Wafer inspection is a highly precise and time sensitive business. The best in class form factor, and smooth and accurate motion of the Omni Series motor helped one customer to achieve their desired wafer inspection tool requirements, ultimately ending with a device capable of extreme accuracy and repeatability.

The Challenge

The need to continuously improve the yield of existing semiconductor manufacturing processes and to reduce time to market for new and increasingly complex processes and designs requires that wafers and process tools be monitored with state-of-the art equipment and measurement systems. Precision rotary stages are commonly used to move the wafers during their inspection. Low overall stage height and a large aperture for the sensing and inspection equipment are required to maximize the throughput and efficacy of the wafer inspection process. Many commercially available rotary stages do not meet all of the application requirements while achieving the necessary levels of accuracy and repeatability.

The Solution

Celera Motion Omni Series direct drive motors with axial heights as low as 8 mm and apertures over 400 mm offer a best-in-class form factor with the smooth and accurate motion expected from a direct drive motor. Rotary stages designed with Omni Series motors can achieve extremely low profiles and provide a large aperture for sensing, scanning and inspection equipment.

The Benefit

Celera Motion’s Omni Series motors have been used in numerous low profile rotary stages and enabled the wafer inspection systems to achieve the desired yield and throughput. Celera Motion also provides fully assembled and tested rotary stages and mechatronics packages designed by an expert engineering staff with many years of experience. During the project, Celera’s engineers work closely with the customer to design a highly optimized solution. When in serial production, the end deliverable from Celera can be motor components, encoder components, or a fully assembled and tested rotary stage.

Specifications

Continuous TorqueUp to 5.9Nm
Peak TorqueUp to 17.7Nm
Diameter (Stator OD)45 to 165mm
Through Hole (Rotor ID)32 to 120mm
Maximum SpeedUp to 5,000 rpm