4G Auto Handling Qualifies
An OHT monorail system from SK Daifuku (Cleanway CLW-07) was integrated with the Clean Drive conveyor transport system made by Middlesex General Industries. ISMT design engineers say that this is the first time that such a combination has successfully occurred in a 300mm manufacturing environment.
First-generation systems use overhead (non-hoist) vehicles to move front opening unified pod (FOUP) wafer carriers (from stocker to stocker between tool bays, and carts or person-guided vehicles (PGVs) for transportation within a bay.
Second-generation systems add OHT equipment to move lots from stockers to tools within a bay. These are the most common systems in contemporary fabs.
Third-generation systems offer unified interbay and intrabay transport, with OHT technology to bypass stockers and deliver lots directly from tool to tool. If tool load ports are in use, however, the FOUP waits in a stocker.
The ISMT fourth-generation can bypass the stocker by placing a FOUP in a buffer directly in front of the tool if the tool load ports are occupied.
"The FOUP stays close to where it's needed, instead of in a stocker that might be 30-40m away," says Marlin Shopbell, AMH project manager for ISMT.
The ISMT system was installed in a 250m2 section of an automated copper line, using a 80m-long Middlesex conveyor system with bidirectional capabilities along with "stocker" and tool buffer zones. It was combined with a 25m-long Daifuku OHT providing direct delivery to load ports using bidirectional vehicles and custom transfer points to and from the conveyor.
The unified system processed wafers through seven tools, including two furnaces, planariser, wafer sorter, plating tool and two deposition tools. It also demonstrated FOUP and load port interoperability. The FOUPs came from three suppliers and were used on five different types of tool load ports within the same cell.
Shopbell reports: "This system could be ready for industry use within two years, becoming common perhaps by 2007."
AngelTech Live III: Join us on 12 April 2021!
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