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:
Apr. 27, 2010
Filed:
Jan. 09, 2006
Bart Scholte Van Mast, Azmoos, CH;
Holger Christ, Trübbach, CH;
Ruedi Schmucki, Buchs, CH;
OC Oerlikon Balzers AG, Balzers, LI;
Abstract
The invention relates to a method for positioning a wafer () with a reference mark () in a vacuum processing unit with a transport chamber containing a transport device () for moving the wafers () in a plane to a process chamber arranged on said chamber and a single sensor (), arranged within the transport chamber before the process chamber for recording the position of the wafer () by means of recording the edge thereof at a first detection point () and a second detection point (), such that the actual position of the wafer () with a known wafer diameter can be determined with electronic analysis of both measured detection points () and the transport device () guides the wafer () to a desired set position. The wafer () is aligned in a given position on the transport device () in relation to the reference marks () thereof and the projection of the reference marks () determines a non-permitted zone () along a direction of movement on the wafer () and hence defines a free zone on the remainder of the wafer (). The sensor () is arranged in the transport chamber such as to guarantee that the non-permitted zone () is not scanned and the sensor () can thus only record the circular art of the wafer edge and not parts of the reference mark ().