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US 11,081,379 B2Granted
Load port operation in electronic device manufacturing apparatus, systems, and methods
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorPaul B. Reuter
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electronic device manufacturing system may include a factory interface having a controlled environment. The electronic device manufacturing system may also include a load port coupled to the factory interface. The load port may be configured to receive a substrate carrier thereon and may include purge apparatus and a controller. The controller may be configured to operate the load port such that any air located around and between a substrate carrier door and the load port is at least partially or entirely purged, thus reducing or preventing contamination of the controlled environment upon the opening of the substrate carrier door by the load port. Methods of operating a factory interface load port are also provided, as are other aspects.
Claims20
A load port of a factory interface of an electronic device manufacturing system comprising:
- a purge apparatus;
- a docking tray;
- a backplane located adjacent to the docking tray, the backplane comprising one or more clamps;
- a carrier door opener configured to seal an opening in the backplane when the carrier door opener is closed, the carrier door opener including an inlet gas line therethrough and an outlet gas line therethrough;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- cause the docking tray to securely attach a substrate carrier to the docking tray, the substrate carrier comprising a substrate carrier door and a substrate carrier housing, wherein securely attaching the substrate carrier to the docking tray comprises forming a gap between the substrate carrier housing and the backplane;
- cause the purge apparatus to purge at least one of a) a space between the substrate carrier door and the substrate carrier housing or b) an area between the substrate carrier door and the carrier door opener for a period of time via the inlet gas line, the outlet gas line, and the gap between the substrate carrier housing and the backplane;
- cause the purge apparatus to stop the purge of at least one of the space or the area in response to expiry of the period of time;
- and
- activate the one or more clamps to clamp the substrate carrier to the backplane in response to causing the purge apparatus to stop the purge of at least one of the space or the area, wherein clamping the substrate carrier to the backplane comprises closing the gap between the substrate carrier housing and the backplane.
8 more elements
An electronic device manufacturing system, comprising:
- a factory interface comprising:
- a housing having a front side and a rear side, the front side having a front side opening;
- a load port configured to interface with a substrate carrier, the load port comprising:
- a purge apparatus;
- a docking tray;
- a backplane coupled to the front side at the front side opening and comprising a backplane opening and one or more clamps;
- and
- a carrier door opener configured to seal the backplane opening when the carrier door opener is closed and to open a substrate carrier door of a substrate carrier, wherein the carrier door opener includes an inlet gas line therethrough and an outlet gas line therethrough;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- activate the docking tray to securely attach the substrate carrier to the docking tray, wherein securely attaching the substrate carrier to the docking tray comprises forming a gap between the substrate carrier housing and the backplane;
- activate the purge apparatus to purge at least one of a) a space between the substrate carrier door and a substrate carrier housing of the substrate carrier orb) an area between the substrate carrier door and the carrier door opener for a period of time via the inlet gas line, the outlet gas line, and the gap between the substrate carrier housing and the backplane;
- deactivate the purge apparatus from the purge of at least one of the space or the area in response to expiry of the period of time;
- and
- activate the one or more clamps to clamp the substrate carrier to the backplane in response to deactivating the purge apparatus from the purge of at least one of the space or the area, wherein clamping the substrate carrier to the backplane comprises closing the gap between the substrate carrier and the backplane.
12 more elements
A method of operating a factory interface load port in an electronic device manufacturing system, the method comprising:
- positioning a substrate carrier on a load port docking tray in alignment with positioning pins of the load port docking tray without any portion of the substrate carrier in contact with a backplane of the load port;
- securely attaching the substrate carrier to the load port docking tray, the substrate carrier comprising a substrate carrier door and a substrate carrier housing, wherein securely attaching the substrate carrier to the load port docking tray comprises forming a gap between the substrate carrier housing and the backplane;
- activating a purge of at least one of a) a space between the substrate carrier door and the substrate carrier housing or b) an area between the substrate carrier door and a carrier door opener for a period of time via an inlet gas line of the carrier door opener, an outlet gas line of the carrier door opener, and the gap between the substrate carrier housing and the backplane;
- deactivating the purge of the area between the substrate carrier door and the carrier door opener in response to expiry of the period of time;
- and
- clamping the substrate carrier against the backplane of the load port in response to the deactivating, wherein clamping the substrate carrier against the backplane comprises closing the gap between the substrate carrier housing and the backplane.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.