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:
Jul. 14, 2015
Filed:
Sep. 20, 2012
Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc., Gloucester, MA (US);
William T. Weaver, Austin, TX (US);
Charles T. Carlson, Cedar Park, TX (US);
Scott A. Smith, Lago Vista, TX (US);
Michael A. Beck, Pflugerville, TX (US);
Aaron P. Webb, Austin, TX (US);
James D. Strassner, Austin, TX (US);
Lawrence R. Gravell, Austin, TX (US);
Michael C. Simmons, Austin, TX (US);
Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc., Gloucester, MA (US);
Abstract
A carrier capable of holding one or more workpieces is disclosed. The carrier includes movable projections located along the sides of each cell in the carrier. This carrier, in conjunction with a separate alignment apparatus, aligns each workpiece within its respective cell against several alignment pins, using a multiple step alignment process to guarantee proper positioning of the workpiece in the cell. First, the workpieces are moved toward one side of the cell. Once the workpieces have been aligned against this side, the workpieces are then moved toward an adjacent orthogonal side such that the workpieces are aligned to two sides of the cell. Once aligned, the workpiece is held in place by the projections located along each side of each cell. In addition, the alignment pins are also used to align the associated mask, thereby guaranteeing that the mask is properly aligned to the workpiece.