Wafer aligner in center of front end frame of vacuum system
US6270306A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 14, 1998 |
| Grant date | Aug 7, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 14, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S414/138
- WIPO fieldSemiconductors
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A vacuum processing system has a wafer handling chamber, such as a mini-environment, for moving wafers therethrough. The wafer handling chamber has a wafer aligner, or orienter, for aligning the wafers according to the requirements of a process that the wafer is to undergo in the system. The wafer aligner is disposed at a location in the wafer handling chamber to minimize the number of movements that the wafer makes as it passes through the wafer handling chamber, to minimize interference between wafer handlers, or robots, when more than one wafer handler is used in the wafer handling chamber and to minimize the footprint area of the system. The presence of the wafer aligner in the wafer handling chamber eliminates the need to provide a separate wafer aligning chamber in the system.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.