Method of and apparatus for locating and orientating a part on a gripper and transferring it to a tool while maintaining location and orientation on the tool
US5711647A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 17, 1994 |
| Grant date | Jan 27, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 17, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S414/141
- WIPO fieldMachine tools
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A system for achieving a high degree of location and orientation accuracy and repeatability of a part, such as a semiconductor wafer, for storage of the part in a cassette or placement on a process tool while being able to grasp the part, while maintaining maximally repeatable location, orientation, and cleanliness, while moving it from one tool to another, such as a process tool to a cassette. This is accomplished by providing in one case a pattern of six grooves on the circumference of a part, typically spaced 60 angular degrees apart, and a pattern of three curved contact surfaces on a gripper plate and three curved contact surfaces on a tool plate, where the plates nest such that the three curved surfaces on the gripper plate would make contact with the sides of three of the grooves in the part, and when the gripper plate that is holding the part lowers the part onto the tool plate, the three curved surfaces on the tool plate would make contact with the sides of three of the other grooves in the part as the part is unloaded from the gripper plate and comes to rest on the tool plate. Thus at all times the part position is kinematically uniquely established and mathematically def…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.