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.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 31, 1992
Filed:
Mar. 19, 1990
Steven C Murdoch, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Robert J Steger, San Jose, CA (US);
Mahasukh Vora, Los Catos, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
An improved semiconductor wafer transfer method and system incorporates a combination of wafer retractor (14) and wafer lifters (16) built into each processing chamber with a modified transport arm (12) to achieve large enhancements in wafer exchange speeds. The transport arm (12) brings a new wafer into a processing chamber (18) where an already processed wafer waits for retrieval, having been lifted into the central portion of the chamber by lifters (16). In a simultaneous action, lifters (16) lower the processed wafer onto a lower platform of the transport arm (12) while the wafer retractor (14) removes the new wafer from an upper platform of the transport arm (12). Once the transport arm (12) removes the processed wafer from the chamber (18), the retractor (14) lowers the new wafer onto the wafer lifters (16) and processing begins. The transport arm (12) delivers the processed wafer to a wafer buffer (58), which accompanies the transport arm (12), and retrieves a new wafer to start the wafer loading process again with the next processing chamber (18). The method and system of the present invention provides a flexible and rapid solution for loading and unloading wafer processing chambers.