Silicon Wafers Are Ultra-Sensitive. Their Handling? A Perfect Job For Cobots

While for many businesses the flexibility and ease of programming are the main interest for cobots, we shouldn’t ignore just how critical their safety and ability to work alongside humans are.

When your operations move around expensive materials like silicon wafers, it’s extremely important for the robot to be gentle and highly accurate. 

Infineon is a global provider of semiconductor solutions for power systems, IoT, and everyday devices, like the phone you may be reading this on.

At their production facility in Villach, Austria, Infineon needed to solve the issue of automating a part of the silicon wafer handling process while maintaining product and human staff safety.

Not an easy problem to solve, especially in cleanrooms with highly sensitive operations.

However, KUKA accepted the challenge. Now, KUKA LBR iiwa CR cobots manipulate safely with wafers in the relevant steps, while their engineers work alongside them.

The Wafer Production Factors Affecting The Automation System Selection

Infineon's clean rooms are ridiculously clean, and they house workers and automated equipment, requiring an exceptional level of cleanliness, automation precision, and employee safety. 

At their facility, there can be at most one dust particle per 28 liters of air. That’s significantly cleaner than even in the operating rooms. The staff must have pristine, clean uniforms covering every part of the body.

Besides an obvious need for staff safety, robots working in the human vicinity also must avoid any sort of contact that may rip their clothing or otherwise affect their covering. Even if it wasn’t a physically harmful nudge, any body exposure can contaminate processes, causing costly damage.

Silicon wafers are only about 40 micrometers thick. Human hair is about 100 micrometers thick. 

So, imagine what a forceful impact from a robot would do to a cassette filled with wafers. That would be a VERY expensive accident. 

So, a robot working with wafers must be highly accurate and have the ability to STOP if any collision is detected.

All of these issues are solved… by cobots. They can’t harm a human or accidentally impact them or wafers to the point of causing damage or affecting the processes. 

The KUKA Choice

While cobots do meet the safety requirements, semiconductor manufacturing is among the most sophisticated processes, ever. 

They couldn’t just plug-and-play, like with some other cobot applications. 

Infineon engineers had to work hand in hand with KUKA and experts from Mechatronic Systemtechnik GmbH, and programmers from Micado Automation GmbH. While this is a more complex collaboration, it does show that cobots can have a very wide range of use, including highly sophisticated use cases. 

After Infineon became aware of KUKA cobots, they began the process of integration and meeting the ISO3 clean room standards.

“The constructive, solution-oriented cooperation of all those involved made a significant contribution to us now having an ideal material handling solution for the automated chip production,” says Moser.

Another critical factor for Infineon was the 7th axis. 

“We use the LBR iiwa CR because of the seventh axis. This means we have the opportunity to realize movements that would otherwise not be possible,” added Moser.

The Results: Clean, Safe, And Reliable

Silicon wafers travel through the facility from one manufacturing process to another as the KUKA cobots facilitate their safe movement. 

17 KUKA LBR iiwa CR cobots operate with accuracy down to 1 mm, allowing for exact movement and minimizing any collisions. However, if or when the silicon wafer cassettes do collide, KUKA cobots stop immediately, preventing damage to the fragile wafers inside them.

Cobots insert the cassettes into the processing chambers with extreme precision. Likewise, they remove them after the processing step is completed, before the cassettes are transported further down the production stream.

Infineon's success story shows that cobots can be highly valuable to manufacturers where precision and safety, but not just staff safety, are critical. Many industries that require particular care for product handling can benefit from collaborative robots, especially when the work being done requires human presence. 

Learn more about Infineon’s success and the KUKA cobot solution below:

• Cobots: the new form of wafer handling in cleanrooms

• KUKA LBR iiwa

Enjoy your week!

The Cobot Spotlight Team