The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Mar. 03, 1987

Filed:

Aug. 15, 1983
Applicant:
Inventors:

George L Coad, Lafayette, CA (US);

Martin A Hutchinson, Santa Clara, CA (US);

R Howard Shaw, Palo Alto, CA (US);

Assignee:

Varian Associates, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);

Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
C23C / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
414225 ; 414417 ; 1983391 ;
Abstract

An elevator structure is actuated to remove wafers individually out of a storage cassette to an elevated delivery position. The elevator is a lift blade with an arcuate upper end shaped to match the curvature of the wafers, and a groove within this end adapted to match the thickness of a wafer and retain a wafer edgewise. A wafer-holding chuck on a chuck assembly is adapted to receive a wafer from the elevator when the elevator is in the elevated delivery position. The chuck assembly is movable from the delivery position to a remote position where the chuck presents the wafer to a support member. The support member is provided with an aperture and a plurality of deformable wafer-holding clips spaced around the aperture. The chuck assembly includes a pneumatic cylinder capable of contacting a portion of each clip to urge same to an open position. The invention includes an arrangement in which the chuck is mounted on a chuck assembly in the form of a door for sealing an opening in a process chamber.


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