Aetas Technology Corporation

Thermco Systems, Inc.

Hazen L Hoyt, Iii

Jon C Goldman

Jian Wen

William R Mello

John D Sanders

An imaging system including a plurality of developing stations for developing an image on a sheet, a releasably removable image receiving module having at least one exposing unit and an image receiving substrate and a support structure for receiving the releasably removable image receiving module. The releasably removable image receiving module is configured to engage the support structure of the system such that the image receiving substrate of the module can be disposed in an operative relationship with the developing stations when the removable module is engaged with the support structure. This imaging system provides a method for upgrading, downgrading or modifying the imaging system that could be substantially performed by an end user. This imaging system may be embodied in a monocolor or multicolor printer, copier, facsimile machine or other electrophotographic based apparatus.

Upgradeable and easily serviceable imaging systems with a removable module and methods for using the same

In the embodiment disclosed in the specification, an electrophotographic exposure and development arrangement has a flexible transparent photoreceptor belt driven between two support rollers and along four printing stations at each of which the photosensitive surface of the photoreceptor is charged, exposed to a light image corresponding to a selected color, and developed with toner of the corresponding color to produce a composite multicolor image which is transferred to a substrate and subsequently fixed on the substrate. At each printing station an exposure unit has a curved belt support surface which is engaged by the photoreceptor belt passing through the printing station between the exposure location and a development location with a curvature and length selected to minimize the effect of ripples or irregularities in the position of the photosensitive surface of the photoreceptive belt resulting from a set taken by the photoreceptor belt when held stationery against a supporting number.

Electrophotographic exposure and development arrangement

Plastic cassettes carrying semiconductor wafers are loaded into and/or unloaded from an extended open drawer. The drawer is retractable to a closed position in a frame where the cassettes may be removed from or returned to the drawer by a programmable elevator. The frame may have several drawers and cassettes may be safely loaded into or unloaded from the open drawer while cassettes are being removed from or returned to a closed drawer.

Semiconductor wafer carrier input/output drawer

Semiconductor wafers in plastic cassettes are loaded into (and later unloaded from) an input/output station serving a CVD furnace and thereafter the cassettes are non-manually transported by a programmable elevator to and from a flat-finder, a wafer transfer machine (where the wafers are transferred to a boat) and in-process storage. The boats are non-manually transported by a second programmable elevator to and from the wafer transfer machine, in-process boat storage and a boat loader (or process chamber directly). The cassettes can be loaded or unloaded while one or both of the elevators are operating. Up to eight human assisted steps are reduced to only two such steps. Furnaces having more than one processing chamber have a loading station, in-process cassettes and boat storage and boats dedicated to each processing chamber so that there is no cross contamination between processing chambers caused by the boats and the cassettes in which wafers are delivered to the process are the same cassettes in which process wafers are returned to the input/output station so that there is no cross contamination of the wafers caused by the cassettes.

Growing community of inventors

Costa Mesa, CA, United States of America

Hazen L Hoyt, Iii