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:
Nov. 27, 2012
Filed:
Apr. 28, 2010
Vinay K. Shah, San Francisco, CA (US);
Suresh Kumaraswami, San Jose, CA (US);
Damon K. Cox, Round Rock, TX (US);
Vinay K. Shah, San Francisco, CA (US);
Suresh Kumaraswami, San Jose, CA (US);
Damon K. Cox, Round Rock, TX (US);
Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention generally provides an apparatus and a method for automatically calibrating the placement of fragile substrates into a substrate carrier. Embodiments of the present invention also provide an apparatus and a method for inspecting the fragile substrates prior to processing to prevent damaged substrates from being further processed or broken in subsequent transferring steps. Embodiments of the invention also generally provide an apparatus and a method for determining the alignment and orientation substrates that are to be delivered into or removed from a substrate carrier. Embodiments of the invention further provide an apparatus and method for accurately positioning the substrate carrier for substrate loading. The substrate carriers are generally used to support a batch of substrates that are to be processed in a batch processing chamber.