Automatic wafer boat loading system and method
US5765982A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 10, 1995 |
| Grant date | Jun 16, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 10, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S414/14
- WIPO fieldSemiconductors
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system for automatic loading of wafer boats onto a cantilever paddle for insertion of the wafer boats into a furnace tube includes an end effector carriage moving on a track and supporting an end effector having spaced, parallel pads to engage opposed outer side portions of a wafer boat. The end effector receives a wafer boat from a robotic arm of an elevator. The robotic arm moves transversely relative to the track to position the wafer boat over the track on which the paddle carriage moves. The end effector carriage moves the end effector pads under the wafer boat, lifts it from a pair of elevator tines, moves the wafer boat over a desired part of the paddle, and lowers the wafer boat onto the paddle. The end effector carriage then returns the end effector to an initial location. The elevator and end effector main the wafer boat at a slight tilt as it is shifted from a wafer boat queue to the cantilever paddle so as to prevent rattling of wafers held in slots of the wafer boat due to vibration of the system.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.