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US 2003/0194298 A1Published application
Transfer chamber with integral loadlock and staging station
OwnerRavinder Aggarwal, James F. Kusbelinventors
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OwnerRavinder Aggarwal, James F. Kusbelinventors
Estimating the term…
A substrate processing system includes a substrate handling chamber and an integrated load lock chamber. The load lock chamber has a gated inlet for the transfer of a substrate into and out of the load lock chamber and a gated port for transferring a substrate between the load lock chamber and the substrate handling chamber. The substrate handling chamber includes a staging shelf that is positioned above the load lock chamber and a substrate handler for moving a substrate between the load lock chamber and the staging shelf. In use, a first substrate is placed at a load lock station that is located inside the load lock chamber. The first substrate is moved from the load lock station to a staging shelf located inside the substrate handling chamber. A second substrate is moved from a cooling station in the substrate handling chamber to the load lock station. A third substrate is moved from a substrate processing chamber to the cooling station. Preferably, after the third substrate is moved to the cooling station, the first substrate is moved from the staging shelf to the processing chamber. The second substrate is removed from the load lock chamber and the cycle is repeated.
A substrate processing system comprising:
A method of processing semiconductor substrates comprising:
A substrate processing system comprising a substrate handling chamber, a load lock port in a wall of the substrate handling chamber for the transfer of a substrate from a load lock chamber to the substrate handling chamber, a staging shelf, a rest station, a cooling station all within the substrate handling chamber, and a first substrate handler configured to move the substrate to and from the load lock chamber, the staging shelf, the rest station and the cooling station.
A substrate processing system comprising a substrate handling chamber, a load lock port in a wall of the substrate handling chamber for transferring a substrate from a load lock chamber into the substrate handling chamber, a first substrate handler configured to rotate, extend and retract to move substrates to and from one or more positions within the substrate handling chamber and a second substrate handler positioned on a fixed track and including a Bernoulli for straight line movement to move a substrate into and out of a substrate processing chamber adjacent the substrate handling chamber, the first substrate handler and the second substrate handler configured such that a substrate can be positioned by the first substrate handler within the substrate handling chamber beneath the Bernoulli wand to transfer the substrate between the first substrate handler and the second substrate handler.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.