Substrate Centering Method for Robotized Semiconductor Manufacturing Systems

This paper describes a method for on-the-fly determination of eccentricity of a circular silicon substrate carried by a robotic manipulator in semiconductor manufacturing applications, where eccentricity refers to the difference between the actual location of the center of the substrate and its desired position on the end-effector of the robotic manipulator. The method utilizes a pair of external optical sensors located along the substrate transfer path. When moving a substrate along the transfer path, the robotic manipulator captures the positions and velocities of the end-effector at which the edges of the substrate are detected by the sensors. These data along with the expected radius of the substrate and the coordinates of the sensors are used to determine the eccentricity of the substrate. This information can be used by the robotic manipulator to compensate for eccentricity of the substrate when performing a place operation, resulting in the substrate being placed centered regardless of the amount and direction of the initial eccentricity. The method can also be employed to detect a defect, such as breakage, of a substrate and report an error condition which can abort or otherwise adjust operation of the robotic manipulator.