Wafer Handling Equipment for Semiconductors

Reduce flaws and increase productivity with wafer handling equipment for semiconductors
By Christine Pollock Use wafer handling equipment for semiconductors to work faster and prevent defects created by bending or scratching. Tools range from tweezers to vacuums and robots. Since each process is unique, it’s important to find the tools best suited for your needs. Equipment designed for working with thin circular wafers doesn’t necessarily work well with thicker materials. You also want to look for tools that avoid scratching, and thus damaging, the fragile wafers.

Wafer handling equipment is also an asset when it comes to packing and unpacking the sensitive products. Find the semiconductor wafer tools to best suit your business by:

1. Looking at semiconductor wafer equipment to assess size, speed and accuracy in product output.

2. Comparing wafer handling systems to see which ones would work best for your business.

3. Purchasing wafer handling tools that are precise and durable.

Find a distributor who offers wafer handling equipment for semiconductors

A distributor assesses your situation and offers you the best tools for you to optimize production in your wafer handling. Distributors know the sizes of the wafer handling tweezers and wafer transfer tools you might need because of their vast experience in the industry. Vendors also offer solutions you might not have otherwise heard about.
Try:  NetMotion, Incorporated offers a unique design for tweezers called the Incorporated Manual Wand for Semiconductor Wafer Handling. It handles wafers without scratching or excessive touching which might damage the final product. The distributors at Ted Pella, Inc. carry vacuum handling tools for wafers, replacing tweezers. They handle wafers up to 12 inches and run for three to four hours continuously per charge—a recharge takes two hours.

Consider purchasing a wafer handling robot to speed up your production process

Use a robot for semiconductor wafer handling to decrease defects yielded by human interaction. A decrease in damage equals an increase in productivity.
Try:  Genmark Automation, Inc. designs, develops and manufactures high-precision robotics including vacuum robots. The robots transport single or dual wafers and work in various reach and vertical combinations. If you are looking for a robot that does aligning, consider a robot model from Asyst Technologies, Inc. They have wafer pre-aligner robots that find the precise center of the wafer and the exact orientation of its notch.

Purchase semiconductor wafer tools best suited to the tasks you require

Wafer handling tweezers and vacuums for wafer handling come in various sizes so it's important to purchase the right ones for the job. Look for tweezers with a high Cobalt content to ensure strength and ensure that the tweezers aren't corrosive or magnetic.
Try:  Virtual Industries, Inc. offers a vacuum system that one or two operators could use at the same time. Operators appreciate the way they have the option of using two vacuum tips of different sizes at the same time. When working with wet and dry substrates, consider MultiMetrixs products. They produce a refined line of edge-grip products along with innovative edge-grip aligners.

• Consider purchasing a surplus wafer handling system to cut business expenses.