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:
Aug. 22, 1995
Filed:
Jul. 16, 1993
Michael R Biche, Union City, CA (US);
Alexander Lurye, Fremont, CA (US);
Semiconductor Systems, Inc., Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
A cassette input/output unit handles cassettes which contain semiconductor wafers or other substrates that are to be delivered to or withdrawn from a semiconductor processing system. The input/output unit includes a drawer front which rotates 90.degree. about a horizontal axis as it is opened. Thus a cassette containing wafers can easily be placed on the drawer front with the wafers oriented vertically, as they are normally carried, and the cassette will be rotated 90.degree. as the drawer is closed, thereby orienting the wafers horizontally for access by a robot inside the photolithography system. The cassette may also be rotated about a vertical axis within the unit, so that several input/output units may be used with a robot which rotates about a fixed axis. A clamping mechanism grips the cassette firmly when it is placed in the unit.