International Business Machines Corporation

Uldis Artis Ziemins

Candace J Freedenberg

Joshua Monroe Cobb

Raymond M Khoury

Jose M Ocasio

David Clifford Long

Mark J LaPlante

James G Balz

David J Pinckney

Daniel Guilford Patterson

Frederick A Herring

Philip L Campbell

Ray A Reyes

David L Schmoke

Franz X Topolovec

Edward Sherwood

Donald J Delehanty

Clayton David Menser, Jr

Nicholas Frank Ciminello

Candace Joy Flattery-Freedenberg

Daniel L Franca

Kwong Hon Wong

Karl E Boggs

James H Covell

Robert F Florence, Jr

Jeffrey P Gifford

Francis F Szenher

Robert M Merkling, Jr

George F Ouimet, Jr

Peter J Shaffer

Raphael Mitchell

David Goodwin

Daniel L Fran&ccedil;a

A storage system for items such as substrate carriers includes at least one stocker including a plurality of storage areas each adapted to store at least one storage device. At least one movable support is arranged on the at least one stocker. A control controls movement of the at least one movable support at least between a first position wherein the at least one movable support receives the at least one storage device outside one of the storage areas and a second position wherein the at least one movable support is arranged substantially within the one of the storage areas.

OHT accessible high density stocker and method

A overhead transport service vehicle system includes a carriage frame structured and arranged to carry a user. A hoisting mechanism utilizes at least one lifting device for lifting and lowering the carriage frame and at least one moving device for causing movement of the hoisting mechanism along one of a track or rail. A control controls at least one of the at least one lifting device and the at least one moving device.

Overhead transport service vehicle and method

A method, system and test fixture for allowing testing and calibration of various operation parameters of an overhead traveling vehicle (hereinafter 'OTV') are disclosed. The invention implements a test fixture that includes a rotatable bearing set for rotatably engaging a wheel of the OTV such that the wheel can rotate but the OTV remains stationary. The bearing set is held in a raised position, similar to the operational position of the OTV, by a raised support. The test fixture may also include a reflective tape for use with an optical sensor(s) of the OTV. In this fashion, operation parameters of the OTV such as drive servomotor velocity, current gain, current offset, OTV travel profile, optical sensor op-amp gain, etc., can be tested and calibrated.

Overhead traveling vehicle testing and calibration

A combination of a FOUP (front opening unified pod) system and a reticle system utilized for the transport of wafers and a reticle system, the latter of which are used for transporting reticles from a first fabrication site to a further site at another location, and which provides for a unified system enabling the automated and trackable delivery of the reticles between these sites. Provided is a modified FOUP base structure, which is adapted to retain a reticle and to be able to employ existing equipment in a fabrication site which only necessitates a minimal modification of the equipment in order to render the latter universally adaptable to the combination of the systems.

Reticle storage pod (RSP) transport system utilizing FOUP adapter plate

A steering apparatus and method is implemented that allows high speed, clean, particle-free transport of a semiconductor wafer or lithographic reticle on a transport vehicle at various positions on the vehicle track, especially when entering and exiting turns. Three computer-controlled electro-magnets are mounted at the left, center, and right side of a front steering truck, and are energized to attract strategically placed permanent magnet material mounted on a side of the track where the vehicle enters or exits a turn. The transport vehicle can be levitated by an air cushion or travel on wheels, and controlled by electromotive or electromagnetic forces about the track. Using the steering electro-magnets as a LVDT, a computer processor monitors the location of the transport vehicle about the track.

Apparatus and method for steering transport vehicles in semiconductor processing

A cable attachment assembly, a hoist and a transportation system using the cable attachment assembly. The cable attachment assembly including: a plate pivotable about a first axis; first and second pivot assemblies pivotable about respective second and third axes, the first, second and third axes parallel to each other; a first cable retainer in the first pivot assembly, the first cable retainer adapted to rotateably retain an end of a first cable in the first cable pivot assembly, the first cable rotatable about a fourth axis; a second cable retainer in the second pivot assembly, the second cable retainer adapted to rotateably retain an end of a second cable in the second pivot assembly, the second cable rotatable about a fifth axis; wherein the fourth and fifth axes parallel to each other and the fourth and fifth axes are perpendicular to the first, second and third axis.

Hoisting apparatus

Communication between a controller and a set of automated vehicles is improved by use of an RF link that employs a high frequency spread spectrum modem that establishes a low noise link in a high noise industrial environment and also shares the relevant frequency range with a wireless telephone system.

Automation system using wireless high frequency

A method and structure polishes and cleans silicon wafers by mixing a marker with a slurry to form a slurry mixture, performs chemical mechanical polishing on a silicon wafer using the slurry mixture, rinses the slurry mixture from the silicon wafer, checks the silicon wafer for marker residue, and repeats the rinsing process if the checking process detects the marker residue on the wafer.

CMP slurry additive for foreign matter detection

An improvement is disclosed in a brush cleaning apparatus for cleaning a major surface of a wafer and including wafer guide wheels for transporting the wafer. The improvement includes a polish pad material disposed on a circumference of the guide wheels. The polish pad material is a material used in chemical-mechanical polishing of the wafer. The polish pad material contacts an edge portion of the wafer during cleaning thereof, thereby removing contaminants from the edge portion of the wafer, so that edge cleaning is performed in situ in addition to the brush cleaning of the major surface of the wafer.

Wafer edge cleaning utilizing polish pad material

An apparatus and method to align an invisible light beam sensor, such as an IR sensor, utilizing a visible light beam such as a visible LED or HeNe laser, and provide the ability to visually monitor when the sensor needs adjustment in real time and avoid off line adjustments. Various embodiments synchronize and position both the invisible light beam and the visible light beam to travel the same path to a common desired location.

Real time IR optical sensor

An apparatus for performing semiconductor planarizing operations is disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus includes a carrier assembly for maintaining a workpiece therein in a face up orientation. A roller assembly includes a first cylindrical roller and a cylindrical second roller, the first and second rollers being linked to one another through a pair of arms. Each of the first and second rollers may be independently positioned with respect to a horizontal plane, the horizontal plane being substantially parallel to a top surface of the workpiece.

Apparatus and method for front side chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) of semiconductor workpieces

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Poughkeepsie, NY, United States of America

Uldis Artis Ziemins