Applied Materials, Inc.

Tiptap Inc.

Nicholas Michael Bergantz

Damon Keith Cox

Jeffrey C Hudgens

Alexander Berger

Aaron Green

Eugenia Bergantz

Doug McAllister

Leon Volfovski

Andreas Schmid

Helder T Lee

Paul Zachary Wirth

Michael C Kuchar

Douglas R McAllister

Karuppasamy Muthukamatchi

John C Menk

Sanggyum Kim

Ali Utku Pehlivan

Helder Lee

Sivakumar Ramalingam

Andrew Paul Harbert

A carrier includes a rigid body forming a plurality of openings and a plurality of fasteners configured to removably attach to the rigid body via the plurality of openings. A first set of fingers is configured to be removably attached to the rigid body via the plurality of fasteners and the plurality of openings. The first set of fingers is configured to support first content during first transportation of the carrier within a substrate processing system. A second set of fingers is configured to be removably attached to the rigid body via the plurality of fasteners and the plurality of openings. The second set of fingers is configured to support second content during second transportation of the carrier within the substrate processing system.

Substrate processing system carrier

A system includes a factory interface, a load port connected to the factory interface, and a system controller. The system controller is to, responsive to detecting that a container is received at the load port, determine a type of parts for storage at the container. One or more mapping patterns associated with the determined type of parts is identified. A detection system of robot arm(s) of the factory interface is moved according to the identified mapping pattern(s) to detect one or more parts stored by the container. A mapping of the container is determined based on the movement of the robot arm(s). The mapping indicates regions of the container that stores detected parts and a position of each of the detected parts. Based on the mapping, the robot arm(s) either remove a detected part form the container or place an additional part in the container.

Methods and systems for temperature control for a substrate

A first robot arm places a calibration object into a load lock that separates a factory interface from a transfer chamber using a first taught position. A second robot arm retrieves the calibration object from the load lock using a second taught position. A controller determines, using a sensor, a first offset amount between a calibration object center of the calibration object and a pocket center of the second robot arm. The controller determines a characteristic error value that represents a misalignment between the first taught position of the first robot arm and the second taught position of the second robot arm based on the first offset amount. The first robot arm or the second robot arm uses the first characteristic error value to compensate for the misalignment for objects transferred between the first robot arm and the second robot arm via the load lock.

Calibration of an electronics processing system

A set of one or more shelves is configured to be disposed within an enclosure system of a substrate processing system. The set of one or more shelves includes first upper surfaces disposed substantially in a first plane, carrier alignment features configured to align a carrier on the first upper surfaces, second upper surfaces disposed substantially in a second plane that is above the first plane, and process kit ring alignment features configured to align a process kit ring on the carrier above the second upper surfaces.

Enclosure system shelf including alignment features

A system includes a factory interface, a load port connected to the factory interface, a container connected to the load port, and a controller connected to a robot arm of the factory interface. The controller determines that the container is configured to store replacement parts for a process chamber of the system and causes the robot arm to move according to a first mapping pattern to identify, using a detection system at a distal end of an end effector of the robot arm, positions in the container. Regions of the container that do not contain replacement parts are determined and the robot arm is moved according to a second mapping pattern to identify a position in the container of a wafer and/or an empty carrier for a replacement part. A mapping of positions of replacement parts and positions of the wafer and/or empty carrier is recorded in a storage medium.

Mapping of a replacement parts storage container

A calibration object is retrieved, by a first robot arm of a transfer chamber, from a processing chamber connected to the transfer chamber and placed in a load lock connected to the transfer chamber. The calibration object is retrieved from the load lock by a second robot arm of a factory interface connected to the load lock and placed at an aligner station housed in or connected to the factory interface. The calibration object has a first orientation at the aligner station. A difference is determined between the first orientation and an initial target orientation at the aligner station. A first characteristic error value associated with the processing chamber is determined based on the determined difference. The first characteristic error value is recorded in a storage medium. The aligner station is to use the first characteristic error value for alignment of objects to be placed in the processing chamber.

Calibration of an aligner station of a processing system

A calibration object is placed at a target orientation in a station of an electronics processing device by a first robot arm, and then retrieved from the station by the first robot arm. The calibration object is transferred to an aligner station using the first robot arm, a second robot arm and/or a load lock, wherein the calibration object has a first orientation at the aligner station. The first orientation at the aligner station is determined. A characteristic error value is determined based on the first orientation. The aligner station is to use the characteristic error value for alignment of objects to be placed in the first station.

A method and system support payments between two entities using a mobile device and a token identifier device. A payment or gratuity action is initiated by a payer using their mobile device, such as mobile communication handset, to scan a token identifier stored in the payee's token identifier device. In one example, the token identifier device is an RFID or NFC type device. After the token identifier is obtained, the mobile device communicates the TokenID, gratuity amount, and payer authentication information to a transaction management system that validates and attempts to transfer funds between the two entities. In one example, the transaction management system is a server system that communicates over a TCP/IP network. The transaction management system sends a communication to the mobile device indicating whether or not the transfer was successful.

Transaction management system providing payment functionality between mobile devices and token identifier devices

A system includes an equipment front end module chamber, alignment pedestals housed within the equipment front end module chamber, and a load/unload robot at least partially housed within the equipment front end module chamber. The alignment pedestals include a first alignment pedestal having a first support surface and a second alignment pedestal having a second support surface, and the first support surface has a vertical offset and an overlap region having at least a partial overlap relative to the second support surface. The load/unload robot includes an arm, and vertically arranged blades attached to the arm. The vertically arranged blades include an upper blade configured to transfer a first substrate to the first alignment pedestal and a lower blade configured to transfer a second substrate to the second alignment pedestal.

Equipment front end modules including multiple aligners, assemblies, and methods

A method for detecting positions of replacement parts, wafers, or empty carriers for a replacement part stored at a replacement parts storage container is provided. A container is received at a at a load port of a factory interface of an electronics processing system. The container is configured to store replacement parts for a process chamber of the electronics processing system. A robot arm is moved according to a first mapping pattern to identify, using a detection system at a distal end of an end effector of the robot arm, positions of one or more replacement parts in the container. Regions of the container that do not contain replacement parts are determined. The robot arm is moved according to a second mapping pattern to identify, within the regions of the container that do not contain replacement parts, using the detection system, a position in the container of at least one of a wafer or an empty carrier for a replacement part. A mapping of positions of the one or more replacement parts and of positions of at least one of the empty carrier or the wafer in the container is recorded in a storage medium.

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Nicholas Michael Bergantz