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:
Jan. 15, 2008
Filed:
Jun. 12, 2003
Kung Chris Wu, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Robert Frank Sifuentes, Milpitas, CA (US);
Kenneth Alan Hardy, San Jose, CA (US);
Edgardo A. Caliboso, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Anatoly Malobrodsky, Mountain View, CA (US);
Chien-rong Huang, Hsin Chu, TW;
Kung Chris Wu, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Robert Frank Sifuentes, Milpitas, CA (US);
Kenneth Alan Hardy, San Jose, CA (US);
Edgardo A. Caliboso, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Anatoly Malobrodsky, Mountain View, CA (US);
Chien-Rong Huang, Hsin Chu, TW;
Fortrend Engineering Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A specially adapted SMIF pod () receives and holds one particular type of reticle cassette () or reticle holder () selected from among dozens of different configurations thereof. The SMIF pod () may be interrogated to determine the particular type of reticle cassette () or reticle holder () carried therein. A reticle transfer system () receives a pair of such SMIF pods (), interrogates each of the SMIF pods () to ascertain which type of reticle cassette () or reticle holder () the SMIF pod () carries, and automatically moves reticles () through a controlled environment from one reticle cassette () or reticle holder () to another reticle cassette () or reticle holder (). A reticle reorienter () includable in the system () also permits automatically exchanging reticles () between a reticle carrier () and a reticle cassette () or reticle holder ().