Patent ID: 6722840
Filing Date: 2004-04-20
Classification: H01L,Y10S

Abstract:
A wafer ring supplying and returning apparatus comprising:a magazine which is carried on an elevator and raised and lowered, said magazine accommodating wafer rings at a fixed pitch, a jig holder which holds said wafer rings and being movable between a wafer ring exchange position in front of said magazine and a die pick-up position, a drier which is disposed near a front of said magazine so as to blows a hot air draft upward, a buffer mechanism which includes buffer sections in which two wafer supporting grooves that support said wafer rings are provided vertically, said buffer mechanism being caused to move to above and to a front of said magazine, and a wafer transfer mechanism which includes a wafer chucking member and a wafer pushing member, said wafer chucking member being disposed in a position corresponding to one of said two wafer supporting grooves and chucking and conveying said wafer rings, and said wafer pushing member being disposed in a position corresponding to another one of said two wafer supporting grooves and pushing said wafer rings, wherein when said jig holder has moved to said die pick-up position, an unused wafer ring inside said magazine is chucked by said wafer chucking member, removed from said magazine and supported in said one of said two wafer supporting grooves of said buffer sections, when said jig holder has moved to said wafer ring exchange position, a used wafer ring held in said jig holder is pushed by said wafer pushing member and supported in said another one of said two wafer supporting grooves of said buffer sections, and said unused wafer ring inside said buffer sections is chucked by said wafer chucking member and held in said jig holder, and when said jig holder has again moved to said die pick-up position, said buffer sections are moved to a point above said drier, and then said wafer chucking member chucks said used wafer ring inside said buffer sections and accommodates said used wafer ring in an empty accommodating section of said magazine.