Wafer Handling Components

High purity, Perlast® and Kimura® materials are widely used in wafer handling applications as end effector pads because they provide optimized friction to maintain wafer positional accuracy, and prevent particulation due to their wholly organic nature.

PPE are experts in providing elastomeric solutions and can help you optimize your designs using our materials expertise and advanced design tools, such as non-linear finite element analysis.

Custom designed wafer handling components ensure improved pad retention into mating hardware, simplified assembly and optimum friction to allow fast robotic handling.

The PPE range of materials includes elastomers with both low and high coefficients of friction, to allow tailoring of wafer retention force.  In addition, PPE offers dissipative end-effectors molded from unique elastomer materials to reduce electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage.

Materials for Wafer Handling Components

PPE can manufacture wafer handling components in the following material types for semiconductor applications:

The ultimate perfluoroelastomers for sealing applications where chemical resistance and high temperature performance are critical.

Kimura® elastomers span the range of fluoro and perfluoro (FKM and FFKM) materials and includes unique hybrid elastomers, specifically developed by PPE, for the semiconductor industry, to offer a step-change in sealing performance, surpassing what has previously been achievable for fully organic materials.

Frequently Asked Questions

End effector pads are specialized elastomer components which are attached to the end of a robotic arm, or ‘end effector’.
Within semiconductor manufacturing, the purpose is to enable the secure holding and manipulation of semiconductor wafers during the transfer process. PPE’s custom-designed wafer handling components are engineered to ensure improved pad retention into mating hardware, simplifying assembly and improving friction to allow faster, more accurate robotic handling.
For this task, the purity of the material is essential, to prevent the risk of contamination to the wafer.

In addition to our standard end-effector pads molded from insulating materials, dissipative end effector pads can also be provided for sensitive devices or insulating substrates.  Wafer handling components molded from dissipative elastomers combat triboelectric charging and reduce electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage.

Benefits of using dissipative end effector pads:-

  • improved yield
  • increased profitability
  • reduced need for costly rework
  • improvement in end electronic system failure rates
  • reduced risk of process tool lock up or failure from electromagnetic interference due to ESD

View our range of high performance materials

Find your nearest sales contact