Views: 20 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2025-09-04 Origin: Site
In the chip manufacturing process, precision, cleanliness and automation are key factors affecting production quality. Pneumatic technology has been widely used in many links of chip manufacturing due to its pollution-free, high-precision, fast response and easy control. Whether in wafer handling, precision airflow control, or cleaning, packaging and other processes, pneumatic technology plays an indispensable role. This article will explore the core applications of pneumatic technology in chip manufacturing and its main advantages.
1. Wafer Handling and Automated Transmission
The chip manufacturing environment requires extremely high cleanliness (clean room environment), and traditional mechanical handling methods are prone to particle contamination. The pneumatic system achieves contactless handling through vacuum adsorption, air suspension transmission and other methods, avoiding mechanical stress damage to the wafer and improving production yield. For example:
Vacuum suction cup: used to stably and accurately grasp and release wafers to reduce dust pollution.
Air suspension conveying system: uses airflow to suspend wafers to achieve frictionless transmission and reduce contamination risks.
2. Precision gas flow control (lithography, etching, deposition)
Chip manufacturing involves multiple nano-scale processing steps, such as lithography, plasma etching, thin film deposition, etc. These processes require extremely high gas flow control accuracy. Pneumatic technology plays a key role in gas delivery, pressure regulation, flow control, etc. For example:
Pneumatic pressure regulating valve: used to accurately control the process gas flow required in the etching and deposition process.
Ultra-clean gas delivery system: ensure a stable supply of inert gases (such as nitrogen and argon) to avoid chemical reactions from contaminating the chip surface.
3. Wafer cleaning and drying
During the chip manufacturing process, wafers need to be cleaned multiple times to remove dust and chemical residues. The application of pneumatic technology in cleaning and drying includes:
Pneumatic ultrasonic cleaning: using ultrasonic and bubble bursting effects to improve particle removal capabilities.
Non-contact air knife drying: using high-pressure clean air to blow away moisture on the wafer surface to avoid water marks and improve cleanliness.
4. Chip packaging and testing
Chip packaging is the last step in the manufacturing process. Pneumatic systems can be used for packaging material delivery, automatic patching, chip testing and other links. For example:
Pneumatic packaging machine: Use compressed air to control the robot arm to accurately place the packaging material.
Pneumatic pressure control: During the testing phase, ensure that the chip is under appropriate pressure to check its durability and conductivity.
No pollution, suitable for clean room environment
High precision and stability
Modern pneumatic control technology can accurately adjust the pressure, flow and gas purity to ensure the stability of each chip processing link. For example, a high-precision pressure regulating valve can control the pressure within **±0.1%**.
Fast response, improve production efficiency
Pneumatic actuators (such as cylinders and vacuum suction cups) have fast response speeds and can complete switching or handling actions in milliseconds, meeting the needs of high-beat production in chip manufacturing.
Strong durability and low maintenance cost
Compared with electric or hydraulic systems, pneumatic components have a simple structure and low maintenance cost, and are suitable for semiconductor production lines that operate for a long time and at high intensity.
High safety
The pneumatic system will not overheat due to overload, and has good explosion-proof performance, which is safer and more reliable in the semiconductor production environment.
