Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) for Reticle Handling and Transport in Semiconductor Manufacturing
As the latest addition to our successful, field-proven family of HERO Mobile Robots, it is designed with state-of-the-art technology, redefining flexibility and safety in the transportation and handling of reticle pods in cleanrooms. Like his fellow heroes, this AMR helps you to enhance the efficiency within your manufacturing environment, offering a new level of operational excellence.
Challenges of reticle transport and handling in the cleanroom
Key Role of Photolithography in Semiconductor Manufacturing
Photolithography is the key process in semiconductor manufacturing. This area requires extremely high investments and poses immense process and logistics challenges, such as double exposure, tool dedication, and nested time windows. Therefore, it is in Litho, where the strongest focus on optimization, efficiency improvement, and waste elimination is placed. Reticle logistics plays a crucial role. It must run completely synchronized and without fail, parallel to WIP (Work In Progress) logistics.
The Need for Automation
Ambitious improvement goals in this extremely complex environment reach their limits as long as the human factor, with all its uncertainties and individual needs, plays a role. Automation is the solution.
Timing and Coordination in Exposure Processes
A modern semiconductor product with up to 50 exposure layers must be joined by the necessary reticles at the exposure equipment at the optimal time. Downtime or waiting times are unacceptable. The most expensive area of the factory must run continuously and error-free, achieving maximum throughput.
Daily Challenges in the Fab
However, the daily routine in the fab is full of challenges. Besides high throughput requirements that demand quick and precise material and setup changes, buffering at the equipment is limited (for WIP at the loadports and in the reticle library). Frequently, seemingly trivial things become obstacles. For example, the reticle loading ports on the equipment are often arranged in ergonomically unfavorable positions, resulting in operators using steps and ladders to reach the load port.
Benefits of Automating WIP and Reticle Logistics
Automating WIP and reticle logistics is not just worthwhile as a replacement for manual labor, but mainly because of the optimization potential for overall equipment efficiency (OEE) and compliance with production schedules. These benefits affect not only the lithography area but the entire factory, as lithography sets the pace for the rest of the production process.
Our Solution: A Compact, Flexible and Precise AMR
Most flexible, automated reticle transport in the cleanroom
The HERO Scout is a state-of-the-art mobile robot, specifically designed for flexible transportation and secure handling of reticle pods in semiconductor manufacturing and cleanroom environments. Equipped with an innovative cobot, the HERO Scout effortlessly manages the loading and unloading of mask load ports at different heights.
As the smallest cleanroom-compatible autonomous mobile robot on the market, it impresses with its ease of use, flexibility, and maximum reach.
Discover the future of safe reticle pod handling and transport with the HERO Scout - your solution for a more efficient, more flexible and safer lithography process within semiconductor production.
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Key Features of HERO Scout
- 6-axis cobot for flexible handling
- Longest reach in its class
- High-level load port compatibility
- Smallest cleanroom-compatible AMR
- Innovative sensor and camera technology
- Ultra-clean design
Reach of robot (shelf / loadport height): 200 – 1,700 mm
Weight: 230 kg
Speed: Max. 1.4 m/s
Handling material: RSP, MRSP, DMS boxes, probe cards
Storage capacity: 2 buffers
Cleanroom class: ISO 2 / US FED 0.1 certified
Benefits of HERO Scout
Increase the efficiency of your production
The HERO Scout guarantees safe and fast transport and handling of reticle pods in the cleanroom. It prevents down-times and material damages that effect your fab's efficiency. The Hero Scout utilizes inductive on-the-fly charging technology, allowing the platform to charge as it passes over a charging station during the pick-and-place process, ensuring no time is lost.
Handle your reticle pods with precision
The HERO Scout operates autonomously with 3D cameras for obstacle detection and bypassing, offering both track-bound an free-roaming driving options. It easily adapts to diverse production sceniarios without the need for extensive setup. With its innovative, highly sensitive 6-axis cobot, the HERO Scout precisely and safely handles the often challenging loading and unloading of load ports of exposure tools.
Save time on set-up and maintenance
The HERO Scout impresses with short commissioning times thanks to SLAM and auto-teaching and low adaptation effort to changes in the production environment. Thanks to "auto-gripping", its gripper camera ensures that no reteaching is necessary. Even after maintenance work on the load port or other corrective measures, the Scout is quickly back in operation.
Ensure the safety of your workforce and your material
Equipped with reliable sensor and camera technology, the HERO Scout works safely in areas where man and machine work closely together. It ensures human safety thanks to its sensitive cobot arm and adaptive speed control for continuous operation in man-machine environments. By using FsoE technology, the time between sending an emergency stop command and the affected part of the machine receiving and processing the message. is shortened significantly.
Stay flexible in every operational scenario
The HERO Scout can be adapted to the specific requirements of your manufacturing environment at any time without the need for extensive construction work. Thanks to its intelligent technology, the HERO Scout navigates autonomously and masters its tasks without external guidance systems. Equipped with a 3D camera for obstacle detection and avoidance, both guided and fully autonomous driving is possible. The ability to combine both gives the customer maximum flexibility.
Maximize space efficiency
The HERO Scout is the smallest cleanroom-compatible AMR on the market. It features a differential drive and minimal footprint, enabling it to navigate through the narrowest passages. This makes it ideal for confined factory areas and aisles, optimizing space utilization and enhancing operational flexibility.
Why Fabmatics? We make it work!
Fabmatics has the unique competence to offer complex automation, robotics and handling systems for the use under cleanroom conditions, from hardware and software, from consulting and development to production and installation to after sales service.
Each one of our products and solutions can be added and integrated seamlessly into existing production lines – always adapting to our customer’s needs.
In addition, our extensive expertise enables us to design, create and implement your greenfield fabs material flow and handling automation from scratch – all from a single source.
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Get to know our HERO family!
Our field-proven fleet of HERO's for the handling and transport of wafers, reticles and carriers in the semiconductor industry, as well as for similar substrates in micro and nanoelectronics make manual intervention superfluous.
Navigating their way either autonomously or rail-bound through semiconductor fab's wordwide, they truly are heroes in the cleanroom and make sure that the right material arrives at the right time.
Explore how our automation solutions fit into your manufacturing environment and elevate your fab’s performance, setting new standards for productivity and competitiveness.
