Lam Research Corp. has introduced what it claims is the first cobot designed for maintenance tasks on wafer fabrication equipment.
The semiconductor equipment firm said Dextro is already deployed in multiple fabs globally to provide maintenance to minimize tool downtime and increase production flexibility that results in enhanced yield.
Dextro is designed to improve the cost effectiveness of wafer fabrication equipment that uses physics, robotics and chemistry to create semiconductors at nanoscale.
Lam said this will be important to fabs as they grow, and equipment complexity and chipmakers will need to optimize fabs for increasing automation and efficiency.
Dextro is a mobile unit with a robotic arm that is operated by a technician or engineer that helps with maintenance tasks that are time-consuming and prone to errors when done manually.
Specifically, Dextro:
- Installs and compresses consumable components with two times the accuracy of manual applications
- Tightens vacuum-sealing, high-precision bolts to exact specifications.
- Uses automation and cleaning to remove side-wall polymer build-up in the chamber.
Additionally, the cobot:
- Reduces waste of consumable parts.
- Reduces labor and production downtime.
- Less variability and higher yield in production.
