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:
Oct. 26, 1999
Filed:
Sep. 03, 1997
Hisashi Kikuchi, Esashi, JP;
Mitsuru Obara, Mizusawa, JP;
Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A notch alignment apparatus has a unit body (15), which can advance into a carrier (3) through a bottom opening (4) of the carrier (3), for aligning notches (2) formed in the peripheral edges of semiconductor wafers (1), which are contained in the carrier (3) and arrayed in a facing state. The unit body (15) is provided with a rotationally driving shaft (25) having a cylindrical shape, for coming into contact with the peripheral edges of the wafers (1) from below and driving the wafers (1) to rotate all together. A plurality of idle pulleys (26) independent of each other are arranged on one side of the driving shaft (25), for coming into contact with the peripheral edges of the wafers (1) from below. The idle pulleys (26) are supported by a common pulley shaft (27) to be independently and freely rotatable. A stopper or wafer guide (28) is arranged on the other side of the driving shaft (25), for stopping rotation of the wafers (1) by means of contact with the peripheral edges of the wafers (1). The stopper (28) is arranged such that the peripheral edge of each wafer (1) comes into contact with the stopper (28) when that the wafer (1) engages with the driving shaft (25) by its notch (2) and inclines. The driving shaft (25) and the pulley shaft (27) are driven to rotate along with each other in the same direction.