High-speed substrate manipulator
AssigneeActive Precision, Inc.
InventorBradley Hunter
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A mechanism for manipulation of a substrate over a substantially planar region has at least three, and up to six, degrees of freedom (DOF). The mechanism may be manufactured in various configurations, including triangular, and may use inherent symmetry to reduce the number of distinct components that must be manufactured. The mechanism may use parallelism to reduce the moving mass and thereby achieve higher levels of performance using less expensive motors while dissipating less power.
Claims20
A substrate positioning apparatus, comprising:
- a base;
- a movable stage disposed over a substantially planar surface of the base and that moves over the surface within a work envelope;
- at least three actuators disposed on the base about the work envelope;
- and
- a plurality of drive links, each drive link being coupled to one of the actuators by a first rotary joint at a first fixed location of the drive link and coupled to the moveable stage by a second rotary joint at a second fixed location of the drive link, wherein motion of the actuators drive the plurality of drive links to move the moveable stage within the work envelope.
A semiconductor wafer processing device, comprising:
- a base;
- a movable stage disposed over a substantially planar surface of the base and that moves over the surface within a work envelope;
- at least three actuators disposed on the base about the work envelope;
- a plurality of drive links, each drive link being coupled to one of the actuators by a first rotary joint at a first fixed location of the drive link and coupled to the moveable stage by a second rotary joint at a second fixed location of the drive link, wherein motion of the actuators drive the plurality of drive links to move the moveable stage within the work envelope;
- and
- semiconductor processing equipment coupled to the base.
A method of moving a moveable stage of a semiconductor processing device, comprising:
- providing at least three actuators disposed on a substantially planar base of the semiconductor processing device outside a work envelope of the base;
- providing a plurality of drive links, each drive link being coupled to one of the actuators by a first rotary joint at a first fixed location of the drive link and coupled to the moveable stage by a second rotary joint at a second fixed location of the drive link;
- and
- moving the movable stage over the base within the work envelope by engaging the actuators.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.