How far is it before chip manufacturing can achieve "complete automation"?

Fully Auto is the pursuit and proposition of semiconductor manufacturing plants.

With the wave of global industrial intelligent upgrading, AMHS, which traditionally uses OHT (overhead crane) as the main transportation system, is undergoing innovation. Mobile robots (AMR) with both autonomous movement and operation capabilities have become standard equipment in new wafer fabs. The high-speed, staggered OHT in the air and the flexible and flexible AMR on the ground complement each other and jointly pave the way for the transformation of semiconductor smart factories.

As a "new productivity" for semiconductors, AMR is known for its extremely high flexibility and synergy, realizing the organic coordination of efficiency, flexibility and return on investment in semiconductor manufacturing, and completely completing the entire process of unmanned production, making Fully Auto no longer just A distant vision.

Under the battle of mature manufacturing processes, the pursuit of stable production capacity and yield is forcing factories to continuously explore ways to upgrade intelligently. Having a complete automated production system determines whether it can take the lead in future chip competition.

In advanced process wafer fabs, OHT is often used as the main material handling method to realize the automation of full-site transportation and loading and unloading. The OHT travel speed can reach 3.5m/s, and the single material transmission execution efficiency is high. It is the "main artery" of material transportation in the wafer factory.

However, behind the high-speed operation of logistics, most wafer fabs are facing a rather harsh reality: overhead cranes that rely on track laying are difficult to deploy and the project costs are high. They can often only be introduced in cutting-edge wafer fabs of 12 inches and above. , and there are only a handful of factories that have the ability to cover the entire field of OHT systems.

At the same time, due to the limitations of track layout and construction, OHT planning is often started at the beginning of the fab design, and it is even difficult for some established fabs to introduce the OHT series. This makes logistics automation an "unattainable" dream for most semiconductor factories.

In addition to the all-day vehicle coverage solution, wafer fabs urgently need to find a logistics automation solution that takes into account efficiency, flexibility and investment return cycle.

Compared with the characteristics of linear transportation and limited tracks of cranes, AMR, which has both autonomous movement and operation capabilities on the ground, has higher flexibility and efficiency. As a standard configuration of the AMHS system, it is becoming a major semiconductor factory to realize the entire logistics New options for automation .

"Through AMR's multi-machine collaborative operation, it can bring higher logistics efficiency to the factory production line." said Xu Yan, general manager of the Industrial Logistics Division of Shenzhen Youai Zhihe Robot Technology Co., Ltd. In the 8-inch FAB factory of a leading global semiconductor company, 23 UAI AMRs were introduced to run loop lines to transport SMIF Pods at a total of 12 Intra Bay interchanges on both sides of the Inter Bay.

"The ATS20 mobile robot body has 20 storage positions, the cart used for manual transportation generally has 6 storage positions, and the OHT has 1 storage position. Although the OHT speed is 4 times that of the AMR, the single transport volume is only 1/20. According to project calculations, when transporting 20 SMIF Pods over the same distance, the overall efficiency of OHT is only 1/5 of the AMR solution.”

As the mobile robot company with the largest shipment volume in the domestic semiconductor field, UAI has created an AMR logistics automation solution for semiconductor production covering all scenarios from warehouse to lineside cache, Inter Bay to Intra Bay, and automated loading and unloading between Intra Bays. The solution has served many world-renowned semiconductor manufacturers such as TSMC, SMIC, and Xinlian Integration.

The Fusion SLAM algorithm independently developed by Youai Zhihe allows the AMR to maintain stable movement with sub-millimeter accuracy across scenarios or complex environments, and can adapt to actual changes such as factory expansion, equipment updates, and layout adjustments without downtime, which greatly Shorten the deployment cycle, ensure production efficiency, and bring a more flexible on-site logistics model.

At the same time, the YOUI TMS software system, as the smart logistics hub, interacts with RTD, EAP, and MCS data in real time, intelligently generates and disassembles logistics orders according to the production rhythm, allows materials to flow intensively, and ensures optimal overall logistics efficiency.

"Whether it is Fully Auto or Semi Auto, what is essentially pursued is the improvement of production capacity and improvement of yield. AMR provides semiconductor factories with the optimal choice that combines flexibility, efficiency and ROI from the production line logistics link, allowing semiconductor production to truly realize Fully Auto ." Xu Yan said.

For AMR manufacturers, Fully Auto means that all production equipment and material racks in the entire factory need to be controlled by robots. In the actual whole-site transformation practice, the number of fully equipped robots in a workshop is often on the order of hundreds, and robots of various forms coexist. This also places extremely high demands on AMR's large-scale cluster global dispatching capabilities.

In the 8-inch FAB factory of a leading semiconductor company in the world, UAI has used more than 50 AMRs to collaboratively transport in-process wafers, covering the entire production process from photolithography to cleaning. SMIF POD is deployed in Intra-Bay and Inter -Bay is repeatedly transferred, and more than 12,000 tasks are performed every day, ensuring a stable and continuous production rhythm of the factory.

"The 8-inch FAB factory project essentially reflects the core advantages and difficulties of AMR in the OHT+AMR solution - large-scale cluster scheduling. In complex processes, mobile robots must have large-scale cluster scheduling capabilities in order to adapt intelligently Changes in the production line and environment within the factory ensure that material flow is more stable, flexible and efficient," Xu Jin pointed out.

He further said: "It is not easy to realize this capability. Youi Fleet has been deeply involved in the robot cluster scheduling system YOUI Fleet since its establishment. Currently, Youi Fleet has achieved the largest number of dispatched single cluster robots in commercial practice. 200 units, and the simulation stress test limit exceeds 1,000 units .”

Through the cluster scheduling management of mobile robots and the cluster collaboration of heterogeneous mobile robots, UAI has realized the global flexible scheduling of large-scale AMR in the factory, ensuring the stability and safety of mobile robot cluster operations, and ultimately making the robots' work more efficient. Performance is optimal.

The precise production process and strict production environment of semiconductors also place extremely high requirements on AMR performance.

In terms of the hardware performance of AMR itself, AMR needs to fully consider the characteristics of the semiconductor industry. It must meet the requirements of hard indicators such as cleanliness. It is best to be able to adapt to more fixtures to ensure that it meets the loading and unloading needs of all semiconductor production equipment. It must also meet the loading and unloading requirements of all semiconductor production equipment. Sufficient individual intelligence is needed to make production more flexible, effectively ensure yield and increase production capacity.

In terms of collaboration with equipment, warehousing systems, etc., AMR, as the main handling equipment, needs to comply with SEMI protocol standard requirements, and it also needs to collaborate with mainstream smart production systems. This also puts forward higher requirements for the openness of AMR's software and hardware systems.

Take the OW series of robots launched by Youai Zhihe after two years of polishing as an example . This robot can meet the CLASS-1 clean workshop level requirements. The vibration value during normal handling is within 0.2G, which is better than the 0.5G stipulated in the international SEMI standard. It effectively avoids vibrations that may cause cracks during handling and ensures stable and safe operation of wafers.

In Intra Bay, the UAI OW series supports agile replacement of kits for various fixtures such as FOUP \ SMIF Pod \ Open Cassette \ Shipping Box \ Magazine, etc., meeting most of the machine loading and unloading needs in the semiconductor field. The robot works in scenes with strong radiation, high cleanliness level, and high vibration level requirements, and has a high degree of scene adaptability.

Relying on rich business practices in the past, UAI's software and hardware systems fully comply with SEMI protocol standard requirements and can be coordinated with mainstream MCS, EAP, RTD and other smart production systems, and can be organically integrated into the automation systems of different customers. In the architecture, the entire logistics automation is effectively realized.

Xu Yan said: "From Stocker and E-Rack to the loading and unloading of the machine, AMR is like the 'capillary' of production logistics, using flexible, stable and precise network channels to ensure the smooth flow of production materials and data . "

At present, AMR, as a new option to achieve unmanned automation of the entire field, is becoming the standard configuration for semiconductor factories in their pursuit of advanced manufacturing. "In the future, Youai Zhihe will be deeply involved in the semiconductor industry for a long time, and its business covers the entire production link of substrate, epitaxy, FAB, mask, packaging and testing and other subdivisions of first, second and third generation semiconductor manufacturing, helping to realize Fully Auto ." Xu Jin said.