Speedfam-ipec Corporation

Rogers Corporation

Jeff Cunnane

Chris E Karlsrud

Robert F Allen

Periya Gopalan

Jose R Gonzalez-Martin

Jon R MacErnie

Arthur Hamer

Craig M Howard

Toby Jordan

Bill Thornton

Fernando Calderon

Herman B Gordon

An integral machine for polishing, cleaning, rinsing and drying workpieces such as semiconductor wafers. A load/unload station has a plurality of platforms for receiving cassettes of wafers to be processed. A dry end-effector of a robot retrieves wafers from the cassettes and transfers them to an index table. A transfer apparatus having wafer carrier elements picks up wafers from the index table, moves the wafers to a polishing table for polishing, and returns the wafers to the index table for further processing. A flipper moves the polished wafers to a cleaning station. The cleaning station includes scrub stations, a rinsing station and a spin dryer station, and a connective system of water tracks. A wet end-effector of the robot transfers rinsed wafers to the spin dryer station. The dry end-effector of the robot moves dried wafers from the spin dryer station back to the cassette of origination.

Mapping system for semiconductor wafer cassettes

Combined CMP and wafer cleaning apparatus and associated methods

Integral machine for polishing, cleaning, rinsing and drying workpieces

A solderless connector technique and apparatus is presented for establishing electrical contact between a flexible circuit and another circuit device utilizing relative motion therebetween to wipe away or remove any debris or other foreign matter present on the terminals which could adversely effect electrical contact. In a first embodiment of the present invention, relative motion between the respective circuit devices is provided by male and female housings having a camming device incorporated therein. This camming device will effectively wipe away any foreign matter or debris located on the respective terminal devices. In another embodiment of the present invention, mechanical springs are used to provide lateral motion to the circuit devices thereby wiping away any dirt, dust or debris. Preferably, a means for prewiping i.e., a cleaning pad, is provided to the present invention to facilitate removal of debris.

Solderless connector technique and apparatus

Growing community of inventors

Phoenix, AZ, United States of America

Jeff Cunnane