Eaton Corporation

Axcelis Technologies, Inc.

Kevin Thomas Ryan

Peter Lawrence Kellerman

Frank Sinclair

Roger Bradford Fish

Ernest Everett Allen

William F DiVergilio

Robert J Mitchell

An ion beam implanter includes an ion beam source for generating an ion beam moving along a beam line and a vacuum implantation chamber wherein a workpiece is positioned to intersect the ion beam for ion implantation of a surface of the workpiece by the ion beam. The ion beam implanter further includes a workpiece support structure coupled to the implantation chamber and supporting the workpiece. The workpiece support structure includes a chuck including a rotatable pedestal for supporting the workpiece. The workpiece support structure further includes a first rotatable reel coupled to and rotatable with the pedestal and a flexible, hollow cord carrying facilities such as coolant lines and electrical power conductors coupled to the rotatable reel such that, as the pedestal is rotated in a first direction, a length of the flexible cord that is wrapped around the first reel increases and, as the pedestal is rotated in an opposite direction, a length of the flexible cord that is wrapped around the first reel decreases.

Umbilical cord facilities connection for an ion beam implanter

A wafer handling system for a wafer processing apparatus includes a wafer load lock chamber, a wafer processing chamber and a transfer chamber operatively coupled to the wafer load lock chamber and the wafer processing chamber. The transfer chamber includes a wafer transfer mechanism comprising a transfer arm pivotably coupled to a portion of the transfer chamber which forms an axis. The transfer arm is operable to rotate about the axis to transfer a wafer between the wafer load lock chamber and the process chamber in a single axis wafer movement. The invention also includes a method of transferring a wafer to a wafer processing apparatus. The method includes loading a wafer into a wafer load lock chamber and rotating a transfer arm into the wafer load lock chamber to retrieve the wafer therein. The method further includes rotating the transfer arm out of the wafer load lock chamber and into a process chamber to deposit the wafer therein, wherein the rotating of the transfer arm occurs in a single axis wafer movement.

Serial wafer handling mechanism

A wafer processing apparatus includes a processing chamber having a top chamber portion and a bottom chamber portion, respectively. The apparatus further includes an annular ring valve associated with one of the top chamber portion and the bottom chamber portion which is operable to close the processing chamber for processing in a first position and open the processing chamber for access thereto in a second position. The ring valve, in the first position, provides a substantially uniform surface about an inner periphery of the closed processing chamber, and thereby facilitates uniform processing conditions. A method of accessing a wafer processing apparatus is also disclosed and includes moving an annular ring valve within a processing chamber between two positions. In the first position the annular ring valve sealingly blocks an access port of the processing chamber and thereby prohibits access thereto, and in the second position the annular ring valve does not block the access port, and permits access to the processing chamber. The annular ring valve has a substantially uniform inner peripheral surface, and thereby facilitates uniform processing conditions within the processing chamber when in the first position.

Wafer processing chamber having separable upper and lower halves

A wafer processing system is provided. The system includes a wafer handling system for introducing semiconductor wafers into a processing chamber. An oscillator is operatively coupled to an antenna for igniting a plasma within the processing chamber. The plasma and antenna form a resonant circuit with the oscillator, and the oscillator varies an output characteristic associated therewith based on a load change in the resonant circuit during plasma ignition.

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Wilmington, MA, United States of America

Kevin Thomas Ryan