Patent
Wafer transfer robot
TLDR
In this article, the authors presented an apparatus for transferring wafers to or from a wafer cassette having a plurality of wafer-receiving slots, wherein the apparatus consisted of a Wafer paddle which was adapted to be inserted into a waf cassette alongside the wafer.Abstract:
In one aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for transferring wafers to or from a wafer cassette having a plurality of wafer-receiving slots, wherein the apparatus comprises a wafer paddle which is adapted to be inserted into a wafer cassette alongside a wafer. Edge grippers carried by the wafer paddle releasible grip the wafer by its edges. A first capacitive sensor carried by the wafer paddle is oriented in a first direction for sensing information about a wafer in a wafer receiving slot of the wafer cassette. A second capacitive sensor carried by the wafer paddle is oriented in a direction perpendicular to the first direction for sensing additional proximity information about a wafer in a wafer receiving slot of the cassette. A transport mechanism produces movement of the wafer paddle along at least three axes of movement to permit transferring wafers to or from respective wafer receiving slots of the wafer cassette. In a more specific aspect, the transport mechanism produces movement along five axes: relative translational movement along orthogonal x, y and z axes, rotational movement about a rotational axis, and tilting movement of the wafer paddle about a paddle tilt axis.read more
Citations
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Patent
Active edge grip rest pad
TL;DR: In this article, a distal rest pad for supporting a portion of a wafer seated on an end effector is presented, which includes a bottom support pad and an edge stop.
Patent
Cluster tool architecture for processing a substrate
Tetsuya Ishikawa,Rick J. Roberts,Helen R. Armer,Leon Volfovski,Jay D. Pinson,Michael R. Rice,David H. Quach,Mohsen Salek,Robert B. Lowrance,John A. Backer,William Tyler Weaver,Charles T. Carlson,Chongyang Wang,Jeffrey C. Hudgens,Harald Herchen,Brian Lue +15 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a track lithography-type cluster tool is adapted to perform a track-lithography process in which a substrate is coated with a photosensitive material, is then transferred to a stepper/scanner, which exposes the photo-sensitive material to some form of radiation to form a pattern in the substrate, which is then removed in a developing process completed in the cluster tool.
Patent
Self teaching robot
Roger G. Hine,Graham Hine +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, a robot calibration system for calibration of a workpiece handling robot relative to a station is presented, which includes a sensor mounted on an end effector, which in coordination with the sensor allows a control system to determine a center of the target.
Patent
Wafer centering system and method
TL;DR: In this article, a system and method for detecting the position of a wafer with respect to a calibrated reference position is presented. But the method is not suitable for the detection of the edges of the wafer as it is passed over the sensors.
Patent
Intelligent wafer handling system and method
TL;DR: In this paper, a system for handling stiff but flexible discs, particularly semiconductor wafers, is capable of allowing processing on both sides of a wafer by using optical beams.
References
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Patent
Wafer transfer apparatus.
Richard F. Foulke,Lord Steven M +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a wafer support number (42) having vacuum opening (154) which is shiftable between storage boats (12) and quartz boats (14) by transfer arm (32).
Patent
Wafer testing and self-calibration system
Roy E. Mallory,Peter Domenicali,Noel S. Poduje,Alexander Belyaev,Peter A. Harvey,Richard S. Smith +5 more
TL;DR: A measurement station which rotates a wafer in a vertical plane and moves a scanning sensor linearly along an axis which is parallel to the wafer rotation plane, thus providing a spiral, or other, scan path across the Wafer as mentioned in this paper.
Patent
Apparatus for detecting and centering wafer
TL;DR: In this article, an apparatus for detecting an orientation flat of a wafer and centering the wafer includes a hand base, a pair of guide rollers, and a stopper mechanism.
Patent
Method and apparatus for holding and conveying platelike substrates
Cosmas Malin,Harry L. Sawatzki +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a method of handling and securing plate-like substrates, such as wafers, is described in which a substrate is gripped between supporting elements situated opposite each other in the plane of the substrate to be applied against opposite side edges of a substrate.
Patent
Semiconductor slice holder
TL;DR: In this article, a slice handling apparatus (10) is mounted on a robot arm (12) to provide automated processing of semiconductor slices (69), and the slice handling equipment has three tines, a center tine (50) and two side tines (62).