Clean-Room Rotomat for Wafer Production

At its site in Lenzburg, ABB Switzerland optimizes its production processes with an automated vertical carousel which stores blank wafers for electronic semiconductor components in the clean-room.

Automated order picking systems are becoming increasingly indispensable. A Rotomat specially developed by Hänel for the clean room in Lenzburg increases storage capacity.
The range of products offered by ABB in the energy and automation sector is enormous. Among other things, the Group develops and manufactures products ranging from high-voltage switchgear to microscopic high-performance semiconductors. ABB develops, produces and markets power grid systems, wafers and high-performance semiconductors at the Lenzburg site.

No gaps, no roughness

The purpose of the clean room is to prevent the adhesion of particles in any phase of operations. Eustachio Faggiano, ABB process engineer: "The vertical carousel developed by Hänel specially for the clean room has no burrs or crevices. The surfaces are smooth and can be cleaned easily with isopropyl solutions." 

Faggiano is the manager responsible for the Hänel CleanStore Rotomat® installed in the clean room. The storage system complies with Clean-Room Class 5 in accordance with DIN EN ISO 14644-1 with Filter Class HEPA H14.

A journal of the measured values can be kept with data loggers. Hänel developed the high-tech storage solution as a closed system. The double-wall design allows the air to be cleaned through a filter inside the vertical carousel. This ensures that no particles find their way into the clean room. Faggiano: “Once the calotte carriers are loaded with wafers, they are stored in the Rotomat® CleanStore until they are taken to the evaporation chamber. The wafers must not be allowed to come into contact with particles in this interim phase."

The empty calottes must not be contaminated by dust particles either. So they are also kept in the vertical carousel. The space-saving Hänel Rotomat® CleanStore is a solution used in the electronics and semiconductor industry, as well as in the medical engineering sector. At ABB the wafer calottes used to be stored in a conventional rack system.