Load port opener
US6082949A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 11, 1996 |
| Grant date | Jul 4, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 11, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S414/14
- WIPO fieldSemiconductors
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A load port opener for separating a pod top from a pod door so that a wafer-carrying cassette may be accessed and/or transferred from the pod into a semiconductor processing station, to which the load port opener is attached. The load port opener comprises a base, an inner support plate seated on the base, an outer support plate surrounding the inner support plate, and mechanisms for raising the outer support plate away from the inner support plate. Initially, a sealed SMIF pod having a wafer-carrying cassette therein is located on top of the load port opener, such that the pod door is supported on the inner support plate, and the pod top is supported on the outer support plate. Once located on the load port opener, the pod top is decoupled from the pod door by mechanisms within the inner support plate, and thereafter the outer support plate is raised upward with the top supported thereon. The cassette remains stationary on the inner support plate, and once the top has been sufficiently raised, a pick and place robot from within the processing station may transfer wafers and/or the cassette between the load port opener and the processing station.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.