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:
Dec. 31, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 23, 1999
Benjamin W. Mooring, Austin, TX (US);
Charles W. Freund, Austin, TX (US);
Lam Research Corporation, Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
A wafer is transported on a blade of a robot along a path through a port into a module of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The port has a transverse axis intersecting the path. Dynamic alignment uses two through-beam sensors positioned along the transverse axis to determine the position of the center of the wafer with respect to the center of the blade as the wafer is transported. Positioning of the sensors according to latency characteristics of the sensors assures that the moving wafer will break or make a beam of a first of the sensors and that the first sensor will generate a first transition signal before the moving wafer will break or make a beam of a second of the sensors and before the second sensor generates a second transition signal. The dynamic alignment may be performed with respect to wafers having different sizes.