US-20260130166-A1 - AUTOMATIC CARRIER SLOT SCANNING APPARATUS FOR GLASS SUBSTRATE SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE

US20260130166A1US 20260130166 A1US20260130166 A1US 20260130166A1US-20260130166-A1

Abstract

An embodiment relates to an automatic carrier slot scanning apparatus for glass substrate semiconductor packages for automation of a glass substrate semiconductor package factory, and more particularly, to an automatic carrier slot scanning apparatus for glass substrate semiconductor packages configured to automatically scan positions and the number of glass substrates for slots of a carrier, compare the scanned information with related information of a manufacturing execution system, and thereby achieve synchronization.

Inventors

Sangmin Yun
YOUNJUNE KIM
Jieun Kim

Assignees

ABSOLICS INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251105

Claims (6)

1 . An automatic carrier slot scanning apparatus for glass substrate semiconductor packages, which scans positions and the number of glass substrates allocated on a lot basis for each slot of carriers that are handled in a glass substrate semiconductor package factory and each of which has an identification code attached thereto, and compares scanned information with slot information of a manufacturing execution system, the automatic carrier slot scanning apparatus comprising: a list generation unit configured to generate a list of carriers stored in each stocker; a scan task preparation unit configured to search for process equipment, which allows a scan task to be performed, and prepare the scan task; a scan task execution unit configured to select any one carrier included in the list, load the selected carrier into the process equipment, and automatically scan the positions and the number of glass substrates for each slot of the carrier; a scan information comparison unit configured to compare scan information, which is output according to the automatic scanning and corresponds to the positions and the number of glass substrates for the slots of the carrier, with slot information previously stored in the manufacturing execution system, and determine whether the scan information matches the slot information; and an error occurrence notification unit configured to, when the scan information does not match the slot information based on a result of determining whether the scan information matches the slot information, set the carrier to a holding state, store the carrier in the stocker, and transmit an error occurrence signal to an administrator terminal.
2 . The automatic carrier slot scanning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the scan task preparation unit includes: a process equipment search unit configured to search for process equipment that is currently in an available state among a plurality of pieces of process equipment existing in the glass substrate semiconductor package factory; a process equipment state change unit configured to change a state of the found process equipment from the available state to an in-use state; and a scan task reservation unit configured to reserve a scan task in the manufacturing execution system so that the scan task is performed using the process equipment that is changed to the in-use state.
3 . The automatic carrier slot scanning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the scan task execution unit includes: a carrier selecting unit configured to select any one carrier included in the list; a carrier discharge unit configured to discharge the selected carrier from the stocker through a rack master; a carrier transport unit configured to transport the carrier discharged from the stocker to a sorter through transport equipment; a carrier loading unit configured to load the carrier transported to the sorter into the process equipment; a carrier slot scanning unit configured to scan the positions and the number of glass substrates for the slots of the carrier loaded into the process equipment; a slot information transmission unit configured to transmit, to the manufacturing execution system, the scan information corresponding to the positions and the number of glass substrates for the slots of the scanned carrier; and a carrier unloading unit configured to unload the scanned carrier from the process equipment.
4 . The automatic carrier slot scanning apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the scan information comparison unit includes: an information receiving unit configured to receive each piece of the scan information and the slot information from the manufacturing execution system; a position/quantity comparison unit configured to determine whether the positions and the number of glass substrates for the slots on the basis of the scan information match the positions and the number of glass substrates for the slots on the basis of the slot information; and a comparison result output unit configured to output a comparison result according to whether the positions and the number of glass substrates for the slots on the basis of the scan information match the positions and the number of glass substrates for the slots on the basis of the slot information.
5 . The automatic carrier slot scanning apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the error occurrence notification unit includes: a first error determination unit configured to, when the scan information and the slot information do not match each other based on the comparison result and the carrier is allocated on the lot basis, determine that an error occurs in a process of allocating the carrier on the lot basis and output first error information; a second error determination unit configured to, when the scan information and the slot information do not match each other based on the comparison result and the carrier is not allocated on the lot basis, determine that an error occurs in the carrier itself and output second error information; a carrier returning unit configured to return the carrier, which is determined to have the error by the first error determination unit and the second error determination unit, to the stocker through transport equipment; a carrier storage unit configured to store the carrier, which is returned to the stocker, in the stocker through a rack master; and an error information transmission unit configured to transmit the first error information or the second error information output by the first error determination unit or the second error determination unit to the administrator terminal to notify an administrator to correct the corresponding error.
6 . The automatic carrier slot scanning apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising a scan task termination unit configured to, when the scan task execution unit completes scan tasks for all the carriers included in the list, release the scan task reserved in a process management server so that the scan task using the process equipment is finished.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/716,242, filed on November 05, 2024, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes. BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Invention An embodiment relates to an automatic carrier slot scanning apparatus for glass substrate semiconductor packages to automate a glass substrate semiconductor package factory. 2. Discussion of Related Art Recently, in order to replace plastic substrates used in a semiconductor packaging field, glass substrates made of glass have been developed and are being used. Such glass substrates are regarded as innovative substrate materials that may change the landscape of the semiconductor packaging field. That is, the glass substrate has a smooth surface and excellent processability into large quadrangular panels and is thus suitable for implementing semiconductor packaging with ultra-fine line widths. In addition, since no intermediate substrate is required, a thickness of the substrate can be reduced, and power consumption can also be reduced. Here, in a glass substrate semiconductor package factory, the glass substrates are grouped into lots, each of which has a predetermined number of glass substrates, and are individually loaded into a plurality of slots provided at regular intervals inside a carrier (cassette). That is, the glass substrates are transported by transport equipment after being loaded into the slots of the carrier, withdrawn from the slots of the carrier by transfer equipment according to a processing sequence, loaded into process equipment to be processed, and then reloaded into the slots of the carrier. Meanwhile, in order to operate the glass substrate semiconductor package factory in an automated manner, it is necessary to accurately identify the positions and number of the glass substrates for each slot of the carrier. That is, it is necessary to accurately determine which slot of the carrier the glass substrate is located in and how many glass substrates are loaded in the slots of the carrier, so that the information matches slot information of a manufacturing execution system (MES, e.g., a workflow service (WFS)), thereby enabling the glass substrate semiconductor package factory to be operated in an automated manner. However, in the current glass substrate semiconductor package factory, all inventory sorting operations for checking the positions and number of glass substrates for each slot of the carrier are performed manually, making it difficult to accurately synchronize with the slot information of the manufacturing execution system. Accordingly, research is required on a technology for automatically scanning the positions and number of glass substrates for each slot of the carrier and comparing the scanned information with the slot information of the manufacturing execution system so that synchronization is achieved. The aforementioned background technology is technical information possessed by the inventor for derivation of the present invention or acquired by the inventor during the derivation of the present invention and is not necessarily the related art disclosed to the public before the application of the present invention. Related art references include Korean Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-2005-0067603, published on July 5, 2005, Korean Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-2008-0024375, published on March 18, 2008, and Korean Registered Patent Publication No. 10-0828972, registered on May 13, 2008. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An embodiment has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide an automatic carrier slot scanning apparatus for glass substrate semiconductor packages, which automatically scans the positions and number of glass substrates for each slot of a carrier, compares scanned information with slot information of a manufacturing execution system to achieve synchronization, and enables a glass substrate semiconductor package factory to be operated in an automated manner. The objectives of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned objective, and other objectives which are not mentioned above will be clearly understood from the following description and are sufficiently included in the objective of the present invention. According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an automatic carrier slot scanning apparatus for glass substrate semiconductor packages, which scans positions and the number of glass substrates allocated on a lot basis for each slot of carriers that are handled in a glass substrate semiconductor package factory and each of which has an identification code attached thereto, and compares scanned information with slot information of a manufacturing execution system, the automatic carrier slot scanning apparatus including a list generation unit configured to generate a list of carriers stored in each stocke