United Microelectronics Corp.

United Silicon Incorporated

Kun-Feng Lin

Yu-Shan Lin

Ming-Te Chuang

Qing-Yong Chen

A position detector is provided for use on a spin-drying machine employed in integrated circuit (IC) fabrication to detect whether the spin-drying machine has shifted in position during operation. If the spin-drying machine is positioned incorrectly, the position detector is capable of stopping the operation of robot arms used to grab and position wafers on the spin-drying machine so that the robot arms will not be damaged or crash into the wafers on the spin-drying machine due to the incorrect positioning of the spin-drying machine. The position detector is designed for use on a spin-drying machine having a spinning unit, a fixed platform surrounding the spinning unit, and at least one robot arm mounted on the fixed unit. The position detector comprises a pair of emitters mounted on the spinning unit and a pair of oppositely arranged receivers on the fixed platform. In the event that the spinning unit has shifted in position, one or both of the paired emitter/receiver units generates an OFF signal indicative of such a condition. In response, a control unit stops the operation of the robot arm, so that the robot arm will not be damaged or crash into the wafers on the spin-drying machine.

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Taichung Hsien, Taiwan

Kun-Feng Lin