APPARATUS AND METHOD OF AUTOMATICALLY SEPARATING STACKED WAFERS

摘要

The separation of thin disk-type workpieces from a stack has, as a rule, hitherto been carried out by hand. An apparatus and a corresponding method are now provided which make it possible to lift the wafer off the stack without mechanical contact, and also to convey the separated wafers to the tray and to introduce them in an automated way without damage. In this method, a stack of disk-type workpieces is introduced into a wafer magazine with a feed unit which brings the uppermost wafer of the wafer stack into the sphere of action of a fluid medium which emerges under pressure in a preferred direction from a nozzle system. A dam makes it possible to remove a single wafer. The apparatus and the method make possible separation without damage while increasing the yield. In conjunction with a conveying apparatus, an apparatus for tray filling processing lines can be built up for automatically treating disk-type workpieces without damage.