Other

Fortrend Engineering Corporation

Fortrend Taiwan Scientific Corporation

Kung Chris Wu

John M Rush

Torben J Ulander

Chien-Rong Huang

Chawshiang Wu

Kenneth Alan Hardy

Edgardo A Caliboso

Chen Wu

Robert Frank Sifuentes

Anatoly Malobrodsky

Jui-Hung Hsu

Rex Melgoza

The present invention is a pod opener having an end effector which:

End effector gripper arms having corner grippers which reorient reticle during transfer

A specially adapted SMIF pod () receives and holds one particular type of reticle cassette () or reticle holder () selected from among dozens of different configurations thereof. The SMIF pod () may be interrogated to determine the particular type of reticle cassette () or reticle holder () carried therein. A reticle transfer system () receives a pair of such SMIF pods (), interrogates each of the SMIF pods () to ascertain which type of reticle cassette () or reticle holder () the SMIF pod () carries, and automatically moves reticles () through a controlled environment from one reticle cassette () or reticle holder () to another reticle cassette () or reticle holder (). A reticle reorienter () includable in the system () also permits automatically exchanging reticles () between a reticle carrier () and a reticle cassette () or reticle holder ().

Universal reticle transfer system

A prealigner for aligning a disk-like work piece such as a silicon wafer, by centering and rotationally orienting the work piece. The prealigner centers and orients the work piece while only touching the periphery of the work piece using a plurality of wafer rollers and an air bearing table to support the weight of the wafer. The prealigner can accept a range of different diameters of work piece without modification because the wafer rollers are radially moveable until they contact and center the work piece. The prealigner includes a plurality of simple optical sensors for detecting a notch in the work piece and the work piece is rotationally oriented based on a notch detection signal from the optical sensors.

Wafer aligner

An elastically expandable positioning device for positioning a cover of a unified pod is disclosed, which has a central fastener having one end protruded on the interface plate and an axial input hole opened at another end, and at least one radial distributing hole equally opened at its circular surface; a ring-shaped inflatable body made from an expandable elastic material; a supporting ring encircled around the central bolt and positioned above the distributing hole, for supporting the inflatable body, the supporting ring having at least one radial inflating hole equally positioned corresponding to the radial distributing hole of the central bolt; and an input fluid source connected to the axial input hole of the central bolt, for providing an input fluid.

Elastically expandable positioning device

A front-opening unified pod quick-opening apparatus. The apparatus is positioned in a front-opening unified pod loading system. The apparatus has a rail, a slide, a short linking rod having a first end rotatably fixed on the slide to drive the slide to move along the rail, a long rocker arm having a first end rotatably fixed on a second end of the short linking rod, and a second end rotatably fixed on a pin on the backboard; and a power source. When the power source drives the long rocker arm to rotate upwards around the pin on the backboard, the long rocker arm leads the short linking rod, and the short linking rod drives the slide to move upwards along the rail which results in an upward rectilinear motion, and vice versa.

Unified pod quick-opening apparatus

An identification system for tracking wafer carriers within a manufacturing facility. The system uses smart card technology in which an identification card is placed on each wafer carrier. The smart cards have memory for storing information about the wafer carrier. Power is transmitted to the card along with data so that the smart card does not require a separate power source. The devices for communicating with the smart cards can be stationary or they can be portable hand-carried devices. A network connects the readers to a central database.

Radio frequency identification device

A three DOF SCARA arm, adapted for transporting semiconductor wafers, includes an end-effector assembly at a distal joint of the arm. In one configuration, the end-effector turns a workpiece over. The arm includes a support column having an open column assembly that projects above a base. Within the assembly, a Z-axis drive energizes extension and retraction of a hollow tube carried by the support column. A shaft, rotatable about the Z-axis and having a distal end furthest from the support column's base, receives an arm assembly. An arm-assembly rotary-drive energizes the shaft's rotation. An arm base-plate, secured to the shaft's distal end, supports the arm assembly therefrom. The arm base-plate carries a wrist joint that is displaced from the Z-axis, and receives the end-effector whose rotation about a wrist-joint axis is energized by an end-effector rotary-drive.

Simplified and enhanced SCARA arm

A fuzzy logic controller that is dynamically adaptive to varying operating conditions. The controller remaps the intervals of the membership functions between a normalized universe of discourse and the real axis by use of an input fuzzy gain and an output fuzzy gain. The membership functions are also remapped within the universe of discourse through the use of a sensitivity index. Remapping of the membership functions allows the sensitivity of the controller to be adapted to optimize the controller's performance in changing operating conditions. This allows a robust controller to be implemented at low computational expense.

Dynamically adaptive fuzzy interval controller

A two-degree-of-freedom spherical shoulder joint for a robot. The joint consists of a spherical ball member with gear teeth formed in its outer surface and three drive gears that mate with the gear teeth in the outer surface of the spherical member. The joint can rotate about any axis of rotation which lies within a plane defined by the contact points between the drive gears and the spherical member. By controlling the three drive gears to rotate by the proper amounts, the joint can be rotated about the desired axis of rotation. The inverse kinematics for controlling the joint are described.

Growing community of inventors

Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Kung Chris Wu