screen to achieve accurate visualization and traceability of all materials throughout the entire process, while also troubleshooting and resolving faults in a more convenient way.
Challenge 3
To prevent the wafer from sliding off the carrier, the carrier is placed at an angle of 5 degrees on the shelves and forks. The high-precision positioning and stable forking are achieved by inserting the bottom slot of the wafer box into the three positioning pins of the special tool for stacking the airborne cargo platform for storage. After repeated testing, the final positioning accuracy reached ± 2mm, and the forking smoothness reached 99.99%. In addition, the equipment adopts various interlocking devices, effectively improving the overall stability and safety factor.
As an expert in automated warehousing solutions, ROBOTECH has built intelligent logistics solutions for wafer materials that are pollution-free and traceable in real-time, based on advanced equipment and comprehensive systems.
The successful implementation of this project marks an effective breakthrough in semiconductor wafer automated storage, and also means that ROBOTECH will officially enter the semiconductor field, empowering semiconductor enterprises with intelligent logistics automation solutions. In the future, ROBOTECH will continue to explore, accumulate industry knowledge, improve resource utilization, and achieve overall efficiency improvement.
NanJing Inform Storage Equipment (Group) Co.,Ltd
Mobile phone: +86 13851666948
Address: No. 470, Yinhua Street, Jiangning District,Nanjing Ctiy,China 211102
Website: www.informrack.com
Email: kevin@informrack.com
Post time: Apr-11-2023
