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. 03, 2012
Filed:
Feb. 14, 2008
Adam Alexander Brailove, San Jose, CA (US);
Adam Alexander Brailove, San Jose, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
An ion-cut machine and method for slicing silicon ingots into thin wafers for solar cell manufacturing is set forth, amongst other embodiments and applications. One embodiment comprises two carousels: first carousel () adapted for circulating workpieces () under ion beam () inside target vacuum chamber () while second carousel () is adapted for carrying implanted workpieces through a sequence of process stations that may include annealing (), cleaving (), slice output (), ingot replacement (), handle bonding, cleaning, etching and others. Workpieces are essentially swapped between carousels. In one embodiment, the swapping system comprises a high throughput load lock () disposed in the wall of the vacuum chamber (), a vacuum swapper () swapping workpieces between first carousel () and load lock (), and an atmospheric swapper () swapping workpieces between load lock () and second carousel ().