Method and an apparatus for handling wafers
US5226758A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 23, 1991 |
| Grant date | Jul 13, 1993 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 23, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S414/137
- WIPO fieldMachine tools
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A semiconductor wafer handling apparatus and method for transferring a wafer, one of whose faces has been already polished, from a wafer holder, which holds the wafer with the wafer's polished face facing downward, to a wafer cassette submerged in water contained in a water tank; the apparatus includes a wafer receive assembly and a water tank and the wafer receive assembly has a flat surface and is adapted to swing between an up-facing position at which the flat surface faces upward and a down-facing position at which the flat surface faces downward, and the wafer receive assembly is provided with ejection nozzles which eject water with a force sufficient to keep the wafer floating, and the water tank contains a wafer cassette to receive the wafer, and is capable of forcing the wafer which is left to sink in the water to enter the wafer cassette; whereas the method comprises: dropping the wafer from the wafer holder with the polished face facing downward onto a thin water layer formed over the wafer receive assembly; swinging the wafer receive assembly together with the wafer through an angle of about 180.degree. so that the wafer is turned upside down and brought in the water tan…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.