Patent · US Expired

Wafer transfer system and method of using the same

US5900105A · kind A · utility

50Cited by
20References
27Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateJul 9, 1996
Grant dateMay 4, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 9, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S414/14
  • WIPO fieldSemiconductors
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A wafer transfer system is described for transferring a wafer while at substantially the same time another wafer is being processed. The wafer transfer system comprises, in one embodiment, a transfer chamber having a wafer transfer blade, a load lock chamber coupled to the transfer chamber, an atmospheric robot for loading and unloading the wafer into the load lock chamber, and a slider coupled to the wafer transfer blade for moving the wafer transfer blade between the transfer chamber and the load lock chamber. According to a preferred embodiment, the slider utilizes a magnetic coupling mechanism and a plurality of plasma sources are coupled to the transfer chamber. The plurality of plasma sources are arranged in a plurality of pairs of plasma sources. Each plasma source in a pair of plasma sources share the other plasma source's induction coils.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.