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. 26, 2006
Filed:
Jul. 23, 2004
Ralph Lindenberg, Budingen, DE;
Michael Konig, Frankfurt am Main, DE;
Uwe Schussler, Aschaffenburg, DE;
Stefan Bangert, Steinau, DE;
Ralph Lindenberg, Budingen, DE;
Michael Konig, Frankfurt am Main, DE;
Uwe Schussler, Aschaffenburg, DE;
Stefan Bangert, Steinau, DE;
Applied Materials GmbH & Co. KG, Alzenau, DE;
Abstract
The invention relates to a drive mechanism for a vacuum treatment apparatus by which substrate holders can be transported around an axis (A—A) from an entrance airlock to an exit airlock. A stationary supporting column () is disposed in the center and on it a rotatory drive chamber () is borne which has control rods () for a rotation and a radial displacement of the substrate holders. In the rotatory drive chamber (), a motor () and rotatory displacement drives for the control rods () are arranged on the supporting column (), the control rods being in active connection each with a corresponding substrate holder. To solve the problem of carrying substrates through the vacuum treatment apparatus, even substrates of great area, smoothly, at a slight angle to the vertical, not fastened to the substrate holders, it is provided that a) the motor () is joined to a stationary bearing carrier () in which a rotatory star-shaped array of cantilevers () is mounted, b) the cantilevers () are articulated at one end to bell-crank levers (), each of which has a pivot pin (), c) the other end of each of the bell-crank levers () is articulated to one of the control rods (), and that d) the pivot pins () of the bell-crank levers () are guided in a first stationary radial cam () whose shape determines the radial movements of the control rods (). A periodic, variable superposition of the radial movements is performed by variable tangential movements produced by a second stationary radial cam () with a bell-crank lever which is joined by a link () to the drive chamber ().