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:
Jun. 11, 1996
Filed:
Aug. 17, 1994
Frederik W Freerks, Cupertino, CA (US);
Kenneth D Ames, San Jose, CA (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A cassette loading mechanism for semiconductor processing equipment reduces the possibility of repetitive stress injury that may occur as a result of repeatedly loading and unloading a cassette of substrates by eliminating manual cassette rotation. The loader receives a cassette and, by compound translational movement, rotates the cassette about 90.degree. from a horizontal loading position, in which the substrates contained therein are positioned in a vertical orientation, to a position in which the substrates contained therein are positioned in a horizontal orientation, such that the cassette is aligned to the other components of the substrate handling system for substrate transfer. The cassette motions are interlocked with the cassette clamping mechanism and the cassette loader door and a cassette shuttle by pneumatic or electronic logic.