12-inch Wafer Handling & Inspection
Customer: A semiconductor equipment manufacturer
Custom cleanroom electric grippers enable precision handling and inspection loading/unloading of 12-inch wafers in cleanrooms, meeting the stringent requirements of semiconductor front-end processes.
Customer Challenges
12-inch (300 mm) silicon wafers are valuable, thin and brittle; handling must cause no contact damage or particle contamination. The customer previously used imported vacuum tools, which suffered from high cost, long lead times and slow service response, and sought a domestic alternative. The gripper had to meet Class 100 cleanliness, low particle generation, ESD protection, and no metal-ion contamination, while delivering high handling precision with no wafer breakage.
Cleanliness Requirements
For Class 100 cleanroom use, the gripper must produce low particles, be oil-free and generate no particle contamination.
Fragile Wafers
Wafers are only ~700 μm thick and highly brittle; improper force control easily causes breakage, with each wafer worth thousands of RMB.
ESD & Contamination Control
ESD protection is required; there must be no metal-ion contamination, demanding strict material selection.
High Precision
Wafer alignment and inspection require ±0.01 mm positioning accuracy and angular deviation below 0.01°.
Jodell Solution
Jodell custom-developed a semiconductor-grade cleanroom electric gripper: 1) Cleanroom-specific design with low-outgassing grease and special surface treatment, meeting Class 100 particle limits; 2) Semiconductor-grade materials — no silicone, no metal-ion contamination, with ESD surface treatment; 3) Ultra-soft force control at 0.05 N resolution, gently gripping the wafer edge without breakage; 4) Custom PFA soft-contact fingertips that do not damage the wafer edge; 5) ±0.01 mm repeatability for inspection loading/unloading; 6) Designed to SEMI S2 safety standards to help the customer's equipment pass system-level certification.
Products Used
Customer Value
"The Jodell custom semiconductor gripper reaches the performance level of comparable imported products. Cleanliness and precision meet our requirements, and response is fast with good service and a cost advantage — an excellent partner for domestic semiconductor equipment."
R&D Director, a Semiconductor Equipment Company
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